Tory Slusher has a fresh finger drumming perspective

I noticed this Youtube channel by Tory Slusher, who seems to be very enthusiastic about the FGDP 30 and now uses it for jazz fusion drumming.

Wanted to share the channel here because to me it’s inspiring to see how she approaches things.

Give her some Watchtime and engagement!

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That’s freaky, I just had someone in a guitar group post about the same person. I’d mentioned my new finger drumming hobby and they linked to this video. I started to watch before work today, but haven’t finished it yet. Wasn’t sure how much benefit I’d get with using the Maschine Mikro as it seemed geared to the Yamaha which I don’t own (maybe one day).

This is a pretty personal opinion I have and by no means the truth, but coming from a jazz / fusion guitar background moving more into music production and more “pop” stuff, you have to be aware that learning “advanced jazz stuff” is not going to give you “solid groovy pop rock beats” for free.

I used to think hat nailing the complicated jazzy stuff would allow me to skip the simple basics but I was totally wrong. If you can count a seven over eleven jazz shuffle inverted samba rhythm (I made that up to make a point it doesn’t exist) that does not mean you can properly play a solid rock beat. On guitar being able to improvise over giant steps does not mean you can play something like “still got the blues” by Gary Moore.

You just gotta practice what you want to play. And in my opinion if what you want to play is complicated stuff, I would still first practice the basics first. If you cannot count out loud while playing, don’t think playing more complicated stuff will solve that for you magically. You will just be all over the place. :slight_smile:

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Oh and the Yamaha FGDP is uniquely equipped to deal with finger rolls. On most other pad controllers the pad won’t trigger if another finger is already pressing down on it. But a lot of stuff she’s doing would work on a Maschine.

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I don’t think jazz is really my thing, I’m more into rock and metal from a guitar and bass perspective, but enjoying trying more genres with bass (Bass Buzz course) and finger drums with yourself. I think the recommendation to watch just came from it being related to finger drumming, but hadn’t given that much thought to the complexities of jazz :upside_down_face:

How did you know… this is one thing I definitely need to practice more. I’m probably ok with 1/4 and 1/8 note patterns, but 1/16 or trying to play triplets and I start to get lost.

I do include training for the counting out loud in the curriculum, so don’t worry about doing it before you get to that point.

And yes, if you don’t care for jazz/fusion I would not recommend getting knees deep into advanced soloing concepts right now :smiley:

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Yes, that part is really awesome about the FGDP. They probably had to solve this problem due to the big sized snare and kick pads. This seems to be an overall rather unique feature, right?

I’m really curious if and how Yamaha goes forward with those concepts and their tech.

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Toe tapping to the count can be more silent, and works well in the simple 1/4 for a rock/blues 4/4 time. Left foot for straight count, and right foot for the &’s. (Maybe). I’m a bass player, learning finger drums. Locking into the kick drum has been my friend for decades. Sometimes leading, but mostly following the drummer’s direction.

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