The customer is Boss

Drummers Alliance

Senior Member
I have been a pro drummer for many years, I now teach the drums, a large percent of my students are now pro players.I always tell them the customer is boss, so work on groove, pocket, versitility and listening skills, before crazy chops .What is your opinion ?.Regards Toni Cannelli
 
Absolutely. Even in situations where the drummer may be the leader of the band, or maybe a "solo" artist doing clinic tours, there is still an audience that has to want to listen to what he does, and make that effort worthwhile.

Like the old Dylan song, you've got to serve somebody.

Bermuda
 
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It takes a real pro, who has crazy chops, not to use them.

That's why we all come full circle in the end up where we started only much tighter and groovier!

This is why I prefer Jojo and Gadd to Lang. Although to be fair am I noticing a change in Lang's drumming? Is he becoming more groovy? Even drummers get tired of excessive number of drum hits/minute. Everyone else must be BORED to tears.

Davo
 
the customer is boss, so work on groove, pocket, versitility and listening skills, before crazy chops

Sage advice, but at the risk of wading into yet another Chops vs. Feel debate - that presumes that no punter ever wants "crazy chops" and that there is no pleasure to be had in them at all: i.e. virtuosity in music (and one's enjoyment of it) is confined to playing as sparingly as possible under any circumstances which is clearly bollocks.

I guess my point is that surely "versatility" encompasses both pocket grooves and flashy fills and if "the customer" is listening to Muddy Waters he wants one thing and if he's listening to King Crimson he wants something else. Granted that the vast majority of popular music will call for a drummer to be somewhere closer to the Muddy Waters end of the spectrum, but that don't mean the other end don't exist.
 
If you can't find ways to fit amazing 172nd note fills into each song at least 3 or 4 times, you're a worthless drummer. When not playing fills, make sure all space is filled with double bass; as much as possible.

Anyone who thinks different is just old and obsolete to the max. Maybe in between killing saber-tooth tigers as a youth, you were able to impress people with your "pocket" drumming, but now days, it just doesn't cut it.
 
If you can't find ways to fit amazing 172nd note fills into each song at least 3 or 4 times, you're a worthless drummer. When not playing fills, make sure all space is filled with double bass; as much as possible.

Anyone who thinks different is just old and obsolete to the max. Maybe in between killing saber-tooth tigers as a youth, you were able to impress people with your "pocket" drumming, but now days, it just doesn't cut it.

Remember, you're the most important part! Everybody's watching you! And your bandmates secretly love it when you change time signatures on them!
 
Unless you're the leader of the band (and from bitter experience, that's a bad idea - I mean listen to David Weckl for crying out loud) do what the customer wants. There's no reason not to other than stroking your own ego and if you're into ego-stroking, you're not going to get employed.
 
Even more specifically for me, if I'm working with a singer - the singer is boss. Way over and above anyone else in the same musical context.
 
Just listen to Stings Ten Somners Tales album,and the drumming that Vinny C lays down.

The guy has chops all day long,but plays so much for the music,you almost don't hear him at times.The tune If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,is a perfect example of groove and taste...and not stepping on the vocal.

I respect the guy who dosen't play "as many notes as I possibly can,and then crash my cymbals " fills every other bar.

I dig tasty fills too,but less has always been more to me.

Steve B
 
The groove's gotta be the root of it all. But then I hear things like Mitch Mitchell on Fire and I see where there's a place for chops in a very groovy tune.
 
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