Less is more ... but sometimes less

I think less is more is a good starting point.You have to see where the music takes you I think,because as drummers ,more than any other instrument ,we need to serve the music and keep time.Then if it feels right...let er' rip.

Steve B
 
When coming up with originals with the band, I often play down (or less) on the first few run-throughs until we get the dynamics of the song down. Then I'll add fills or accents were necessary.
I am not a "busy player" by any stretch of the imagination and I actually pride myself on being very steady. Although I love players such as Peart that can pull this (being very busy) off, if you don't know how to do it, it can sound horrid! However, I do believe that sometimes less is, in fact.........less. It truly is a happy medium.
 
Pollyanna said:
Sometimes I overplay. Sometimes I underplay. Sometimes I get it about right.

How about you?

A lot of developing drum parts is instinctive and part of it is knowing classic song forms, but do you have any principles that you fall back on - or maybe some tricks or formulas - when you aren't quite getting it first up?
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I guess the kind of music one plays would have some bearing on one's approach. I play mostly improvisational music, often with orchestrated heads and sections. If I have a tendency in rehearsals, it is to overplay and just let the creativity flow. After a couple of runs, the drum parts come into sharper focus, and I have a sense of what to do, and pare it down.

In a live playing/gigging situation, I have a tendency to underplay. I've often been told that and the recordings usually bear testimony.

A funny aside is when my boys were a little younger and would show up at some of my gigs, they'd come up to me afterwards, mad as hell. " Dad, you never show em what you've got"! " Hoe come dont you do some of that crazy stuff you do at home?"

...
 
Thanks for the thoughtful replies, guys. It seems that you either start simple and add, start busy and streamline or just feel it and go with that. I can think of times when I've done each of those things.

What I find hard sometimes is identifying key moments in a song where making a bold statement will give it a big lift. I think I miss a fair few of them because I think too much in 2s, 4s, 8s and 16s.

If I just feel it I'll end up doing this pretty well from go to whoa ...

Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
I love making a really basic groove feel good
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which is fine, but ...

Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
sometimes drumming should provide a bit of tension for added excitement.
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I fool around with it. I try not to be influenced too much by specific formulas and such for what i 'should' be playing. i'd rather just go with what I feel. That being said, I don't try to overcomplicate parts, i try to be creative with it though. The song must not suffer. If there's some drummer that hears me and tells me i'm 'overplaying' or i'm 'underplaying' I don't pay attention to any of that sort of criticism at all. There is criticism I will listen to, but not when it involves my creativity. I guess I'm stubborn in that sense but I'd rather play sincerely.
 
Hi Pol...I do have a great thing that's helped this very point a lot. If I don't have immediate access to rehearsal tapes, I'll wear an mp3 player around my neck and record rehearsals...it can be horrifying, yes, to hear some of the excessive crap that I can come up with, but I'd rather hear it now than later. It's totally helped me 'clean up the neighborhood'. It can tell when something more might be needed just as well. Very effective tool.

oops, I guess DMC just said pretty much the same thing. oh well , it bears repeating.
 
i feel that EVERY drummer should do a chris adler riff during an al green tune, just to spice it up a bit!! who WOULDN'T appreciate that?
 
Pollyanna said:
Thanks for the thoughtful replies, guys. It seems that you either start simple and add, start busy and streamline or just feel it and go with that. I can think of times when I've done each of those things.

What I find hard sometimes is identifying key moments in a song where making a bold statement will give it a big lift. I think I miss a fair few of them because I think too much in 2s, 4s, 8s and 16s.
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i can dig it. i can only compare it to my experience as a guitarist. sometimes i just have no idea what to do for the solo, even if it's a cover. sometimes it's a tune that i can dig as a listener, but i just can't get my mind around it as a performer. it happens. in that case, i ask the other players how they hear it. often when they tell you what they'd like to do there, you'll know what to do to set it off.
 
iwantmemoney said:
...it can be horrifying, yes, to hear some of the excessive crap that I can come up with, but I'd rather hear it now than later.
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Excessive crap, yep :) ... or bland crap. There seems to be three main possibilities (when not copying another drummer's part):

1. You "hear" the right part straight away

2. You play too much and pare it back

3. You play too little and add as needed.

I record every song of single weekly practice and I have 19GB of MP3s from the last two years. Obviously, there's multiple versions of songs. Funny thing is I can hear a playback 20 times and miss an obvious spot where I need to be doing more - or less. Then the 21st time the shortfall will become glaringly obvious and I'll wonder how I missed it.
 
BillBachman said:
One thing I watch for is to try and not play anything too busy while the vocalist is sing. That's a pretty good general rule since the melody is king.
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I agree with that, but there are still lots of decisions to be made. Then there are the transitions, entrances, exits, motifs and solos etc.

My default position is to stay put until the music asks me to add something extra but sometimes the music goes by and I miss the boat. Picking the/a right thing to do at the right moment is the challenge.
 
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