Spicing up metal drumming

JT1

Silver Member
My fellow metal drummers!

Hello, it has been a while since i posted and i kinda need your help.

I am in a heavy metal band and an alternative rock band. Now in my alternative rock band, i have been praised for drumming from many kind people and realise that i find it easier to be creative in this band band. My problem is i love heavy metal and i love playing the stuff you know with double bass and all that, but i can't help but feel that when i play in my metal band that it's all just basic text book metal drumming.

I DON"T WANT IT TO BE! Why can i not be as creative? It sucks.

My main influences are Machine Head and Lamb of God and Dave and Chris are never short on their creative side but i just feel like i can't do what they do and i have been playing for 7 years. I guess what i really want to ask is, do any of you really go outside the box with your metal drumming and make it sound different? Or do you just stick to what is needed? I don't want to end up as a text book metal drummer but i find creating original beats and fills difficult.

How do you all come up with different beats and fills? Do you try to mimic what is being played on the guitars on the kit or do you like playing things that are completely different but still fit and work really well?

I'm sorry if i have rambled but i would love some tips from anyone who has the same passion for metal that i do! Thank you kindly!
 
Try not approaching the drumming from a drummers standpoint. Ask the guitarist what kind of ideas he's hearing for drums in his head. Youll be suprised at the result.
 
Try not approaching the drumming from a drummers standpoint. Ask the guitarist what kind of ideas he's hearing for drums in his head. Youll be suprised at the result.

That's a great point. In my last two bands, we all kind of shared a collective vision of what we were going for, and didn't rule anything out. I too play in what most might consider a "metal" sounding band, but I've gone to great lengths to distance myself from the traditional "metal only" style of playing. I've listened to a lot of music that isn't metal as there is some very inventive drumming out there in the non-metal world, and plenty of stuff to give you ideas, etc. Also, don't rely stictly on double bass beats - use them at the right moments in a song to really deliver intensity where it feels natural in the grand scheme of things. Think more of the song itself, and the overall feeling you want to get from it, and tailor your drumming around that - you'd also be surprised at what you can do that you're probably weren't even aware of!
 
Thanks for the advice guys, Our guitarist usually does have some ideas about what he wants the drums to sound like so i might try that. Also i agree about playing other styles, i love funky drumming but i doubt this goes very well with metal however i guess some sort of fusion and adding elements from other styles might really help me out. I've had a few ideas just sitting here, how i wish there was a kit in front of me now! =P
 
Thanks for the advice guys, Our guitarist usually does have some ideas about what he wants the drums to sound like so i might try that. Also i agree about playing other styles, i love funky drumming but i doubt this goes very well with metal however i guess some sort of fusion and adding elements from other styles might really help me out. I've had a few ideas just sitting here, how i wish there was a kit in front of me now! =P

The thing that seems to work for me is forgetting about what styles go where and just concentrate instead on delivering a beat/fill that is right for the music being created. To state this as simply as possible, if it sounds good, it's the right one! You can also listen to drummers like Stewart Copeland, Chris Pennie, and any others out there who are excellent at choppy, off-timing beats and weird little fills that seem to come from nowhere, but sounds perfect. I could watch these guys play for hours. One of the best things I learned about metal drumming is that it doesn't always have to be hard and heavy - there's a delicate balance between hitting hard and having a sense of finesse about your playing. I do a lot of little tricky closed hi-hat fills that perfectly fits our "metal sound", but I was influenced to do this by watching Copeland of all people. If you want to think outside the box, you can't be afraid to live outside it for a while. ;)
 
Take off your "drumming shoes" and place yourself in the guitarists shoes, or the bassists shoes, sax players shoes, whatever. As you know, a band is not made up of one persons creative input, so feed off of your band mates ideas and playing. Doing this alone will help spice up whatever genre you happen to be playing.
 
Apart from what has already been stated, try playing something that fits the tune at that specific moment. Don`t worry it it`s "metal" or not, if it sounds good then it`s ok. To spice up things try moving the groove on the upbeats from time to time.
Once there was a song that we`re playing and at the end of the song the guitarist asked me "hey, that sounded cool, what were you playing?". It was a bossa nova groove. So anything goes, as long as it`s fitting.
 
