An oldie, but a goodie, this quick little tip can come in handy.

Often I get the music for a gig or rehearsal with only a day or two away so many songs need to be learned within a short period of time. Instead of writing them out in a traditional musical chart or playing the songs over and over until memorized,  I’ve found it easier to use a drum chart shorthand using a spreadsheet program. Usually, just writing each chart will help get each song about 80% memorized.  After a couple run-throughs with the recorded material while reading the chart gets me to about 90% ready. Once in rehearsals with the band I can just take a quick glance at each chart before starting the song. If necessary, or in time crunch, I’ll bring the chart to the gig. The neat thing about this format is that I can get 7-8 songs on one page.

Sometimes I’m asked to record or perform song only after one or NO rehearsal. In this case I’ll pull out the pencil and paper and make a simplified handwritten version of this chart.

On the live gig, I find that matching song titles to songs to be one of the hardest parts about preparing for a gig. Often a tune will remind me of another popular song, so I will note something like “slow Moondance” if the song reminds me of a slow version of Van Morrison’s song Moondance or “Bonham” if the song has a big, heavy beat. Usually that’s enough to get the tune in my head. Ironically, the new drummer is usually called upon to remember the tempos for the person who wrote the song so you need to be prepared to get the tune in your head quickly! When in doubt don’t be too proud to catch the attention of a bandmate and say, “Pssst… how does this song start?” It’s much better to set your ego aside and start the song with the correct tempo.

I find that most good bands arrange songs so that one particular instrument starts, so a count off by the drummer isn’t always necessary. There is the dramatic approach too: Bruce Springsteen and the Dee Dee Ramone made an art of counting off songs! I try to save the drummer count offs for songs that really need the band to start all together. Instead of stick clicks or shouting, “one two three four” I find a drum fill that matches the intensity of the introduction to be musically more pleasing.

What I like about my  drumming shorthand is that the song form is laid out in bold on the bottom row. I can quickly get “Intro, verse, chorus, break, verse, chorus, bridge, break, verse, chorus, chorus.” It may seem like a lot, but it’s actually easy to memorize.

One of the most important things to note are song breaks. It’s usually easy to fake your way through a verse, but if the whole band stops and you don’t, well…the mistake will be obvious. Good bandmates who know that the material is new to you will usually give you a cue for changes so keep your head up, not buried in the chart. Don’t forget to do the same for a new member of your group! Marking the changes of song sections with an obvious drum fill, nod, and/or eye contact can go long way in preventing train wrecks!

I like to note the number of measures in each section. What I try to notice on the gig or rehearsal isn’t usually the exact number of measures, but rather if something is odd like a group of 5 measures or an extra 2 measure tag. Groups of 4, 8, 12, 16 measures can usually just be felt internally without any counting.

In the top row I note what’s being featured in each section. I can quickly keep track of the landmarks in each song by using the lyrics. Remember, your lead singer is always “right”! If the singer accidentally skips or repeats a section, you need to quickly find your place. I find that just a couple words of lyrics is enough to get back on track. Lyric cues also help me remember the new song because many times the song title isn’t the catchiest part of the tune.

Below is the first song off the drum chart I used when I play with Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise.

Here’s the full page version:

Part 6 in my series which applies traditional snare drum rudiments to the drum set. Here I demonstrate the basic Single, Double, and Triple Ratamacues and how to create variations for the drum set. I show different orchestrations, rhythmic variations, and double bass drum applications. Whether you’re into Bonham, Gadd, or Tre Cool, you will be able to take something away from this demonstration.

Click here to download the PDF transcription of the examples: PartSixSingleDoubleTripleRatamacue

Part 6: 

Part 6 (continued)

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.

Hello to those of you who checked out my Youtube drum tutorials. The videos are still works in progress. I’m posting them on Youtube to see how they look, but I have not finished writing out all the transcriptions. I’m currently recording Part 4 (double bass drum interpretations of The Drag) . I will get the video and the transcriptions posted ASAP, but for now you can click on this link for a PDF transcription of Part 3 of my drum tutorial: The Drag Part 3 Examples