Groove Essentials 1.0 - The Play Along Book with Online Audio | Sheet Music and Practice Tracks | Drum Songbook for Beginners to Advanced Players | Tommy Igoe Percussion Method Book with 52 Grooves

This book, and accompanying groove track recordings, is invaluable for the drummer of all skill levels on 2 different levels. First it provides a comprehensive groove encyclopedia that can be learned and played in almost any style. Very handy. Second, the book and recorded groove/songs teach the drummer about song stucture and how to build and track grooves to fit seemlessly into the song whether an 8 bar, 12 bar, 16 bar or other song construct. I've never seen this approach elsewhere and working with the book is fun, challenging and will definitely enhance your song management skills!

If this was merely an encyclopedia of drum grooves/licks, it would already be a great book, because the selection of grooves is -as the name says- essential, something that every drummer should add to his/her repertoire. But it is even better than that because of the playalong tunes. Each of the 47 grooves comes with four variations and two accompanying high quality MP3 tunes in slow and fast tempos. The slow ones are for practice and improvisation, whereas the fast ones contain additional challenges, such as room for breaks, fills, rhythmic figures and more sophisticated arrangements. Thus, in addition to learning rock, funk, jazz, latin and world music grooves, the playalong tunes also help to develop musical skills, listening, creativity, and improvisation. If you can read music, you might not need the DVD, although the latter helps to understand the phrasing of the grooves better. This is not really a beginner's book, but I wish I had this when I started playing drums many years ago. Highly recommended - five stars aren't enough!

I worked out of Groove Essentials 2.0 for a long time and found it amazing. Then I started taking lessons with Tommy and he started me on 1.0 and it's surprisingly challenging. So I highly recommend it to all you snooty "advanced" players ( like me). Sain to try to play a simple rock groove 100% with the band. Much much harder than I thought. But most of all I find it a ton of fun to use. It's very appetizing. For example, Mr Igoe talks about the track and discusses the style, gives interesting frames of reference and drummers and bands to study. And if you have ANY chance, I HIGHLY recommend studying with Tommy. It is life changing.

If you are reading this...... well you shouldn't be! Buy this volume and get started as a real drummer. I have played pretty much every band instrument to CD play-a-longs, but never before drums. It is an awesome challenge to hear your band without drums and then groove with it using 4 limbs and no electronics. The insight into how things work in modern music is just trivial. As a matter of fact non-drummers should be studying this book too. Tommy Igoe really kicks ass in every aspect. This book is worth its weight in gold, believe me !!! The same goes for 'Great Hands' and GE 2.0 You are the anchor of groove in any band setting. This book is the key, unless you are a genius like Smitty, Weckl, or Jojo.

I liked it better with the CD instead of the download.

I bought this along with the Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials DVD (something you should also purchase). Groove Essentials - The Play-Along : A Complete Groove Encyclopedia for the 21st Century Drummer These two products work really well together. You can take the CD from the book and rip all of the tracks onto your ipod so that you can play along with your kit. Also, the book contains full charts for each of the grooves contained on the poster that comes with the DVD. The grooves on the CD and in the book are the same ones that Tommy plays on the DVD, just expanded to 3 minutes or so. At times I find counting within the track to be a bit difficult, so this is a good time to go back to the DVD and watch Tommy play it. He also plays a couple fills on the DVD to give you some good ideas to spice up your playing. As a side note, this book does not include any of the fills he plays on the DVD. It does, however, contain a few variations on each groove that you can try to mix in. It's very rewarding to be able to sit down to these tracks each day and know that I'm getting better, as I'm able to keep up with the band. Plus I'm gradually learning to read drum charts. If you are disciplined this package will give you some very good results, as it's a lot like having a teacher to go back to when you have questions. I highly recommend this product and the DVD that goes along with it.

One of the best books I've ever purchased. The tracks are great and I specially enjoyed the Jazz tunes as I always wanted to play Jazz with a band and the tunes made me feel part of one :) The variations to the main groove are fun and very educative as some of them are not easy and makes you think and practice and try for a while, but after you realize how to play it, then it feels like a reward! The click-less tracks are a very good idea as I've found that it improves one's sense of time. I hope to see a Drum Fills Essentials sometime soon... Thanks Tommy for your great work!

I believe this could be great exercise book for any level if you know how to read the professionl chart. This book explains the chart notation very briefly and the actual charts have more notations than the book explained. I do not have "Groove Essentials DVD" - which may explains the professional chart notations. PRO: - Very easy way to learn(hands on) the different types of drumming style (rock, funk, latin, etc.) - It even includes couple varitaions of each basic beat for each sample songs- even better. CON: - If you have never seen or not sure what profession charts looks like with complete explonations, This book is not for you - you may have to study the professional chart notations before actually play along in this book. I did not have "Groove Essentials DVD" which may explains the complete notations of professional chart - I hope they do or if you know what each notation of professional chart means. this will be a great hands on books for any skill level of drummers. Otherwise learn what professional chart and each notation means somehow before buying this book. I do not know if there is only one standard profession chart, I see people have their own ways to creat play chart. I gave 3 out of 5 stars because of the lack of complete explonations of profession chart this book used. This will/would be one of the best drumming book to enjoy/improve(into intermediate+ skills)your drumming in many styles of music if you already know what profession chart is.