Every Wednesday I share five things I've liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

1. On the 3rd June, the rock climber Alex Honnold became the first person to climb El Capitan (3,000 ft!) without a rope. It's an insane and remarkable achievement, and surely one of the greatest human accomplishments of all time.
    
2. Not your average cover, Orkestra Obsolete perform New Order's Blue Monday using 1930s instruments.
    
3. Get 5% Better. A great read from the Farnam Street blog (one of my favourites) on the power of incremental progress — "[I]f I can get 5% wiser and better every year, then I will be about twice as wise as I am now in less than 15 years." 
    
4. Changing Time, a documentary on the legendary drummer Jojo Mayer and his band Nerve is currently streaming for free on Youtube. He's a fascinating and inspiring guy, and the documentary gives a good insight into what it takes to be a performer at his level. Recommended viewing for musicians and music fans.
    
5. This week's musical recommendation is Tame Impala's Let It Happen. It's in essence a pop song, but unlike the vast majority of pop songs, it clocks in at just under 8 minutes long! 

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next one delivered to your inbox.

I'm a big fan of Jojo Mayer (as I wrote here), so when I stumbled across this documentary on him on YouTube I watched it immediately! 

He's a really inspiring guy and musician. If you get a spare 50 minutes and want to learn about one of the greatest drummers to ever live, this would be an excellent place to start.

Jojo Mayer is one of my favourite drummers and he's undoubtably one of the greatest drummers alive today.

This solo has a bit of everything. It's musical, technical, dynamic, surprising and built on a cohesive set of ideas. A great example of what makes an engaging drum solo.

What really stands out to me is his use of volume. He utilises a very broad range of dynamics. It's so easy to just play loud all the time, but that's pretty boring to listen to. And once you've reached full volume, that's it, you can't go any louder. Contrasting loud with quiet keeps things interesting, and holding off playing your loudest will mean you always have somewhere left to go.

One of the easiest ways to improve your drumming and soloing is to pay more attention to your dynamics. Jojo keeps you waiting, he teases, he explores the extremes. And that's what keeps you listening.