Bought this DVD like 8 years ago, finally started going through it and I can’t get enough!! The best technique dvd there is, especially for drum set players!
Tommy, all your videos are worth purchasing, along with the books related to them. You're the man and always have been. Your instructional work/lessons are very comprehensive, no corner cutting. I consider your videos and books a significant part of my musical foundation.
A real pro giving correct advise. Everyone can learn something from this man, and it seems to me he breaks things down in a very easy to learn way. i'm playing 55 years and I can tell you his dvd's can help anyone looking to improve. Thx Tommy.
just downloaded this DVD from Hudson last night. holy crap the 10 or so minutes of the Introduction section is one of the best "first lesson" pep talks i have ever heard. cannot wait to dig into this. Tommy is SUPER inspiring & his teaching style is just insanely smart.
I got the CD and have viewed only one and a half lessons. Already, I see that it is a FABULOUS teaching tool. I've been playing for 40 years and this DVD has already helped with my technique, skills, and speed (which have, unfortunately, have deteriorated a bit over the years). RUN, do not walk, to buy this video.
I studied with Tommy for around a year before I had to go off to college. He is a class act who knows his stuff better than anyone else I know. He is by far the best teacher as well and I'm so glad that he's making a dvd of the warmup that he makes his students use :)
Tommy is an amazing teacher. His both parts of Groove Essentials and this DVD are the most informative and helpful drum dvds I've ever come across. And his personality is just awesome.
Bill Bruford once referred to most people who made instructional videos as "Video Athletes" hehehe... it was my favorite description until I heard Tommy's - "Freak Show", yes!!! After all the sickness spread throughout the last decade on exotic grips, multi-pedal ostinatos and drum guru legends, Tommy Igoe's study materials are a breath of fresh air: no rocket science, just get in there and do it - and never forget it's supposed to be fun.
This DVD is definitely useful for drummers of any level, including a beginner drummer. I played drums for about 3~4 years but I still have quite a lot of misconception, and this DVD corrects me from the basis. It helps me to build up my technique faster and easier, for example, my single stroke speed increased from 160 bpm to 180 bpm after practiced those exercises for only a week!
I agree. I practice to Groove Essentials every day. I can't wait for this one to come out. I need something good for the Hands. He teaches in such a way that you really understand things.
I love Tommy's way of teaching and his attitude towards drumming. He has so much positivity about him, that it's contagious when you watch him. I have both his Groove Essential DVDs and will definitely be buying this too! Tommy, if you read all these comments, please consider coming to Australia to do some drum clinics. It would be absolutely fantastic too see you here. :)
very nice.....brings the drumline aspect of drumming which is EXTREMELY important. I thank my many years of drumline, playing snare drum for what it has done for my drumset abilities.
Awesome work! Back in the day we did similar work on "pillows" then when we went to the snares for marching band it felt like steel balls bouncing off the heads!! most imortant is the 'work' thanks Mr. Igoe
hahahah i love the other guys in the group.They are really focusing.Its also nice because it shows that no matter if its a jojo mayer, benny greb, mike mangini, joe morello etc etc we all need to go thru the same shit...XD
I studied with him this summer for a week along with Jojo mayer and Peter Eriskine, Dave Weckl, Thomas Lang... Anyways, We did these exercises in Tommy Igoe's class we did these for four hours. It was great.. Hope you guys have fun this video is awsome, I brought too. Take care drummers.
Picked this up this week. It's amazing badass. It'll be a while until I get to the Great Hands routine at the end, even the basic one, but it'll be worth it. Excellent training video if you have the patience and will to put the time in that's required. No one can make you better if you don't put the time and effort in, but few can guide you better than Mr. Igoe can. If you want to get better, buy this dvd. It comes with an ebook I printed out and put in a three ring binder...great deal!
Morning or afternoon tommy, I recently purchased great hands for a lifetime, and I started watching and practicing with your video and booklet, I learned long ago don't worry about speed, stay relaxed and focused, what cds are you on, please reply if you have time, Curtis cobb
I've stopped buying these DVDs because I don't feel that I learn much from them. I actually prefer books, with the exception of Todd Suchermans first DVD (haven't seen the second). But this looks really good, and he seems to have the right focus. Think I might buy this one.
@zzzzzushi traditional grip..look up it, it's really easy to get the positioning down..hard to master, I learned it sorta early, maybe a few months after learning matched. but u have a significantly different touch when u get it down, especially for jazz when u need alot of ghost notes. sorta awkward to improve on tho...u need completely different technique for that grip. It goes in ur left hand, too, so that makes it ten times worse. but it's a great grip, go learn it. u won't be disappointed!
i ordered this dvd and the new ludwig p4 drum pad, im a 27 yr old marine corps vet and i feel like 13 yr old boy about to get his fingers wet for the 1st time. am i too excited??
olá sou do Brazil, os DVD's da hunson são maravilhosos, é uma pena que é tãodificil encontra-los aqui no Brasil, e quando achamos não tem legendas pra estudarmos e aprofundalos mais, deixo aqui meu elogio e critica, aguardo um dia, todos traduzidos para fazer minha coleção, é um exelente método de ensino de varios professores. abraços.
+Philip Acinapuro well to be honest they are two completely different videos with different purposes. The jojo mayer secret weapons video focuses on teaching players different techniques like push-pull, wrist, finger control, moller motion etc. How to properly hold the sticks and what not. This video focuses on mainly just practicing, warm ups and drills in order to help you build up wrist/finger strength and endurance. If you want to learn the proper techniques and different ways of approaching the drums i definitely recommend the jojo mayer video, but if you just want to increase your stamina and hand speed and control then this tape is definitely a must buy. I loved both.
not to discredit Tommy Igoe or anything, but but drum line instructors have been teaching these drum gospels for a long time. Murry Gusseck, Mike Macintosh, Paul Rennick etc. all have warm ups similar to these. In Fact i'm pretty sure Gusseck released a video before this came out, basically going through practically the same thing
But this is a drum-set player teaching this. That's why it's different. It doesn't discredit what you said at all. It's great marketing, though, and honestly, it's about time someone made an instructional DVD/book with a drum-set player telling drum-set players that rudiments are important.
Michael Scott I do aghree with Duquez and Scott (I picked up on your sarcasm at the end). When you're buying an instructional DVD you want someone who is bringing something new to study, rather than something we already know. Don't want to waste your money.
You probably will never see this comment but just want to say to you, Tommy Igoe was in The NJ Bridgemen drum corp where his drum line instructor was Dennis DeLucia. So he learned from his dad, Sonny and from Dennis DeLucia, among several other great teachers. He never says that the material is his own.
I wonder if someone could give me an advice. Thanks in advance. Should I stay on practicing one rudiment at a time and get very good with it BEFORE moving to the next? OR should I practice multiple rudiments concurrently?
any advice for faster left traditional singles? i can go all day with my right hand, just dont have the technique to pull singles fast enough at 110bpm sixteenth notes. anyone? thanks!
Don't joke - in this country the most famous and prominent drum teacher, who teaches in our most prominent music school, also teaches flute in the conservatory.
No matter what DVD's and books can do for you, get a good teacher. It's like the difference between going to the doctor and trying to do a weekly check up by yourself with web MD.
Saw you play with buddy band ... closest I have seen to the bravado that was buddy’s.... doesn’t look effortless.... have a son who is a genius... he like you I suspect works at it harder than others not so gifted. Irony.
Just a FYI...............this is what happens when you have a good solid foundation in that ever hated, ever-compared-to high school band thing called drum corps.