Here’s an extra take of the beat not in the original post:

And here’s a close up that displays the wand’s pitch variances (and Nels checking his rig in the background):

Behind the paywall is another video of me locking the beat in as well as a video and long explanation giving more context on my history with the wonderful wands.

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Here are a few more examples that I recorded while learning the beat but didn’t include on my original IG or website posts.

This one is a bit slower and uses the mambo foot pattern with two metals:

This one is similar but faster. You can tell I’m starting to comfortable with it and testing whether I should goose the tempo a bit or relax the snare drum part subtly or bring out one of the voices slightly or figuring out where to get the best tone from the whales. That’s why I love the repetition - it allows me to focus on various details in the moment that eventually refine and define the beat.

This one uses a samba foot pattern - that I’m still struggling with here - trying to get everything to lock in but during that process, some things drift out of place which I actually don’t mind at all since that illuminates deficiencies and highlights what I need to work on.

And this one used three whales with the mambo foot pattern. I can see and hear while watching this how during it I realized that I need to focus on the foot pattern first and get that solid and then when that’s feeling good, add bit more space in the snare drum part - phrasing it more like a human voice than a percussive hemiola. After that, the right hand melody falls into place. Rehearsing drumbeats is a lot like rehearsing an ensemble, all the parts need to be conscious of the whole and where they fit in. That can be applied to phrasing, dynamics, articulation, feel etc. Each part needs to sound good on its own - but in the context of the ensemble or whole.

And finally, here are some pictures and the scores for those of you trying this out at home.

This score is for mambo feet and three pitches:

This one is for samba feet and three pitches:

This one is mambo feet and two pitches:

And finally, samba feet with two pitches:

Venture behind the paywall for a blooper video, confessions of my metals obsession and an old Loose Fur joke (that’s at my expense).

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I like how this one is meditative (for a drum beat…) and dig the long series of repetitions, so below are the two clips from above video, but in their entirety. *The first one has a nice little ending tag and some applause I gave myself with the branch.

And this one is just an extra take with the branch on the snare drum and the melody played with the right hand. Even though you can’t really hear the differences in these videos between the various drums since the branch is louder, I could at the kit…

Behind the paywall is a video of me explaining why I like playing these beats over and over…. How little performance problems or considerations, that aren’t evident on the written page, come up forcing me to problem solve in real time - which is fun!

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Later, I went to stage to record it (clips 3 & 4). I also tried it onstage in Wheeling the following day and it locked in a bit more (clips 1 & 2). I decided to post this one mainly because I really like the hi-hat part - played with the left foot & using a custom Greg Keplinger jingle attachment (more on that below). It provides a rhythmic punctuation line on top of the ‘patternistic’ beat underneath. That’s the other reason I chose this one, my love of pattern beats (which are distinctive from linear beats imo). Think Ringo’s part on “Come Together” or Neil Peart’s part on “Mystic Rhythms”. Not the most popular Rush song, but that pattern approach left an indelible mark on my drumming in high school (as did “Tom Sawyer” & learning to play in 7/8 time too). I started creating these types of beats in songs for my high school rock band and loved playing them, so I never stopped. A good Wilco example are the choruses to “Deeper Down” & several other examples are in this project as well (all are up on my website under the “projects” tab).

Technically, only the second half of this one (if you think of the beat more as a measure of 2/4 + a measure of 3/8 than being in 7/8) is a pattern beat. The first four counts feature a floor tom ride and are more traditional/ backbeat oriented. In the first clip, I’m using traditional grip, in the second, matched grip. The third clip is without the hi-hat jingles and the fourth is a close-up of the hands part.

I’ve never been a fan of modern, stock tambourine jingles. To me, they just sound too bright and thin and toyish. I love the sound of the tambourines on Beatles and Rolling Stones records. They’re beefier, darker and thicker - there’s just more personality. That’s why I use different types of jingles on anything new. Luckily, Meinl has a tambourine with better jingles, that’s what I use mounted on my Wilco kit. I also have a few super cool new Black Swamp tambourines with very funky and dark jingles. But for all of my hi-hat attachments (I use three: single row, double row and small circular strikeable), my old tech, Ashwin Deepankar, had the jingles replaced with home-made, hand hammered jingles by Seattle based instrument builder, tech and amazing drummer, Greg Kepplinger. I love those.

I use these attachments for a few reasons. One is to cover a tambourine part live from the recorded version of a song. So I make it part of the drum beat and play it with the left foot (“I Might” is a great example of this). Other times, I just want the hi-hat part to be more pronounced and better heard, so augmenting it with jingles or rattles does the trick. And lastly, sometimes those additions just add a nice timbre when riding on the hats - residual shakes and rattles that work nicely with the music.

