Snare technique

MadAudio

MadAudio

Damned if I do
Note: I started this thread, um, elsewhere but didn't get much response.

So I came to the realization that I had allowed my snare work to become rather sloppy. Practically every time I hit the drum, it was a rim shot. Sounds great for hard rock, but constant rim shots eat up sticks and are generally considered bad form (unless you're Bill Bruford). So I decided to start working on my snare technique during the last band practice. It was more work than I expected. In fact, I found myself thinking about each and every snare hit. (I won't even go into this one song where in each section I hit the snare differently). But on listening back to the rehearsal recordings - and I record all our rehearsals multitrack - I find that the snare sounds better and is more consistent dynamically. And all that concentration didn't kill the groove.

Any other recovering rim shot addicts out there?
 
You get no sympathy from me....you are about 10,000 times better than I am, so put yourself in my shoes....:p
 
Yep, same here. Rim shots all the way, even when they're totally uncalled for. Trying not to gives me the same problem as you, way too much concentration!
 
Man, rimshots work in different situation than regular hits... Most pop/rock grooves needs rimshots to cut through... Now, if you wanna play some Motown-style music, you´r safer with hitting just the head...

Don´t choose between one or another, just use them both! :)
 
Dogman said:
You get no sympathy from me....you are about 10,000 times better than I am, so put yourself in my shoes....:p
Click to expand...

Humble thanks, kind sir. But you're pretty good for a noob drumber. I mean, you killed a kick pedal ferchrisakes! :D :cool:
 
JuliánFernández said:
Man, rimshots work in different situation than regular hits... Most pop/rock grooves needs rimshots to cut through... Now, if you wanna play some Motown-style music, you´r safer with hitting just the head...

Don´t choose between one or another, just use them both! :)
Click to expand...

Well said. That's the ideal. But I'm just working on the snare and dynamics in general.

The song I alluded to before is one where I specifically use rim shots in certain sections. And those sections aren't done quite the same either. Overall I think I use about 8 different kinds of snare hits with 4 of those being rim shots, each picked for its own tone.
 
Ummm ........ Rimshots?

Now why do you think I have a different attitude than most here? :)

That is a nickname that I was given many years ago because I was always cracking "one-liners" on stage (and probably some pretty bad jokes at that) so my band mates would always go : BaRump Bump" and after a while they just said: "That's Rimshot" in the back."
So it became my nickname, and I always equated it with the response to a joke.
BTW I do play rimshots once in a while as an accent, but not all the time.

Now the big problem is that because of my nickname, I get a lot of unwanted email and contact from gay men (not that there's anything wrong.............) who seem to think this nickname has another meaning.
What makes it worse is that there are some that know me by my old "riding" name which was "Bear". This also means something very different now it seems in the gay community.
I get a lot of really friggin' weird email. Some of it is pretty funny. Thank God I'm secure.

Back on topic: I have been playing a lot of practice with just a four piece kit, with hats and ride. I normally play a 6 or seven piece kit with a lot of cymbals, but I wanted to get back to basics and concentrate on snare work and the small and large toms for fills only. I'm thinking of dropping the toms all together and doing what I can with kick, snare, ride and hats. This is just for practice and I also want to hear more variety on snare in my own playing. I've always liked it, and I've prided myself in having some good rudiments, but with all of the other options we have, sometimes we do get sloppy on the basics. I have found that just doing this in practice has improved my playing on the larger kit.
 
Rimshot said:
Now why do you think I have a different attitude than most here? :)

That is a nickname that I was given many years ago because I was always cracking "one-liners" on stage (and probably some pretty bad jokes at that) so my band mates would always go : BaRump Bump" and after a while they just said: "That's Rimshot" in the back."
So it became my nickname, and I always equated it with the response to a joke.
BTW I do play rimshots once in a while as an accent, but not all the time.

Now the big problem is that because of my nickname, I get a lot of unwanted email and contact from gay men (not that there's anything wrong.............) who seem to think this nickname has another meaning.
What makes it worse is that there are some that know me by my old "riding" name which was "Bear". This also means something very different now it seems in the gay community.
I get a lot of really friggin' weird email. Some of it is pretty funny. Thank God I'm secure.

Back on topic: I have been playing a lot of practice with just a four piece kit, with hats and ride. I normally play a 6 or seven piece kit with a lot of cymbals, but I wanted to get back to basics and concentrate on snare work and the small and large toms for fills only. I'm thinking of dropping the toms all together and doing what I can with kick, snare, ride and hats. This is just for practice and I also want to hear more variety on snare in my own playing. I've always liked it, and I've prided myself in having some good rudiments, but with all of the other options we have, sometimes we do get sloppy on the basics. I have found that just doing this in practice has improved my playing on the larger kit.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I'm talking about! Very cool that you are keeping youself "on mission" so to speak. Even Neil Peart took "refresher" drum lessons just a few years ago.....
 
I've never really had problems with that... in fact, I find it harder to get rimshots just right. I started life in a marching band, though, so it was all technical snare work from the get-go. If you're looking to improve snare technique, I might suggest practicing some cadences or something. But maybe not. What do I know?

...I should never be a teacher.
 
I had that problem a while ago I was wondering why my drum recordings were sounding so bad I tried different mics, placement, compression and everything else you can think of but I finally realized it was because I wasn't hitting that snare right. I fixed this problem by drawing a black circle with a sharpy on my snare head like a target and practice my paradoodles. It makes all the difference. Don't get me wrong I do love me some rimshots though. Drumagog is my best friend though when recording other ..*ahem* not so great drummers.
 
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