† Thomas Lang: Stick Trick Master †

Thomas Lang is one of the freaky good drummers I've ever seen. Maybe he's not the best drummer in the world, but he's definitely the best stick trick drummer of all time! 'To play the unplayed', thats the motto of Lang that makes him become who he is today.

Born on August 5, 1967 in Vienna, Lang learnt the art of music from Vienna Conservatory of Music. While at school, he focused in learning Jazz, Fusion and Big Band styles. Apart from drums, Lang is also a guitarist and pianist. I guess this is the advantage of being a multi-talented musician. This is the very first video that I watched Lang performed his drum solo and it all started with his stick play. I was like 'wow... here's another Jojo Mayer'.

In Thomas Lang's instructional DVD, titled 'Creative Coordination' by Hudson Music, Lang emphasized about improvising other people's techniques. Through mimicking and practicing other drummer's techniques, it gives Lang more inspirations on the grooves.

This is a must-watch YouTube video about how Thomas Lang perform stick twirling while making a constant drum groove. His technique is explained so clear that you might think its easy to do. The actual fact is that, you won't be able to do so unless you practice so hard that you might find it boring. Thomas Lang appeared in another video sponsored by Vic Firth (my favorite brand of drumstick) talking about stick tricks. Its really impressive to see how he actually being so creative that he would create optical illusion while spinning the stick to make his drum solo looks more interesting.

Being unique is not easy, but if you are able to do things others have not done it before, you'll be very successful. Look at how Erik Mongrain invented his very own style of Lap-Tapping on the guitar. Originality no doubt leads to success.