Drum Related

As you may know I love my coordination type exercise. Some people don’t understand the benefit of such exercises, but put simply it’s to stretch you’re brain, much like the Nintendo D.S “brain training” games. If you can coordinate your limbs to do something way and above what you’d ever need them to do then when it comes to anything less it’s a breeze. With this in mind last week I had my guys trying this “seemingly simple” exercise that progresses to create a pretty tricky piece for most. It’s just for the hands but you could include feet if you wanted more of a challenge.

All we use is 8ths and 16ths…. Simple! They are ALL mean to be played simultaneously (at the same time). As fast as you can but as slow as you must. Right hand ALWAYS starts from the floor tom, left ALWAYS starts from the snare.

1) Right hand 16ths on the floor tom (and by hand I mean stick!!), Left hand 8ths on the snare drum. 

2) Left hand 16ths on snare, Right hand 8ths on floor tom.

3) Right hand plays 16ths ANTI-CLOCKWISE round the kit with 1 hit per drum (Floor, mid, high, snare), left hand keeps 8ths on the snare.

4) SWAP – keep 8ths on Left on snare but make the Right go CLOCKWISE (Floor, snare, high, mid) then change between the two (anti-clockwise then clockwise) without stopping.

5) Left now plays 16ths CLOCKWISE round the kit (snare, high, mid, floor) and the Right keeps 8ths going on the floor tom.

6) SWAP – keep 8ths going with the right but now move the left ANTI-CLOCKWISE round the kit (snare, floor, high, mid)

7) Now the tricky bit….. Start with 16ths on the right going ANTI-CLOCKWISE round the kit (floor, mid, high, snare) and 8ths staying on the snare for now. Then on “SWAP” play 16ths on the left CLOCKWISE round the kit (snare, high, mid, floor) and keep 8ths going on the right on the floor tom. Follow?!?!?! Then change between the two on the word swap (or just every 2bars or summin!)

8) Then… if you REALLY want a challenge… try this: 16ths on the RIGHT going ANTI-CLOCKWISE (floor, mid, high, snare) and 8ths on the left going CLOCKWISE (snare…….high……mid……floor). Remember, this is simultaneously so you’ll have to cross hands at some point.

9) Then swap it up….. 16ths in the left going CLOCKWISE and 8ths in the right going ANTI-CLOCKWISE.

10) Then swap between the two every bar or so without stopping!

See….. told you it was simple!

The other day I told you WHAT orthodox or traditional grip was, so today I’m gonna tell you how it came to be and why it’s not necessary on a modern day set up for 99% of drummers.

Soon after people started using sticks to play a drum they started to walk as they played (a good example of this is marching into battle). With the drum hung around their necks so it rested around their waist they would march as they played for hours and days on end. As they walked, if the drum was dead centre in between their legs it would get bashed from side to side as they moved, making it very hard to play accurately. To overcome this they rested the drum on one hip and tilted the drum slightly so it would then only move backwards and forwards slightly as they moved.  (see pic)

This then meant that one hand had to get over the top of the drum, so to do this “orthodox” or “traditional” grip was created. (Of course back then they didn’t call it that as it was just how everyone played!)
One hand (usually the right) played palm down and the other (usually the left) played in the traditional, palm up, style.

On a modern day set up, as the drums are 99.9% of the time, angled towards you, traditional grip is not necessary. As drums are a relatively new instrument (as far as the set ups we play today) when people transitioned they kept the same grip they used all along. Because of this many “old skool” drummers actually angle their snare drum AWAY from them. Traditional grip will give you a much lighter sound as, unless the drum is angled away from you, it’s nearly impossible to rim shot.

As far as the argument “which one is best” well….. Matched grip is! You can achieve a greater variation in dynamic, it can be played more quickly with more power and it is more in tune with how your body is meant to be used. Obviously if you ARE playing in a marching band situation then yes, orthodox grip may need to be used, but on a modern kit set up matched grip is the way to go. Simple! Hope you learned something.

People often talk about “grip” and which they use/is best to use. Beginners often ask me why people hold the stick “kinda sideways” in the hand…. Well this is known as either “orthodox” or “traditional” grip. It’s when, in one hand, the stick is held in the crevice between the thumb and index finger and the middle and ring finger. (see photo)

The other hand holds the stick in the “matched” grip style.
Put together it looks like this.

(is it me or does that drum look HUUUGE compared to the kid?!?!)

Next time I’ll tell you how and why this grip came about and how it’s pretty much redundant on a modern set up.

This weeks “Track of the week” is The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson, this is a fantastic track to play to for those of you in an intermediate- advanced bracket. It uses triplets on the hi hat that can either be played single handed or split between the two if necessary. It has a lot of stops too so is good for your counting and following of the track. There are a good few opportunities to play some fills too however concentrating on the groove is the most important thing to start with.

