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Practicing on a pillow [video]
". . . Dennis talks about the pointer he got from Buddy rich at a young age -- practicing on a pillow.
Building a drum solo . . .
". . . I always believed that drum solos should start from something. You make a foundation and then build. It's like putting blocks together. If you think about it that way your drum solos will never be boring and they'll never be the same, no matter what style of music it is. . . For instance, if you're takin a funk solo, your 2 and 4 is the foundation. . . You may want to throw in a dotted 8th note on the ride - the jazz thing. And then you can dislocate beats and stuff like that."
Different stick grips . . .
"About switching grips alot. When I'm playing matched grip it's basically coming from power. If I'm playing anything that's kind of technical, I'll switch to traditional grip. It's because I grew up playing those two different styles. Usually, if I'm playing bebop I'll just stay with the traditional grip. If I'm playing something with power, like a fusion thing, I'll play matched, or go back and forth between the grips."
Modern Drummer Magazine, September 1994 | 
