Sometimes the HARDest sonG is tHe eAsiEst bEaT, Huh?

I look at some of the most complex songs out there and think how could I ever play some of this stuff but you break it down and all of a sudden it starts to make sense and you learn the song in small increments (pending your level of playing of course). If you want to play something with double bass drum you need to know how to play your kicks first. OK, so let's take a few of my many fav drummers like Neil Peart (Rush), and Robb Reiner of Anvil. Both these guys like many of the drummers that I look up to have an amazing talent for being unique, great chops and have speed whenever they need it. These guys just smoke when it comes to playing and it is a real challenge just trying to keep up with what the hell they are actually doing on their kit.
So let's look at the opposite of those 2 types of drummers for a second and who are equally as good but in a very different way. Phil Rudd of ACDC and Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones. These guys don't play buzz rolls and play drum fills wherever they can or see fit and that is not a slight against Neil or Robb. Their style of music in those bands fits how they play their fills.
What I am getting at here is when you watch a band like ACDC or The Rolling Stones, the rhythym section is incredibly solid, tight, they don't falter of laying down that back beat and just feeling the groove.
Now go out to a bar and check out some bands that cover this same material to see how they play those same songs. It amazes me to see these drummers adding in all types of drum fills and jazzing up a song when the rest of the band plays it the same as the original song. It is really hard to just sit there and play a song all the way through just holding down a back beat with no fills and just feeling the groove. At some point you itch to just throw in some fills here and there. Maybe it is because you get restless, bored, don't know what else to do, feel you need to contribute more to the song perhaps.
Have you ever just sat down with a click track, thrown on the headphones and laid down a back-beat and just listened to how you are playing it, how it sounds, feels, where is the groove. You will be amazed at what you hear and how it can be improved and in the end how good it will sound and it is just a beat, no fills. Remember it being "just a beat" can be as simple or as complex as you want but in the end if it is repetitive and no fills it is a beat. Try playing the beat for Rosanna by Toto over and over again with no fills. Here is the drum score to it. Once you click on the link choose Toto and then the song Rosanna to get the sheet music. Remember to feel and groove every beat that you play. Stay tuned or go phlat ........

General Drumming Tips

General Drumming Tips

Acoustic bassdrum + Technology

Over the last year or so I have been experimenting with the Roland TDW-20 series digital drumkit. I love the sounds that this monster has and if you have the time you can get almost any sound that you can imagine. The way you play and get inspired completely changes just like going from a monster drumkit with double bassdrum to a little 4 or 5 piece jazz kit. You get inspired to play completely different. There are however a few things missing from the digital over an acoustic drumkit. When you hit a bassdrum, there is an air movement from within the drum that resonates outwards that you feel. It hits you in the gut but it feels good, hell yeah! With digital the sound is there but the air movement is not.
What does any of this have to do with acoustic + technology you might ask?

Well I just aquired an acoustic black Sonor 18" x 16" Force maple shell bassdrum. When you hear the sound this makes it gives you chills, lots of punch with great overtones but wouldn't it be great to combine that sweet sound with some nice layers of a much deeper bassdrum. Well I also just bought a Roland RT-10K trigger (pic to the right). Man this this is awesome and simplistic to use. It just clips to the inside rim of the bassdrum and you adjust the sensitivity on the brain and works with the TDW-20 brain. It also now allows me to have that feel of the real bassdrum plus that awesome sound that comes out of it as well as allowing me to add whatever bassdrum sound I want to add from the digital TDW-20 brain. Now I can layer whatever other sounds that I want with this acoustic bassdrum. You get the best of both worlds all wrapped up in todays technology. The possibilities are truly endless when you combine both into a drumkit. Back in the 80s there were never really these options that you could choose from or at least not very good options. Today if you do not embrace what is in the marketplace you might just get left behind depending on what or who you are playing with.
Some drummers might never require this technology for their sound but what harm does it do to just know that this exists in the event that you might need this someday. You only become way more versatile with your own unique sound. Man this is really cool!!!!!!!
Stay tuned or go phlat ........

Making a cover song your own

The band that I currently play with has a few "disco" type songs in their repertoire. I've never been a fan of that type of music and run from it if given the chance. Playing drums makes it hard to run away! I had to learn a few songs this week and had a hard time getting into the groove. I think it is due to the fact of not liking what I was learning and the songs that I was learning were very straight forward so it wasn't really a challenge playing these disco songs but I do believe that you should put 100% into whatever you play or don't play it. I had to find my groove for these songs so I looked to one of my idols to see how he pulled some of these grooves off. Jeff Porcaro was one of my first choices. This guy has an unbelievable list of dudes that he has played with and makes whatever he plays sound good, how?

 

Some drummers have that very unique style of finding that groove in any song, adding some subtle changes to a regular beat and all of a sudden that rhythm section just sounds killer. Jeff used to add in ghost strokes on his snaredrum in between a regular beat and it makes all the difference in the world. I mean you can always add in some phat drum fills that you just feel in the groove but what else could you do if the song is that easy to play and you feel bored ......

If you are a right handed drummer, try playing left handed. Do the entire beat playing on the hi-hat with your left hand. Start all your drum fills with your left hand. In theory all drummers should know how to do this but let's face it, most drummers don't switch back and forth from left to right handed.
I find that if you feel bored during a song it will come across in your playing and as the backbone to any band, what you do will bring the whole band down.

Experiment with several ways of playing songs that you just can't get into to find that special something in every song that peaks your interest. Remember as a drummer you are the driving force behind every band so own the beat and make it your own. Stay tuned or go phlat ........

Feeling like listening to something different?

I always like to put my ipod on shuffle of all songs and all artists so that you never actually know what your going to get when you turn it on. It's like a little surprise at every song that starts and I have a lot of songs.

When you hear the words "flamenco" what do you think of? I don't normally listen to flamenco but on this occasion it played on the ipod so I listened to it. I find it very interesting how quickly music can lift your spirits. I decided for the day to listen to the Gypsy Kings to see how it affected my mood. With the music being so upbeat I found it hard to lose that overall good mood, not that I tried too hard! I thought I would then try to see how easy it was to pick up playing this music on the drums. Some things are easier than they seem. The beats were fine to pick up but it totally relies on the feel / rhythm to make these songs what they are and that was the hard part.To feel the rhythm and get into that groove it takes more than a quick listen. You really need to immerse yourself in that rhythm if you want to do it really well.

It still amazes me how some things sound and look so easy until you actually go to mimic that style. These guys are truly amazing musicians in everything that they deliver, and they do it with such class. You don't have to like the style of music but rather just appreciate it for what it is.
Take today to listen to something new, live on the edge, how did it make you feel?
Stay tuned or go phlat ........