Some New Ways Using the Brushes
December 4, 2009 2:07 pm in Drumset by Florian Alexandru-Zorn
Hallo to all drummers and percussionists / Members of this great VF -- Family!
My name is Florian Alexandru-Zorn and I am the author of the book “The Art Of Brushplaying” which is out at the Alfred Publishing.
I want to show you some videos from my DVD with some special ways playing the brushes.
But first I’d like to ask you how you drummers out there got into brushes? I mean, everybody has got some pair of brushes (I hope only good ones made by VF 
) -- but most drummers do only know a few licks and patterns. So was I!
But when I was 16 year old I had the chance to go on tour with a polish guitarist named Romuald Erenc (one of the most popular clasical guitarists in europe). We played in a duo so I had to play with brushes for most of the time. The tracks wher in odd meters (some sick things like 13/8 and so on) so my brush skills did not really satisfy myself.
Every teacher I had said: “Man the brushes are so difficult. It’s an Art to play with them. Tanscribe guys like Papa Jo Jones, Philly Jo Jones, Art Blakey, Jeff Hamilton, …..
So I transcribed like hell…..
In my opinion it’s not worthwhile to learn some licks and moves. Because these moves don’t fit in every musical context. I mean, when you learn a 4/4 medium tempo lick it does nt fit with every 4/4 song especially with all the accents.
So I tried to learn the brushes in a whole different way:
1. I studied all possible movements I could do on a drum: a circle, a halfcircle, linear motions (like painting a Z ….) and combining all of those figures
2. I tried to play every note in every motion: 4ths, 8ths, 16ths, triplets, quintuplets…. in a circle …. in a half circle….
3. I tried to get accents in different ways: with preasure, with acceleration and the combination of both
….. there are many more things iI did but it’s late…..
so i found a way for myself to play every rhythm I could play with sticks to play with brushes.
here ar some videos where I tried to play the rudiments with brushes.
so hope you got some new ideas and keep on sweeping!
… sorry for my bad german english
i’m really curious about your drums, they look really cool and sound awesome. What are they?
It’s a german manufacturer called WAHAN…
I really like it!
I’m prepairing some more videos with brushes at the weekend.
so my question to you:
are there any questions or things you mainly like to see?
I would like to see other famous drummers as well as you talk about when and how they use brushes. It would be nice to get opinions from others on the subject. Could you do somthing along those lines? If you could that would be gr8.
loving your stuff!
what are your thoughts on traditional grip vs. matched grip? i generally play matched grip, but i learned to play brushes with traditional grip and i tend to gravitate back to that. i know it’s just a matter of spending the time to adjust my mechanics to get it equal though.
have you noticed any pros/cons of playing with matched over traditional?
thanks!
Ed
Hey Ed!
As I said before for me there is absolute no reason to learn traditional grip only because I’m learning some stuff with the brushes.
Believe me:
if you play the sticks in matched grip – why change it on brushes?
if you play the sticks in traditional grip – why change it on brushes?
it’s a decision on your own but I tried both and there is absolute no fundamental pro for matched or traditional.
thanx a lot for your comment and I hope I could help you a bit.
see ya
florian
thanks for your comment trinikid41!
but believe me you only have to practice to do “sth like that”.
do you have some special questions?
nice job wish i can do something like that
I have a question Mr Zron. What type of wires do you have in your brushes. Nylon or metal? Plus what the best style you use your brushes for? Thanks for your time.
hey pallwall1981!
thanks a lot for your comment!
I hope you can get something out of the videos?
For the most time I use the Heritage brushes from Vic Firth but when I play in a Big Band I use the white ones (Jazz Brush) because they are louder.
I use brushes in all styles of music (ok not in heavy metal
but I use them together with drum ‘n’ bass, rock, Hip Hop and of cause in a Jazz context.
hope I can help you with this answer!
many greetings
Florian
WOW. Thanks a lot Mr Zorn. That really answered my question. While I think on, who made you wannt to play drums in the first place and did your family want you to do other jobs before you took up music? Thanks again you have made my day.
…. your welcome!
I knew really early that i want to become a professional drummer (at the age o 11) so I worked realy hard since that age. My mother is a professional musician too so there was never any other thing for me to learn for.
Well thanks again. I really like talking about drums.
I have been playing brushes since I was 11 or so. I spent a lot of money on buying a really good pair. The Vic Firth Steve Gadd Sig brushes. I like them casue they looked awesome with the angled wires. I also love Steve Gadd as a drummer. So I wanted to get the brushes and some of his stciks. I am not very good at using brushes yet cause I have not had much of a chance to play on real drums, but I would be more than happy to learn.
Hi Florian,
Your post here introduced me to you and your concept which is terrific! Your video examples have a fantastic flow and sound.
This idea is something I mess around with myself on brushes, I practice the subdivisions in the same manner you describe and I like to combine vertical and hortizontal strokes in the rudiments in my own way. It’s something I fell into while practicing Alan Dawson’s “Rudimental Ritual” which I learned from lessons with him in college. Alan would play the Ritual quite masterfully with brushes and so I strove to develop my hands the same way.
Shortly after college I was also fortunate enough to study with Jeff Hamilton and we probably spent about half our lessons on brushwork (with him you’d be a fool not to). After becoming versed in Jeff’s approach to lateral strokes, I found myself combining vertical and horizontal (lateral) strokes as applied to the syncopated notation of the Rudimental Ritual for the short and long notes respectively. It makes for some hip solo phrasing.
This translates beyond the rudiments to phrasing as found in Reed’s Syncopation and any melody in general.
Your approach looks terrific and I’m defintiely going to check it out. Congratulations on your book and thanks for sharing your ideas!
Very interesting Florian…thanks for the great ideas. I’m one of the relatively few drummers that use brushes (I’m with the David Grisman Quintet), and I look forward to getting your book.
thanks a lot for the comments!
if you have some questions – tell me, i will post it here with a video for you!
Excellent stuff Florian, ok, we have a lot of work in front!!
Thanks for share these techniques.
Ed
thanks for your comment!
if there are any questions – tell me!!!