During our Venice Studio Interview Series with Pink's drummer Mark Schulman, we also asked him some of the most obvious drum questions. He went along with all of them and demoed it when necessary behind his Gretsch New Classic kit in his studio in Venice in California. When asked about the most important drum beat ever, he restates the question by giving the right motivation on how to play a song for the 1000th time as powerful as you did the first time.
Not that song again! Mark considers the most important drum beat lesson and groove #1, the one that everyone starts with on drums. It is the beat that gets you hired and the one that pays the bills. Remember that the biggest hits in music history have the simplest grooves, but they still have to groove!
Mark explains why, and presents probably the best tool for a tired musician's mind-set on how to approach playing the same song for the 100th or 10,000th time. That is: without complaining about it and still enjoying it as much as the first time you played it. The moment you recognize that point, that is probably when you are set to be a professional yourself. Mark talks about this golden insight in the video below and gives some great examples with Pink and Foreigner on this.
The most important drum beat explained by Mark Schulman
The Venice Studio Interview Series with Mark Schulman
Venice Studio Video Interview #7: Mark's favorite drummers
Venice Studio Video Interview #8: Mark Schulman's biggest drum challenges
Mark Schulman plays
Gretsch drums
Remo drumheads
Vic Firth drumsticks
Sabian cymbals
Gibraltar hardware
Toca Percussion
Roland
Sennheiser
Apogee Electronics
Cymbolt (Percussion Dynamics)
Sledgepad
Big Fat snares
Jefferson Eyewear
On publication date, Mark Schulman is in Europe on tour with P!nk for her Beautiful Trauma World Tour 2019. Kicking off in Amsterdam on June 16, the ±120 people counting circus visits Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria and Poland until August 11, playing their last concert of this tour in The Netherlands again. On October 5 the band can be seen again in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where they will headline the forelast day of the famous Rock In Rio festival.
"Simplicity is King when it comes to Pop Music."
- Mark Schulman
A quick Mark Schulman résumé Mark Schulman has recorded and performed with too many arists to mention, Here are a few of them, or check the listing on the right with more references: Simple Minds, Billy Idol, Cher, Foreigner, Velvet Revolver, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Richard Marx, Frank Gambale, Ekichi Yazawa, Udo Lindenberg, Dave Koz, Tina Turner, The O'Jays and Amy Grant.
