DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

i've had the same set of bags since i was a kid, and they've always served me well. but i think they were $150 or so. i definitely prefer bags to hard plastic shells (which i always had to use for the bands i played with at school), which imo are only necessary if you're a touring band with beefy roadies who will move your shit for you.

are the drums super amazing or something? $100 is insanely inexpensive! it does seem odd to spend more on protective equipment than on the drums themselves. if you don't want to go that route, you could just use lots and lots and blankets and be ok as long as you don't do any loop to loops on the highway or anything.

Can you nest the drums inside one another and just use one or two big boxes, or just one or two bags?

Packing and moving is a one-time temporary thing; drum bags and cases are intended for regular use. If I were moving across the country I might not mind removing heads, putting everything inside the kick and floor tom (with some foam or blankets or pillows) and putting all that inside an ordinary large moving box.

I bought them when I worked at a food coop in Moscow, Idaho from a hippie guy who claimed he was selling all his worldly good to travel the country as a troubadour. They're absolutely nothing special, but decent enough for my needs and I don't think I'd ever find a complete set - with cymbals and hardware - for that price again. I've put maybe another $100 into new heads over the years.

The mover who walked through to give us an estimate suggested using wardrobe boxes so that plus blankets might work? Just don't know if there are tips about stacking them, taking the heads off first, etc.

I've also been frantically acquiring guitar cases for my cheap guitars that have never left the house in the last couple years which feels really anticlimactic as well.

that's awesome! wonder if he's still troubadouring around.

y.m. puffin's suggestion is a good one. i would just use a blanket between each layer.

congrats LL!

thank you!
also while i'm braggin yesterday after a first rehearsal someone* told me i am a human metronome after hearing me play :) granted i wasn't doing much so it's pretty easy to be steady but he didn't have to say that

*who i don't know well but met once at a party

i have really been working hard and i feel good about it!

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/05/19/drumset-you/

sorry, that URL isn't very descriptive. the article is a survey of the language used in various instructional method books (including Ted Reed's book, LL!)

i read that bc i saw kid millions/JC link it on twitter -- good piece! it confirmed my love for Syncopation even though idk what the "page 38" stuff is about -- is that well known among people who have been led through the book by a teacher?

btw tour was excellent and the In C performance mentioned above (that's what the rehearsal was for) was also A+ would play again even though it was an endurance test. i feel i passed.

By Kid Millions!

xp

he's a good writer. i have enjoyed several things he's written.

Nice article. The only drum books that I ever liked or found helpful:

-One that my main teacher made for his students to learn independence. It's basically a series of beats where you have to play each one with 8th notes on the hi-hat, then quarter notes, then quarter notes on the upbeats, 8th notes on the offbeats, etc.

-The Bob Moses book

-John Riley's Art of Bop Drumming, for jazz independence and ideas when I was in college and trying to be serious about the jazz thing

this is a great piece! thank u karl

i also recognized an attitude immediately in the piece; any time i've talked to actual drummers about how i'm a shitty self-taught drummer they tell me "buy stick control"

there used to be some really good oneida tour diaries online, i wonder if they still exist

yeah drilling will really improve your playing
also it is fun

Update: a totally disassembled four piece drum set, cymbals, cymbal stands, throne, and all other hardware will fit into 2 Uhaul "Shorty Wardrobe" boxes with room to spare for a dozen coats. I regret that I did not find a drum key attachment for my cordless drill before I began. Also "Shorty Wardrobe" sounds like something from a Wu-Tang name generator.

the key to that book (and that exercise) is to switch up the instrumentation. see also: paradiddles w/feet

agree
i feel like i have gotten out of practice with my drilling routine, and that article inspired me to rev it up

i know everyone has said this but that is a very good article

i'm coming up on my 5 year drummiversary!
it's late to be posting but i just got home from my first show with a new band, their first show in 2 years and quite frankly it was awesome
not perfect in terms of my playing, which was acceptable but could be improved (always)
i'm playing with them again in july
good times!!

in other news, i can't believe how many amazing drummers we have lost in the last few years. Also, if you have the opportunity, do not miss the Milford Graves documentary FULL MANTIS

today it is 5 years since i brought my baby home
tomorrow i am playing a show!

i start recording my first album ever tomorrow :D

happy 4 ilx musos!

Right on!

5 years old in drummer years and played my first solo show last night
feeling satisfied

Congrats! What did you do for the solo show?

