What Style Eludes You?

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plangentmusic

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What do you LIKE to play, but just isn't "you" -- even in spite of working on it.

For me, it's funk. I mean, I play it okay, but it just doesn't have that nasty deep groove that some guys seem to get. If I work with funky guys, I'm cool, but I'm not the guy to make a band sound funky! lol

Funny thing though -- jazz drumming always felt natural to me -- right out of the gate. Yet, on bass, it's the exact opposite. Playing funk comes easily and second nature whereas playing jazz required far more concentration and is less organic. Go figure.

Which style have you worked on, but just isn't your wheelhouse? Come on...admit it. You're among friends. : )
 
Latin.

For all the time I put into learning and practicing Latin and Brazilian beats, it's always been my Achilles' heel.

I know enough jazz to realize I shouldn't play it in front of other people, but if put on the spot, I could (and have) gotten through some jazz tunes. But call a Latin tune, and I'm sunk. Except for The Girl from Ipanema; I've survived that one before.
 
Latin.

For all the time I put into learning and practicing Latin and Brazilian beats, it's always been my Achilles' heel.

I know enough jazz to realize I shouldn't play it in front of other people, but if put on the spot, I could (and have) gotten through some jazz tunes. But call a Latin tune, and I'm sunk. Except for The Girl from Ipanema; I've survived that one before.

The key to playing a bossa nova on a drum set that I see a lot of guys missing -- using a brush on the snare to play 8th's and just a cross stick playing clave'. The kick plays 1..&3..&1..&3 ./. Softly. Do that and don't try to get too fancy and you won't go wrong.
 
I've probably heard every Led Zeppelin song a bazillion times over the last 35 years or so... Earlier this week, I went to rock out with a couple guys I'd never played with before (one of them being a coworker). I knew they played Whole Lotta Love so I suggested we try that - but I'd never actually tried to physically play it before. Wow, how far off the mark can a guy go? I swear, I can air drum that whole thing in my sleep, but trying to play it with the right feel first time thru? Yeah, that was humbling.
 
I played in rock bands for most if my life....but rock never felt natural to me
I obviously can play it...Ive done it forever on a many records and tours....just never really got that natural enjoyment out of it ..
.at least in the band I played in for nearly a decade...I always felt like I had to put my natural vocabulary aside to make the songs work....that was not a great feeling

I feel much more comfortable in a style that swings ...funk, jazz, R&B, New Orleans type stuff ..
 
I've probably heard every Led Zeppelin song a bazillion times over the last 35 years or so... Earlier this week, I went to rock out with a couple guys I'd never played with before (one of them being a coworker). I knew they played Whole Lotta Love so I suggested we try that - but I'd never actually tried to physically play it before. Wow, how far off the mark can a guy go? I swear, I can air drum that whole thing in my sleep, but trying to play it with the right feel first time thru? Yeah, that was humbling.


I had a very similar situation

I play with an artist who does a sort of blues rock thing ....ala Joe Bonamassa ...and at the end of one of the tunes we go into just the main riff of Bring It On Home.....it NEVER feels right to me and it irks me every time because I have been playing along to Zeppelin records since I was a child ...its amazing how difficult it is to capture the true feel of some of those tunes

everyone always says it sounds great....but I know it's not quite right and it makes me hate doing it
 
I had a very similar situation

I play with an artist who does a sort of blues rock thing ....ala Joe Bonamassa ...and at the end of one of the tunes we go into just the main riff of Bring It On Home.....it NEVER feels right to me and it irks me every time because I have been playing along to Zeppelin records since I was a child ...its amazing how difficult it is to capture the true feel of some of those tunes

everyone always says it sounds great....but I know it's not quite right and it makes me hate doing it

I've had a similar problem with one of my bands own songs. We went in the studio and recordes it before we had time to sit and think about it.
It sounds fine but, when I play it now it feels 'wrong' doesn't matter how tight I play it.

I think that actually applies to a few parts. some parts work on record yet don't live or need tweaking, even if it's just a simple thing like changing from the ride on the record to riding a crash etc

Anyone else faced this before?
 
For a while I really put some effort into the fast double bass stuff. I watched Derek Roddy exercises, kept a journal, practiced every day with heel up and down techniques, it just never took off, I guess it's just not me, I accepted that I was just not meant to be a double bass speed demon and I moved on to other things. Thinking back on it, it was probably the fact that I never really fully enjoyed it that kept me from making real progress. I like hearing songs with cool fast bass patterns but it's not something that clicks with me and motivates me to go practice.
 
