James Hester, drummer with Cars On Fire and Head of Drums at the Bristol Institute Of Modern Music (BIMM), has put together his first tuition book: 'Mind Over Meter'. James explains how initially the ideas were just for him to work on, until he realised the concepts really improvedd his playing and that he was using those same basic ideas while teaching:"I began writing the book a long time ago, although initially the ideas were just stickings to help me play certain subdivisions.
Then I started mixing them up and incorporating the bass drum. I found I was able to improvise fills and linear grooves more easily and play tricky phrasings and rhythms with ease. I also realised whilst teaching at BIMM that I was using the same basic ideas that are in the book to teach in class and also for the tutorials we have – you name it: Polyrhythms, jazz comping, latin, four way co-ordination, fills, linear grooves, odd time signatures… everything!"
Seven essential options
Finally James Hester's years of studying drummers and stripping back their ideas has led him to come up with the concept of the essential seven options we have as drummers. The last chapter of the book is a study of these options and how other people have put them into practice to sound completely individual but with the same basic idea with a view to you doing the same.
