One of the best pieces of advice I could give any young drummer is to know your history. Regardless of the style of music you’re into, if you study the sources of inspiration from which your heros have drawn, you can begin to see how the pieces of the music puzzle fit together. This will guide your musical choices for today.

One of the biggest questions for a young drummer playing in his or her first band is, “What do I play?” When that big blank musical canvas is starring you in the face, knowing how musicians before you got their ideas will help you develop your own.

Besides listening to your favorites, try to check out EVERYTHING. Polka, opera, folk, rap, metal, new country, old country, alt country, Gamelen orchestras, Gregorian Chant, reggae, musicals, jazz, pop, etc, etc… seriously, listen to it all. The latest, hip new styles of music are always derived from old styles and/or unexpected combination of styles. In this day and age of information technology you can easily get your hands on just about anything. Approaching all music with an open mind will help you understand that there is great artistry to be appreciated in all styles. You don’t have to love it, but you can learn to respect it. From Top 40 pop to experimental avant garde (and everything in between) there is talent to be found and appreciated. What makes a particular piece of music resonant with a large group of people? If you dig deep enough you’ll start to notice the common ground between styles and begin to respect artists and music that you never have before. Most importantly, you can begin to inject your playing with this wide array of potent influences to develop your own unique style.

To start at the birth of the drum set, I would check out with the following materials:

The drum set has its origins in early jazz. Even if you’re into hardcore speed metal (and all styles in between) start with Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns.  What I like about this video is that not only does this film examine the musical origins of early jazz, but it also explains the social context in which it arose. This is pertainent for any musician in any era. This is the origin of American music. It is important to know what inspired these early musicians and to be able to draw the same kind of inspiration from modern times.

For a more in-depth analysis the drumming of early jazz check out Legends of Jazz Drumming (video) and New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming. (book +CD). These two chronicle the evolution of drumming from it’s early beginnings into the jazz era. It’s important to note that many of the grooves and licks of the early 1900’s are still around today. You can trace these grooves all the way through swing, bebop, blues, rock and roll, rap, to modern day hip hop.

Next, I recommend checking out the Commandments of Early Rhythm and Blues Drumming. This book and CD covers the evolution of drumming between the jazz period and the early stages of R&B which led to rock and funk drumming.

Next in line the the video series The History of Rock and Roll. This isn’t drummer-oriented but it will help to make the connection between the early music and more modern styles.

This list is very, very far from being a complete history of drumming, but I believe it’s a pretty good start. It’s much easier to know where you going when you know your history. One the best pieces of musical advice I ever heard is the infamous quote, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Though he didn’t invent the saying, (some attribute it to Picasso), in a 1990 Guitar Player Magazine interview, the Beatles’ Paul McCartney said, “What do they say? ‘A good artist borrows, a great artist steals?’ That makes us great artists then because we stole a lot of stuff.”

Some of my worst gigging experiences were the result of me not bringing a rug to place under my drums. Sometimes I forgot to bring it, but sometimes I was told that either the stage was carpeted or there was already was a drum rug I could use.

Drum kits that are not secured to the floor tend to slide ALL over the place while you play. I’ve finished songs with my bass drum more than a foot away from me. That’s a difficult reach for even the most flexible drummer! Sliding can happen with hi hat stands and even floor toms too. Some of you young players may not know this, but most manufacturers put metal spikes at the bottom of the bass drum legs and on the bottom of the hi hat stands. If you are playing on a soft enough surface you can expose these spikes by turning or removing the rubber feet on the bass drum or turning the metal screws on the hi hats allowing the spikes dig into the floor (or carpet).

Old Faithful - This rug has been on the gig for 19 years and running!

Sometimes spikes into the bare floor  is enough, and in fact, there are a few drummers who prefer to play this way, I know Steve Smith does. I assume he likes the livelier sound of the drums bouncing off the bare floor. However, many times the spikes will not grab the surface the drums are sitting on (like linoleum or concrete) or you might be playing on a nice floor that you’d prefer to not gouge. Sometimes even a carpeted surface (especially at clubs that book a lot of shows) will be loose and the drums will shift around. An interesting cat to check out is the jazz (and funk) drummer Bill Stewart. For some strange reason he seems to prefer to let his hi hat stand slide all over the place and he has become quite skilled at corralling it with his left foot as he plays. It can be entertaining, though a little distracting from his fantastic playing. Click here to watch Bill Stewart wrangle his hi hats.