For a while I really put some effort into the fast double bass stuff. I watched Derek Roddy exercises, kept a journal, practiced every day with heel up and down techniques, it just never took off, I guess it's just not me, I accepted that I was just not meant to be a double bass speed demon and I moved on to other things. Thinking back on it, it was probably the fact that I never really fully enjoyed it that kept me from making real progress. I like hearing songs with cool fast bass patterns but it's not something that clicks with me and motivates me to go practice.

you know what....this is totally me as well

I wouldnt say eludes.....I guess I just dont like it much

I played double pedal for many years....even double kick in the old days

about 3 years ago when my full time band broke up I took it away and I have never felt more free

I love it

never been happier ....I sound like me again :)
 
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I wouldn't say it eludes me but I'd be very nervous to play jazz in front of people or even with other musicians for fear of not doing it "right" or having the right feel. I could probably handle some straight ahead stuff but I would probably be very self conscious. I am dying to try though.
 
Jazz, Latin, funk ... I don't intend to learn them properly, just to achieve a credible (and hopefully fun) fake in eclectic bands that touch on those styles.

Not there yet - I'm still more of a thumping rocker after three years of trying to tone it down. Numberless, I expect you at least briefly went through this phase, tho the vids you've posted show the hard work you put in to achieve authenticity.
 
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Jazz, Latin, funk ... I don't intend to learn them properly, just to achieve a credible (and hopefully fun) fake in electric bands that touch on those styles.

Not there yet - I'm still more of a thumping rocker after three years of trying to tone it down. Numberless, I expect you at least briefly went through this phase, tho the vids you've posted show the hard work you put in to achieve authenticity.

Most definitely, I still consider myself in that phase, yet I think some progress has been made, compare these old videos from when I first started out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UHvsuIxgnM
http://youtu.be/htaJeGCUNxA

To more recent ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1-1NFllOLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QMDIRQK-14

Even though I've put in some serious practice hours and there have been moments of extreme frustration, I've been having such a blast exploring these styles, most of the time practice is just fun. I think that's what makes all the difference, I never got that from practicing double bass chops so not surprisingly I was never good at it and ended giving up.
 
Most definitely, I still consider myself in that phase, yet I think some progress has been made, compare these old videos from when I first started out:

I see what you mean; the difference is night and day. Thanks for that - it's so inspiring I'm logging off and logging on to the kit right now!
 
Rock / Pop / Top 40 (does this exist any more?) is not comfortable for me to play at all.

I can fake my way through some Motown, little R&B and play Country comfortably much better than Rock. I can't stand listening to myself play it so I can't imagine how others must feel.

Jazz and New Orleans Funk has always felt natural to me as has some styles of Latin. As a result, this is what I play.
 
I've probably heard every Led Zeppelin song a bazillion times over the last 35 years or so... Earlier this week, I went to rock out with a couple guys I'd never played with before (one of them being a coworker). I knew they played Whole Lotta Love so I suggested we try that - but I'd never actually tried to physically play it before. Wow, how far off the mark can a guy go? I swear, I can air drum that whole thing in my sleep, but trying to play it with the right feel first time thru? Yeah, that was humbling.

I can relate Mike, in most of the covers I did, even songs I thought I knew inside out, this was the "problem", it's ok to go through the motion, but to get the right feel? ...yes, another story altogether.

Which styles eludes me? ...I guess all of them, all the one I'm listening and playing at least, I can't even contemplate styles I don't play and don't listen to, which are foreign language to me.

Don't get me wrong, I can play a bit, in many styles, but in all the bands I played over the years, at the expeption of a cover band, I created my own patterns and grooves throughout original songs, I think they suited the music I was playing at any given time, but it's almost like "fake" drumming in any given style.

Having said that, jazz , in the purest sense, is the music I have most difficulty to play, it's a shame, I love jazz.
 
A lot of things have eluded me for a long time, but it always turned out to be due to lack of practice-- playing in 5/4 was one of those. You can really crack anything if you make a serious, sustained effort. Right now the big remaining thing for is Afro-Cuban-- I've always done the jazz drummer thing of doing a personal adaptation of it, rather than the "correct" way, which is a big deal with that kind of music. It's probably not going to happen for me until I develop a big interest in learning it, and find some playing situations where things like maintaining clave actually matter, so I can work it out.
 
Double Bass. Just never really cared to learn it because I never cared to be in a band that requires double bass. Plus I don't want to taint my single bass technique because that is the foundation of my drumming.

And train beats...I just need time on a set in a practice room on a regular basis to keep a beat like that in good shape. All my time on the set is playing with the band and we don't play a train beat song. I used to play She Got Me by Masters of Reality and Folsom Prison Blues by Cash, but never really felt comfortable doing it where it's like a comfortable, free-flowing rhythm. It's usually a struggle holding it together for the whole song and I'm always teetering on the verge of collapse and failure.
 
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