I feel strongly about this as does my long-time duo partner, Darin Gray. We’ve had a rule for over 25 years in our band, On Fillmore, that we’re not allowed to use any store bought sounding percussion - or new percussion that sounds mass produced and has zero mojo. Instead we’ve used loads of ethnic percussion from around the world as well as customized and home-made percussion.

I do have a few “A-list” recording tambourines that I use on everything. One is a vintage tambo from Pakistan that was the house tambourine at Sear Sound in NYC where “A Ghost Is Born” was recorded and “Sky Blue Sky” was mixed. That tambourine is double row with no head and sounds just like the ones on those old 60’s recordings that I mentioned. I’m so happy that was given to me, it’s on everything after “Ghost...”. There’s also a super cheap one that I bought in Turkey 25 years ago as well as several vintage ones and a few headed, orchestral tambourines with distinctive jingles. I’ll do a whole post on those sometime when I’m off the road for a bit.

This next video is just an alternate take

And my view from the stage of The Dome

You might need headphones, but I thought I’d include this video showing how it sounds for me with my monitors off:

And here’s a video of what it sounds like on stage if my audio monitors on - again you might need headphones to really hear the difference. Also, keep in mind that I use a thumper attached to my drum stool so I can actually feel the vibrations of the bass drum and toms in my seat. I do this because getting that information allows me to reduce the need for those low, long sound waves in my monitors - which in turn cleans up the stage sound. With fewer long, deep sounds floating around the stage, it’s easier for everyone to get more definition in their stage sound.

Thanks for listening - and if you want a glimpse of how these beats typically develop, venture below for a series of videos made while I was creating and working up this one. Enjoy!

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Here is a video of me practicing the trickiest part - syncing up the syncopated bass drum part with the snare drum “+ - a’s”. I simplified the beat by moving the rhythm of the tone drum part to the hi-hat so I could better concentrate on the right foot and left hand. The snare drum part is played as cross-sticks to better hear that as well.

And here is similar one but with the right hand part now using a brush to strike the snare drum.

This is just a good alternate take - done Substack friendly (horizontally).

And now an alternate video of the sibling beat - the original beat from April. This one is pretty much the same other than the hi-hat part is on downbeats instead of upbeats like in the previous videos. This is the way I originally wrote it (its got a nice balance compositionally between the hi-hat and snare drums parts), but when I actually tried to play - not only was this more difficult - but it was less satisfying, less groovy and didn’t feel as good. That’s why I slid the hi-hat part over an 8th note to the upbeats and that’s when it clicked and became more grooving.

For those who venture behind the paywall - here I am practicing the beat in the Wilco practice room backstage, and if you listen carefully, you’ll hear my band mate Pat Sansone vocalizes along in the background…

AND there is a rather lengthy (and personal) essay on Rush: Neil Peart’s influence, my Tama Superstar kit, meeting them etc.

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Here’s an additional video of me using rods to get a little more articulation while still trying to stay relatively quiet.

And here’s one at a slower tempo to better hear (and see) what’s going on.

Here’s a link to a wonderful Bembé explanation and breakdown by Patrick Cleland. It’s on the Sunhouse page and explains it much better than I do!

Patrick Cleland for Sunhouse

And finally, this one was just a solid extra take from NC - again waiting for the rain to pass…

Check out a 6 minute video breakdown lesson on this beat below the paywall.

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This next video is of me developing the beat since it was played before written. The beats in this project originate both ways and are pretty evenly split between beats that are: 1. written down first and then learned and worked out and 2. ones that are composed through the act of playing and then notated afterwards. This video show the beat starting with one less bass drum note in the first measure than the final version.

Also, around :40 seconds in, you can witness the horrific adversity that I have to face sometimes when doing these in the dressing room practice set-up area. That’s the ever playful Nels Cline launching fortune cookies and plastic forks at me (I stood up for myself though and volleyed them back at the end of the video - and don’t worry, we cleaned up after ourselves).

Nels did say he was impressed with my concentration during his shenanigans. And I harken that to my time in competitive marching band at Lake Park HS and drum and bugle corps with the Cavaliers snare line, where you didn't “break” no matter what! That included insects on your face, sweat in your eyes, acts of nature or even someone going down around you - you persevered and kept playing otherwise the whole thing would fall apart. It looks like maybe some of that discipline stayed with me!

A better look at the “new guy” guitarist (yes, even 22 years in - he and Pat are still the new guys!) and his hijinks while I’m trying to make my serious art… (does sarcasm translate on Substack?)… Btw - capturing the video is the delightful Matt Savitt.

