What Else Do You Play?

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plangentmusic

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Who else is mainly a drummer but plays other instruments?

I have a simple philosophy that would make the world a better place ...

ALL DRUMMERS SHOULD PLAY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND ALL MUSICIANS SHOULD PLAY DRUMS.

It would make communication so much better. I'm often appalled at drummers who can't hear section changes and what's worse -- is musicians who tell drummers things like "Play biddy boom bat splash or something, I don't know I'm not a drummer." Idiots! ALL musicians need to understand time and rhythm. And the best ones do.

And the best drummers know music.

And here's a little example of the drummer being a "one man rhythm section."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHiHvKkiaeo

I can honestly say, since learning other instruments, I practice drums less and play them better.

Food for thought.

So...what else do you play? And how are you coming along?
 
PS: The drums _are_ a musical instrument. Now you know ;-)


EDIT
Now 1.5 yrs into drums.
But coming from the el. guitar (21 years - rock/metal).
Have 2 electric basses (fretted, & fretless) and play them from time to time (fingers only, incl. slap).
Also discovering the acoustic guitar (3 years - fingerstyle & percussive elements).
Messed a bit on a keyboard years ago.
Have a sitar but haven't really started learning it.

EDIT II
The folks on the Derek Roddy forum had a discussion on this lately (I guess there is also tons of related stuff on DRUMMERWORLD, too - I haven't searched yet):
Drums: Melodic instrument, or no?
http://www.derekroddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=20628
 
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PS: The drums _are_ a musical instrument. Now you know ;-)


Hate to break it to you bro, but no they aren't. Drums are a percussion instrument. You cannot play the modes of music on a drum set.

That doesn't mean they're less significant or don't require talent to play well or a drummer can't be musical.
 
first of all...drums are absolutely a musical instrument

they are used for musical therapy, ancient musical rituals for religious, military and celebratory reasons as well as for musical communication

DW shells are pitched to notes before they are drilled

and drums can be tuned to notes and play melodies as any instrument can ...every drum has a fundamental pitch where is it comfortable and sounds best

anyway

I've played guitar for about 27 years
I play bass
ukulele
a little piano
xylophone
sing

so yeah ...I think its important for drummers to play other instruments as well as musicians who play other instruments to play drums
 
Who else is mainly a drummer but plays other instruments?
Best I can do is attempt to play other instruments. Keyboard, bass, and guitar. Mainly, just to create loops, to drum too .... and also, to communicate song ideas to guys "who can really play". Maybe only one step better than "humming", but it works.​
And when combined with humming, whoooaaaa, double threat !!!​
 
first of all...drums are absolutely a musical instrument

they are used for musical therapy, ancient musical rituals for religious, military and celebratory reasons as well as for musical communication

DW shells are pitched to notes before they are drilled

and drums can be tuned to notes and play melodies as any instrument can ...every drum has a fundamental pitch where is it comfortable and sounds best

anyway

I've played guitar for about 27 years
I play bass
ukulele
a little piano
xylophone
sing

so yeah ...I think its important for drummers to play other instruments as well as musicians who play other instruments to play drums

I think it becomes a matter of semantics. Drums are an instrument USED in musical contexts. But the "notes" are not something on which one can construct melodies and chords beyond what would be considered pretty crude. How many "songs" have been played on drums? )Uh oh, I can hear it now. lol). Anyway, yeah, a triangle is used in music too, but I wouldn't expect the study of a triangle to produce much musical depth.

But again, it's not a disparagement of the instrument. If anything, I'm saying that by musicians ignoring the drums they too are limiting themselves in their "musical" knowledge. : )

ANd harry -- I think what you;re doing is very smart -- and it can only lead to a better understanding of the drums and music in general.
 
ANd harry ..... it can only lead to a better understanding of the drums and music in general.
Indeed. I started out as a drummer, when I was 10. Then I got shanghai'd into being a marimba player (even had a concert marimba ... which I sold a few years ago, for $4K.) So, I was in a marimba band 4th thru 8th grade. Then I took music theory, for 3 years. And then .... I came to the realization that .... chicks like drummers a whole lot more than they like marimba players. A very important thang, when you're 17. So .... 35+ years of "marimba" neglect .... my skills are ..... compromised, to say the least.​
Fast forward to today .... I noodle with the melodic instruments. Thankful that the chicks still dig drummers.​
 
I'm in a similar boat as Harry I play a bit of guitar and own a bass though I mostly don't play with others except on drums. Though I did get a steel pan made and its probably the most fun melodic percussion instrument I've played, the notes are arranged in the circle of fifths and it really broadens your understanding of music working within that structure to play.

More and more I've been teaching myself music theory which is wonderfully fun at moments and painfully tedious at others, but it has really been expanding my understanding of where drums fit into music. I feel the best players know how to play all the instruments they work around and that lets them both hear what the others are doing better and help to predict where the music will go. And all of the best people who I've played with love to jump on my drums and are actually pretty decent.
 
