Book & DVD Rom: This collection combines the entire three-level series of the On the Beaten Path Beginning Drumset Course---the acclaimed method that teaches you how to play drumset using carefully selected legendary beats from songs that shaped modern music. Level 1 starts you off with 26 rock beats and fills. Level 2 expands your vocabulary with dozens of blues and jazz beats and fills to unlock coordination and syncopation skills that every drummer must master. Level 3 fortifies your drumming knowledge with reggae, country, funk, and Latin styles, plus additional concepts like time and tempo manipulation, other time signatures, and a ton of key drumming tools. The included DVD-ROM includes video and MP3 audio demonstrations. By the time you complete the On the Beaten Path: Beginning Drumset Course Complete, you�ll understand all the essentials of being a good drummer from reading and writing music to playing with healthy technique to keep you drumming for a lifetime---along with a "I highly recommend this series to both drumset instructors for their students and drummers attempting to learn on their own." -Tiger Bill Meligari: Founder, TigerBill.com "This series provides a good cross section of styles that will help broaden the aspiring drummer's musical and technical vocabulary. Upon completion, a young drummer will have a good basis from which to develop stylistic understanding of popular music as well as a diverse musical library from which to learn" - Percussive Notes "With clean graphics combined with direct and simple writing, this collection truly sets itself apart from all other educational drum books. Rich Lackowski blends effectiveness and excitement, so anyone can learn basics of the art of drumming by having the greatest drummers of our time as their teachers. Without tedious exercises like ones found on many drum learning books, Rich takes a drum student on a journey throughout drumming history and knowledge that will make him (or her) enjoy every single moment." -MusicGearReview.com "I really enjoyed this series of books - they are well laid out and easy for a beginner student to follow and play along with some great tracks. It also has some nice tips throughout the book and brief descriptions of the drummer, the band and the track and where the groove came in on each track. You can use these books with or without a teacher as the simple two bar transcriptions are all played on the well produced CD and is clearly marked up to work out what is going on. These would be a valuable asset to your drum book collection." -MikeDolbear.com "As usual, Rich does a fine job of exploring the unique elements and individuality of each drummer featured, and explores some good practical territory, covering double-stroke rolls, volume control, buzz rolls, rim clicks, ghost notes, and more. Rich has produced a great all-around package (and series), whose merits lie most strongly in the acknowledgement of past masters and their contributions to drumming and music. Reconnecting drummers with their percussive heritage is a worthy goal, indeed..." - Drumscene magazine Rich Lackowski is the author of the award-winning series of On the Beaten Path music instruction books. The first book in the series, On the Beaten Path: The Drummer s Guide to Musical Styles and the Legends Who Defined Them (Alfred Music Publishing, 2007) was highly acclaimed by teachers, students, and drumming enthusiasts alike, and has earned Lackowski accolades from around the world. The book was voted No. 1 Educational Book in Modern Drummer s 2008 Reader s Poll, and voted No. 1 Book in DRUM! magazine s 2008 Reader s Poll. Drumscene magazine (Australia) called it the future groove and reference bible for a huge part of the modern drum set. Drummerworld.com (Switzerland) called it the best book I ve seen a masterpiece. MikeDolbear.com (UK) called it a must for any serious drummer. Drumheads!! Schlagzeugmagazin (Germany) called it An extraordinary book. Percussioni magazine (Italy) called it A great method for students who want to teach themselves, and for teachers looking for materials to help them expose students to a variety of drumming styles. Bob Gatzen (USA), a highly respected teacher, author and inventor, called it A major breakthrough for drum set method books and went on to say No doubt, you're re-inventing the standard. The success of the book prompted Lackowski to author his next two books, On the Beaten Path: Progressive Rock (Alfred Music Publishing, 2008) and On the Beaten Path: Metal (Alfred Music Publishing, 2009), expanding his best-selling book into a series that further addressed drummers interests. Both books have been well received by the drumming community and have received praise similar to that of the pioneer book. In fact, On the Beaten Path: Progressive Rock was voted among the winners of the Educational Books category in both Modern Drummer and DRUM! magazines 2009 Reader s Polls, and On the Beaten Path: Metal wa