Extreme Polyrhythm, Coordination & Speed Techniques | Alex Cohen & Ramon Montagner

Alex Cohen & Ramon Montagner are two of the most in-demand drummers in the world today. Join Brandon as he discusses Alex & Ramon's careers & pedagogy, and even watch them perform live!
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:33 - Etude No. 1 - Jacques Delecluse (Performance)
05:10 - Welcome
06:15 - Extreme Polyrhythm, Coordination & Speed Techniques (Book)
08:30 - Ramon Montagner Techniques
19:51 - How I Use The Cajon And Apply It To Music
21:05 - Entretantos E Finalmente - Guilherme Ribeiro (Performance)
32:11 - Alex Cohen Techniques
33:14 - Drum Solo - Alex Cohen
40:58 - Drum Solo Analysis
43:40 - How To Develop These Techniques
47:12 - Final Thoughts
48:35 - Solo No. 7 - Anthony Cirone (Performance)
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Follow Ramon Montagner:
►KZbin: ‪@RamonMontagner‬
►Instagram: / ramonmontagner
►Facebook: / ramon.montagner.1
Follow Alex Cohen:
►KZbin: ‪@AlexcohenNYC‬
►Instagram: / alexcohendrumsnyc
►Facebook: / alexcohendrums
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#Drumeo #RamonMontagner #AlexCohen

[@FernandoCuadro]

Finally ramon should appeared in drumeo like 10 years ago, he is on a whole another level, literally, and deserves to be among the very best.

[@LeandroOlavarria]

Los hermanos brasileros son los reyes de las percusiones! Nadie, absolutamente nadie los supera. Siempre admiré a sus músicos. Saludos desde Argentina 🫂

[@DimitriFantini]

Ramon has more grace in one hand that I have my entire body!! And Alex Cohen has developed his polyrhythmic coordination further than I thought possible! Hugely proud of both these guys :)

[@JigsHidalgoMusic]

LESSONS. Just joking! good to see you here!

[@DimitriFantini]

@@JigsHidalgoMusic hahahah nice try!! 🤣

[@johelectrix7927]

There we go

[@RamonMontagner]

thank you Dimitri! 🥁🥢😘🙏

[@andreimatheus5282]

​@@RamonMontagnerIncrível, Ramon. Sua técnica e musicalidade são "top notch" como os norte-americanos dizem. Uma inspiração!

[@PaoloGiovanoli]

Wait, _another_ Brazilian highly skilled drummer!

[@colmiaz]

Ramon's technique is crazy! No wonder Eloy Casagrande is a partner on his school, these dudes are drum monsters!

[@RamonMontagner]

thanks bto! Eloy is a monster! 🥁🥢😘🙏

[@davino108]

Alot of Thomas lang influenced as well as mangini

[@hbaboris]

I was lucky enough to watch Ramon playing Jazz on a small pub nearby my city... we have amazing drummers in Brazil once we have a lot of different rhythms in a single place....

[@SmangItDrums]

I’m incredibly proud to see these two on stage together. It was a pleasure working with Alex on notating and editing his new book with Ramon. Both of these two are ahead of their time with their concepts and techniques. Ramon’s grace and control in one hand destroy what I can do in my entire body, and Alex’s multi-limb independence and slide doubles on the feet are beyond exceptional. Great work, you guys!

[@AlexcohenNYC]

👊🤘🙌🙏

[@BrandonToews]

You guys are crazy! Thanks for the great lesson, Alex and Ramon!

[@RamonMontagner]

thanks Brsndon! An honor to be there!

[@AlexcohenNYC]

You’re the best Brandon!

[@AlessandroCorazzaCA]

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one making a face like you at 13:00 -- watching these guys makes me feel like I only understood 10% of how drums are supposed to be played.

[@aylexmusic]

Two of my biggest inspirations in technique. Alex has some of the most insane coordination of any human being I've ever seen. I'm really hoping Ramon's popularization of push-pull revolutionizes the drumming community as a whole. Imagine if push-pull was taught in the formative years of the greats we know today!!!

[@liamglasel]

Alex is one of the most underated modern drummers around, disgusting good technique, skill, speed and creativity. Truely someone who deserves to be at the front teaching 👏

[@thelobster7277]

These guys need their own episode each, absolutely incredible and both very different styles

[@davidbalan6571]

Alex and Ramon put together an incredibly creative book that is sure to keep drummer busy in the practice year to come .