Very cool! Say hi to Lykanth3a for me.

(oh, just realized it was last night and not tonight)

3 instrumental originals (two different groups i play with -- i had drumless tracks that were fed through the soundbooth) and a Cluster cover

I think what I am most pleased about is that it happened at all!

jordan - i did say hi to her for you!

Ha, thanks!

Congratulations!

The best advice for drummers is surely the list issued by Robert Fripp to Bill Bruford:

1. Any existing solution to a problem is the wrong one: absolutum, obsoletum;
2. If you have an idea, don't play it;
3. When a change in the music needs emphasis, don't play it: the change in the music is emphasis enough;
4. Don't phrase with any other member of the band unless it's in the part;
5. Phrasing in the part should include no more than two people;
6. If the tension in the music needs emphasising, don't. The tension is there because of what you're playing, not what you're about to play;
7. If you really have to change your part to build tension, don't add -- leave out;
8. The maximum tension you can add is by stopping completely;
9. If there is space for a fill which is demanded by the music, don't play it: there are three other people who would like to use the opportunity;
10. If the part you're playing is boring, stop listening with your head;
11. If this still bores you, listen to the interaction between all the parts;
12. If this still bores you, stop playing and wait until you are no longer bored;
13. Do not be dramatic;
14. Do not be afraid to repeat yourself;
15. Do not be afraid to take your time.

nah

some of those things are good and some are just fripp being bossy af
i really like his speech "from good to great" though -- he sure loves prescriptive advice!

i do agree about stopping completely

I've always loved that list. I think more bands should establish rules like this. It could easily be applied to any other instruments as well, besides drums. Restrictions breed creativity.

My favorite:

5. Phrasing in the part should include no more than two people;

This is the exact opposite of what I call the "monolithic" approach to arrangement, which was very popular in the 90s, basically the Nirvana sound. It leads to a lot more variety and color, as opposed to everyone playing the exact same thing in unison all on top of each other.

i agree that placing limitations on oneself yields interesting results
however, i can place those limitations myself or among the people i am playing with without fripp telling me what to do

That is a great list. Especially 3-6 & 10-11...obviously would not be good if you followed it blindly (and BB didn't), but it's true that drummers can be too accent-happy and fill-happy. It usually feels good in the moment but not so much when listening back.

xp

More like "good concepts to consider and apply when appropriate"

Ha, I think Fripp's list basically amounts to, "I don't like the Who, so please don't play like Keith Moon."

(and congrats, LL!!!!!!)

Right, dont be compelled to fill space with endless drum rolls and cymbals. There's a school of thought out there that cymbals should be avoided as much as possible because they generate a bunch of white noise. This is a very 80s-centric outlook, where everything was very clean and noise-free. Throwing Muses - House Tornado is a great example if this approach.

Late 80s metal/hard rock and 90s indie/grunge pretty much demolished this outlook.

*musicians approach the beginning of the next phrase, with tension building in a fripp-approved manner.* https://i.imgur.com/SLpsoKl.jpg?1

*drummer reaches to strike the crash cymbal exactly on the downbeat of the next phrase* https://i.imgur.com/uN3weo9.jpg?2

*drummer decides not to hit the cymbal on 1* https://i.imgur.com/NrwORw7.jpg

crash cymbals basically useless afaic

Always found it hilarious that Peter Gabriel went from "no cymbals!" on his 1980 and '82 records to "nothing but cymbals!" on So.

congrats ll!

lol Karl

thank you!

because they generate a bunch of white noise
hello that is what they are for...? i love a whole lotta cymbals if given the right context, no shame

i feel similarly about crash cymbals. i inherited one recently and switched it out after i was like bleh, no

It's more of an aesthetic question rather than a moral one. There isn't a right or wrong, just what are you trying to achieve.

Music in the 80s tended toward an ultra clean, crisp, synthetic sound field in which drum sounds were ultra separated and treated with reverb. A lot of cymbals could muddy up that approach.

Post-80s, noise and saturation came back into style, recording technology swung away from early digital to the "warmth" of analog. This also meant that people started to find ways to overload the analog signal without blowing it out completely.

In case my dwelling on particular time periods seems strange, Fripp's rules were meant to establish guidelines for the 80s incarnation of KC. You can hear a very big contrast between this version of the band vs their 70s recordings.