The Official Freehand Technique

Too many pages and too many measures to demonstrate simple patterns. Yes, they need to be practiced, but there is no value in reading and listening to Too Much of someone else's practice. TRUE, the technique must be learned by every serious drummer, but this book wastes way too much paper and time on the basics. Why, for instance, is there No demonstration of triplets with one down stroke and two rebounds on the upstroke? That, and one-handed buzz-rolls would be more valuable that just the bang-bang or a pattern, then faqswter, then faster... well, you should get the point. The key is the difference between French and German stick grip. The rest is practice and trying to insert it in music.

You can get the fundamentals of Johnny Rabb's concept from youtube videos and then use any snare drum book to practice this technique with. Don't get me wrong, Johnny Rabb is a fantastic player. However, this book was a big disappointment. The CD examples were done on electronic drums with real cheesy sounds. I would have preferred a "real" snare as opposed to all the electronic sounds.

Not what I expected when I got the book. It has some great techniques and I have learned a little from this book. But because it wasn't what I was expecting I found that it soon became a drum book collection instead of a learning tool.

It is a very good way to get a view into the technique who give drummers an amazing toll when playing. This is the first book every written about one hand playing technique. The concept is very clear and easy to understand and it is up to you what you learn. From easy to very difficult, everything is explaind and it is fun to listen to the CD. When comes a DVD? It would be worth while to spread this kind of technique.Thanks to Johnny Rabb.

I think this is a book that every drummer should have because it gives you the tools to improves your skills.

Das Buch eignet sich meiner Meinung nach nur für sehr weit fortgeschrittene Musiker, die damit ihren technischen Horizont erweitern möchten. Die Technik ist für mich extrem schwer umzusetzen und der Vorteil daraus ist mir auch nicht so ganz klar. Ich habe es z.B. noch nicht geschafft, einen Anschlag (Snarefell und Rim gleichzeitig) hinzubekommen, der nicht nach einem Rimshot klingt. Wer allerdings gerne experimentiert und sehr viel Ehrgeiz in die Sache steckt, der kann aus dem Buch sicher einiges mitnehmen.