Drums as a secondary instrument

[Nick2012]

I'm a keyboard player. For the past 2 years I have been learning to play drums. I can't believe the impact it's had on my musicianship and motivation to write/record more material. For one, I'm able to take the wrist and finger techniques I've learned from drumming and apply them to the keyboard. I'm able to do fairly fast trills I could never do before. My ability to hammer out rhythmic chord progressions has greatly improved in terms of speed, dynamics, and accuracy. But the best part is I can now actually PLAY the drum parts I hear in my head when I write original music. I always found it frustrating and a real motivation killer when I was not able to create drum tracks via a midi keyboard or midi programming that came close to what I wanted. I know there's a lot of great drum plug-ins which you can use to assemble a pretty awesome sounding drum track, but I have kind of a Bill Bruford attitude when it comes to what a drum track should contribute to a song. If I want to break from the groove and have a 2-bar drum riff that plays in unison with an original melody line, it's going to be a LOT easier to just play it rather than program it or coax it from a sample library. Lastly, I find that I'm able write sitting at a drum kit just as I can write sitting at a keyboard. I can play a drum pattern for a while and then start hearing melodies and arrangements in my head. It's been really exciting and I wish I had done this long ago.

Why am I even sharing this? I guess I just wanted to say that, if you are not already a drummer and you have toyed with the idea of learning another instrument, I think the drums are the best choice for a secondary instrument. When you think about it, what other secondary musical skill could possibly be as universally beneficial as drumming?

Comments? Similar story to tell? Rebuttals?

Nick

[mojobone]

I concur. I started my music training on the saxophone in the fifth grade, or so I thought, but before that, there was a little plastic alto recorder known as a "tonette" and before that there was...(drumroll, please)....percussion. Even before that, there were tap lessons that started in the second grade. (those were optional, and I think, my mother's idea, thanks, Mom) Drums are the first instrument, after voice; I guess it's similar to what I learned in Navy boot camp, that every shipmate is a fireman first and a sailor second. (apparently ships can't navigate well after they've burned to the waterline, and anyplace at all is a hella long swim, heh) So yeah, every musician is first a drummer, (if you discount singing) in part because of how the brain develops. I recommend early swimming lessons and woodwinds as well, if you want to raise a musical child, because it's very important to learn to control the breathing. If I hadn't learned to breathe from the diaphragm in order to support a solid and even 'column of air' for the aforementioned sax playing, I probably would have had years of difficulty in learning to sing. Instead, as soon as I decided I needed to do it, it came as naturally as a duckling to water.

[Hookjaw Brown]

And if you look out at the modern music scene, Drums are THE LEAD instrument. Not keys or guitar.

Mojo - I started Sax in the fifth grade also, along with classical piano. Picked up the guitar and learned lead and killer rhythm acoustic guitar chops. Still can barely sing and can't play the drums AT ALL!

[charlie2]

Practicing the piano and drums do wonders for my guitar playing.

Besides helping with playing other instuments; being a multi instrumentalist is also important for your compositions. It opens up new dimensions to composers.

You don't have to be a top notch player on an instrument to write for it.

If you learn the guitar you'll be writing guitar oriented music as opposed to piano oriented or flute oriented music.

I've written things on guitar which I don't think I could have written on any other instrument.

I think this applies to all instruments.

[cardell]

Yes, I know what you're talking about, I also learned drums for a couple of years.

There's a whole psychology aspect to playing drums that you really only become aware of when you play drums (rather than simply programing them). It takes a while to become proficient then gain the confidence to dictate and play around with the timing (subtly). The grove is paramount. That feel and those slight variations that make the drum track come to life. Playing forces you to look at various aspects of timing, like: does the hi-hat really have to hit the exact same time as the snare/kick? Do all kicks need to be the same volume?

Also, generally speaking, my ear for rhythm improved dramatically as well. I can hear when loops are out by milliseconds. It's something that you feel, rather than hear. For example, it's surprising how many drum loop library samples are out my a small fraction (I mean not looped properly) I can hear it on the radio on certain songs.

It also helped with my rhythm guitar playing and most certainly helped me with drum programming.

Stuart

[sethlit]

I couldn't agree more! On the flip side, after studying drums a ton, and making a living at it (thus far ) picking up a guitar/piano/singing has opened up an entirely new perspective for me. I feel I have a much more "musical" approach to my drumming.

Mojo- You really got me thinking about the wind instrument/swimming comment. Genius. I feel that I could improve A LOT with breathing while singing. Maybe I should give a sax a go? Or on second thought...what's the cheapest wind instrument out there? Recorder?

I think an important parallel here is to not only diversify your knowledge/experience of instruments...but also genres. I can't help but notice a lot of close minded musicians out there when it comes to particular styles of music. They're missing out. But of course...to each their own.

Nick2012- Your comment about drum patterns/techniques applied to piano immediately reminded me of one of my favorite jazz pianists: Michel Camilo

Open stroke rolls on piano

Maybe off topic here...but if you guys haven't seen "Calle 54" a Latin Jazz Documentary...CHECK IT OUT! Michel is in it.

Seth

[mojobone]

A plastic alto recorder is even more sensitive to breath variations than a typical saxophone, and perhaps more than the natural voicebox. I recommended playing a series of slow whole notes on said instrument to a singer/songwriter friend who had difficulty with holding/sustaining vocal notes, and after about six months of daily twenty-minute exercises, her breath support improved by a thousand percent. (though she's a formidably determined individual, and your mileage may vary) Christy, if you're reading this, it may have been my suggestion, but your determination turned the tide, heh.