I play piano, it helps me communicate much better with other musicians.bi write alot of songs and parts for the band.
I've even learned to play and write piano parts like guitar parts because as any guitarist will tell you piano parts can either be really hard or just plain impossible to play on guitar.
You also get a bit more respect too for knowing a bit theory.

I also record and produce music, make dance music and orchestral stuff too.

It's helped me to not overplay as I listen to and appreciate everyones parts.
 
Hate to break it to you bro, but no they aren't. Drums are a percussion instrument. You cannot play the modes of music on a drum set.

No, percussion is just one family of musical instruments. To that end, a piano is a percussion instrument. Any instrument used to make music is a musical instrument. The distinction you're making is one between pitched and non-pitched instruments.

I'm playing keys, guitar and bass, and drumming gives a huge advantage when picking up a new instrument.
 
No, percussion is just one family of musical instruments. To that end, a piano is a percussion instrument. Any instrument used to make music is a musical instrument. The distinction you're making is one between pitched and non-pitched instruments.

I'm playing keys, guitar and bass, and drumming gives a huge advantage when picking up a new instrument.

Okay, fair enough -- non-pitched. By the same token you can say any instrument is a percussion instrument.

When I teach drums, I'll sometimes have the student bass a single note on the bass. (Running with the Devil is a good one lol) It makes them hyper conscious of the time between notes. And since they aren't as comfortable on a bass, they don't just listen to themselves, they listen to how it all sounds together and THAT is a great exercise. THEN, I'll play drums but put in a lot of unsteady fills and they're like "Hey! Keep it simple dude!" LOL! That's the best lesson of all. : )
 
I can play guitar, bass, and drums competently, can do a decent job of hand percussion, can do a few things on uke, harmonica and piano, write a bit of electronic/DnB stuff using Cubase, can sing well enough to do backups, and know quite a bit about theory (I'm actually going to take myself through the Trinity grades and take the odd lesson).

I'd love to own a sitar, a banjo, and learn some melodic percussion like xylophone and marimba one day.
 
I was told if you can play drums and piano, vibes is a natural choice -- but I totally suck at it! Besides, guitar is a better instrument to get an understanding of composition. Not too many popular song writers who are vibraphonists! : )
 
No, percussion is just one family of musical instruments. To that end, a piano is a percussion instrument.

Okay, fair enough -- non-pitched. By the same token you can say any instrument is a percussion instrument.

Violin? Guitar? Trumpet? Bowing, plucking and blowing. Not percussion.

A piano is a keyboard instrument, percussion instrument and a chordophone all in one. You depress a key to makes a hammers strike a string, making it vibrate.

I agree it's just language but to drummers it's a big thing.

In the old, old days drums were considered just noisemakers, not proper musical instruments. It was at a time when melody and harmony were king and strong rhythms were considered something dark, primitive and uncivilised - definitely undesirable in polite society. It's a very old, blinkered view that denies the role of drums in the musical flow in contemporary western music and in most musical cultures around the world.

I used sequencers for about a year in the 80s. When I first came back after 8 years away from music I played very basic keys in a garage band. That was fun, but nowhere near as much fun as drumming. Too stressful - if you're just one centimetre off you get a hideous flat or sharp that wrecks everything - apart from rimshots, you have tons more wiggle room with drums.

Also tried learning guitar but I could never hold the strings down well enough for a clean bar chord - it killed my fingers.
 
Okay, fair enough -- non-pitched. By the same token you can say any instrument is a percussion instrument.
Not even. A saxophone, or a clarinet, is a reed instrument. A trombone, or a trumpet, or a flute (no reed in the mouthpiece, is a wind instrument.​
Piano classifies as a "percussion" instrument, because small hammers hit the strings, to produce sound. A harpsichord is a plectrum, because the string is plucked, like a guitar/mandolin, with a pick (or in old days, a quill).​
Then you have electronic instruments, like organs and synthesizers, that are simply electronic instruments. No percussion there.​
 
I'm a bassist first.

Drummer second.

Davo

I am a musician first.........drummer second. At least, that is always my aim.

And like it or not, drums ARE a musical instrument. To deny that is a fool's errand. If that's what you're teaching then I'm glad I ain't forking out for lessons.

As for the topic, have tinkered with the guitar but never seriously enough to call myself a "guitar player" in any real sense of the term. Who knows, when I've finished learning the drums I may even spend some more time with it. ;-)
 
Mainly a guitar player that has concentrated all his attention on drums for a few years.

As most educated musicians I play piano, but I think my interest in is less than it is for most people. Never been my thing.

I teach guitar, drums, bass and saxophone at a public music school.

Lately I've started playing the flute and clarinet more. I aso started playing dizi(Chinese horisontal bamboo flute) and also practice tabla a little bit.

I've done a bit of conduction. I'm not great, but I have a background on brass instruments, so I can pretty much step in and/or show stuff unless it's really difficult. I don't play trombone or oboe, though. There's also a bit of melodic percussion I'm not too comfortable with yet.
 
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Just enough keyboards to be dangerous. Also, I have played guitar and violin in my early musical development, but I've played drums since I was 14, and now I just turned 51-derful.
 
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