Vinnie Colaiuta.

There isn’t much to say about Vinnie that hasn’t already been said. YouTube is a great place to hear Vinnie, but if you want to hear him on an entire album, this album is one of my favorites. It is always good to check out our favorite drummers in the context of an entire album, not just the one track they shred on and post to YouTube.

This whole lesson is based on a fill I’ve heard Vinnie play a lot called the “blushda”. It is originally a Tony Williams drum fill, but I’ve heard Vinnie play it more, so that is my frame of reference. The sticking is:

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The first two notes are a flam. Pretty easy, but check out the whole video to get a feel for how to phrase it and some tricks I’ve learned to make it sound musical and not mechanical. Todd Sucherman also has a great lesson on this fill that can be found here.