Calvin Rodgers. Seriously, if you’ve never heard that name STOP, go to his site, now watch him in this YouTube video. If you haven’t gone to those links yet, make sure you do so after you read the rest of this post.

Calvin is one of the greatest drummers alive today, and he has such a unique sound. I first discovered Calvin when I started to really dig into Gospel music. I was seeing a ton of Gospel chops videos and things of that nature, but when I started listening to Gospel albums that my friends recommended, one thing became very apparent: Calvin Rodgers played on almost every album. Live or studio, Calvin was on most of the Gospel albums people said I should check out. That isn’t because my friends thought I would like his drumming, it is because he is the top call in the Gospel drum world. I went into Gospel thinking about guys like Aaron Spears and Spanky but I was finding Calvin is THE guy. I have a few theories on why this is.

Firstly – he is a great drummer with incredible feel. That goes without saying when you are talking about a drummer at the top of their field. Beyond grooving well and making it feel good, he has a very unique and distinct sound that is totally Calvin. Secondly – he has chops for days. No, he has chops for weeks. Months even. Many of the Gospel drummers I saw on YouTube had chops for days, but in the videos I was seeing that is pretty much all they ever played. To clarify, I’m not saying that is all they could play, but that is all they were doing in those videos. Which I found very impressive, but wore my ears out after a few minutes. Calvin knows when to chop, where to put it, and how long to do it before returning to a deep groove.

Thirdly – Calvin is consistent. He is the top call for every live Gospel album recording. I can’t stress how impressive that is. When recording a live album in front of an audience the one thing that can’t be replaced is drums. You can overdub (rerecord after the live taping) a guitar, lead vocal, bass part. But one thing you can’t overdub is drums. Why? Because drums bleed into every microphone on stage. This means that if you have to overdub drums you have to replace every single instrument that was on stage that night. Calvin gets called because he always sounds spot on, wether it is chops or groove. That isn’t to say he doesn’t make mistakes, I’ve listened to enough of his recordings and YouTube videos to know this isn’t true. However, Calvin has an uncanny ability to turn any “mistake” into an almost unnoticeable moment that only a trained musician would be able to identify as a “mistake”.

Ok. Calvin is a great drummer. Calvin is a musical drummer. Calvin is also a fast drummer. This fill is a great example of just how quick a drummer Calvin can be. The video featured in this post is a fill that Calvin played on an album called Identity by the artist James Fortune. The track he played this on is called “Never Again”. Listen to Calvin’s fill from this track below:

The fill happens super quickly, so be sure to read along with the 100% speed and 50% speed example with the PDF below. But like the YouTube lesson says, this fill is all about the paradiddle-diddle (RLRRLL) and doubling the right hand with your foot. Make sure to watch my YouTube lesson because I explain a few ways to practice getting this fill up to speed.

I want to make an Instagram challenge for all of you that have been reading these posts. Tag me in a video of you playing this fill using the hashtag #timstranscriptions I’ll repost you. My Instagram handle is @timbuell. I’d love to connect with you all through Instagram or email (fill out form below) and nerd out about drums. Thanks so much for reading and stay in touch!