Customer Reviews

An excellent reference & inspiring to watch - By: Nicodemus, 11 Jan 2008
First let me say that the Synopsis on this page seems to be wrong - this is NOT the Tommy Igoe Getting Started DVD that deals with kit setup etc. This is Groove Essentials.
Based on the Groove Essential poster originally produced by Igoe & Vic Firth, this DVD covers 47 grooves of all sorts of styles - Rock (10 grooves), Funk (3), R&B/HipHop (4) Jazz (9), "World" (20).
As Tommy says, this is obviously not all possible groovesin all possible categories. But it is a great selection that will provide a solid foundation, rangingin complexity from the most basic to (what seems to me anyway, a year into drumming) as pretty awesome & challenging stuff.
Tommy is incredibly enthusiastic & his love for drums is infectious.
Each groove is introduced slowly with explanations of key points. Then he demos it with a slowish tune & then a faster one. The tracks are all great to listen to & play along with (& the DVD is designed for playalong practice).
He saysin the intro he will only play the grooves, not fancy fills - but he just can't help himself! So you can learn some interesting embellishments too if you pay attention.
The only slight drawbacks are
1. Some over-zealous editing so when he is talking to camera the angle keeps changing. A minor distraction, not a big problem.
2. He explains the early grooves very thoroughly but as he goes on the explanations get much shorter, so it is harder to work out what all the limbs need to do.
On the whole an excellent investment for anyone at any level (which you can't say about most instructional DVDs).
Only misses the 5th star because of the point 2 above (i could live with the editing)