The Drumming Blog

I have been fortunate to see drums and drumming dating back to 1958 – when I picked up my first set of sticks. Over the years we have seen advances, embellishments and new technology and better equipment. But something happened. I think it just occurred. We drummers now more than ever have the most superb, well crafted gear to choose from.

Looking at some of the NAMM previews (going on this week) Seemingly every single drum company has put out gear any of us would be proud to sit behind.

The sounds, the quality, the thinking behind the current crop of kits is mind-blowing.

In the day, you picked up a kit and had to spend countless hours to get it sounding the way you wanted – and even then you sort of got close. Today, even the less expensive kits are amazing. That is great for kids getting into drums, because one of the barriers to entry to playing drums is that sound.

Here are just a few of the mouth-watering vids I have seen.
My last year’s pick …

Playing Music; Who Leads & Who Follows

By: McT

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend who has some very fixed but, really wonderful ideas about music & how it should be performed. My points are flow of consciousness writing & probably under developed but, I liked what I said when I read it back while proofing it. You may agree or disagree but, if it gets you thinking about how you approach playing your music, that’s very cool.
The question of who leads & who follows is one that I’ve heard a million answers to. Some things I know for sure are

1) Everybody is responsible for the time. If you can’t agree on & stick to the basic quarter note pulse AND keep it there, you’re a problem that other people in the group have to deal with. Everybody has to hold on to that quarter note pulse.

2) There is a feature & the rest of the group is there to support that feature. This can change several times in the course of any piece of music but, no matter if it’s a vocal, a guitar solo, keyboard solo, or whatever, the rest of the group either plays something to support that or DOES NOT PLAY at all. The wisest musicians are the the ones who know when not to play.

3) You have to be open to the differences that individuals bring to the music. Not every one has the same voice but, we all pretty much say the same things. Music is just another language & when we play as a group, we’re having a conversation. If you speak one way all the time you’re going to get boring. If you never shut up, you’re going to get annoying. If you have to dominate all the conversation, you’re just rude. If you start talking about something completely removed from the current conversation, you’re going to lose everybody. The etiquette of good conversing is the etiquette of playing music.

4) Time, groove & feel will always win out over chops & hype. Time is elastic & should stretch & tighten with the phrasing & the emotion of the music. Of course, this has to be subtle & appropriate or the dancers will hate you. If music is achieving it’s desired result it’s making people move in one way or another, even if they’re sitting down. There is a huge difference between time that flows with the emotion & time that’s just wondering around because the musicians aren’t controlling it.

The point is that you always should support & give proper acknowledgment to whoever is speaking at that moment. Being respectful is equated with being professional.

So, that’s it. There will be a pop quiz later in the week & yes, all of this WILL be on the exam.

- Mark McTaggart co-leader & drummer of John Bell & The Operators

I consider myself allowed to make these. One, it is my site. Two I have played more gigs and played more drums than most folks have had hot meals.

Please accept these in the spirit they are offered. Serious drum shit …

The New (Old) Drum Rules

If you have a 4 pc kit – tom, floor tom, bass and snare…buy a tom mount. Unless you are some really old drummer in New orleans or stuck in an army barracks and have to whip up a make shift kit … you can afford a tom mount. What? You don’t want to drill your bass drum? It is a fucking bass drum, not Chippendale furniture. Put a mount on it.  Oh, Levon and Charlie get a pass on this. If your name is neither, Levon, nor Charlie… buy a mount. And Toms hung from cymbal stands suck too. Buy a mount.

Drum gloves are appropriate if:

• You are handling hazardous waste, shucking oysters, cracking lobsters or fixing the barbed wire fence during a gig. Otherwise – take the fucking gloves off Nancy!

Drum shoes. I won’t even go there. Buy some shoes, break em in, wear until new shoes are required. Drum shoes are like wearing a Zildjian shirt to a drum clinic.

Drink holders. What????  You can’t find some Babe to hold your beer? You, my friend, are not a drummer. Take up the bass.

Leave your God-damned shirt on. Ok! Nuff said.

Unless you actually marched, like for real in DCI or similar, do not do instructions on rudiments. It looks awful, sounds worse and well, you simply can’t play em anyway. Stick to set instruction. Or not?

Speaking of instruction … So, Skippy, you got yourself a neat lil video camera and have it set up in your Mom’s basement and are now doing comprehensive, intensive, drum instruction vids??? Don’t. Please don’t.

However, if you do some You Tube instruction, keep your yapping down to a minimum. Like 10 seconds per minute. I am not interested in the Gospel according to Skippy. OK?

Travis Barker sucks. That’s the rule.

The You Tube videos of “The Best 10 Drummers of All Time” are linked to a corollary. The guy that did them has never drummed in front of people, and last time he was inside a woman was the Statue of Liberty. No such list. If you drum. You rock.

Don’t bring your girlfriend to your gig. She has better shit to do. So do you!

Change your heads. Often. And change em more often than your underwear.  Think about that for a moment.

One cymbal for every tom. That’s it. Sorry. Twenty cymbals means you are a drum geek.

And last rule … there are no rules. You, my friend, if none of these apply, are a drummer. You do not need rules.

Stay tuned for the DrumHang with Shawn Pelton – just love this drummer! If you are not a fan check out – probably the best drum site online – DrummerWorld

And for probably the best live playing ever - Live from Daryl’s House!

Long time fan. Got to meet him twice – genuine, humble, smart and we both collect fountain pens!

Fortunate to have run a few drums shops in my time, one of the fun activities I loved was dressing the show room floor. You would get in all sorts of drum makes and models. Small kits, huge kits, weird kits amateur and pro alike.

I always found it amazingly challenging to set up drums aesthetically as well as functionally. Sure there are no rules and as drummers we can do whatever the hell we want. This tom over here, the cymbals there, low, high … you name it. But to me there has to be some panash to the set up.

What I tried to do at each store was  set up a set or two as drum art. Symmetry, balance, function and form. I also tried to keep it modest. Sure with $10,000 worth of hardware and cymbals and racks you could make some impressive drum sculptures. But I always tried to make them so folks could afford them.

Saw this on Facebook – this shot to me is pure beauty.

If you have some drum art – send it in!

Hey, check out the new video over at our buddy Cam Patterson’s site Drum Hang

http://www.drumhang.com/

Chris McHugh!!!

Love this kid!!! @SeanQuigley204 (Twitter)

Us old skool drum corps snare drummers cannot resist this

This is an excellent video.

For many years running drum stores this was a common question from customers – both beginners and accomplished players alike. There is probably nothing as mysterious as drum tuning. Getting that sound. Your sound. Drum type, head choice and music styles all come into play. There really are no rules. But before you can achieve your personal sound – “tuning to taste” I believe you have to know how to tune neutral. Check out this vid!

In mt experience the way to tune drums is to tune lots of them. Being confident. I was very fortunate when I was growing up in drum corps I was the designated tuner. 4 snares, three triple drums and bases. I personally love tuning drums.

My approach has always been common sense. This video is as good a demonstration of common sense tuning as I have ever seen.