What can help keep your bass drum in place is to make sure the bass drum legs raise the front of the bass drum enough that the weight of the drum is resting on the legs and not the hoops. Be careful to not raise the legs too much because you’ll change the angle that the bass drum beater hits the bass drum head. Besides giving your spikes a surface to dig into, another way to secure your kit is to use a manufacturer that places velcro underneath their bass and hi hat pedals to grab onto the carpet. I especially like this. My DW 8000 pedals do not budge as long as there is carpet to grab onto.

Another reason to ALWAYS bring your drum rug, besides keeping your drums in place, is that you can use your drum rug is to mark your territory. Often stages are just big enough to fit all the players and if you’re trying to set up your kit only to find out that your bass player’s giant 8×10 cabinet is in your way and she’s nowhere to be found, you’ve got a problem since many players don’t want you touching their stuff! The first thing I do once the band has figured out the stage set up is to throw my drum rug down to mark my territory. This way the other players know where I’ll be and not take my space while I’m getting the drums out of their cases. So it’s helpful to find a rug that is roughly the size of your setup.  A 4′X5′ rug purchased at K-Mart works for me. I’ve used the same one for 19 years.

If you’ve forgotten your rug and the surface you need to play in is slippery like tile, or maybe you’re playing an outdoor gig, try using using the floor mats from your car. I’ve never tried this, but I remember getting this piece of advice many years ago and thankfully I’ve never had to try it out.

So even if you hear, “They have a rug”, I advise to always bring yours. I like mine because it feels like a little piece of home is with me no matter where I play!

Next in my drum video tutorial series which apply snare drum rudiments to the kit, Part 5 explores the possibilities of the Single Drag Tap. Drawing inspiration from Steve Gadd’s interpretation of the Ratamacue in his video Up Close, I developed my own triplet, 16th note, and double bass drum applications of the Single Drag Tap.

Click here for a downloadable PDF transcription of the examples: Applying the Single Drag Tap

Part 5: Applying the Single Drag Tap to the Drum Set

Part 5 (continued):

Below is my email response to a bandmate when we were discussing whether or not to use songwriting forms (or formulas). He was advocating a more abstract approach and the email was my response.

I think the most important aspect of drumming is understanding song forms. Song forms are the foundation on which most popular (regardless of style) songs rely. I won’t delve completely in the subject, but there are many websites and books which explain songwriting forms much better than I can here, but essentially I think a drummer needs to be aware of the Verse-Chorus (Bridge), Verse-Bridge, Blues, AABA (usually in jazz) forms.

Being aware of the song form lets the drummer know when to fill, change parts, and create contrast and interest by building and juxtaposing rhythms and tones.

I also discuss in the email the time it takes to get to these particular elements in a song. For instance, you are usually going to lose a listener’s interest if an Introduction of a song lasts longer than a minute or so (there are, of course, exceptions) and popular songs tend to get to the Chorus or Verse Hook by a minute into the tune. My advise is to take notice of the song form similarities in the music you enjoy. Try to notice the common elements. Does the first Verse sound different than the second Verse? Etc, etc.

Here’s the email:

All of music follows a formula. Major and minor scales have an exact formula and from these scales, familiar sounding chords and chord progressions are derived. From these familiar progressions, familiar arrangements also arise. Of course rules are made to be broken, but if too many rules are broken you lose the listener. Think of really abstract, avant guard music. It can be interesting, but it rarely makes a deep rooted connection in the listener because the music is so far out there it is only getting appreciated on an intellectual level. When a listener is immersed in familiar territory, then surprised, that’s what really tickles the brains.

The formulas of music construction are universal throughout all cultures of music. There are obvious variations, but the human ear/psyche has certain innate expectations. I agree that what makes a particular piece of music interesting are the unexpected parts, but these parts need to fit within familiar formulas for the unexpected parts to stick out and be noticed. For example, the Beatles loved to change keys in the bridges of their songs or shape the arrangement in odd groups to emphasize a vocal part like the part in Back in the USSR where they sing, “Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the USSR”. The rest of the song sits firmly in a familiar formula.

So, just like a G chord progressing to a C chord sounds “right” to the ear (you could call it a formula) there are song arrangements that the human ear expects too. I think these expectations can be used to our advantage so when something unexpected is composed, the impact is much stronger.

I’m not arguing that an intro always needs to be 8 measures and the following sections need to fit in a cookie-cutter formula, every interesting song has its tweaks, but there are very basic things that a majority of popular songs (and I use that term to include popular indie music) use to keep the listeners’ attention. These include: repetition, tension/release, continuity, and contrasting sections. Songs generally move from less complex to more complex and also tend to emphasize and repeat verse elements in the beginning of the song and chorus elements at the end of the song, all of which keeps listeners’ attention.

As an example, I think Spoon takes advantage of these techniques, that is, using songwriting “formulas”  without sounding formulaic.

