Easy to Read and Learn From

This was my first drumset instructional book and it's great for beginners who need to learn the basics of what a "beat" is and stuff like that. It goes on to drill you with increasingly more challenging rhythms that would improve even the more experienced drummers' rudiments. All of the notation is written in by hand, so it's not very professional looking, but it has a very well-rounded variety of exercises. From this book, I have been able to improve my four limb independence, beat displacement, and various types of drumming, such as funk and rock. The more common beats in this book are marked with an asterisk, so it is extremely easy to apply any concepts beats to your overall playing. For a beginner's book, it's nice and affordable, and by a top publisher, Alfred. I don't really need to talk about durability, since this isn't a musical instrument or anything, but it' never fallen apart on me in my 3 years of owning it. I highly recommend this for any drummer who is starting out because it is simple, easy to use, and helps create a strong foundation to build on. For drummers who don't really want to learn "funky" beats and drumming techniques, I would still recommend purchasing this book to build the rudimentary techniques needed to excel in any style of drumming. I found that because the notation is so simple and easy to read, I can modify the root beats by adding a double kick line on top of it for example, just to build my metal drumming. You see what I mean? Pretty much all types of drumming start in the same place, and I think Alfred has done an awesome job at laying out the floor plan for the young and future drummer.

Reviewed by on 10/19/2006 who plays Prog Rock, Metal, Punk, Alternative.