Are You an Organized Drummer?

Are You an Organized Drummer?
by: Dan Brown


What does it mean to be an "organized" drummer?

When your band plays a song, do you play that song the same way every time? If not, you should. Here's why...

It can all be summed up into one word called "predictability." So many drummers will never play a song the same way twice. This, many times, throws the other musicians off, potentially causing a drag in timing or increasing the chances of a mislead cue.

As the drummer in a band it is your responsiblity to provide the foundation for the music. This meaning that everything you do behind the drum kit is vital. Anything you do out of the ordinary, or something the other musicians are not used to hearing you play in a particular song really has the potential to screw things up.

Experimenting is definitely a good thing, and that's why we practice, but there just comes a time when experimenting is over. You must decide what you're gonna do and then stick to it. Never throw in something that the other musicians are not expecting or you can end up with some serious choas.

Predictability is a must! The other musicians must know what you're going to do before you do it. An outstanding drummer is predictable, prepared and organized, ready to bring his or her goods to the table. Personally, it has always bothered me when a band mate would come to play and he or she would just not be ready. Situations like that are just not fair to everyone else who is ready.

It's been said that when prepardness and opportunity meet, success occurs. I don't know what kind of "success" your hoping for, but one thing is for sure, you will more likely meet with it by being organized when opportunity knocks.
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Well, I can see where he's right and I can see where he is just as equally wrong. something too far out of the norm can cause a total train wreck for sure. I have also seen where doing something a little different can be magical. And not just when the drummer does it but from any other player in the band. I always play the tunes the same fundamentally speaking but I never try to nor would I want to play them the same beat for beat. I do something different with each tune each time I play them.

Changing up things here and there keeps some freshness in what could become quite mundane and well, "predictable". If you have to worry about tripping up fellow players because of throwing in a few reasonably applied ideas that are different from the norm, then you might want to consider playing with some different players.

Personally, I find that throwing in a little different sumn, sumn each time never allows what's done to become the norm. Therefore, the tunes are never totally predictable...

And that's the way I like it.

D.

And I am with you Don.

this article is just to general. It depends on the type of music and what it calls for. I don't know who the author is. What is his experience? Is he a 13 year old beginner or a seasoned pro. These are good suggestions for a top 40 band but not a jazz group. I think challenging the norm is usually much more interesting than playing it too safe. Again if it's an R&B band, solid is the thing. If it's some kind of jazz fusion then some experimental sections would be more interesting to listen to.

I found some brand new ways to play some tunes the other night. Then i would revert to my old way of playing it for certain sections for contrast. But it is a band i have total freedom to create the grooves and not on someone else's pecking order. It's my band as much as my partners' and we trust each other's abilities to make it sound the best we can with out limiting ourselves. That goes for tempos. Some tempos were alot faster and it worked great. We had a guy sit in on guitar who didn't know the tunes at all. I had it in mind to have him solo on a few simpler sections. Well he has such an ear and expertise in chords and rhythm that he added so much depth and made us sound more interesting than we ever have. So it probably takes more guts to be experimental than otherwise. i know what i'm gonna do when i get up there. I'm gonna push my limits as an improviser and groove player appropriately in my own estimation and make them work for the benefit of the whole. that's organised. it depends on the situation and not on generic jargon on what is right and wrong in music.

Experimenting is definitely a good thing, and that's why we practice, but there just comes a time when experimenting is over. You must decide what you're gonna do and then stick to it. Never throw in something that the other musicians are not expecting or you can end up with some serious choas. this is just fearmongering tactics by the government
This is for a drummer who would like a steady gig and not as interested in musical development and variation from the norm.

Here is where I got it from, Kenny and Don.

http://drummers1.homestead.com/

I agree with you on all counts except this statement, Kenny:

"These are good suggestions for a top 40 band but not a jazz group."

These suggestions are no more better for a top 40 or R&B band than they are for
a jazz band.

I always play the tunes the same fundamentally speaking
D

I would have to comment along that train of thought D describes. Fundamentally is, I think, key to actually imporvise, if I may, on tunes that are repeated in a band. I play that way and always anchor the fundamental feel; my muscial colleagues have had no problems with that over the years. But then, they could be just being nice to me lol!

