Re: Drummers playing to metronomes and loops live

[Andrew Pask <andrew@kaleidacousticon.com>]

Ahhhhhh,

I wish every drummer in the whole wide world could read this.

Great post Rick.

For someone who plays right out front, check out Art Blakey. He used to not
let anybody in his bands come out front with him, he liked them all to be
back, mind you he was a long way forward, makes for a really interesting
dynamic. You know you're getting somewhere when you start having arguments
in your band along the lines of "oh man, you're always there, why don't we
try it with you in some other place for a change"

Elvin Jones is a great example of someone who has different parts of his 
kit
in different places at the same time.Ditto Jack DeJohnette.You don't really
hear a good drummer play right back all the time unless he is in a really
strong group, it is too easy for people to get the wrong idea.The back of
the beat seems to be the province of horn players and piano players, check
out how far back Keith Jarrett can get sometimes.

Also I have often noticed in jazz that a really tight band will all move up
slightly on the time when moving into a solo, and then lean back on it when
coming back into a head/ensemble. Bill Evans trios often did this, and
Miles' groups.

There is a whole world to be discovered through this kind of practise and
listening.

Cheers


Andrew




on 7/24/02 3:23 PM, Rick Walker/Loop.pooL at GLOBAL@cruzio.com or somebody
wrote:

> Jonathan wrote:
> 
> "Besides having the drummer play to a metronome, instead of the real 
>loop is
> no fun for the drummer..."
> 
> 
> Au contraire, mon frere,
> 
> As a professional drummer who has done hundreds of studio sessions I 
>have to
> say that playing to a metronome is a difficult task to learn and I
> , for one, really enjoy it live.
> 
> There are tricks to learning how to be able to be 'expressive' and 
>'human'
> while doing so.
> 
> The fact is that most drummers don't know how to do it in a more 
>expressive
> way.
> 
> 
> Here is a set of exercises designed to help you learn how to play to a
> metronome with feeling and ease:
> 
> Try this(even if you've never attempted to play to metronomes before):
> 
> Set a metronome to a very comfortable speed where the click is set to
> 16th notes (NOT 1/4 notes).
> 
> Now play a 16th note hi hat pattern (kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4)
> on hi hat (or touches if you are a percussionist or double picked palm 
>mutes
> if you are a guitarist or bassist or, or , or)
> 
> As you play, see if you can audio-hallucinate that the metronome is
> almost imperceptively slowing down.  Keep trying and try to project onto
> your listening that the machine is loosing energy and slowing down.
> 
> FEEL IT SLOW DOWN and then allow yourself to slow down with it.  The more
> you do this exercise, the more you will be able to project this concept 
>on
> your hearing....of course it is not actually happening, but you can 
>convince
> yourself that it is.
> 
> Keep letting it slow until it is going as slow as you can imagine it.
> NOW,  try to 'drag' it down even further by playing slower.
> Never let yourself get away from it, but play as slowly as you can 
>possibly
> play with out getting off of it.
> 
> At some point you will play so slowly that it will start to sound 
>'wrong'.
> 
> This is a crucial place.    Now begin to experiment with finding the
> exact spot in your playing where it starts to feel wrong.
> 
> Purposefully let yourself lose the metronome and then try to very slowly
> speed up until you are back with it again.
> 
> The important thing here (and with all metronomic playing) is to not try 
>and
> correct immeditately, but rather, to let yourself drift back to accuracy.
> 
> As wierd as it may feel, when you remove the metronome and go back and
> listen to the recording of yourself, YOU WON"T EVEN HEAR THE MISTAKE.
> 
> 
> Okay, bear with me now.
> 
> Now go back and do the same exercise, except audio hallucinate that the
> metronome is now slowing starting to speed up.   follow the same
> instructions as above.
> 
> Once you can do either of these exercises with impunity,  try
> going to the slowest point you can (without ever letting the metronome 
>get
> away from you) and then take 2 minutes to slowly speed up to get
> 'perfectly' in sync with the metronome.   Then take 2 minutes to slowly
> speed up until you are playing as fast as you can without getting away 
>from
> the metronome. Now reverse this entire process and slow down to the 
>slowest
> again. Take four minutes to do so.  this is difficult, btw, but you can 
>do
> it and the concentration that you will need will start to give you a 
>brand
> new understanding of just how deep 'time' is, even when you are playing 
>to a
> constant metronomic speed.
> 
> Repeat this process...........1 minute from Slowest to normal
>                             1 minute from normal to Fastest
> 
> Again.........................30 seconds "                  "
>                             30 seconds "                  "
> 
> then ..........................15 seconds "                 "
> 
> and finally,   How quickly can you go between playing as slow as you can
> to how fast you can.
> 
> ALL RIGHT, NOW IS THE AMAZING THING:
> Now play to the metronome and don't think about it.   You will now play
> perfectly in sync without ever having attempted it before.
> 
> What we have just learned how to do is to play 'behind the beat' (or 
>fatback
> drumming as it is called by r&b drummers in the south) and
> play 'ahead of the beat'(really prevalent in rock and roll, big band
> music---but not always).
> 
> Some of the ways that I cultivate this is by thinking of emotional states
> that can go with playing behind the beat or playing ahead of the beat.
> 
> Behind the Beat  states:    tired, langorous,depressed,sad,drunk (or 
>other
> depressants), sleepy,a feeling of physical 'heaviness'(this one really 
>works
> for me---'how heavy can I feel and still play accurately-----almost
> invariably, I will play behind the beat feeling this way)
> 
> Ahead of the Beat states:   nervous, edgy, excited, angry, aggressive,
> to much coffee (or other stimulants)
> 
> I find if I emotionally hallucinate these states, that I will play
> commensorately behind or ahead of the beat.
> 
> Of course, the metronome never strays, it is just your perception and
> reaction to it that strays.
> 
> This is such a powerful skill.  With it it can allow you to completely
> change the feel of a piece of music form langorously playing 'way back' 
>on
> the beat to a very edgy, nervous, excited playing 'way up on the beat'.
> 
> You can also use this technique to reel in an errant bass player or
> rhythm guitarist who has either.........drunk to much coffee or drunk to
> much bear or who is really angry (tends to rush) or really bummed out
> (tends to drag).
> 
> A great technique that I have used for years to accomplish this is to
> play perfectly metrononically (to the best of your ability) an the play
> the snare drum as a flam that either flams late (behind the beat) or 
>flams
> early (ahead of the beat).  It is amazing how you can get another 
>musician
> to unconciously respond to your movement hear.    Great drummers all 
>have an
> intrinsic grasp of this process (although most of them haven't done this
> particular exercise to learn it).
> 
> I have used this method on beginning beginner students who have never
> ever played to a metronome (and you know how dicey that can be) and they 
>are
> able to play perfectly with the metronome in the first hour of play.
> Amazing.
> 
> good luck, let me know if you have any success with this technique.
> 
> yours, Rick Walker (loop.pool)
> 
> 
> p.s. Next we take on playing to 'lumpy' loops.  LOL
> 
> 
> 
>