Static Loops, Quantized Sequences and Music that Breathes

["RICK WALKER" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

--
D. wrote:
" the drummer doesn't like clicks or
flashing lights & in any case, we all think that for the music to be
able to "breathe", we don't want quartz-locked BPM.

Having been a live and studio drummer professionally for 30 years I feel 
compelled to
chime in here.    All music,  including quartz-locked BPM loops or 
sequenced 
music
has the ability to 'breathe".      It just takes a more sophisticated 
drummer (and other
musicians) to make it appear to breathe.

In the case of playing to quantized sequences or static loops,   it is 
efficacious to
practice playing anywhere from way behind the beat (in a musical fashion 
that does
not 'lose'  the connection to the quantized part) to way, way up on top of 
the beat.

Early on in studio playing (and before the advent of computerized 
recording 
that allows
people to edit so effortlessly with digital crossfading like anyone can do 
on a home
computer these days)   we learned that we could make recordings much 
faster 
(and
hence, way less costly)  by using click tracks that kept the musicians 
more 
honest in
terms of overall tempo (there's breathing in this case and there's just 
plain old shitty
timekeeping, if you know what I mean).

At the same time,  rigidity is the first inherent problem of trying to 
learn 
how to play to
clicks.

We were forced , back in the day (early 80's when I did the bulk of my 
professional
studio work) to try and figure out how to make the music feel organic even 
if we were
playing to a quantized click track.

During that process,  we learned that if we were to get off of the click 
that we needed to
drift back to it instead of trying to jump immediately to the proper tempo 
(in the former,
you never hear the mistake in the recording;  in the latter,  you hear the 
'bump' in the
time immediately).

Learning how to do this...............to play at a different place in the 
beat,  that still is
musical then helped prepare us when we encountered people from other 
cultures who
'felt'  the beat differently  (Southern soul musicians who play very, very 
laid back and
behind the beat,   West coast funkateers who are way up  on top of things, 
Brazilians
who have great time but don't play to a 16th note evenly spaced grid in 
their playing,
etc.)

I have to say when I hear of a drummer who says,   "I hate click tracks or 
blinking lights
or playing to static loops"   I think,   here is a drummer whose overall 
understanding of
the concept of keeping time is not real sophisticated.

The drummer, probably more than anyone,  is capable of imparting great 
difference in
the way a piece of music if felt,  vis a viz time.     The drummer can 
make 
really
locked quantized parts  feel very organic and can make completely 
unsynchronized
musicians feel very rigid and static depending on how he or she plays.

Time is a deep world.    It's a fascinating world.    Like all things,  
it's 
really good for
one's musicianship to stay flexible when it comes to playing in any 
musical 
setting.

A mentor of mine (a guitarist who had backed Aretha Franklin for several 
years) once
said,    "Every song can groove at any tempo...........it's your job to 
figure out how to
make a song groove"   (and breathe) if it is played at an uncomfortable 
tempo or if it is
locked to a quartz-locked BPM.   If someone calls 'Sunshine of your Love" 
at 
a
ludicrously slow tempo,  you can make it groove like hell if you play way 
behind the
beat and in a very heavy manner.   The same is true if it is called too 
fast.
This musician taught me that any audience can hear if you change tempo in 
a 
song
(especially if you are compensating at the start of a song because it 
'doesn't feel right.'
He said,  "The audience never knows if you are doing a rendition of a tune 
or trying to
play it authentically..........they only know if your time is strong or 
not.

He would drill our band at the time by purposefully call different (and 
unconventional)
tempos for different tunes in our repertoire...............if we 
complained 
that such a song
was at the wrong speed,  he would yell at us,  "Find the groove,   find 
the 
groove".

It was one of the best disciplines I ever learned as a professional 
touring 
and studio
drummer and, to this day,  it feels unprofessional when someone tries to 
get
me to speed up or slow down because a song feels wrong................lol, 
it's just not
always appropriate for me to yell,  "Find the groove,  find the groove you 
guys!!!!"

Rick Walker

ps    Earlier on this list,  I believe that I posted a series of exercises 
that I have been
using with great success with beginning beginner drummers and bassists so 
that they
can learn how to 'breathe' and play with different relaxed feels to a 
click 
track.
Check it out if you feel like you don't know how to do this yourself.   It 
only takes a
couple of hours of work to learn how to do this and your whole musical 
world 
will
change if you learn the concept.      There's only one little 
warning.......once you learn
how to play effortlessly and with a natural 'breathing quality'  to a 
click 
track  you will
begin to notice how many musicians out there don't know how to do it and 
are
xenophobic when it comes to the concept.
If you can't find the exercises,   I'll repost them.  Just let me know if 
you are interested