Keep It Simple & Play The Song
Having played drums & percussion for around 30 years in a wide range of different setting & with lots of diverse musicians (ability-wise & experience-wise) I have seen many highs & lows in approach.
One of the questions I get asked most is,
"How do you approach your playing?"
I have two simple & probably quite disappointing answers:
"I keep it simple & I play the song"
I personally think one of the biggest mistakes we make as musicians is that we spend so long expanding & refining our technique: touch, rudiments, speed, stamina, tightness at very slow tempos, keeping the groove, feel & tempo during our breaks etc, that we almost feel obliged to use it in our playing whenever we can. There is nothing wrong with 'clever' or 'technical' playing but I always ask myself, "Does the son need it?" before I use it.
I guess it comes down to how we see music & our place within that music; are we playing it to show how good we are (i.e., for our own benefit) or to make the song sound good (for the benefit of others).
We musicians tend to be rather insecure & in many instances taken for granted, so it isn't surprising that we want to be noticed. But I wonder sometimes whether we're more noticed because we're invisible, fitting seamlessly into the music & the song, rather than standing out because if what we do.
If you read or listen to interviews by the great players & studio drummers like Steve Gadd they always emphasis the song & 'playing the space'. No-one will doubt their amazing ability & technical skill, but these guys are used so much because of the feel they bring to a piece of music. It's not so much what they play as how they play (though Steve Gadd's amazing breaks in songs like 'Chuck E's In Love' & his legendary grooves on Steeley Dan's 'Aja' & Paul Simon's '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' give examples where technical ability & interpretation bring a new dimension to a song). Steve freely admits that what he doesn't play is as important as what he does.
Hopefully, if we leave people feeling good about the music we play we will feel good about ourselves & our playing.
People ask me to play drums & percussion for them not primarily because of my 'chops' or 'technical skills' but because I have built a reputation of adding to a song, very often as much by what I don't play as by what I do.
Just a thought! I'd love to hear your responses.
Until next time ...
One of the questions I get asked most is,
"How do you approach your playing?"
I have two simple & probably quite disappointing answers:
"I keep it simple & I play the song"
I personally think one of the biggest mistakes we make as musicians is that we spend so long expanding & refining our technique: touch, rudiments, speed, stamina, tightness at very slow tempos, keeping the groove, feel & tempo during our breaks etc, that we almost feel obliged to use it in our playing whenever we can. There is nothing wrong with 'clever' or 'technical' playing but I always ask myself, "Does the son need it?" before I use it.
I guess it comes down to how we see music & our place within that music; are we playing it to show how good we are (i.e., for our own benefit) or to make the song sound good (for the benefit of others).
We musicians tend to be rather insecure & in many instances taken for granted, so it isn't surprising that we want to be noticed. But I wonder sometimes whether we're more noticed because we're invisible, fitting seamlessly into the music & the song, rather than standing out because if what we do.
If you read or listen to interviews by the great players & studio drummers like Steve Gadd they always emphasis the song & 'playing the space'. No-one will doubt their amazing ability & technical skill, but these guys are used so much because of the feel they bring to a piece of music. It's not so much what they play as how they play (though Steve Gadd's amazing breaks in songs like 'Chuck E's In Love' & his legendary grooves on Steeley Dan's 'Aja' & Paul Simon's '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' give examples where technical ability & interpretation bring a new dimension to a song). Steve freely admits that what he doesn't play is as important as what he does.
Hopefully, if we leave people feeling good about the music we play we will feel good about ourselves & our playing.
People ask me to play drums & percussion for them not primarily because of my 'chops' or 'technical skills' but because I have built a reputation of adding to a song, very often as much by what I don't play as by what I do.
Just a thought! I'd love to hear your responses.
Until next time ...
Labels: adding spice to songs, attitude, drummers, drumming, groove, make the song feel good, musicians, percussionists, playing space, playing the song
posted by Stuart Wood at
21:38
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