Here are the arrangement elements of “Finer Feelings” from Ga Ga Ga:

Intro: 4 measures (verse starts 10 seconds into the song)

Verse 1: 8 measures, 6 measures (chorus starts 37 seconds)

Verse 2 (add percussion): 8 measures

Chorus: 8 measures, 8 measures

Bridge: 8 measures, 8 measures, 4 measure breakdown

Verse 3: 8 measures, 6 measures

Chorus: 8 measures, 8 measures

8 measures of sound effects (the unexpected part)

4 measure vamp/re-introduction

Instrumental Chorus: 8 measures, 8 measures, 8 measures, 8 measures, 8 measures

Virtually ever song on their album is as formulaic as this, but they use these arrangement formulas to create unexpected and very enjoyable moments. Also, the sounds that they choose to plug in to these song writing formulas are unique too. So I think the lesson to be learned is that you need to keep one foot in familiar territory and the other foot in unfamiliar territory, but always recognizing that repetition, tension/release, continuity, and contrasting sections are essential for making interesting music. So if we compare Spoon’s composition to [our song] I notice that the introduction starts with a repeating theme, however when it moves from the vocals singing “doo do do doo doo doo” to the next section where the band comes in playing the same theme it pushes the verse out 45 seconds into the song and I think the riff has lost its impact but getting repeated. I’m not suggesting that we need pull out a stopwatch and slideruler to compose music, but in music timeframe 45 seconds is a long time to keep a listener’s interest before moving the music forward by getting to the verse. The chorus (the main theme of the song) doesn’t start until 1:15 into the song. By this time in Spoon’s song they’ve arrived at the chorus twice.

I think as musicians we can experience the subtle changes in the music with more emphasis because we experience the music viscerally and kinetically so changing from the vocals singing a theme to a guitar playing the theme will feel like a much greater change compared to someone who’s only listening to the music. I believe that it’s our challenge to put ourselves in the shoes of the listener and continually push the music forward while emphasizing repeating themes within a framework, then within this framework we introduce the element of surprise.

Sorry to practically write a whole book on this subject and this is last time I’ll bug you with it if you disagree with what I’m saying, but in my past I’ve played with many “good but not great” bands and have wondered where the differences lay so I really delved into what made one band or song more interesting than another song and happened upon these songwriting techniques and noticed that all bands regardless of style used these arrangement techniques 99% of the time and local bands I see or played with did not.

Quoting our bandleader, Reid Coker:

drop that baby, dump that deadbeat, finish finagling those tax write offs & bring your favorite buddy (or fair-weather facebook friend) to “AN EXTRAVAGANCE AT THE WHISTLER” this coming tuesday, april 13!  8:30p!!!

it’s a fracking bona fide 3 ring circus with live music, films & more music (fly DJs, yo!).

featuring the long fussed over 10 year reunion of “WILSHIRE” (Reid Coker, Chris Sherman, Nathaniel Braddock, Chris Warland & Brad Frank!) — a band so underground they’ve been paving catacombs underneath your dead loved ones since 1996!

plus, the bright sunshine tones of solo artist “GILLIAN LISEE” (with special guests– one could be you!!).  This humble diva wants flowers, flowers, FLOWERS!!

also, short films by the evil DEAN RANK and music videos from the downright diabolical JIM BECKER!!!

Had enough??  c’mon, trooper, you’re still young-(ish).  you’ve got guts left for sweet DJ sets from JIM BECKER (califone, hello?), CHRIS SHERMAN (fruit bats, anyone?) & Reid Coker (the judy green, what?) also, don’t you??  vinyl cuts so deep they’re to the marrow…

christ, can you stand the excitement!?!? get your weekend in, then take your weekday on! spend AN EVENING AT THE WHISTLER this TUESDAY starting at 8:30!!

www.whistler.com

www.myspace.com/wilshirewilshire

www.soundcloud.com/gillianlisee

www.deanrank.com

I found this exercise when digging around for my tax papers! A metronome is required. Start at a slow tempo and play straight through. Once you get comfortable, try it a various tempos, but not continually faster, trying mixing up the tempos. Experiment with setting the metronome as quarter, eighths, half, and whole notes.

brad frank drums great timing exercise

The idea is to feel the juxtaposition of the various subdivisions. When you get comfortable playing any subdivision (locking in with the metronome) you will be able to better feel when you are rushing or dragging once the metronome is not  on. For example, if you can feel septuplets (dividing the beat into 7 parts) versus sextuplets (6 parts) you’ll be able to develop a sense of when you are rushing or dragging the subdivision because sextuplets will feel like quintuplets (5 notes per beat) or septuplets. Getting comfortable with this exercise really helped me to feel steady with my timekeeping when I didn’t have a metronome to rely on.

