Book Recommendation #3

Ok, so book number 3 is an absolute classic that was introduced to me by Neil Bullock, when I studied with him (a few years ago now!!). It’s George Lawrence Stone’s ‘Stick Control’.
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One of my pupils lovingly refers to this book as ‘Ye Olde Drum Book’, probably due to the fact it was written in 1935. So many drummers pick this book as the most important book in their collection and I reckon if I could only have one book, this would be the one I’d choose.
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As the title suggests, the exercises aim to improve your ability to control the sticks and keep consistent time whilst playing through different sticking combinations and rudiments. I find this book is so good for improving your groove and fills by working on your flow between the different patterns. It’s very much a book in which you can get creative in how you practice it, by adding a foot ostinato or by playing around with the click for example, and I always find it quite therapeutic to work through.
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I haven’t played through it all that much over the last few months, so I’m going to add it to my daily pad routine this week and see what difference it makes to my playing on this months gigs (YES GIGS!!!).