F
fenix
New member
Dave52 said:
This thread topic is making a generalization about mainstream drummers. Thus, my comment was made with respect to the lack of MAINSTREAM wankers.
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This thread topic is making a generalization about mainstream drummers. Thus, my comment was made with respect to the lack of MAINSTREAM wankers.
F
firby
New member
I play a four piece gretsch kit. The drums are high quality with thin maple shells and cast hoops. With good gear you will find that you can get a lot of different sounds out of every drum. The same is true with cymbals. That whole kit is stocked up with high quality Istanbul cymbals and a real thin WuHan china that I have collected over the years. I can really burn on that kit in about every style.
I am of the type 'jazz drummer' college trained and generally fall into those stereotypes. I hear alot of drummers talking about getting new gear to get a different sound, but in there stick bags they have 12 pairs of the same type of sticks. I have brushes, wooden hot sticks, wooden hot sticks with duck tape cut in half and wrapped one inch from the end, and every thing from a 4a to a 5b, somthing in between with nylon tips, yarn mallets and a violin bow.
Furthermore, I can nail a rimshot on any drum in the set at anytime with either hand, I play heel up or heel down depending on the volume level. I will raise my seat and lower my kit for some gigs in order to hear better and sometimes play another custom set that I own that has five toms if the music really demands it.
I like a small kit for most gigs because I don't want the saxophone player walking out with the woman that I have been wooing when I am packing up my 11th floor tom. Also, some bar owners are dicks and are chasing you out as soon as the lights turn up at last call.
I think that big sets are all that at the right occasion. But I and the other people I studied with/friends all snicker when we see a huge expensive drum set and the drummer is smashing away and dragging shit or rushing it too much on the chorus or whatever. No matter what your kit you have got to be proficient and it helps to be humble because there is often a really big fish in the crowd that will show you whats up at a moment's notice.
Honestly, after playing all kinds of percussion now for more than 20 years. I feel my priorities have changed from playing what is flashy to playing what will make the whole band groove as hard as I can get them to. Alot of it for me is incorporating rhythms that different elements of the band are playing on different limbs and pulling them together. Ie, comping rhythm with a guitarist with my left hand, holding the bass together with my right hand and laying the bass drum right in the middle of the beat. Then stomping on the end of the form so that the whole ensemble feels the break. Also, how you play behind a soloist is very important to how they play, some people like to be chased bebop style behind their solos and other times you should just lay down a good carpet groove and let them do their thing on top of it.
A good drummer will almost always have dynamics. If you have played with people and you have their respect you will be able to bring-it-down after a lengthy solo or ensemble part at high volume. It does not really matter if they are experienced players or not. Part of drumming is psychological or spiritual and if you are killing it they will follow you.
One more rant, And then I will peacefully step off of the soapbox.
Most of the really great drummers that I have studied with or seen have timing independence in their bodies. This is simon philips, stewart copeland, elvin jones, daney carey. It's not a jazz thing or a funk thing or whatever. What it is is when you are playing and you snare drum is a bit ahead of the beat and your bass drum is behind or your hihat is ahead slightly and your bass drum is on or three limbs are doing there thing and one is dead center in the beat. This is a good tool for getting a problematic rhythm section of a band together. Somtimes a band will have a groove but it is too thin. You can do this for them and kind of illustrate the depth that this groove can have and many times latch on and groove proper because you gave them a handle. The trick in being a drummer is too make playing good time and rhythm fun for everybody in the ensemble.
So, play a big kit or a small kit, but play it well. The spirits of a couple of thousand years of drummers are rooting for you.
As promised.... steps off of the soapbox.
I am of the type 'jazz drummer' college trained and generally fall into those stereotypes. I hear alot of drummers talking about getting new gear to get a different sound, but in there stick bags they have 12 pairs of the same type of sticks. I have brushes, wooden hot sticks, wooden hot sticks with duck tape cut in half and wrapped one inch from the end, and every thing from a 4a to a 5b, somthing in between with nylon tips, yarn mallets and a violin bow.
Furthermore, I can nail a rimshot on any drum in the set at anytime with either hand, I play heel up or heel down depending on the volume level. I will raise my seat and lower my kit for some gigs in order to hear better and sometimes play another custom set that I own that has five toms if the music really demands it.
I like a small kit for most gigs because I don't want the saxophone player walking out with the woman that I have been wooing when I am packing up my 11th floor tom. Also, some bar owners are dicks and are chasing you out as soon as the lights turn up at last call.
I think that big sets are all that at the right occasion. But I and the other people I studied with/friends all snicker when we see a huge expensive drum set and the drummer is smashing away and dragging shit or rushing it too much on the chorus or whatever. No matter what your kit you have got to be proficient and it helps to be humble because there is often a really big fish in the crowd that will show you whats up at a moment's notice.
Honestly, after playing all kinds of percussion now for more than 20 years. I feel my priorities have changed from playing what is flashy to playing what will make the whole band groove as hard as I can get them to. Alot of it for me is incorporating rhythms that different elements of the band are playing on different limbs and pulling them together. Ie, comping rhythm with a guitarist with my left hand, holding the bass together with my right hand and laying the bass drum right in the middle of the beat. Then stomping on the end of the form so that the whole ensemble feels the break. Also, how you play behind a soloist is very important to how they play, some people like to be chased bebop style behind their solos and other times you should just lay down a good carpet groove and let them do their thing on top of it.
A good drummer will almost always have dynamics. If you have played with people and you have their respect you will be able to bring-it-down after a lengthy solo or ensemble part at high volume. It does not really matter if they are experienced players or not. Part of drumming is psychological or spiritual and if you are killing it they will follow you.
One more rant, And then I will peacefully step off of the soapbox.
Most of the really great drummers that I have studied with or seen have timing independence in their bodies. This is simon philips, stewart copeland, elvin jones, daney carey. It's not a jazz thing or a funk thing or whatever. What it is is when you are playing and you snare drum is a bit ahead of the beat and your bass drum is behind or your hihat is ahead slightly and your bass drum is on or three limbs are doing there thing and one is dead center in the beat. This is a good tool for getting a problematic rhythm section of a band together. Somtimes a band will have a groove but it is too thin. You can do this for them and kind of illustrate the depth that this groove can have and many times latch on and groove proper because you gave them a handle. The trick in being a drummer is too make playing good time and rhythm fun for everybody in the ensemble.
So, play a big kit or a small kit, but play it well. The spirits of a couple of thousand years of drummers are rooting for you.
As promised.... steps off of the soapbox.