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

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.

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!

Below are my four videos demonstrating various ways to interpret  the snare drum rudiment The Drag.  I was inspired by Steve Gadd’s interpretation of the Ratamacue in his video Up Close. You should definitely have that one in your video collection. Steve stretched out the rhythm and replaced a snare note with his bass drum. The result was a new idea to play around the drum kit that sounded much hipper than your average military style Ratamacue. I thought why don’t I do my own interpretations with other rudiments? So I did! Hopefully this will inspire you to develop your own licks based on the Drag.

Click here for a printable set of exercises based on these video lessons.

Part 1 is a demo song showing all of my Drag interpretation in a song context.

Part 2 demonstrates the basic drag with 16th note and triplet orchestrations.

Part 3 shows advanced rhythmic and linear applications of the Drag. Click here for a PDF transcription: The Drag Part 3 Examples

Part 4 displays my double bass (kick) drum interpretation of the previous Drag-inspired rhythms from Part 2. Click here for a PDF transcription: The Drag Part 4 Examples

Click here for a drum lesson with Brad Frank coupon.

Well, I’ve finally arrived in Chicago, the suburb of Lisle to be exact, and am ready to get things rolling.

The acoustic drums are set up in the “Isolation Booth” (aka the storage room in my basement). Our home is just a little too close to the neighbors so for volume’s sake, I’ve tried to isolate the acoustic drums as much as possible. I was planning to do my video tutorials on my acoustic kit, but for now it looks like it’s going to have to be on my V-Drums.

It seems like all I’ve done this summer is either pack a box, unpack a box, or try to find a box that I’ve packed something in! It’s time to blow the dust of the ol’ chops and get practicing.

Today I’m running through the (Frankified) Rudimental Ritual slowly just to get oriented. I also have an iPod full of classic rock tunes that I will play along with to work on my feel and groove.

My next (and first “real”) video tutorial will be based on the drum set applications I’ve worked out using the Rudimental Ritual. Inspired by Steve Gadd (check out his video “Up Close”) I’ve developed many licks and tricks using literal and loose interpretations of snare drum rudiments. I’ve mutated and twisted many of the rudiments from their original form so they sound much different than the original and are applied at fills, time playing, and double bass drum playing.

It’s time to hit the woodshed and polish this material so I can get it on video!

Brad

Hello internet,

Just at the tip of the iceberg here, trying to figure things out. I’ve got a full blown website in the works, but for now I thought I’d at least let you all know what’s going on.

I plan to post video tutorials, pictures, music links, and just about anything else I can think of about the world of drumming. To be honest, I’m still working on understanding Wordpress…and may or may not keep it once I have the site going.

Right now I’m just blowing the dust off the ol’ licks and continuing to work on the Rudimental Ritual. More on this Ritual later, but I still have not run out of different interpretations and applications for that thing.

In the meantime, feel free to post a comment or ask questions. I’ll have the full bio, discography, etc, etc coming soon.