[@NickMach007]

This is mind blowing! Both of these guys are insanely talented.

[@cassianobatera]

Que show o Ramon na Drumeo! Parabéns e sucesso em sua vida! Abriram a porteira dos bateristas brasileiros. Há muitos bateristas fantásticos no Brasil assim como o Montagner: Kiko Freitas, Lilian Carmona, Edu Ribeiro, Celso Almeida, Cuca Teixeira, Alex Buck, Erivelton Silva, Márcio Bahia, Nenê, Rafael Barata, Mauricio Zottarelli, Tutty Moreno, Rogério Pitomba... São só alguns nomes aqui no Brasil. Parabéns Drumeo!

[@bateroazul7]

Aquiles y Eloy ... Máquinas

[@NegoClau]

Tem que chamar o João Barone. Certeza que seria uma aula e tanto...

[@andreimatheus5282]

Gostaria de ver o Bruno Valverde e o Betto Cardoso!

[@MatthiasKnorrMusic]

Absolutely amazing, astonishing, creative techniques to see, hear and practice.

[@eletrobatera]

Cara, eu acompanho o Ramon a muitos anos, tenho um cajon signature dele, conheço as técnicas do pushpull a muitos anos, e é um orgulho enorme ver o destaque que ele ganhou, e ainda mostrando a riqueza do samba, bossa nova para outros estilos brasileiros... Parabéns Ramon...

[@TomatePasFraiche]

Ramone’s (incredible) technique reminds me a lot of pick slanting on guitar when slight relaxed thumb and wrist movement and rotation combined will help you get through strings in full alternate picking, increasing your speed significantly

[@davidespinosa1910]

Absolutely -- the techniques are *very* similar ! Ramon wasn't talking about forearm rotation, but he clearly does it.

[@SkepticalTeacher]

I don't understand this tendency in the drumming community to constantly slag other drummers off in the comments, especially when they are women (not applicable in this particular case). It's really pathetic and immature. We should all be supporting each other. 🥁 🪘 🛢 🥁

[@andreimatheus5282]

Yep. I agree. Maybe some of the folks - trools?! - on comment section don't understand or just don't care about community. They're living in their own world of fantasy or something like that. What a shame though!

[@lajeanette33]

As a female drummer, thank for saying that!

[@AlexcohenNYC]

Agreed. Great to see the sense of community here.

[@Mike-rw2nh]

Exactly the same in the guitar community too. I maintain that if you need ‘Gentlemen’s bits’ to play your instrument well, then you’re doing it wrong, horribly wrong.

[@doctorjames4245]

Make me a sandwich

[@DrewMusicYT]

Go Alex! Between the limb independence and polyrhythm concepts, plus Ramon's techniques .. I think it's back to the practice room for me for a good few decades 😅

[@jilips]

Both Ramon and Alex are absolute animals on the kit

[@yvesbgs1]

Hey Admin! Drumeo! Please consider bringing Kiko Freitas to this chanel. He is one the best drummers in Brazil, very important to us and the drumming community. He had classes with Dave Weckl and Dave himself recently talked about him. Absolute monster in polyrithm

[@10mortax]

Alex cohen. His freestyling is amazing in this video. I haven't seen him on any other videos and I don't really know either of these 2 gentelmen but they are blowing me away.

[@fixe6936]

This Ramon Montagner, ist just amazing. For me he is topping all the drummers known from the past. Probably now one of the best and most creative drummer in world.

[@rodrigolifestyle3024]

Nós bateristas Brasileiros estamos bem representados , parabéns Ramon, levando o ritmo do Brasil para o mundo.

[@RamonMontagner]

❤

[@ldsbatera]

Realmente é um grande orgulho! Que trabalho fantástico!

[@ssutton4455]

Man, a high speed camera would be a nice tool to add to the studio if you could pull the video off it fast enough for the live shows. This is a fantastic collection of ideas and I'd love to see the high speed on some of this to understand it better

[@c73mr0ck]

Amazing episode - I’ve been a major fan of Alex for many years and Ramon, just recently. Great work guys!!

[@JigsHidalgoMusic]

Ramon Montagner, finally! Thank you Drumeo!

