This guy is a beast! The ideas Matt shares in this short video could fill a lifetime of practice. Although what he's playing sounds pretty complicated, with a little bit of patience, it's something you can easily apply to your own playing.

To start, pick a simple groove (start really simple) and try shifting it either forwards or backwards by half a beat — like in the example below. It'll sound and feel strange to play at first, so it's a good idea to practice it to a click and to count as you play. Once you feel comfortable playing your new displaced groove, try alternating between it and the original version. 

As Matt demonstrates in the video, you can have a lot of fun with this idea!

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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.

Every now and then I answer drumming and music related questions on the Q&A website Quora. I thought I'd share my most recent post here with you as it's a question I'm asked fairly regularly.

Q: What are some cool drum beats I could learn?

A: If you're after new ideas and systems for developing unique grooves I’d highly recommend Jost Nickel’s Groove Book. It’s one of the best groove books out there and I’m surprised so few have heard of it!

He breaks his ideas and concepts down very well and offers plenty of suggestions on developing his ideas further.

Another option would be Future Sounds by David Garibaldi. Full of cool grooves but less on the systems for developing your own.

I shared a few other book recommendations on my blog a few months back which you might find useful.

Read on Quora.

A small part of my collection of drum books

I recently bought Jost Nickel's Groove Book. It's a really great drum book that I'd not heard of before. And as I wanted to share this recommendation with you, I decided to compile a list of my other favourite drum books. 

So here are my top five. In no particular order.

1. Jost Nickel's Groove Book — Jost Nickel
   Full of great ideas for developing new grooves. I'll be using this one a lot in my own practice and teaching. I can't recommend it enough.
    
2. Stick Control For The Snare Drummer - George Lawrence Stone
   The classic. It's in pretty much every list of top drum books and for good reason. Useful for beginners through to advanced players, its application on the drum kit is endless.
    
3. The Language Of Drumming Book - Benny Greb
   Benny Greb is one of my favourite drummers and I use his book a lot in my teaching. An excellent book for beginner to intermediate drummers who are trying to up their game.
    
4. Odd Time Sticking - Gary Chaffee
   This book isn't going to be much use to a beginner, but for intermediate and advanced drummers it's a source of great ideas, especially when it comes to soloing. Gary Chaffee has a number of other books which are all equally good.
    
5. Future Sounds - David Garibaldi
   Another recommendation for more advanced players. Full of intricate linear grooves, with a focus on developing dynamics and control in groove playing.

I hope you find the recommendations useful. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: Since writing this post I've bought a lot more drum books so I've written a more comprehensive and updated list here.