Here are some close ups of Matt Gordon’s Cricket Sticks to better showcase the incredible craftsmanship. The first pic shows the guiro-esque walnut piece and painstaking handle wrapping.

This one shows the super cool mallet head on the butt-end of the bundles. These make them more versatile but also create the great balance and feel that these have.

And this gives a better view of the size and gripability (I know that’s not a word btw)…

Venture below the paywall for dressing room video, another beat video and some thoughts about sticks/brushes/mallets/implements/ grips/ techniques/ stroke types….

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Here’s an extra video that’s not included on my IG post. You can hear the samples really well on this.

And here’s a quick rundown of how the kit is set up for this beat with a short intro video first.

And above is a still for closer examination - it includes the K-stack that I added on the snare drum. I play what’s basically a rimshot for the majority of the song - hitting that stack and the snare drum head simultaneously. It sounds great and blends really well with the samples. Thanks for checking this all out!

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Behind the paywall, I give you a behind-the-scenes tour of my Wilco setup and gear options from the Hunter Auditorium at MASSMoCA - in preparation for our Solid Sound Festival here this weekend.

Beat #337 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.13.26 Notes:

Live from the stage in Grand Rapids, MI on tour. This one just happened while checking my kit before a @wilco show. I’m playing open-handed for this 1/2x feel beat with a slight twist. The lone SD backbeat happens on count 4 instead of the traditional halftime feel of count 3 - somehow this one still feels like halftime though. The right hand is alternating between the two floor toms to get a little pitch variation and the hihat has one open note at the end as a cadence point - with the bass drum basically filling in all spaces between the hands. Big thanks to my new tech, Chris Dowis, for the camera work! Enjoy and thank you for listening - Glenn

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Behind the paywall you’ll find a additional behind-the-scenes videos, photos and explanations of me creating sounds on timpani and chimes for this session at Electrical Audio as well as some thoughts on my approach to the drumkit and recording with Wilco.

I’ve recorded at Electrical several times in the past with folks like Bobby Conn, Edith Frost, Eighth Blackbird, Jason Narducy and Fred Armisen, so it was nice to be back. It’s interesting how often when I’m going into a session just to play drums, I also end up adding “sounds” or timbres or textures as overdubs on songs. I love collecting sounds and the more I use them practically on records, the more I can justify acquiring new ones! Advice to any drummers: have non-rhythmic sound options at your disposal - if you’re able to play drums, percussion and unclassifiables - you’ll get to play more, work more, explore more and have more fun! Enjoy and thank you for listening - Glenn

Beat #336 of my #DrumBeatProject 6.3.26 Notes:

From Electrical Audio - the house that Steve Albini built, always great to be back there. I was recording last week w/the incredible Majel Connery (with my good friend Felix Fan on cello) and came up with this beat for a song. I got the kit to sound a bit processed: nice and crunchy, by preparing it with seed pods on the drums and cyms thanks to the ingenious Drumgees (these little bungie cords for attaching things to drums are game changers). This is a simple pattern beat with a samba bass drum ostinato. I’m using Demsticks “yang ling” broom rods to execute it all (& not crush the pods!). Nothing very tricky here besides making sure to strike the correct spot on the snare and hihats to get those alternate sounds. The first part in the video below has the best sound to hear those differences. The second part shows everything nicely including the optional pandeiro (a kind of Brazilian tambourine drumgee'd to the rack tom) hit on the “+ of ct. 4” - this is “variation 3” in the notation below. The third part is a close-up of the two different playing areas on the snare drum and fourth part has the double, "+a" pandeiro hit - “version 2” in the notation below. The second video is an alternate take.

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Below the paywall you’ll see two additional videos. The first is a rundown of my kit for this beat, the second is an extended take of the beat at a slower tempo. In that one you’ll hear me messing around and improvising at the end what will end up being a future beat (and the last with this dried wisteria branch - it slowly disintegrated while playing…). I’m including an explanation of the beat here as well - enjoy and thanks so much for listening! - Glenn

Beat #335 of my #DrumBeatProject 5.31.26 - A different kind of brush beat (insert groans)... I was gardening & about to compost this dried wisteria branch when I noticed how good it sounded - so headed to the kit & improvised this week’s beat. The slit/tongue drum and @upcycledpercussion key-chime-foot-peddle were already there, so incorporated those. It’s 3 limbs playing ostinatos w/the BD playing the melody. The whole process took mere minutes and made quite the mess! After the video are some pics showing each instrument - and the mess...

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