Aaron dilahirkan pada tanggal 26 Oktober 1976.

Kecintaannya pada musik dimulai dimulai pada saat dia

masih balita di sebuah gereja pentakosta di DC, the Church of God and Christ. Melihat dan
mendengarkan paduan suara dan pemain musik terutama pemain drum meninggalkan kesan yang
sangat mendalam bagi Aaron spears. Pertama kalinya Aaron Spears bermain drum sendiri adalah ketika
ia berumur lima tahun. Ibu Aaron Spears mendorongnya untuk mengambil kursus musik saat ia mulai
bermain drum. Selama seminggu, Aaron Spears belajar tentang rudimen dasar dengan seorang gutu,
namun ia tidak menikmatinya sehingga ia memutuskan untuk berhenti dari kursus drum tersebut. Ia
tidak mendapatkan pelatihan musik secara formal hingga SMA dimana ia bergabung dengan band jazz di
sekolahnya dan belajar membaca musik.

Perkembangan Aaron Spears sebagai pemusik sangat dipengaruhi oleh musik-musik yang banyak ia
dengarkan yaitu musik koleksi orangtuanya. Artis Gospel seperti The Winans, Commission, The Hawkins,
dan Hezekiah Walker. Selama beberapa tahun drummer dari artis – artis tersebutlah yang menjadi
makanan bagi kreatifitas dan passion dalam bermain drum.

Pada saat ia berumur kurang lebih 16 tahun, Aaron mulai mengalihkan perhatiannya pada pemain drum
groove dan jazz-fusion terbaik di dunia. Semuanya dimulai saat ia menonton video Zildjian day di New
York (1987). Permainan dengan birama ganjil dari Alex Acuña dan Vinnie Colaiuta sangat menarik
perhatiannya sehingga ia mulai mencari-cari tentang mereka, dan dalam pencariannya ini ia
menemukan pemain drum lainnya seperti Dennis Chambers, Dave Weckl, dan Steve Gadd.

Pengalaman pertama Aaron Spears dalam band adalah dengan band gerejanya dan sebuah band yang ia
miliki saat berada di SMA yaitu Butt Swear. Band gerejanya menjadi salah satu pengalaman yang sangat
penting bagi Aaron Spears saat ia bertumbuh sebagai pemain musik. Band gereja memberinya
pengalaman untuk bermain dengan band dan pendengar secara live yang sangat mirip dengan
lingkungan yang akan dijalaninya sebagai pemusik.

Setelah setahun setengah berkuliah pada Harper College di Los Angeles, Aaron Spears kembali ke DC
dan melanjutkan posisinya sebagai drummer di gerejanya dan mulai mendapatkan gig disekitar kotanya.
Cornelius Berkeley, salah satu pendiri Gideon Band mendengarkan Aaron bermain di gerejanya dan
mengajak Aaron untuk bermain drum bagi bandnya. Aaron yang pada saat itu berumur 23 tahun
menerima tawaran tersebut dan menjadi drummer tetap Gideon band. Hal ini membawa karir
bermusiknya pada level yang lebih tinggi.

After a year and half at Harper College in Los Angeles, Aaron Spears returned to DC. Upon his return,
Aaron Spears resumed his position as drummer for the church band and began doing gigs around town.
Cornelius Berkeley – one of the founders of the Gideon Band – happened to hear him play at church,
and asked Aaron Spears if he was interested in joining his band. A twenty-three years old Aaron Spears
accepted the invitation and joined the Gideon Bans as their full-time drummer. Performing with the
Gideon Band would take Aaron Spears’s drumming career to a whole new level.
In the summer of 2003, while working a 9-to-5 job at a consulting firm as an information technology
(I.T.) guy, Aaron Spears got his first major break. Gerald Heyward – a big inspiration during his early days
but a close friend later on – happened to be listening to some tracks by the Gideon Band in the presence
of Valdez Brantley – Usher’s musical director. Valdez got interested in Aaron Spears drumming and
invited him to audition for Usher’s supporting band, the Funk Rock Orchestra.

Aaron Spears, along with hundreds of other drummers, sent a video of him playing along to some Usher
songs for the audition process. Valdez, Usher and the rest of the crew ended up selecting Aaron Spears
as the drummer for the tour. Aaron Spears asked for a leave of absence from his job and went on a
world tour with Usher. When he came back, Aaron Spears actually resumed his job at the consulting
firm but was asked to join Usher on an United States (U.S.) tour soon after. Playing with Usher, and
getting called for a second run was the sign Aaron Spears needed to commit to his calling and to his
dream. Aaron Spears quit his day job and went on tour with Usher. And the rest, as you all know, is
history.

Career Highlights & Musical Projects

Since joining Usher, Aaron Spears has had the opportunity to play around the world and in some of the
most popular televised shows in the U.S. like Saturday Night Live (SNL), and the 2005 Grammy Awards
where he performed “Caught Up” with Usher and “Sex Machine” With “The Godfather of Soul” James
Brown. Aaron Spears was also nominated for a Grammy award in 2004 as a music producer, for his work
on the tracks “Superstar” and “Confessions” from Usher’s 2004 effort Confessions.

In 2006, Aaron Spears won the Modern Drummer Reader’s Poll award for “Best Up and Coming
Drummer” and took part in the Gospel Summit at the 2006 Modern Drummer Festival. Aaron’s long list
of touring and recording credits includes: Gideon Band, Chrisette Michelle, Chamilionaire, David Cook,
Joanne Rosario, Lil Wayne, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Chaka Khan, Adam Lambert, Israel
Houghton, Usher, and The Backstreet Boys. Aaron Spears has also worked with Alicia Keys, and as a
drummer for the American Idol tour.

Aaron Spears has taken a stab at the world of drumming education as well. After his performance at the
2006 Modern Drummer Festival, Aaron Spears was invited to shoot a DVD of his own. The 2-DVD Aarons
Spears – Beyond The Chops: Groove, Musicality and Technique wound up seeing the light of day in
October of 2009.

Another aspect of Aaron Spears’s career that he’s really proud off is the list of drumming endorsements
he has gathered over the years. Aaron Spears’s endorsements include Zildjian, Remo, DW, and Vic Firth
– just to name a few. These are companies Aaron Spears really sought after. He has worked with Vic
Firth to develop his own signature drumstick, and with Zildjian on the development of the “Inspiration
Pack” – a cymbal pack designed expressly for Gospel & Praise and Worship music. The cymbal pack was
created hand in hand with Aaron Spears and the Rhythm Alliance. This group of drummers that Aaron is
a part off, includes Gorden Campbell, Teddy Campbell, Gerald Heyward, Marvin McQuitty, and Nisan
Stewart.

What Can We Learn From Aaron Spears?

Obviously, the first thing we’re going to take a look at is Aarons Spears’s ability to play incredibly fast,
precise and original hand-to-feet combinations, which are linear patterns used as drum fills. He was first
exposed to this concept through the Dave Weckl‘s DVD The Next Step (1990). Dave Weckl explained this
concept in very good detail and at slow tempos. This allowed Aaron Spears to learn what Dave Weckl
was playing – stroke for stroke – and gain a deeper understanding of what it was possible to do with it.
Two good examples of where Aaron Spears has taken this concept too are the drum fills he plays at the
2006 Modern Drummer Festival and 2005 Grammy awards performances.

The secret to playing these patterns as Aaron Spears does is to take your time as you develop them.
Start out very slowly and focus on consistency and timing. You should only increase the tempo at what
you’re practicing hand-to-feet combinations once you get comfortable with the speed at what you’re
practicing them. Another thing that makes Aaron Spears’s hand-to-feet combinations so cool sounding is
his heavy use of 16th note triplets and broken rhythmic patterns. He also likes moving the first stroke of
his hand-to-feet combinations from count 1 to the off-beats. This gives them a totally different and
funky feel.

Although Aaron Spears’s whole learning experience revolved around learning drum parts from
recordings he played along to, he learned important lessons from other musicians with whom he played.
The organ player from the church band was always on Aaron Spears’s back whenever his timing was off.
He taught Aaron Spears about the importance of staying in the pocket and of playing with intention for
the music. This point is a very important one. You see, it’s easy to look at Aaron Spears’s playing, focus
on his chops and awesome sounding licks, and forget about what’s really important: the music.

Aaron Spears has made a living out of playing for the music, of focusing on what the song needs. It’s
very cool to play thunderous patterns on the drum set. But nine times out of ten you’ll be required to
play simpler stuff on the drum set, whether in a professional situation or in a band with your friends.
You can use your fancy licks here and there, but don’t use them all the time, or you’ll be fired from the
bands you’re playing with pretty quickly.

Another thing Aaron Spears’s career has shown us is the importance of being a diverse player. This has
enabled him to take part in the American Idol Tour with great success for instance. Since he had to play
music from different styles of music like rock, soul, funk, country, blues, and hip-hop, Aaron Spears had
to be very well versed in all of those styles to make the songs sound and feel as authentic as possible. If
he wasn’t already a proficient drummer in different styles of music, he wouldn’t have had the
opportunity to be part of the American Idol tour in the first place. He didn’t learn these styles on the gig.
He learned them on his own practice space and in church, during the years he developed his voice on
the drum set. So knowing how to play different styles of music can really set you apart from the majority
of drummers out there. It gives you a very broad set of colors that you can use to spice up your music,
and also help you take part in very cool gigs.

Besides the drummers we’ve talked about so far, Aaron Spears is also a big fan of Marvin McQuitty, Jeff
Davis, Omar Hakim, Tony Royster Jr., Roy Brunner, Thomas Pridgen, Stanley Randolf, Steve Smith, Billy
Cobham, Brian Frasier-Moore, Travis Barker, Papa Jo Jo

http://www.drumlessons.com/drummers/aaron-spears/nes, and Stewart Copeland amongst others.