You can play alternating sticking starting with the right or left hand. Also try playing it with double strokes. Download the PDF: Rhythm-Timing Exercise

Currently I am recording all the audio portions of my video tutorials using the amazing, and free for mac owners, Garageband. I own Logic, but I’m still in the learning phase with that software! Anyway, one of my biggest problems was the fact that I was experiencing a large reduction in audio quality and volume when I was dumping the raw Garageband tracks down to an MP3 in iTunes.

My tip for you Garagebanders is to not mixdown or send the file to iTunes with your interface on. After recording I’ll save, quit Garageband, shut off my interface (I use Tascam US-1641 16 channel mixer), turn Garageband back on, THEN mix and dump to MP3.

I can’t explain why, but when I mix and send to iTunes with the interface off, I can set the recording levels MUCH higher without getting any distortion. Actually, I don’t use the level indicators to set my mix. I just use my ears. When recording individual tracks I set the levels as high as possible, just shy of the tracking clipping or distorting. When balancing the levels for each track in the entire mix, I’ll turn down the tracks that need to be quieter, rather than turning tracks up that need to be louder.

I have the master volume turned all the way up. Even though signal is totally buried in the red, as long as you don’t hear distortion, you’ll be fine.

When you are ready to send a Garageband song to iTunes, select: Share/Send Song to iTunes/

Make sure to change “Audio Settings” to “Highest” and then select 192 bitrate. Those are the settings that seem to work the best for me. The audio is still going to be quieter than a professionally mixed and mastered song, but your track will be a little bit louder and sound better!  Please let me know if you’ve discovered a better technique!

I’m happy to announce that last night’s audition was a success and I’ve been invited to join Victoria Fuller’s band!  The other musicians include Jeff O’Connor on bass and Owen Cooper on guitar, both great players.

Update: After my successful audition, due to time restraints I was unable to accept the drummer position.

Here’s info on Victoria from here website: VictoriaFullerMusic.com

CD – “Small Moments”

Music, lyrics, acoustic guitar, and main and backup vocals by Victoria Fuller. Producer DannyShaffer, also plays bass, lead guitar, and some keyboards. Other musicians on the CD are: – Gerald Dowd – drums. – Scot Bennett – keyboards (Tours and records with Beach Boy legend, Brian Wilson, and has solo CD, The Dotted Line,) www.myspace.com/scottbennettmusic . Carter Luke – Keyboards. Jeff Jabobs – Keyboards (Toured with Billy Joel, and still touring with Foreigner) www.cdbaby.com/cd/jjacobs . Tim Bales – Trumpet (Real horns, www.timbales.net.) - Zach Duenow – (guitar, and harmonica) and Dorathea Duenow (Drums) www.myspace.com/duenow . Cello parts by Jane Ferris. CD package designed by me and Liam Davis (of Frisbie) www.digfrisb/ie.com/.

Available for purchase at CD Baby , Downloads on Victoria’s myspace page http://www.myspace.com/victoriafullermusic, , and iTunes

Honorable Mention Music Award winner in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Photo By Jack Perno

Victoria Fuller’s music is folk rock with jazz, blues, and pop overtones. Her voice is like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Ricky Lee Jones. She writes about love lost and found, overcoming struggles in relationships and life, and finding the good that’s there, revealing personal anecdotes. Strong memorable melody lines lead you on a journey with some surprises and enough differentiation to keep your interest throughout, with some nice harmonies. In her CD, Small Moments, produced by Danny Shaffer, she is accompanied by such artists as Grammy winner Scott Bennett who tours and records with Beachboys legend Brian Wilson, and Jeff Jacobs, who has performed with Billy Joel and a touring member of Foreigner.

She was raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, near Allentown. As a child she excelled in art and music, climbing trees, and bugging her older brother and sister. She taught herself the guitar at age 13 and then began songwriting. Her father, a businessman and photographer, and her artistically inclined mother encouraged her to be creative and she was also inspired by her equally creative siblings. She studied art in college, and then moved to Colorado, where she performed her music and created art. In search for knowledge and adventure she traveled to China on a biking tour, to Africa on photo Safari, and on the Amazon on a house boat creating botanical illustrations, She has lived in Paris to study French, New York to immerse herself in the NY art scene, and in San Francisco to study at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Photo By Jack Perno

She moved to Chicago in 1992 to get a degree in art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She gave up music for several years to concentrate on the visual arts but could not stay away forever, and began to pursue it once more. Now she is both a singer/songwriter and an accomplished sculptor / painter, Showing her work at the Chicago Cultural Center, at the Navy Pier large-scale outdoor sculpture show, and extensively throughout the United States.