Zeus Mutation
Senior Member
Hi,
I have been playing drums for a year now... After seeing me buy a set of drums my long time friend decided he would play the bass again and we started jamming on a regular basis. So now a year has past and we have hours upon hours of recorded jam sessions... we've made numerous jam songs out of these sessions and even been to a studio twice. My wife thinks we sound like grunge rock but thats not our aim.
I've taken drum lesson twice a month on average over this "drum year" timeline. I can read some basic sheet music and I have a pretty good understanding of drum sheet music and I watch a ton of videos from DVDs to the drum channel and youtube.
So here is my long winded question...
After a year of jam sessions I want to make songs. Sounds easy enough but the bass player can't play these jam session songs the same way twice... He doesn't know what key he begins in or even what the notes along the fretboard are. I have tried telling him and being more than patient and encouraging when I stress putting some organization to the songs... and by that I mean just combine the phrasing you like and define the number of times he play's each phrase.
I'm wondering if I should just stop playing with my buddy the bass player? We've known each other for 16 years and the other day I was so pissed I told him to take what he wanted and leave... Look I'm 39 and this is about being creative and having fun. I feel I cant be creative when everything is on the fly... I want to build drum melody's and create sound expressions... I want to know a change is coming versus just "feeling" the change come, you know set up the movements versus just react to them?
So at my limited ability Am I being dumb by getting frustrated with my buddy who plays bass? I mean at my age its not like people are knocking down the door to jam... But shouldn't he come to me with bass riffs or complete phrasing ... after he gets a verse or two organized he wants to just jam again... He really thinks its good enough and I think its total crap.
Any suggestions, opinions, or perspective changes are welcomed.
Thanks
I have been playing drums for a year now... After seeing me buy a set of drums my long time friend decided he would play the bass again and we started jamming on a regular basis. So now a year has past and we have hours upon hours of recorded jam sessions... we've made numerous jam songs out of these sessions and even been to a studio twice. My wife thinks we sound like grunge rock but thats not our aim.
I've taken drum lesson twice a month on average over this "drum year" timeline. I can read some basic sheet music and I have a pretty good understanding of drum sheet music and I watch a ton of videos from DVDs to the drum channel and youtube.
So here is my long winded question...
After a year of jam sessions I want to make songs. Sounds easy enough but the bass player can't play these jam session songs the same way twice... He doesn't know what key he begins in or even what the notes along the fretboard are. I have tried telling him and being more than patient and encouraging when I stress putting some organization to the songs... and by that I mean just combine the phrasing you like and define the number of times he play's each phrase.
I'm wondering if I should just stop playing with my buddy the bass player? We've known each other for 16 years and the other day I was so pissed I told him to take what he wanted and leave... Look I'm 39 and this is about being creative and having fun. I feel I cant be creative when everything is on the fly... I want to build drum melody's and create sound expressions... I want to know a change is coming versus just "feeling" the change come, you know set up the movements versus just react to them?
So at my limited ability Am I being dumb by getting frustrated with my buddy who plays bass? I mean at my age its not like people are knocking down the door to jam... But shouldn't he come to me with bass riffs or complete phrasing ... after he gets a verse or two organized he wants to just jam again... He really thinks its good enough and I think its total crap.
Any suggestions, opinions, or perspective changes are welcomed.
Thanks