Customer Reviews

On the Beaten Path: Progressive Rock, The Drummers Guide to the Genre and the Legends Who Defined It (Book & CD)

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Earlier this year, Los Angeles-based drummer Rich Lackowski wowed a worldwide drum community with his debut book "On The Beaten Path."

With a brilliant, entertaining writing style and a killer concept - taking some of the greatest contemporary drummers in different genres and then going back to those who influenced them - he won readers poll awards for "Best Drum Education Book of 2008" in both Modern Drummer and Drum. Professional reviewers gave overall top-notch ratings, and drummers like Jason Bittner, Danny Carey and Chad Smith have given very positive comments, either in person or on their official sites.

So here comes comes the awaited follow-up: On The Beaten Path for Progressive Rock.

For all drummer fans of Rush, Tool, Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theatre, King Crimson and more - this is a must-have.
You'll not only learn to play stuff by your fave drummers, you'll really deepen your understanding of progressive rock drumming on a historic and contemporary level.

The concept is just like the first book, but now Lackowski zooms in on the prog genre AND he adds more drummers.

He portrays the prog heros with a chapter dedicated to each one, starting with the new stars, going back to those who came just before them, and then the forefathers.

The drum kit schematics are there for every drummer too, as well as the beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons of seminal licks/grooves/fills, "prog-ographies" with must-have albums, history time line of the genre, and a CD with all the examples to complement the notated examples in the book.

With his great writing, Rich Lackowski is clearly a very welcome new voice in the drum community and in the world of drum instruction books. Prog drummers: this book is your ultimate holiday present.
Now, it'll be really interesting to see which genre he chooses to focus on in book #3...

If you're ready to venture into prog-rock drumming, this is the book to get. But be warned that you'll almost *have to* be able to read drum sheet music -- the patterns featured in this book are, for most drummers, hard to learn by ear only. The good news, though, is the book gives you a good basic lesson on reading drum music, which should be enough for most of you to follow the book. The range of drummers and songs featured is excellent, and you'll have the option of learning "simpler" prog-rock rhythms before tackling the crazy stuff. Best of all, you get two audio versions of each song -- one that's slowed down and another at full speed. This is excellent (and necessary in some cases) for dissecting some of the more complicated patterns. Lastly, for any of you who only know Phil Collins for his '80s songs... check out his work in this book and discover why he was considered one of the best rock drummers of the '70s before he got behind the microphone.