My day job as a technical evangelist for Microsoft keeps me right on the bleeding edge of technology all the time. I spend a good portion of my time talking to software developers all over the country about how technology can help them do their jobs better and more efficiently and improve their lives overall. I’m about as “in the thick of it” as you can get.

And yet, I often find myself humbled by just how interconnected the world is these days. This revelation usually comes from the most unlikely of places.

This week, I was contacted through DrummBlog by a young drummer from the UK named Seamus who has a relatively new drum blog called Beatgeek. He found DrummBlog and wanted to get some input from me on blogging about drums. As this was a refreshing change of pace from the seemingly endless litany of spam I get, I gladly replied and told him that being a successful blogger about any topic is about knowing why you’re writing in the first place.

His reply named the following three reasons (paraphrased):

• The drumming world can be a very expensive place to young players
• Needed to find inexpensive yet good quality drums and accessories
• Get tips from experienced players about good prices for quality gear

Reading this reply from Seamus got me thinking about my early years as a player. My primary source of information for anything related to drumming was Modern Drummer magazine. While highly informative, a magazine is a static piece of content, locked for all time the minute it gets spit out by the printer and shipped to the news stand. If I had questions, I could always write a letter to the editorial board of the magazine, but it was highly unlikely I would ever get a worthwhile response (I did try on several occasions). This was not the fault of the editorial board. It was simply that the medium itself didn’t encourage interactivity. It was a loudspeaker for broadcasting the news and information that the folks at Modern Drummer thought their audience wanted to know.

Think about that for a minute and contrast it with today. Online, right now, there are thousands of drummers, myself and Seamus being a couple of them, publishing content about their favorite drummers, tips for playing better, reviews of hardware and publicizing events that might have easily been missed before. Yes, this wellspring of information is almost common sense in our everyday lives in this era, but when you compare it to the way drummers of my generation and the generations before obtained the same information, it kind of blows your mind.

I remember being a kid constantly scouring the TV Guide trying to find out if any of my favorite drummers were going to be on the tube any time soon. Hell, the old Friday Night Videos was good for at least one Van Halen video where I could watch Alex pound away on Jump or Hot For Teacher or something. Today, if I’m listening to a Tool album and want to check out Danny Carey laying down the final part of Lateralis, all I need to do is visit YouTube and voila, there it is.

The point is, the Internet is chock full of vital information for drummers of all ages, but especially for young drummers. Obviously, the accuracy of information found online must always be evaluated, but honestly, I’ve found little in the drumming sites I’ve visited that would make me think that anyone was trying to mislead or misinformation through their sites. Granted, it’s not always presented in the most polished or professional format, but that’s actually cool as well. It gives the information a realism that you don’t always get from “official” sources.

Drummers have always had a tight-knit community. Maybe its from being the target of the ubiquitous jokes about having a sub-par intellect or not being able to keep consistent time that brings us together. But whatever it is, we can leverage the reach of the Internet to bring us all together in ways that simply didn’t exist before, no matter where we are, and share ideas, information and wisdom.

So go visit Beatgeek. See what Seamus has to say and send him your opinions. Because at the end of the day, we’re all here to learn from each other and make ourselves better drummers. Take full advantage of the incredible resources we have right under our fingertips to make it happen!

Technorati Tags: Beatgeek,Drumming,Percussion,Danny Carey,Lateralis,Alex Van Halen,Hot For Teacher,Jump,Friday Night Videos

So many of the instructional DVDs produced by big name drummers these days focus on the basics, but simultaneously assume a certain level of proficiency and maturity as a player.

So Hudson Music Digital stepped up to the plate and produced a series of videos available from their web site featuring legendary player Tommy Igoe which start with the basics of playing the kit in a very cool way. Basically, you visit their web site and select from a collection of videos which cover the gambit of styles: Rock, funk, jazz, latin and so on. The most expensive video is $3.99—try to get a lesson from someone of Tommy’s stature for that kind of money.

I bought the Intro to Funk lesson this morning and totally dug it. I recommend you download the video to your laptop, attach your headphone to the computer and play along. The best part of these lessons: Rewind.

Be sure to check this out. It’s a great value and, with the money crunch everybody seems to be in these days, getting a high quality instruction video without having to pay $30 for it is really nice. It’s terrific to see Hudson embracing the iTunes style of business with their instruction content.

I really enjoyed John Blackwell's first double-DVD set, Technique, Grooving and Showmanship. In fact, I think some of his tips on open-handed playing are the best I've found. Hudson Music announced yesterday that they are releasing a new DVD set next week called John Blackwell Master Series. According to Hudson's write-up, this three hour DVD features John in front of a live audience, playing some of his original compositions and focusing on laying down a solid groove without overplaying. Here's the video trailer from Hudson:

It looks like Master Series will be available on Amazon on October 21st. I know I'll be ordering my copy early.