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In Conversation with Mike Mangini: Part One

Seamus Evely  /  UPDATED Nov 21, 2023

“It exists for you because it exists.”

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You are probably familiar with Mike Mangini, drummer for Dream Theater. He’s known for his speed, independence, crazy drum setup, odd time and subdivisions, and much more. There is no doubt that he is one of the greatest drummers alive today. Whether you like his style of play or not, he is remarkable.

He is also a great teacher. He developed the renowned “Grid” system for improvisation and turned this system into a DVD pack several years ago. 

This is the first of two parts where I sat down with Mike and had a very lengthy conversation with him.

In this episode:

You will hear about…

  • How Mike felt about the original interview I had with him and why we decided to do it again
  • Why we practice
  • The importance of writing things down
  • How to manage our thoughts
  • How can practice change a person for the better
  • Creating discipline
  • Mike and his history with hockey
  • Why it is good for people to have their hobbies and passions
  • Perception
  • How our personal history can be a negative bias towards forging new paths in our lives

Why you should listen:

Mike is a very interesting person to speak with. He is deep, well read, and very scientific with his approach to things. We touch on some very compelling ideas over the course of this discussion that we can translate and apply towards many different areas of our lives.

Follow Mike:
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Facebook
YouTube
Website

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