Music Bio

Gary Hassig        Instructor of Drums and Percussion             Turning Normal People into Drummers for Decades!

I began learning drums and percussion in school band at age 10. At age 12 I began learning drum set and started playing in local bands soon afterward, and I have been in bands ever since. I studied music in college (non-major) and learned guitar, and I have written over a hundred songs. In addition to rock, folk, jazz and country standards, I have played drums and percussion for church worship bands for over 30 years, including over ten years as drummer and percussionist with a 40-piece church orchestra. I have also been a mainstay at Colorado Springs area drum circles since 1997. As a drum teacher, I have averaged 20 students per week for the past 20 years.

Rhythm Resume

Skills:
Snare drum, drum set, congas, djembe, bongos, and many types of hand percussion instruments, from claves, tambourine and triangle to washboard, kokoriko and vibraslap.

Styles:
Rock, jazz, blues, country, fusion, progressive, and drum circle styles.

Music Education:
Age 10-13—school band, learned to read music, studied basic drum set and various percussion instruments, began playing to recordings
Age 14-18—school band, studied snare drum with Denver Symphony percussionist Bill Roberts, becoming advanced at rock drum set, first rock bands
Age 19-21—studied music at college (Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado)—piano
Age 22—began playing drums and percussion in church bands 
Age 24—studied jazz and Latin drumming, focused more on songwriting
Age 30 – began learning guitar and chord theory

Bands:
Denver church bands (gospel, country-rock, pop, jazz, orchestral), late 1970’s to 1990
Colorado Springs church rock, folk and worship bands, 1991-present
Manitou Springs drum circles, 1997-present
Kenny Penny Trio (country, jazz, rock, bluegrass), 1999-2000
Mighty Quinn/Luke Flowers Band (alt-rock, country-rock), 2001-03
Midnight Dawn (country), 2002
Night Shift (country, classic rock, blues), 2003-09
Cathedral Jones (classic rock, blues), 2010-13
Steve Scheller Trio (jazz), 2011-14

Teaching history  – Drum set, snare drum and hand percussion lessons

Denver area: private lessons, average one student per week, late 1970s-1990

Colorado Springs: private lessons, average one student per week, 1991-98
Graner Music, 1999-2007 – average 40 students per week
Pitt’s Drum Shop, 2007-8 – Average 35 students per week
Colorado Music Studios, 2008-11 – Average 20 students per week
GMH Studios (my home), 2012-present – Average 8 students per week
Currently looking to expand to 20 or more students per week

Part of my philosophy of music can be described as follows: “Musicians may play, but excellence in music means hard work!” For my students and myself, I try to find a good balance between work and play, between challenge and fun. I teach each student as an individual, according to their needs and desires. I tell my students, “I’ll do whatever it takes to help you reach excellence, and we’ll have a good time along the way!”

Teaching flowchart:
Stage 1: Learning to read music and playing simple snare patterns, with an emphasis on stick control, counting, and tapping foot
Stage 2: More complex music reading, snare patterns, bass drum, dynamics, accents, simple rudiments, more advanced stick control exercises 
Stage 3: Syncopation, ties, quarter/eighth/sixteenth note patterns, more complex accent patterns (snare/bass), more rudiment studies, swing/shuffle feel
Stage 4: Simple rock beats on snare/bass/cymbal (ride or closed hi-hat), playing main beats along with recordings
Stage 5: More complex rock beats, foot hi-hat, crash cymbal, bass syncopation, tom fills, playing to recordings, jamming with me (drum set/hand percussion or guitar)
Stage 6: Increasingly complex entire songs: all main beats, breaks, fills, crashes, dynamics, hi-hat splashes, half-time feel, playing to recordings, jamming with me (student on drum set, me on hand percussion or guitar)
Stage 7: Jazz beats & Latin rhythms on snare, then on drum set; playing along with recordings, jamming with me 
Hand Percussion: Depending on the student’s interest, I teach djembe, congas, bongos, percussion toys—various hand drum sounds and combinations for simple rhythmic patterns, gradually becoming more complex; also, playing along with recordings, jamming with me (hand percussion/drum set or guitar), going to drum circles

The average beginner student will reach stage 4 somewhere around 6 months to a year from starting lessons. Students who have played piano or another instrument will generally progress faster. Stages may overlap to some extent.
Also, see my drumming blog.