Technical Drummer vs. Rhythm Drummer

[GenX25]

Hey Dudes

I'm quite curious. How many of you guys bother to actually study and practice all the drum materials such as techniques (rudiments, moeller and heel/toe method) or do you guys just learn enough to be able to jam in a band (grooves, rhythm, timing) because personally, I do both and dont really focus on any one area although I largely consider myself to be a technical drummer. How about you guys? It would be nice to hear your opinions. Thanks =)

Gen

 

[joshie]

sorry double post

 

[joshie]

musicality and techniques always come hand in hand

 

[reuben]

agreed.. hand in hand...

if you have no techniques, most of the time when a song require a certain sort of technique inspired beat or fill in you tend to have problems.

then again if you have techniques and no musicality den you will have hard time learnning songs. have to feel the song to play it.

anyway... musicalitly comes about from listening to alot of different music..

 

[RudimentalDrummer]

Drummers need to be good in both area (that's how I see it).

I practice alot on Technical Stuffs and improving on them... hoping to be able to drum Dynamically......Then when I join and play with my Band Group....I find that (It's different from practicing at home)...cause my timming not so good initially (but now better alot liao through jamming with them)....and I realise I had this problem of Drop-In (a professional drummer told me -- when he saw me play)....but I learn alot from Jamming with all these people.

So - to me both is very very important. We really have to Jam with other Musician...with all the Technical stuffs learned.....I don't know how to apply in a real situation...so experience is needed.....Drummer need time to groom themselve throught alot of exposure to be good and have confident in drumming.

 

[QWEbie]

Agreed, both is needed.

Short intro: I started copying 5years back and had never touched on rudiments and other excercises till 1+ years back.

It is good to learn both and experience is very important when it comes to free-jamming/band-practice.

RudimentalDrummer:

Yea, drumming or hitting your legs at home is different when you're playing together with bandmates. Timing and feeling is important.

GenX25: Listen to different genres of music! Jazz, Blues, Ska(argh,off-beats) & etc etc

With more exposure to different types of music and playing in band(s), you will start picking up guitar/bass lines which will also help you in creating your own grooves for your future band!

Sometimes listening to lives(live,cd,video etc) can be very helpful as it brings in unexpectedness and broadens your thinking of a certain type of beat/groove.

Some Lives which I watched helped me play dynamically:
G3 (Tokyo or Denver)
and Dave Weckl's Natural Evolution

Nowadays, I start off first with rudiments and once my left palm is warmed up, I start slow with rhythm and finally going to a solo(combination of both technicals and rhythm) and ending it sweetly-slow.

Hope this helps!

 

[blurred]

sorry dude, u need both. ur hands and ur grooves. gd hands will make ur grooves sound better.

 

[tc_zen]

what i feel is groove is more important than all those flying technique. u gotta let your audience feel you, music is about delivery, if your audience can feel you,your band mate feel u, then, what ever u play, maybe just simple 8beat groove, u r great.!!

 

[joshie]

yep rhythm is very important. if you're good at your techniques but fail to perform and groove alright, you probably wont be very good. however, techniques and coordination do help to enable the beat to sound 'clean' and speed will have a part to play as well, when in correct tempo.

 

[blurred]

yup i reckon, u guys have hit the nail on the head. groove man.
groove is the cake tht the technical icing sits on.

another thing i noticed abt live playings is on intimate settings eg. small pubs or unplugged settings, u need to look flowing and comfortable with ur playing. its purely asthetic however. with technique will come flow.

okie i'm going abit off topic here but i find alot of drummers are not aware of their surroundings eg where u play. in a small setting drummers then to hit too hard and play in the mind set tht their in a medium to large stage setting. it's just too loud and course to the listeners ear. i diff approach needs to be established. the cymbals especially cause the highs cut the ears like no other.

one way to understand the concept is to understand ur surroundings and ur music. 4/4 rock will require a strong 1 and a slightly strong 2 n 4. blues is abt the swinging feel and the strong backbeat. if u understand the genre and are aware of ur surrounding, the sound will be smooth and less harsh.
devils are in the details and if u get all these little details together u will sound goood no matter the situation.

books to understand the concepts.
future sounds by david garibaldi
art of bebop by john riley

future sounds talks abt the sound lvl and how u shld regulate ur limps
bebop talks abt been aware of ur sound and how good everything sounds as an instrument and not just the snare or the hi hat.

okie i will stop crapping

 

[ZachDrummer]

This is a beautiful topic that I've been searching in Soft.

It's also good if we can discuss abt techniques in drumming which we won't be able to find due to the secrets being kept by all those good drummers.

THE REASON?

Very Simple! They want to stay ahead of all drummers.

 

[USADRUMMER]

my 2¢

**deleted**

 

[Magnimas]

hmm true.. but sometimes its tings that even the pros cant explain, such as improvisation, as it is v subjective. Each drummer has his/her different way of playing and how they feel towards different music.

 

[USADRUMMER]

**deleted**

 

[drumset_raf]

woot~

work out the technical stuff (rudiments, strokes, techniques). get it down comfortably and practice like crazy.

den, introduce musicality into the technicalities you had been working on - play along with ur band, cd's, mp3's, MV's etc. (dynamic, embellishment of ur touch, sound concept, individualism etc.)

den finally refinement and blending of both to achieve an overall result = Groove!!!

dis is my drum workout steps in getting down a groove nicely in the pocket with feeling~

hope that helps... :mrgreen:

 

[Mr. Mouse]

@OP:

It also depends on what kind of drumming are you going for. Are you a drummer for a band, or are you a professional drummer? It's like comparing Vinnie and Bob Bryar (My Chemical Romance). Obviously Vinnie is much much better in techniques, and Bob is more famous as he is in a band.

So really the question is, are you playing drums for drums or are you playing it for the music? Your answer pretty much determines what kind of drummer you are.

Well that's what I think.