beatstudent
Junior Member
First poster here.
Our three piece recently brought on a new guitarist with some great song writing ability/experience. Because our previous guitarist had no interest in writing songs (a topic for another day) and our lead singer/beginner bassist is pursuing the endeavor purely out of passion (he had next to no musical background prior to us starting two years ago), up until this point I had taken on most of the song writing.
I grew up playing piano, still play every day, but I always wanted to jump out of the seat like Jerry Lee Lewis or something, composing with energy as opposed to memorizing and honing technical skill (a bittersweet method). I wanted to be freakin' Animal from Sesame Street, as far back as I could remember. Enter the drums. Bless you Drum God ::ounds chest:::
However many years later...
Boy am I glad to have the burden of principal song writer off my back with this new guitarist in the mix. I can do it. I'm not bad at it. But for now, and this is yet another topic for another thread, I hope to find a way to continue to have a significant influence in the shaping of the sound that we create as a band. Moving on...
Bringing a new member into the band forces you to confront a number, if not every question regarding your band, but I pose this small one to the forum:
Do you ever find that stepping out from behind your drums is more effective than playing them? Specifically, I mean getting out the way during say a (group) song writing phase. Drums can get loud and overbearing, your rhythm could put the singer in a particular box closing doors, your room might be so small than even the seen but never heard jazz style drummer cannot play quietly and tightly enough to prevent inhibiting the song writing process.
I typically explain to any musician I may be writing with that I'll sometimes step away from the drums because I feel like they are getting in the way (often early in the song stages). Sometimes this is because I can't quite find my groove, but typically not. Maybe I'll just move to a tambo, or a beer bottle and lighter, or my accordion case bass drum, maybe I'll sit and listen, giving feedback that I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to give.
Again: Do you ever find that stepping out from behind your drums is more effective than playing them?
Our three piece recently brought on a new guitarist with some great song writing ability/experience. Because our previous guitarist had no interest in writing songs (a topic for another day) and our lead singer/beginner bassist is pursuing the endeavor purely out of passion (he had next to no musical background prior to us starting two years ago), up until this point I had taken on most of the song writing.
I grew up playing piano, still play every day, but I always wanted to jump out of the seat like Jerry Lee Lewis or something, composing with energy as opposed to memorizing and honing technical skill (a bittersweet method). I wanted to be freakin' Animal from Sesame Street, as far back as I could remember. Enter the drums. Bless you Drum God ::ounds chest:::
However many years later...
Boy am I glad to have the burden of principal song writer off my back with this new guitarist in the mix. I can do it. I'm not bad at it. But for now, and this is yet another topic for another thread, I hope to find a way to continue to have a significant influence in the shaping of the sound that we create as a band. Moving on...
Bringing a new member into the band forces you to confront a number, if not every question regarding your band, but I pose this small one to the forum:
Do you ever find that stepping out from behind your drums is more effective than playing them? Specifically, I mean getting out the way during say a (group) song writing phase. Drums can get loud and overbearing, your rhythm could put the singer in a particular box closing doors, your room might be so small than even the seen but never heard jazz style drummer cannot play quietly and tightly enough to prevent inhibiting the song writing process.
I typically explain to any musician I may be writing with that I'll sometimes step away from the drums because I feel like they are getting in the way (often early in the song stages). Sometimes this is because I can't quite find my groove, but typically not. Maybe I'll just move to a tambo, or a beer bottle and lighter, or my accordion case bass drum, maybe I'll sit and listen, giving feedback that I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to give.
Again: Do you ever find that stepping out from behind your drums is more effective than playing them?