Chuck Brown & Terry Bozzio

HEROES: Chuck Brown - Master Drum Teacher

I was looking for a drum teacher. I had seen ten or fifteen different drum teachers, taking only one lesson with each, looking for someone, anyone, who really knew how to play the drums, and more importantly, how to teach me to play the drums.

One night I was out watching this great little jazz quartet, the drummer was amazing; he told me about the years he had spent studying with a San Francisco Bay area master drum teacher named Chuck Brown.

I had found the teacher with whom I wanted to study. Chuck Brown had studied with Max Roach. Chuck Brown had taught Dave Garibaldi & Terry Bozzio!

I called Chuck on a Tuesday evening at 4:00, he said, No, sorry, the waiting list is already too long � try calling me again later. The next week I called again on Tuesday evening at 4:00, again he said, No, sorry, call me again later.

I spent the next three months calling every Tuesday evening at 4:00. Finally, he said, yes. Chuck told me that he thought my persistence indicated I would be a serious student.

Chuck Brown was the first drummer I had met who had really studied the mechanics of muscle movement necessary to play intricate, clean, and very, very fast drum patterns.

I had all these ideas floating around in my head, and my hands just couldn't keep up. Chuck helped me develop the tools I needed so that I could play the drums the way I was hearing them my head.

Chuck also taught me a process for learning, and mastering, very complex drum patterns, breaking down difficult tasks into small simple elements, mastering each element, and then very slowly building them back up into complex patterns through a regulated, incremental process.

Nothing is difficult if you break it down into small enough steps.

Chuck Brown is an amazing drummer, a great teacher, a great friend, and one of my heroes.

Here's a few of the, more famous, former Chuck Brown students: