Bill Bruford is still learning. To those who consider him a god in the field of drumming and percussion, and one of the most innovative musicians in a genre — progressive rock — known for pushing the envelope, hearing that might come as a surprise.

Then again, if you know musicians, rarely do you find one who takes his craft seriously that thinks they know everything.

Recently, Bruford (photo at right by Paul Pugliese), who made a name for himself with Yes and then spent 25 years — not consecutively — with King Crimson, talked with me about his 40 years in music for a Q&A that will appear in the June 20 issue of Goldmine. A good portion of that interview did not fit in the print issue, so I thought you all might like to read a bit more of it. And if you're good, I'll let you read a little of the extra stuff in more upcoming blogs.

So, for a preview of what's coming in the print version of Goldmine, I offer you this, a sampling of quotes from Bruford about his time with Yes, his Earthworks project and how he developed his unique drumming style.

Regarding Yes, he was asked about fitting in with such a stellar cast of musicians, and rightly, he pointed out that in the beginning, Yes' musicianship (outside of bassist Chris Squire) wasn't so stellar.

"What stellar cast of musicians?" asked Bruford. "Jon couldn't play anything, and that left Chris. A guitarist called Clive Bailey wasn't going to set the world on fire. We didn't really get going 'til Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman signed on a couple of years in. I didn't ask what anybody wanted from the drummer, and there was no blueprint. We were all just making this up as we went along, an admirable 'modus operandi' which we could use a whole lot more of today. I'm all for fewer instruction books."

Being the self-taught genius he is, Bruford never had any use for textbooks.

"I'm a self-taught drummer," says Bruford, "and, along with perhaps (Phil) Collins, (Stewart) Copeland, and the guy from the Chili Peppers (Chad Smith), perhaps the last of a do-it-yourself breed. We made it up from the stuff we heard on our record players and found lying in the street. I cobbled together a mish-mash of attitudes from Joe Morello (odd-meters), Art Blakey (sound, forward drive), Max Roach (effortless command, no wasted notes, cool as a cucumber, maximum of restraint, minimum of fuss), and some Ginger Baker, and brought that to the table. Seemed to go down OK. Now, drumming is pretty sophisticated, and it may well be best to have a good teacher make sure at least that you're not going about things the wrong way. The danger with my method was of falling into terrible habits on the set that would inhibit me further down the line. To this day, I have the classic amateur's technique — I know some fancy stuff, but I also have a lot of holes in my basic knowledge."

To learn more about what Bruford is up to these days, visit www.billbruford.com. Stay tuned to www.goldminemag.com for a podcast interview with Bruford and a review of the Bruford DVD "Rock Goes To College."