As to genre....there may be something to be said for specialization, but not until you've had a solid grounding in the basics, imo.

[Nick2012]

Wow, great responses guys. I really love these TAXI forums. I've made similar postings at other sites and got back either the sound of crickets chirping or a simple. "I hear ya dude!"

Nice to find a forum where folks will speak up and share ideas.

Mojo, the Navy analogy is pretty appropriate. I was in the submarine force and, while we all had our individual technical skill set, we ALL went to the same damage control training. So, like you, we were all firemen first.

Hook, I totally agree. While I am a keyboard player, it's not keyboard dominated music that gets my blood pumping. It's solid drums, bass, and a great guitar hook (the simpler the better) that really trips my trigger. "No One Knows" (QOTSA) and "Vaseline" (STP) are two great examples that come to mind.

Charles, GREAT point! Another way to look at it is... Someone who plays only keyboards might come up with a hook or chord progression that doesn't evolve into anything and gets quickly tossed. But if he/she could have picked up a guitar and played the same thing it might have ended up being a potential hit. Imagine if a piano player had come up with the riff to "Satisfaction" long before the Stones. Doubtful it would have gotten anyone's juices flowing. Played on guitar though... whole different ball game.

Stuart, YES, there's definitely something different happening when you have actual sticks in your hands and pedals under your feet. There's no buffer between you and the raw output. When you're programming drums... there's too much INTELLEGENCE getting in the way. Good rock and roll has no room for intelligence

Seth, You've hit an important nail on the head when you say, "MUSICAL approach to drumming". I suspect that most drummers do not think of drums as a musical instrument in the same way as a guitar or piano. If you asked most drummers to sit at their kit and make up a 3 minute original composition, they'd probably look at you funny and say, "No, that's not how it works. YOU make up something on the guitar and I'll come up with something to play along with you." I can easily see myself writing a 3 minute composition on the drums and then add bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals, etc., later, and have no real end-in-mind beforehand.

Has anyone reading this actually composed a song that way? Starting with drums and building on it from there, and letting it evolve in unexpected directions?

As a side bar, for those of you reading this thread and thinking of giving drumming a go...

This is not an expensive endeavor. You don't actually need a drum set to begin. As a matter of fact, it's probably best NOT to begin with a full kit. Too easy to lose focus when there's so much in front of you. I spent the first 14 months playing only on a practice pad. The link below is the practice pad I have, it's a pretty decent deal. You also need a metronome. I used free online resources to learn about the proper way to hold the sticks and the proper way to strike the drum. Then I learned about the various snare rudiments. I practiced every day for about 10 to 20 minutes. Where it really got to be fun was when I reached the point where I could control stick bounce and quickly alternate between single-stroke and double-stroke rolls. That actually began to happen pretty early, although it took a few months to get it sounding smooth. Practicing accents is also critical. If you're like me, you'll be amazed at what accents add to a grove. Good drumming is all about the accents.

A few months into it I bought the "Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials 1.0" DVD and, still using just the pad and tapping my right foot, learned some interesting closed hi-hat, snare, kick grooves. I played one half of the pad like it was the hi-hat, and treated the other half as the snare. To me, the most important skill I developed during that phase was to be able to maintain smooth 16th notes on the "hi-hat" and not screw up the timing when I moved the right stick over a few inches to hit the "snare" on beat 2 and 4. That's like the all time classic pattern that every drummer learns early, but you'd be surprised how much practice it takes to get it right, particularly at tempos of 120 and higher. Staying relaxed and letting the sticks do all the work is the key I think. This taught me to keep my wrists a bit looser, which is what improved my ability to play keyboards more rhythmically. I suspect this would help rhythm guitarists as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Hisonic-Signature ... B000CEMQVK

Nick

[Kolstad]

Rhythms are the main thing in todays music, it's important in every instrument. Eg. listen to vocals, melodies are using rhytmical patterns way more than they used to. It's melody+rhythm, not just rhythm.

I always start my tracking with drums. That's quite tricky, because there's a risk of playing/programming drums that are way too busy. Simple is really key. That's the main argument I have with the midi grooves you can get. I've recently gotten an Alesis Drumpad with sticks and everything, and have been practicing a bit. I need to incorporate it more into my workflow, but I anticipate I will.

At first drum programming bored the crap out of me, but I've learned to appreciate it more, as while I'm at it, I start getting ideas for arrangement, and the programming process is helping me visualise the direction of the track.

I also sometimes double track drums (both electric and acoustic parts, and mix between them). I've become way more observant of rhythm in other instrument and vocal parts as well, by working more intensely with drum parts. It's a great thing to get involved in, and the learning curve is not that steep, I think, allthough you can always discuss taste and choices.

Actually, I get about the same learning from playing keys and bass as well. Coming from guitar, I realize that learning one instrument and get sort of specialized in it, really can narrow your approach to music and even your appreciation of it. Shifting focus to other parts of the band, opens up brave new worlds, and can definately lit up new motivation and excitement, and provide a deeper understanding of the roles of the instrument you started out with.

[coachdebra]

Drums were the second musical instrument (voice came first). And piano is a percussion instrument - hammers hitting strings...

j