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In this post I’ll lay out the different types of heads and which will be the best for you. And I have a couple of pro tips at the end for getting heads to sound great. Heads that will work on surdos, in no particular order: Goat skin heads on a wooden hoop Goat skin heads on an aluminum hoop Napa heads Inverted napa heads Plastic heads Bass drum heads   Goat skin heads tucked around a wooden hoop. This is by far the most traditional, original head.  These sound amazing. Goat skin is my favorite sound. Every samba school in Rio that I saw uses goat skin drum heads. Even though they look like plastic they are actually goat...

Life is too short to wait for your hands to warm up by playing slow. In this post I outline 5 ways I warm up my hands fast before practicing and performing. I have added photos and video to show you exactly how.

 Congratulations you just invested in a new drum! A new buddy in your future samba adventures!!! With a little bit of care and love this drum will be with you a very long time!   I’ve outlined a few tips that will help get you started: Wax the rods and nuts I hate the feeling of tuning my drum and the nut feels too stiff and hard to turn. It feels like I’m grinding metal off the bolt and messing everything up. There is a solution to this! Use a little bit of beeswax or machine oil on the rods and nuts this will lube them up allowing them to turn nice and smooth. It also prevents wear and tear...

Learn Above all else, Brazil Camp is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow. I’d recommend taking notes and audio recordings. It’s impossible to remember even half of what you’ll learn, so use tools. What matters is how much you can absorb in total. One of the things I keep learning is that 

The Essentials Water bottle Flashlight + spare batteries Clothes for a week. Don’t expect to do laundry there Shorts Nerdy T-shirts Sandals Something fancy-ish for forró night White bottoms if performing in a bateria Layers. Handle temps from 50 to 100. Phone + charger Audio recorder + spare batteries Laptop + charger Credit/debit card $40 cash per week Pens + paper for notes “Gig Bag” backpack