[@gildevanalves3813]

Já pensou, as mãos do Ramon e os pés do Alex em uma só pessoa? Dois bateras do momento!!!!

[@davidhoffmann345]

He is called Thomas Lang

[@DavidCornejomusic]

Yay! Congrats to Alex and Ramon, this is awesome!

[@syno9211]

This absoulety amazing, wow. Mind is blown. I love this type of sound and playing

[@thenecessitarian]

Ramon is a living legend

[@JhonataBatera1989]

Ramon Montagner é uma referência pra mim e um orgulho para nós músicos Brasileiro. Obrigado por levar e representar a nossa classe no maior canal de bateria do mundo!

[@_Helm_]

Stunned. I'm not even a drummer and the universe of textures and sounds by mr Montagner has me reeling. Extremely inspiring and I haven't even gotten to mr Cohen yet!

[@phils_fills]

Was lucky enough to watch Alex Cohen perform with Malignancy this year and talk to him afterwards. He absolutely blew me away with the controlled chaos that is his drumming and was such a nice person to talk to. He actually invited me to come backstage with him and grab a beer. Such an awesome drummer and a super friendly guy as well!

[@gabrielveloso6673]

Beautiful to watch...

[@jinshootingstar]

Alex, I'm so proud of you as a friend! Fly high, king!

[@AlexcohenNYC]

❤

[@CaeSharp]

Been waiting for this appearance. Drumeo and Ramon really make this push and pull approach accessible. Immagine knowing that this is possible as a beginner, and being able to practice this from the start! I think it will change drumming alot.

[@waguin7042]

Nobody's play samba and bossa nova so fast than Ramon in the world.

[@10mortax]

Ramon montagner is amazing I could never do what he does with one hand.

[@brandondrummechanics]

Incredible power and control from both. Loved this

[@AlequisLeiteBatera]

Ramon!!!! Ficou muito feliz ❤

[@aMan-or9ij]

My favorite Drumeo episode EVER!

[@lajeanette33]

As soon as he played than on hand samba on the hats with clave accented i was hooked! Got to master that technique 🤯🤩

[@Mulukkis]

Some mindblowing hand technique right here!

[@bobweber4140]

This was fantastic wow thankyou so much

[@FLAMANGO12123]

Wow! Outstanding, lovely as always Ramon, congrats my brother!

[@timmannchicken]

Ramon's explanation of the push/pull and side to side actually helps me understand how Estepario Siberano's technique, because he uses both of these styles.

[@Itsmetonyp]

Can y’all do a “Genius of Carl Palmer” video? He never gets the recognition he deserves in great drummer conversations.

[@ultrafloss492]

I love this!!! Thanks very much!!

[@simondoAF]

Alex rules, great to see this finally out

[@wolowolowolo]

This Drumeo episode is absolutely amazing!!!!

[@SammyMakepeace]

That was a sick solo by Alex, especially the hands over the flammed kicks section

[@SammyMakepeace]

I take it back, most of it was unreal and super fun to listen to despite how complex it must actually be on paper

[@AlexcohenNYC]

@@SammyMakepeacethank you!

[@FLAMANGO12123]

I love Ramon he's a Brazilian like me but I'm just learning though!

[@brabadrums]

Parabéns Ramon!!!

[@tommyleanza510]

Mind bending technique! Just amazing!

[@williamkjwilliamkj1815]

Nicely done! Wow!

[@kiqdrums]

Ramon is such a great master, always killing it! Also, would be great to watch Bruno Valverde here. ♥

[@AlvaroLopez1]

Ramon Drum-God Montagner finally on Drumeo - yeeeeeeeah ❤

[@zacharyseibert4526]

Incredible.

[@jceedrummer]

Insane!!

[@vredeedam9194]

Insane, amazing that intro. What am i doing on my set? Learn. Nice to see such great possibilities and challenges

[@Diegoopaula]

Ramon 😮😮😮😮🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@tormento_666]

man ramons dynamics and sound is just 🤌🤌👌👌 beautiful is an understatement

[@siemydi1]

Great stuff

[@taz9609]

FINALLY!!!! @Estepario watch and ducking learn!

[@rossalves-un6yb]

Two genius beats 💙💙

[@IPseudolikianI]

13:17 i start shaking my body 😂😂😂

[@ThoccSeek]

epic duo!