When I feel like my metal drumming is bland I do 3 things:
1. Try to listen to around 5 new bands, metal or not. That usually broadens my influences a bunch.

2. Listen to other kinds of drumming. Most recently i've been getting back into "punk-rock" stuff like Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy, ect. I also regularly listen to drum corps, some of the stuff they do can be incorperated as is and sound awesome or can be changed a bit. Ive been experimenting with cheese-5s (a.k.a. flam 5s) and using those in blast beats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjeY4RG6b3A
Like that, but with cheese 5s, proof that drum corps stuff can work in metal

3. Only listen to pop music. I do this but try to play creative "metal" stuff to them, most of the time they are at a tempo you have to think about and cant just bust out the double kick work to. Might give that a shot, just drum to your local pop radio station for a week.
 
Aside from the obvious "listen to other music as well" that's already been suggested, I have a few drummers I'll most definitely suggest listening to who always keep things interesting even if there's a lot of blast-happy parts:

Inferno, of Behemoth fame. Seriously, Demigod and Evangelion are two of the best extreme metal drumming performances that can be had, extremely fast, highly technical, and never once is it boring. Blast-heavy yes, but Inferno shows that it can be done right.

Everyone who's played on Spawn of Possession's 3 full lengths, especially Dennis Rondum who also has been the vocalist for them. Another example of how to play intricate, interesting blast-focused material. Scorched off of Noctambulant is at a blistering 315bpm, and the man doesn't use triggers.

Blake Richardson of Between the Buried and Me. I almost feel like this doesn't need an explanation, but I honestly feel as though I wouldn't like them as much without him behind the throne. His parts are so outrageously creative and support the mind-boggling riffs they come up with, especially on their latest EP, that I still never can really fathom how they write and play what they do while making it CATCHY and GROOVY at the same time. Blake is at the heart of this.

Martin Axenrot, currently of Opeth fame but more so in Bloodbath as far as straight up metal goes. His predecessor Lopez, is also a great choice for interesting metal drumming (especially the title track of Opeth's Deliverance album, and the song Ghost of Perdition). Axe, on the other hand... is an entirely different beast. Listening to the way he effortlessly throws blast beats into The Lotus Eater while still playing jazzy sections throughout the song is rather inspiring, and his odd-time, blistering trigger-less parts used in Bloodbath's last 3 releases (Nightmares Made Flesh, less technical but still great, the Unblessing the Purity EP which is probably my person favorite and a great showcase of what I'm talking about, and The Fathomless Mastery) are some of my favorites of drumming in general, let alone in just metal.

Hope this helps :D
 
When I feel like my metal drumming is bland I do 3 things:
1. Try to listen to around 5 new bands, metal or not. That usually broadens my influences a bunch.

2. Listen to other kinds of drumming. Most recently i've been getting back into "punk-rock" stuff like Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy, ect. I also regularly listen to drum corps, some of the stuff they do can be incorperated as is and sound awesome or can be changed a bit. Ive been experimenting with cheese-5s (a.k.a. flam 5s) and using those in blast beats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjeY4RG6b3A
Like that, but with cheese 5s, proof that drum corps stuff can work in metal

3. Only listen to pop music. I do this but try to play creative "metal" stuff to them, most of the time they are at a tempo you have to think about and cant just bust out the double kick work to. Might give that a shot, just drum to your local pop radio station for a week.
I'm glad you posted that video link because now I feel awful for not mentioning Dirk.

Look up anything and everything the man does and has been a part of. All of it is brilliant, my personal favorite band he's been in other than his appearance on Devin Townsend's Deconstruction album is Scarve.
 
One approach that worked very well for me in my bass playing days was to approach things in a more linear fashion from time to time when you're writing.

If you can get a recording or a jam track with the guitars, sit down at your kit and press play and switch some things up every four bars. Keep what you like and trash what you don't. Then re-arrange things to fit the feel and expression of the song.

Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you're paying attention to the vocal tracks. I see so many exceptional bands that have amazing drummers and vocalists, but when you listen to their material, it sounds like they were weren't even playing the same song. The dynamic interaction with drums and vocals in heavy music is way under-utilized, in my opinion.

Good luck!
 
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