But we need to consider the other musicians - are they compatible for that kind of changes? Well, there are bands I've played with that hav'nt had much experience in playing, yet when I apply this concept , holding the basic foundation to a repeated song, all seems to work well minus the train wrecks one might anticipate.

me,

Rac

D. Slam wrote:I agree with you on all counts except this statement, Kenny:

"These are good suggestions for a top 40 band but not a jazz group."

These suggestions are no more better for a top 40 or R&B band than they are for
a jazz band.

i hear you. If there was a style of music i wanted to remain rock solid and not try to throw any curveballs at the band R&B comes to mind. Or a band that i had to duplicate something as close to the original like top 40 covers.

Kenny, I like that Bulkan music the way you groove it. Personally, I prefer the cd recording over the Youtube sound.

This music, is it birth from some kind of polka?

I think you could have come out stronger on the Youtube recordings. Would that be due to the way the band intended it? I think your playing has a good sense of anchoring (holds it all down).

racman

Main question:
You seem to be very predictable and I say that in a positive sense. That's an art in and of itself. Be surprise how many drummers can't maintain a steady unwavering groove...you've got it man and I like it.

So how do you maintain that kind of steadiness? Does that approach of playing ( on the job-site) continue an entire evening or do you break it up at times due to possible fatique or plain boredom.?

Please share a reply...

Thank you,
racman

I don't think it was birthed from a polka 2/4 pronounced poka. but they may be related in some sense. For one thing the balkans are very diverse that would be from roumania to bulgaria south to greece. the rhythms 2/4 3/4 4/4 5/8 7/8 11/8 12/8 13/8 15/8 25/8 are all very technical in the way they are played. there is also room for some variation and improvisation within the framework. so i basically have to keep steady with the pulse or count of the particular pattern I am using for the particular tune. Each tune has it's own set of rules like indian music. but i am not Rroma, bulgarian, serbian, albanian nor macadonian, croatian, thracian, roumanian either. So i am going to have my own slant on it as any other outsider to the music would meaning, i wasn't brought up with the music and don't know it as well. so if i am doing a bulgarian 7/8 rachenitza that is broken up 2-2-3 = 1212123 = b.s.b.s = bass2-snare4-bass6snare. And i can't let up on tempo it may actually gain speed which it is often supposed to do. But i can begin to substitute sounds maybe play a measure of all bass accents. I have to be a servant of the dancers and they depend on hearing the groove so i have to make it obvious what is going on to keep them happy or i'm out of a nice gig with good food!! And keep myself interested by changing things up without losing the groove. if you listen to traditional Greek music you will hear the odd meters which is the basis of much of it along with turkish, middle east influences and around thereabouts. It's just groups of 3s and 2s

With Respect to you Spanky, I do not subscribe to playing predictably. Each time I approach a piece of music, I deploy skills from the repertoire and treasure.

Music is meant to exude a "mood" and not a methodology. It changes because we are human with emotions.

Hence, I play intuitively. It might sound the same based upon elements, but the molecules are ever evolving.

With Respect,

Suss!

P.S. The core here is that you have enough stuff in your heart (and skills in your hands/feet & even soul) to draw from the Treasure Trove.

I just put it up there Suss, so that it could be talked about, those are not my words, I think that Don gave a great answer.

For me it really depends on the situation and how comfortable you are with the other musicians. I think there is a time and place to not rock the boat and adhere to the set principles of the music at hand. like if my notes are part of the engine of the entire group sound I want it to be steady. Sometimes minimilism is key to the proper feel and not filling it up like an orchestral piece plays what's written and no more. If i am backing up someone who is paying me to be steady and wants no frills and fills then i will do my best to accomodate that. You just never know when that gig will show up where your own creativity has to take a backseat to being strict accompanyment. You can learn from that and it's good to be able to do that too. i don't have to push my musical agenda on every situation because i have ample opportunity to do that in other situations. It may be one of the more important lessons to learn as a professional. To be appropriate. It's like hiring a funk bassist that doesn't play the proper roots of the chords and it doesn't sound right. You want the guy that makes everything sound tight for that situation and earn the right to be creative after a solid repoire is created, quite possibly not on the first gig. time and place. Sometimes it's a job and you play straight take the money and put it towards your real musical aspirations. if i'm playing free jazz that doesn't apply as much. sometimes your ability to play fancy and go out on a limb is the most appropriate. So the article is limited and possibly misleading by not taking into account style.

