Below is a breakdown of Smells like teen spirit , it shows the section name and number of bars.
Section No. of Bars
Intro 12 (don’t play 1st 3 bars. Fill in 4th bar. Groove the rest)
Instrumental 4
1st Verse 8
Bridge 8
Chorus 12
Breaks 4
Instrumental 4
2nd Verse 8
Bridge 8
Chorus 12
Breaks 4
Guitar Solo 16
Instrumental 4
3rd Verse 8
Bridge 8
Chorus 20 (end on “1” of 21st bar)
This weeks “track of the week” is Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, although not my cup of tea to listen to of an evening, is a cracking song to play. This track inspired many musicians today to take up an instrument so I’d be a fool not to add it to my “track of the week” list. This track invokes people everywhere to push each other around and thrash their heads up and down! Not something I’ve done personally, but at every gig we played it, people did just that! However you don’t have to be a “mosher” to appreciate this type of track, it’s a timeless classic. It’s is relatively slow, so again could be played, to an extent, by a confident beginner. The best time to listen to this track is before a night out somewhere to really get you pumped up!
To give a professional answer to the question of reading, if you want to be any kind of session musician then yes, really you do need to have at least a basic understanding of notation, even if you can’t sight read or write at all. The better you can read the more sessions you’ll get (obviously you’ll have to be able to play the stuff too!!). You might get by in some situations without being able to read, but for the most part, as a pro you’d be expected to read. If you want a greater understanding of reading, learn to write! I don’t know anyone who can write but can’t read, however I DO know one or two people who can read but can’t write! Take myself with the English language….. I can read it fine (given enough time!), but you ask me to spell a complex word and I’m stumped!
So do you NEED to be able to read and write…. In a professional sense, yes, really you SHOULD….. in a hobby sense, not necessarily, but if it enhances your understanding of music then why wouldn’t you want to learn. It’s actually not all that hard if you put your mind to it!
Reading and writing music is seen as a big challenge to some people simply because it is new to them, and a lot of people, especially older people (who have already been “educated”) don’t like to try and learn things that they could potentially fail at, and may make them look a bit stupid if they can’t get it. So they’d rather not even attempt it!
This can apply to many things, not just reading and writing drum music! As I said yesterday, the point of reading and writing is not to necessarily be able to sight read something perfectly that someone else has written, it is simply for yourself or someone else to put pen to paper so that, in future, you can remember what it was you were supposed to be doing! There are actually many ways to write and I encourage that even if you don’t write using proper music notation you should at least articulate exactly WHAT you play and WHERE you play it in your bar.
This is something that, for some reason, a lot of drummers shy away from…. Much more so than the classical musicians.
Personally I can kinda see why, but also don’t ACTUALLY think it’s a good idea to do so!
From my experience, quite a few drummers have come to me wanting to learn and have expressed up front that they’re not interested in learning to read or write music. They just want to learn to “play”. This being all well and good, to learn, to learn pretty much anything in the world in fact, you have to know certain things…. And the more you learn about something the more information you must retain right?!? And sometimes the brain may forget a few things, which is why we find it quite handy to write things down…. So why should music be any different?? We write things down for either ourselves or someone else to read them at a later date to either inform them of something they didn’t yet know, or to remind them of something they may have forgotten. So why do people express such a dislike to reading and writing music?? Well… it’s a psychological thing…. I’ll explain more tomorrow.
Ok, so the last time I wrote a post about this I think I was a bit down about the fact I’d performed so badly in my competition! Since then I haven’t really done any practice, firstly because I focused on other things for a bit and secondly because once you get kicked in the nuts it takes a while to get back up!
But I’m up now and I’m ready for battle again! I’ve started practice again, slowly, but surely. I’m now trying out a new practice regime too. Rather than just trying to get as many hits as I can in 1min, I’m trying to work on my technique. My left hand (despite actually BEING left handed), like most, is pretty poor compared to my right. So I’ve decided to work to the click using individual hands so that I can really asses and work on the accuracy in my left. Once I’ve built my left up to where I want it to be I’ll start back using both.
This is something I’d recommend to anyone. You don’t need a “drumometer” you just need to work to a click. Really put the weakest hand under the microscope and try to mimic the strong hand in all ways. If both your hands are under control then when it comes to playing “hand to hand” or “singles” you’ll have a much better time
Below is a breakdown of Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the Jackson 5, it shows the section name and number of bars.
Section No. of Bars
Intro (build up with floor
tom and snare using 8ths) 4
Chorus (double time) 4
1st Verse (normal time) 2
Chorus (double time) 4
Bridge (normal time) 2
2nd Verse (normal time) 2
Chorus (double time) 4
Bridge (normal time) 2
3rd Verse (double time) 8
4th Verse (normal time) 2
Chorus (double time) 4
Bridge (normal time) 2
Instrumental (normal time) 2
Chorus (double time) 4
Bridge (normal time) 2
5th Verse (double time, snare on
“1” and “+” of three) 8
Chorus (double time) 4
Bridge (normal time) 2
Chorus (double time) 4 to fade…
This weeks “Track of the week” is Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the Jackson 5. I’ve chosen this track this week, again ‘cos it’s Christmas, but also just because it kicks butt! It uses normal and double time, it’s short and sweet, and just a damn good laugh to play! It’s old school too so it has a REAL DRUMMER playing on the track rather than all the MIDI you get these days! Give it a listen but add it to list of one’s to learn at a later date if you don’t yet know about double time.
At drum related we try to bring you things that you wouldn’t find on any other drum site, so here’s a little piece of advice that might just save your gig.
When performing, it’s pretty common to drop or snap a stick. Some people use stick holders and some people just have a stick bag hanging from the floor tom. That’s all great if you have the gear, but if you don’t a handy little tip is to have a stick under each butt cheek! If you put the tip and shoulder of the stick under each bum cheek and sit on them then you’ll have a stick to hand just like a gun in a holster! Plus, if you have a cushy drum stool you won’t even notice they’re there! I used to use this all the time when I went through a stage of dropping my stick a lot and it was so much better than having a bag or stick holder as it doesn’t matter which stick you drop/snap, there’s another stick on either side ready for either hand.
Yesterday I picked up the final copies of my first teaching book. It’s so nice to have something tangible to lay your hands on…. A finished product that I’ve worked hard towards completing. The other two books should be along in the early part of next year along with the DVD (WHEN I finally get around to recording it!) so I’m looking forward to that!
The work I’ve done on these books has been slow but sure, and it goes to show that if you have a vision of what you want, and you take steps, no matter how small, to achieving your goal you will get there. I know I’m not there yet, but I can really see it coming together and it’s a nice feeling. So I encourage you, if you have a goal, no matter what it may be, set yourself targets, and at each opportunity move closer (even if it’s in baby steps) towards reaching them.
