Hi all. I'm looking at setting out my schedule and want to include an hour a day (!) for stick practice. I've had my stick since the late 80s, and played it live in bands in the 90s, but... its kind of sat dormant since then! So, I'm pretty much back at 0 as far as ability.

I like fundamentals - I practice my bass still (almost) every day using a book of fundamentals (either the Ray Brown Bass Method or a great Japanese fundamentals book I have - scales and rhythms). I doubt such a thing exists for stick, but, something along that line.

So - what materials do you recommend? At the moment I am in Japan, so, online materials would be great as I don't want to wait the ages it takes for things to arrive by mail. I'm also travelling lot, so by mail becomes difficult.

Yes, I could google things, but I am looking for recommendations.

I have a couple of videos I'd like to point you to:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qresoGB8Ryo[/youtube]

and:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YZO_A6QJ1A[/youtube]

and:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVNNUHKZWLw[/youtube]

And if you can do lessons via skype, check out the link in my signature...

Thanks Greg. I'll give those a look.

Philsmy,

what kind of music do you want to play on your Stick?

Thanks for this post by the way… very timely indeed. Here is my practice schedule and materials.
1.5 hours in the early morning
Greg Howard book / Free hands and DvD
Steve Adelson's book and Ultimate Stick
Bob Colbertson, Josh on youtube

Markus Reuter/Trey Gunn exercises to develop interlocking lines, hand independence/inter-dependence.

1.5 hours in the evenings.
There is so much rich instruction from these players….
I also study biweekly with Trey Gunn and Steve Adelson as well.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Tatsu: Right now I am playing Jazz, Prog Rock and also Rock/Pop bass (formerly professionally, now semi-pro). I'm not so sure the style is important - I am looking for fundamentals.

rclere: thanks, I'll look at the resources you mention, but, who or what is Josh? And where does one get the Markus Reuter/Trey Gunn exercises?

I have some of these books in storage somewhere on the planet, just not sure where. I guess I'll have to stump up and buy again when I can be in any one place long enough to get mail.

If you were already professional I can't imagine why you would need fundamentals unless I'm not understanding what you mean by fundamentals when you say that.

I don't feel a book on interlocking lines is fundamentals but is really cool nonetheless. I'd like to see that puppy myself.

If someone is already an intermediate player but isn't really going to study jazz that will stop me and others from wasting time talking about it to someone who cares more about pop and rock. That's why I think it matters.

That's Josh Goldberg, known here as PunkJackal, who has an EXCELLENT band called "And the Traveler". Josh has made a series of online videos called "Stick Science". They're really good, check them out.
I'll take the word "fundamentals" in an even deeper direction; if you want to get into the real nuts-and-bolts mechanics of motion, check out Greg's Free Hands Technique DVD. It's a gold mine.

Thanks...

When I say fundamentals I mean scales, modes and inversions/arpeggios. Like I say, I'm still practicing these things a few times a week on bass and I've been 'pro' (on and off) for almost 30 years. You can never have too much of that (and practicing with a metronome, but that's another story). These are things that, in my opinion, all players of any style, should be working on and have down pat.

I do the same stuff on guitar, but not as frequently.

Luc, thanks for the reference... I picked up some stuff a few years ago when I visited Stick HQ at Emmett's place. Guess I need to find all of this! Getting back to the stick was my new year's resolution.

Scales, modes and arpeggios? Chords, inversions, bass concepts....finger exercises?
Yes indeed....Fundamentals (mental fun)
A good foundation for playing any style.
SA