I know the vast majority of musicians in here are guitarists so I thought I'd open up a bit of a think tank about what is drumming? It is a massive question like what is life? I'm not going to try and answer that question but simply give some points about how one goes about playing/writing/etc.
Drums/percussion as a whole are the oldest instrument known to man (apart from the voice) and come from all around the world, however I'll mostly be talking about the drum kit to start. The drum kit is an instrument that lacks one key element of music that guitar, voice, bass, keyboard all have....pitch. Yes you can tune and "pitch" toms, snares etc, but as a whole they are usually tuned for tone rather than pitch. So a drummer has to utilise other elements like rhythm, timing, dynamics and timbre (sound texture/type of sound) to create music. Rhythm is the heart of drumming, what you use in terms of which note values you decide to play, will determine what that groove, verse, fill will sound like. Switching to double time or half time as a variation to a last chorus or a bridge, comes straight from the snare position changing. That rhythm change is also directly related to timing. If that timing isn't right, the whole piece of music will move the wrong way.
Being "in the pocket" is what a lot of musicians talk about, and without a solid drummer that becomes a difficult task. The best thing to be is a solid drummer and to execute the basics well, rather than being the flashiest but sloppiest drummer throwing timing out the window. We've all seen it, gone to a bar or local show and the band is all over the shop playing as individuals rather than a band...all trying to show off at the same time
that pocket, is practice, practice, practice, especially with a metronome, playing everything you know at every possible tempo.
Then there is dynamics and timbre, which drum or cymbal you decide to use and how loud to play it. How different would "paradigm" sound if that verse groove wasn't on the toms, or the little hi-hats on the left hand in the "gunslinger" "bat country" "scream" chorus'. If the drums for "dear god" were played with the same intensity as "beast and the harlot", it wouldn't sound nearly as nice.
Overall drummers have to use these elements to choose what groove, which drum/cymbal and what fill to play at any part of a song, or is it best that nothing at all is played in a certain spot?? We can't use chords or change a note in the melody or harmonic structure. Just like any instrument can change how a song sounds/feels, the drums are sometimes an overlooked but crucial part to any composition. This is just the very tip of the iceberg, and just some info to spark thoughts of composition and performing. As a drummer who also plays guitar, there is nothing more that I love than when all parts of the band are working perfectly together.
Anyway that's enough from me for now, take it easy everyone and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts or questions on this!! Feel free to reply whatever comes to mind and continue this conversation
Cheers.
Drums/percussion as a whole are the oldest instrument known to man (apart from the voice) and come from all around the world, however I'll mostly be talking about the drum kit to start. The drum kit is an instrument that lacks one key element of music that guitar, voice, bass, keyboard all have....pitch. Yes you can tune and "pitch" toms, snares etc, but as a whole they are usually tuned for tone rather than pitch. So a drummer has to utilise other elements like rhythm, timing, dynamics and timbre (sound texture/type of sound) to create music. Rhythm is the heart of drumming, what you use in terms of which note values you decide to play, will determine what that groove, verse, fill will sound like. Switching to double time or half time as a variation to a last chorus or a bridge, comes straight from the snare position changing. That rhythm change is also directly related to timing. If that timing isn't right, the whole piece of music will move the wrong way.
Being "in the pocket" is what a lot of musicians talk about, and without a solid drummer that becomes a difficult task. The best thing to be is a solid drummer and to execute the basics well, rather than being the flashiest but sloppiest drummer throwing timing out the window. We've all seen it, gone to a bar or local show and the band is all over the shop playing as individuals rather than a band...all trying to show off at the same time
that pocket, is practice, practice, practice, especially with a metronome, playing everything you know at every possible tempo. Then there is dynamics and timbre, which drum or cymbal you decide to use and how loud to play it. How different would "paradigm" sound if that verse groove wasn't on the toms, or the little hi-hats on the left hand in the "gunslinger" "bat country" "scream" chorus'. If the drums for "dear god" were played with the same intensity as "beast and the harlot", it wouldn't sound nearly as nice.
Overall drummers have to use these elements to choose what groove, which drum/cymbal and what fill to play at any part of a song, or is it best that nothing at all is played in a certain spot?? We can't use chords or change a note in the melody or harmonic structure. Just like any instrument can change how a song sounds/feels, the drums are sometimes an overlooked but crucial part to any composition. This is just the very tip of the iceberg, and just some info to spark thoughts of composition and performing. As a drummer who also plays guitar, there is nothing more that I love than when all parts of the band are working perfectly together.
Anyway that's enough from me for now, take it easy everyone and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts or questions on this!! Feel free to reply whatever comes to mind and continue this conversation
Cheers.
