A bit about me
Andrew Smith
Diploma of Arts in Jazz studies - Victorian College of the Arts
Bachelor of Music - Melbourne University
Graduate Diploma of Education - Melbourne University
Hello Drummers, Musicians & other visitors!
I have been playing and teaching the drums and piano professionally since 1986. My work in education has required extensive amounts of transcription and arrangement, skills which I have also been able to apply professionally over dozens of projects.
This web-site is a collection of stuff that I have accumulated over the journey. There is so much great material out there in the world, so many good resources and so many different approaches to playing and learning that it can be daunting.
Years ago, a great musician and friend introduced me to the recordings of Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan, called 'Trouble in Mind' and 'Going’ Home'. I was immediately struck with the blues piano voicings of Horace Parlan and set out to try to better understand how he comes up with what he does! I transcribed loads of it, and it’s all here, on my site.
I also love Steely Dan, who were my first real ’serious’ band when I was younger, and I am still amazed today with their work. The drummers of Steely Dan, will give you everything you need to know about playing that sort of music, if you study it! And that’s what I did. Hence I have a bunch of transcriptions which are all here on my site as well.
I am on my own journey, and part of that is to build this site into something that can be useful to others.
I’ve spent the last few years developing material for a new course: Music Theory for Drummers, to improve your playing. It’s been a labour of love, and I know that what it contains is well-structured and would be useful to any drummers who want to solidify their knowledge of theory, in order to complement everything else that they may already have going on.
Many of the great rock musicians of today and previous decades are and were, classically trained. If you want to play jazz, blues or soul, or if you want to be able to get work in any sort of professional situation at all, you simply must be able to read, and you must be able to relate to other musicians on their level. Learn to speak the language of music.
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any thoughts, ideas or questions. I’ll always do my best to do what I can.
Have fun, life is short.
If you would like to improve your ability to read charts, you might like our new course, Music Theory for Drummers: to improve your playing.
