Customer Reviews

Aaron Spears Beyond the Chops: Groove, Musicality and Technique

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Aaron Spears is a bad-a$$ player! This dvd demonstrates his indisputable amazing talent and technical ability.
Other than that there are not really any significant insights, other than a "flash" drummer telling you not to be "Flashy".To me the entire dvd is an insult to any kind of instruction or analysis. Anytime any of the students/audience asks an intelligent articulate question, the answer was vague, or the ever present cryptic analogy, "FEEL" it.If they could "feel" it or begin to understand that approach, they wouldn't be there. I am sure that Aaron can't process everything he is doing, when he's letting it go, but he could have given some insight on how to develop the"feel" that produces those psycho-pated fills. Jojo Mayer, bless his soul, tries to get some kind of technical or insightful answer from Aaron, but to no avail.
I understand that his greatness has more emotional direction than cerebral, but he mentions how he analyzes himself and how hard he is on his technique. Yet does not dissect his technical approach at all or offer any true insight whatsoever. Of course he has developed and ingrained his approach to "gospel" fills, but he had to develop it and was not born with such attributes automatically. I think he should have "dissected" his approach on how to begin developing these syncopated fills with some kind of polyrhythmic "starter kit" for metric modulation or even explaining foot/hand technique more than "rebound" or "feel". This is a good dvd if you utilize the slow-mo and dismiss everything except his playing segments and realize, your on your own-kiddo!
Where is the instruction or insight into Aaron's playing or anything else, than someone who says do what I say not what I do........... and just feel it?
Thanks Aaron, I'm no better off, thanks for the obvious.
Thats just like my opinion, man...........

I made the mistake in ordering this dvd thinking it was alot more then it really is. As an instructional dvd this does little more then show you the way Aaron lays down his chops. It does vertually nothing in the sense of providing you or explaining a certain technique or workout that you can use to be able to learn to play the chops that Aaron plays. His answers to the questions are vague and the best advice he can give is "learn from doing". Don't get me wrong,Aaron is an excellent drummer and his chops are something to strive for,but this dvd does lttle more then showcase those chops. If you really want an excellent series of dvds that will teach you great technique and give you a great, well explained workout to follow (both written and in play alongs),I reccomend the groove essentials series by Tommy Igoe. His Great Hands for a lifetime dvd is something that will provide you with a workout for the life of your playing and that you'l find yourself going back to time and time again.

My son is the drummer for rock band, Children18:3. He has this DVD and says it's amazing! Watching and learning from DVDs like this is a way to improve drumming skills!

I was doubtful of this DVD set from the beginning. First of all, if you break down the title: "Beyond the Chops: Groove, Musicality & Technique, there's something wrong already. "Chops" is slang for technique. So essentially the title is: "Beyond the Technique: Groove, Musicality & Technique."
What sense does that make? My Amazon friends mostly have it right; If Aaron does understand what he's doing, he doesn't even have enough command of the English language to explain it in a classroom setting.

Second of all, what kind of a role model is Aaron? He's over-weight and, (just like Keith Carlock) he doesn't know how to dress himself. (And why can't Keith afford a decent haircut?) Jazz used to be classy music and the players dressed sharp. Maybe the industry should leave the instructional DVDs to the professionals.

I am writing again in April to amend my review. I apologize to Aaron for what might seem a personal attack. I AM sensitive to role models for today's youth and I can't tell you how many times I have counseled students and parents on
posture, nutrition, exercise and self-respect. There is too much obesity and diabetes type II among our kids today.

J.
Bachelor of Music, Berklee
Master of Arts, New York University (Ethnomusicology)
45 years of playing experience (All over the world)
20 years of teaching experience

This video is excelent, im a bass player and i got it for my little brother who plays drums, we watched it togueter and we were blown, if u are a drummer u r gonna love this one!!!

Hey everyone!

I have to admit.. He should not have been chewing gum during the filming of his dvd! The sound of that is really annoying! But what a drummer! And what technique! He talkes about "keeping it authentic", to tell you the truth, a few-too-many times: He funnily but understandably does not know how to explain himself when it comes to giving information about the background of his technique development and his execution style and refers to a couple of over used words. It's just so natural to him that he never had to think about these things. I can see he is a little shy at times, but that's only because he's a humble man. Don't get me wrong, he's never shy at the kit though!

Love it and the adrenaline rush I get out of watching him execute his ideas. Even the clips of him working that kit to those songs is enough to deem the dvd worth it.

Bought this for my daughter's boyfriend for Christmas. He's a drummer and went home and watched it that night. LOL He loves it!