D. Slam wrote:Well, I can see where he's right and I can see where he is just as equally wrong. something too far out of the norm can cause a total train wreck for sure. I have also seen where doing something a little different can be magical. And not just when the drummer does it but from any other player in the band. I always play the tunes the same fundamentally speaking but I never try to nor would I want to play them the same beat for beat. I do something different with each tune each time I play them.

Changing up things here and there keeps some freshness in what could become quite mundane and well, "predictable". If you have to worry about tripping up fellow players because of throwing in a few reasonably applied ideas that are different from the norm, then you might want to consider playing with some different players.

Personally, I find that throwing in a little different sumn, sumn each time never allows what's done to become the norm. Therefore, the tunes are never totally predictable...

And that's the way I like it.

D.

Yes! I agree Spanky! Don's perspective is the same as mine when it comes to being organized behind the kit. It's called cohesive and seamless (as in being where one is musically, but knowing where one is going).

And yes again! We're discussing the issue without being argumentative. I love it.

In response to Kenny's last post:

The post that Spanky put up has nothing to do with playing more, playing less, playing fills or not playing fills. According to my understanding, the author promotes playing tunes the same every time with no deviation... If you did a drum fill 8 bars into the tune last night, then make sure you do the same thing tonight. No, It doesn't work like that for me. Of course if I am hired for an engagement and this is what the leader wants, then I have no problem with that. But I NEVER set behind the drum with the mindset that I must play a particular tune exactly the way I played it on the previous date with THAT particular band.

I like what Uncle John said:

"Music is meant to exude a "mood" and not a methodology. It changes because we are human with emotions.
Hence, I play intuitively. It might sound the same based upon elements, but the molecules are ever evolving."


And that is my general approach and thought process every time I sit down to play. Personally, I have given myself the liberty of distancing myself from players who cannot handle this... I don't have time to babysit when I play... If you're not up for it and a fill that you haven't heard before is gonna make you freak then you shouldn't have been on the stage in the first place.

Playing with players that are technically and artistically beneath you and harvest the attitude of not caring to expand their musical horizons, I have found will not pull them up but will pull you down.

I just don't have the time to accommodate these so calls..

If you want to be a musical success then copy those who are musically successful. You don't see Billy, chick or John M. playing with artistic upstarts. They step out on the stage with voices that are capable of speaking the required language and communicating the desired message.

When you step in the house (BEFORE you even make it to the stage) you step in ready to play.... Go hard or go home!

I ain't got the time!!!!

D.

I may be deviating from the author's perspective. I don't think i could play a tune the same way twice. I guess my point is, I don't have to be the one doing the improvising for certain tunes or styles of music. Like sometimes the balkan and ethnic music i like to play is full tilt full of notes as it is. It's actually hard to improvise and maybe uncalled for when playing that fast and so precise, it already feels full and that's just the basic. So on the balkan tunes i may very well play them the same way everytime without really planning on doing so. It is a set way of accompanyment so the lead solo instrument CAN improvise with more assurance he will have a steady backdrop to build off of. But it's true i am always searching for ways to add or subtraCT AND SUBSTITUTE notes and fancy it up even more so I guess i will go back to my original assertation that the guy doesn't know what he's talking about. But i think it's true that I basically look for what i am going to play on a basic level and try to recreate that (with some styles of music not all) but certainly not in some sterile military way. Is that what he is talking about? like a drum corps you play the same thing exactly the same way as rehearsed and there isn't really room to improvise is there? I'm talking about music that is basically played from the written page. I certainly would have alot of difficulty trying to recreate note for note jazz on drumset because my nature is to approach it much freer. That is what i think works for that particular style. I think I'm a more improv minded or melodic player because my core belief is to try to be musical and not straightjacketed. I guess it's all in what you consider to be musical in the first place. Some people see it as written on a page to copy. And sometimes that is a place to start. but i would hate to have to do that personally.