Highly recommended
NBO | Haslett, MI USA | 12/19/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Many, perhaps most "self-taught" kit drummers tend to "learn" to play the bass drum by burying the beater into the head when in the resting position. This is an entirely effective, but not very flexible technique. There are very very few instructional DVDs that deal with bass drum techniques. The techniques Mr. Ritter proposes are well described, effective, and provide a lot more flexibility and technical capacity that the simple "burying the beater" approach. The DVD is professional produced with excellent video and sound quality. Matt is organized and presents his points clearly with a fair amount of repitition. The content is quite good and HIGHLY recommended for those starting or re-learning bass drum techniques. Minor (really picky) critiques are that the production is a bit lengthy. There are only about 20 minutes of real "meaty" info; expanded to an hour or so on the DVD. The geometry, physics, and biomechanical explanations of things are often incorrect, BUT the techniques work as described. I couldn't rate this DVD as high as JoJo Mayer's DVD (another must have), but I would consider this an extremely valuable instructional DVD for beginner to intermediate or even "early" advanced players."