[@mightydook]

Fuggin amazing 🤯

[@user-vy6qm8kc6c]

This is insane 🤯

[@dudeduder2006]

This is next level.

[@danielegruppioni1029]

Questi Fenomeni 👏sono nati... GIÀ Drummer!!! 👋

[@jchope777]

Just WOW.

[@NegoClau]

Tá na hora de o pessoal da Drumeo fazer uma turnê pelas escolas de samba no RJ e em SP, de preferência trazendo mestres de banda de fanfarra pra fazer uma comparação entre esses estilos.

[@dicer250]

Никогда, ничего подобного не видел за всю свою барабанную жизнь!

[@donnava2189]

Nuts!!! 🤯🤯🤯

[@WxkR]

Well . . . the old debate: technique for the sake of music on the one hand, and technique for its own sake on the other. I do admire the limb independence Cohen has achieved but a lot of his playing sounds like calisthenics. Ramon plays music while expanding the technical possibilities of the instrument. A master.

[@aylexmusic]

TBF most of the stuff doesn't *directly* translate, but the indirect translation is what's important. Playing crazy stuff like patterns in 11 on the left side and 13 on the right or something isn't something you'll hear on the radio, but the contribution to limb independence something THAT mentally taxing provides is insane. He plays some killer metal drums in actual musical context.

[@WxkR]

@@aylexmusic I do not disagree, and think Cohen’s presentation would’ve benefited from a more musically contextualizad performance (a metal/progressive track as you mention). However, we could also be questioning Montagner’s push-pull technique applicability if he had not developed it to the point he has. Maturity is a big factor here and I’m not sure if it’s only bc Montagner has worked longer on his ideas or because he more consciously and explicitly links them to a rhythmic tradition. That aside, I see now a bunch of talented drummers working on the direction set by people like Harrison, Minnemann, and Hessler. Cohen is among them, so I do not see a contribution as substantial from him as the one I see from Montagner whose technical contribution is acknowledged even by the most accomplished Brazilian drummers. I can see his pull-push technique becoming a “requirement” for the next generation of drummers, regardless of genre.

[@timsabepieczynski7051]

Awesome

[@matthewabbott6263]

My brain just exploded 🤯

[@fredrikio]

I love the look on Brandon's face around 11m20s in. I think I shared the very same sense of awwwww in :D Thank you again for all the great content, Drumeo! Nothing else comes even close.

[@ethancurtis4567]

Oh my god the awesome creative ideas u could come up with if all ur limbs could do fast 16ths n buzz rolls individually. I wanna learn this so bad, but my god the technique practice is painful when ur not even close 😂. Baby steps i guess😅. So inspiring!

[@MarceloFreitasbatera]

Monsters!

[@crpope10]

So many grips!

[@philipmorris57]

What a chancer ,he's making it up as he goes along 👏 😮😢😂❤

[@gadymarcus2362]

Bello.💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@bismaarioseno9420]

10:13 holy moly

[@tobiasralphdrums2758]

Soo ridiculous!!🤯🤯🤯

[@julesdrums6167]

This shit is revolutionary

[@CamiloMoyaBaterista]

Cool

[@pttroe8142]

Holy shmokes! That was insane! How is that even possible. Back to 60 bpm for me.😂

[@StuartJrBarrett]

Excellent video with plenty of vital information.

[@_theporkchopexpress]

Would really love to see Rory O’Connor from Tycho on this channel.

[@janzedwicksantos6015]

I also try using cahoon as my drum throne when I need to practice and my drum throne broke.

[@bruford911]

13:15 hosts face represents us mere mortals

[@adityatyagi4009]

All I gotta say ... holy fucking shit!

[@metallurgico]

this is super sayan level of drumming and THAT's the Danny Carey signature ride cymbal

[@neaituppi7306]

I would imagine a drummer playing with two sticks in each hand. I didn't know if it could actually be done. 14:07

[@szymekhordyczko9735]

Wow 😲😳 👋👋👋👋👋

[@mttgilmore5]

Wow! Well, I thought I knew how to play drums.😢

[@vhdrummer]

Always appreciative of any knowledge shared in the community thank you 🤝🏾🥁🙏🏾🤍