what to play when someone asks you to play something?

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peety777

Senior Member
Hi all,

Have you ever been asked to play something by a friend or something and then really do know what to play? I was thinking of notating out a solo for this or something but don't really know. All help would be much appreciated. thanks
 
I really hate that. To me, drums are nothing without music to accompany. None of the notes mean anything or sound good to me unless there's a musical reason for them. Sure, I can start playing some random beat, and you can play over it, but then I won't know what to play at the first transition!

Even in a jam setting, I much prefer if we can at least work out each part real fast so I don't feel like I'm constantly guessing what they want to do. Once we have a real music theme, it's easy to branch out from that.
 
One of the hardest things is they just dont understand how loud drums are standing next to you. I never know what to just play for someone either.
 
If its someone jamming who just ask me to play something I just give them a fairly easy beat to follow and then kinda let them signal me if they wanna change up the beat, tempo etc.. If its someone who just wants to see me play Il usually just play something off the top of my head that isnt super simple but not extremly difficult either. It seems most people who do not play drums either want to just hear a simple beat or hear fills all day.
 
Great question! Something I always wonder about, too. Especially as someone who is fairly new to this it's not easy to just whip out a solo. I usually end up going wth a good old rock beat with a simple fill or two thrown in and a good cymbal crash at the end. It makes most people happy.
 
I throw the sticks at the kit and call it art

now where is my beret !!!!???
 
I do not know why but for some reason when I am asked to play something I always play the intro to Brick House for about 10 measures then go into a hip hop type beat and they always start dancing in place.. : )
 
Chris Perra said:
When the Levee Breaks... Nice and slow so I don't screw up...
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actually a very hard groove to make sound right

I've heard many more fail miserably than actually sound decent

so much of the affect of that groove is the sound of the drums and the way they were recorded ....not to mention the perfectly placed late notes

very very hard to duplicate that groove and sound convincing
 
Count four, then play this, and then enjoy the puzzled looks!

Seriously, though, don't you have any favorite grooves? There's nothing wrong with loving a groove because it's fun and/or challenging to play, or, if you have any information about the other musician's tastes, then just play a beat from one of those bands or genres.

There's nothing wrong with directly copying or transcribing in order to get a feel for a genre. It's probably necessary if you haven't grown up listening to a particular genre all your life.

Take it as a compliment: someone wants to make music with you!
 
BacteriumFendYoke said:
As I said the first time this thread was posted (then it was deleted):

I tell them that I'm not their performing monkey and that they should sod off.
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although you amuse me Yoke, as someone who has jammed with several other drummers as a guitarist, it is a nice way to break the jamming ice sometimes to ask the drummer to come up with a groove to start off, even if it's a Mediocre Funky beat.
 
Gvdadrummasum said:
actually a very hard groove to make sound right

very very hard to duplicate that groove and sound convincing
Click to expand...

Agree completely. You can move your drums into a big stone hallway but if you don;t have the groove .....then it ain't so.

I tried once and realized no matter how I tried, I just could not get it 'right'. I gave up. I see examples on youtube too and they just do not do it like bonham did.
 
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