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Stick Trix | |
Article from Phaze 1, June 1989 |
YES, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, but all work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull drummer. This column isn't about making you into the world's greatest technical drummer. The idea is to get you playing drums to a basic standard so that you can play music with other people. So this month, rather than give you more licks to practise at home, let's talk about playing with a band.
First, something that becomes a nightmare on stage, but is almost as difficult when you're trying to rehearse. Balance. How can you play with a band when you can't hear what half of them are doing? I'm afraid we drummers are most often blamed here, purely because of the nature of our instrument. Guitars, at least the electric kind, have clever knobs you an twiddle — as do basses, synthesisers, and anything else you might think of plugging into an amp. Yet drums are, as many a neighbour knows, without volume control. So it's quite easy to drown out the rest of the band without trying that hard.
There are ways to achieve a balance between drums and other instruments, though:
1 Find a rehearsal room with a fairly damp acoustic, as drums echo around worse than anything else. Just because your mate can get off-time in the local squash courts doesn't mean you should rehearse there. Go for somewhere that will absorb sound.
2 If you still have problems balancing the drums, it is possible to make your kit quieter. Dampen down the toms and snare with either the drums' internal dampeners, or tissue paper and gaffer tape on the edge of the heads. And stuff the bass drum with a lot more assorted soft furnishings than usual.
3 Don't play too loud! Holding back from full throttle helps you control what you're playing. Even if tire lead guitarist promises to match you watt for watt, don't bother. The optimum level for rehearsal is, agreed, somewhat more than your gran would like in her front room, but not too much. Remember, in a few years' time, it'll stiff be hip to hear.
Next, timekeeing. The drummer has to juggle two weighty responsibilities in the band. You've got to keep good time, avoiding unplanned strigendo and rallentando. (That's speeding up and slowing down to non-ltalian speakers.) But you've also got to be the powerhouse to the band, supplying energy and excitement to the music. These two don't always coincide. If you're trying to inject some life into a dead band, it's easy to lose control of the tempo and speed up. Solution: get yourself a livelier band. Failing that, improve your own feel by some solo practice along to a constant beat, provided either by click track from a Casio or — just as good — from a record.
Balance the volume so that you can hear both the track and yourself (most easily done on headphones), and try playing along in time. That's a job in itself, but while you're doing it, try to make your playing as energetic-sounding as you an. You can't do it by speeding up now, because the track isn't as much as a pushover as your band. So think pulse. Accent your playing, both on the main pulse of the beat and elsewhere (as discussed in April's issue under syncopation), and you'll find it sounding much more lively. It takes effort and imagination, but that's no bad thing. Then when you take away the crutch of the record or click track, keep thinking pulse, and you'll keep much better time, too.
One member of the band in particular can help you out with this. It's the bass player. Yes, the tone-deaf one sitting on that big amplifier in the corner. Get it to stand on its own feet, and bring the amp over near to you. You two have got to work together as a team, because together (with the assistance of the rhythm guitarist) you are what's grandly known as the rhythm section. However ugly each thinks the other is, you have to keep looking at each other, and listening closely to what the other is playing. American musicians commonly complain that British bands don't integrate their drums and bass closely enough. Well, I say we could complain about a lot of the things American musicians do, too! But on this occasion, they have a point. Concentrate on tying together your bass drum rhythm and the bass player's line.
You don't have to mirror every note the bass plays, but you can easily bring out the main rhythm pattern that the two of you share. It's something you should also bear in mind when you're writing and arranging material as a band. Often, it's the simplest lines, things that you have already played, that work best. As well as ensuring a rock-solid foundation for the rest of the band to play over, it's an easy way of sounding dead flash!
Next time, I'll be continuing the theme and showing how to go about fitting a drum part to a song.
Chord of the Month - Guitar |
Drum Hum |
Chord of the Month - Guitar |
Synth Sense |
Chord of the Month - Keyboards |
Brass Tacks (Part 1) |
Fret Fax |
How To Hit Things And Still Look Good |
Coverage - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Cut Me Down |
Beat Box |
Drum Hum |
Outside Of C |
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Feature by Trevor Parsons
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