Section       No of Bars

Fill                1

Intro             16

1st Verse     16 (stop on the “1” of the 16th bar then pick up with snare on “4”)

Chorus         8

2nd Verse   16 (stop on the “1” of the 16th bar then pick up with snare on “4”)

Chorus        8 (stop on “1” of 8th bar then fill)

Bridge         8

3rd Verse   8 (stop on “1” of 8th bar then fill)

Chorus      8

Chorus      8

Middle Section   16

Inst.         8

Breakdown Chorus  8

Chorus to fade….  

In my last post I talked about playing odd time signatures, so here are some examples of odd time grooves for you to play.

Just remember to play it slow and count LOUD!
Let me know how you get on with them.

Click on the article title to find the link then click here to open the file in PDF format.

People often squirm when you talk about odd times if they’re not massively into them. However, they needn’t be as troublesome as people make out. A good rule to remember is to play a really SIMPLE groove based on that of a 4/4 groove. So for example you have an 8th note hi hat, the “2” and “4” on the snare and the “1” and the “3” on the bass in a 4/4 bar. Now lets use a bar of 7/8, all you need to do is remove the very last hi hat (the “+ of 4”) and count accordingly and you have your new groove. Once you’re used to this you might start to make it a tad more fancy but the fundamental stays the same.
Let’s do the same thing with a bar of 5/4. Take you bar of 4/4 and simply add two hi hats (“5 +”) and put a bass on the “5”. Once this feels less alien simply add in some more bass or snare as you see fit.

As far as fills go you should keep them simple too. Take a bar of 8ths round the kit (snare, hi, mid, floor… two hits on each) and then either add to, or take away from it what is necessary. So for the bar of 7/8 you’d take away the last hit on the floor tom. For the bar of 5/4 you’d add on two MORE hits on the floor tom. Start simple and build once the time feels more comfortable.

Try your own for now and I’ll write up some examples for you to try next time.

Just remember to play it slow and count LOUD!

Legendary British drum teacher Bob Armstrong is hosting an Up Close and Personal clinic with Top UK session drummer Mark Mondesir on Sunday 7 December 2008 at The Royal British Legion Band Hall, Western Road, Romford. The show kicks off at 2:30pm.

Tickets are available now by calling 01708 763 708 or emailing masterclass.bob@btinternet.com

This week I’ve chosen Maria by Blondie as I have to play it tonight so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone! It’s pretty straight forward but it is kinda fast. Other than that it’s pretty easy.

Section         No of Bars

Intro              8 (drums in on 7th bar)

1st Verse      8

2nd Verse     8

Bridge           8

Chorus        16

3rd Verse     8

4th Verse     8

Bridge          8

Chorus       16

Bridge         8

5th Verse    8

Inst.           2

Chorus      16

Guitar Solo 12

Chorus       16

Chorus to fade…..

When we “trademark” genres basically we’re talking about things that make them what they are. Things you use to identify it is THAT genre. We’re not talking about exacts, we’re talking about descriptive words to begin with.
Of course there are no EXACT answers as music has NO RULES, but generalizations can be made.
We can use the following descriptive words as generalizations for Drum ‘N’ Bass:

Sharp/Snappy
Blocky
Tight
Fast/Upbeat
Energetic
Repetitive

Drum ‘N’ Bass is very rarely ever:
Slow
Trashy
Dark
Depressing
Loose and “flowy”!
Light
Chilled

This is what you should try and identify when playing in a genre. See, the way I teach is that there aren’t really “Drum n Bass” grooves or “Pop” grooves and such…. It’s more about HOW you play than what you’re playing. Of course some grooves and fills lend themselves better to different genres, but you can’t say as a rule THIS is a such and such groove and THAT is a such and such fill. You can use them in many genres and simply change how you approach playing it.
So when thinking about playing in a style or genre from now on, think more about HOW you play it rather than WHAT you play. Identify the trade marks and the rest will follow

This weeks “Track of the week” is Fallin’ by Alicia Keys. I thought recently that I didn’t have enough tracks that use triplets so I thought I’d write up Fallin’ by Alicia Keys this week as it’s in 12/8. If you haven’t played in 12/8 yet but would like to give it a try then the count is “1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let” (this is a “play what you say” idea for the hi hat or ride.) Keep the snare on the “2” and the “4” and the bass on the “1” and the “3” for simplicity purposes and give it a crack. For those of you who have already played in 12/8 it’s a rather straight forward track as far as the playing goes, but do listen out for the little stops and try to match them. This is great counting practice! I recommend listening to the track while following the write up 1st before you try it.

Section    No. of Bars

1st Verse (layered):
Vocal    free flow
Piano in   4 (bring in hi hats on 3rd bar playing triplets)
Everything else in  4 (hi hat and cross stick)

Chorus    4 (ride and snare) (stop on “3” of 4th bar)

2nd Verse   8 (hi hat and cross stick)

Chorus    4 (ride and snare)

Bridge    4 (hi hat and snare)

Mid Section 4 (stop on the “1” of the 4th bar…. Build up starting on the “3”)

Chorus 4 (ride and snare + lots of crashes)

Chorus 4 (ride and snare + lots of crashes)

Chorus 4 (ride and snare + lots of crashes) (stop on “3” of 4th bar)

Outro 8 (stop on “let of 4” of the 8th bar.)