Double Drumming

NerfLad

Silver Member
What are your thoughts on double drumming? I've never done it. I'm conflicted on it; I think it would be really fun, but I can imagine how much of a mess it could possibly turn into -- like having three guitar players. ;)
 

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The guy on the left isn't a drummer. He's a metronome and groove machine.
 
And they both basically have the same kit setup! I for one never understood the need for two drummers. I can see a drummer and a percussionists, especially if they are trying to reproduce studio songs when in concert. But half the time they don't have the percussion mic'ed properly and you can't hear them anyway.

I like when Phil Collins and Chester Thompson play dueling drums live, such as in the song Abacab, but other than that, I don't see the need.
 
I think it would be a lot of fun as long as both of the drummers were not on ego trips having gospel chops moments. There are a few drummers I know that I would love to share the stage with. Also snare flams all through the show would sound soooo awesome! I have played 4 hour shows where damn it would have been awesome to lay off and have some fun on the cymbals or doing strange fills while someone held the down beat and vice versa. Hell just the idea that I could get up and go piss while the band kept playing sounds great.

the flams would come from the drummers coming down half a second different.
 
I was the second drummer in a two-drummer band for a while! It was really fun, and definitely made a fatter sound.

What amazed me was how easy it was to sync up. Neither of us were really great players, but to my ears we were very rarely flamming or very out of step. I've thought about this a lot and I really think it just naturally worked well for us, and I think it would for any two drummers with halfway decent ears.

That said, it was not really necessary, and wayyy more of a pain in the throne than it was worth in this particular band (thankfully we had roadies, as there was also a b3 player with a leslie!).

Stereolab and Broken Social Scene both use multiple drummers on some recordings to great effect, I think. They end up with a specific kind of "big" sound that seems programmed because there's so much going on, like more polyphany than a single drummer could produce, if that makes sense.
With that in mind, I've done multiple drum takes when recording and layered them for that kind of effect and really dig it. It just isn't feasible for my bands to have multiple drummers!

Looking forward to other people's take on multiple drummer bands!
 
I never really understood the point if the two drummers are playing the same stuff in unison. Maybe I'd have to hear it live to appreciate it more. But if the two drummers are each doing something to complement the other, I guess it can be cool.

Most importantly, it's more jobs for drummers, so it's fine by me!
 
Grew up with the Allman brothers. And now folks still want to play One Way Out and expect you to sound like the record :)

A lot of the old Motown stuff was two drummers. Often one will use a ride while the other uses the hats. Or one will do a ride figure on toms. Both snares together (with great drummers in sync) makes for a fat sound. Check out the Standing In The Shadows DVD.
 
I play with a second drummer all the time. In fact just got done jamming with the band and the other drummer. It does make for a fatter sound. It works well when the two drummers understand how each other plays. A lot of the time I am the groove machine just holding a beat down. I think it is great. We are both pretty good drummers so it can really get interesting on some of the beats. I'll get some music posted when I get some good tracks.
 
never really understood it either, know it gives a bigger sound and more options. 38 special used two drummers as well.
 
Two drummers is for wussies. Try three drummers, three percussionists, an army of guitarists, singers and an orchestra. This is one of the best sounding tribute concerts that brought dozens of the best musicians together. It's amazing how they pulled this off with about a day of rehearsals. RIP Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8akARCOFQj8
 
Two drummers is for wussies. Try three drummers, three percussionists, an army of guitarists, singers and an orchestra. This is one of the best sounding tribute concerts that brought dozens of the best musicians together. It's amazing how they pulled this off with about a day of rehearsals. RIP Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8akARCOFQj8

Wow! I've never seen this concert. I like how one plays a shaker, one plays the hihat, one plays quarter notes on the ride cymbal, and they all play 2 and 4. They blend very well together. Who are the other drummers? They only showed Ringo.
 
The drum feel tends to get very consonant...that is, the pulse tends to sound over accented for my taste.

I don't care much for mutiple concurrent drum sets...even on the likes of King Crimson...maybe especially on King Crimson.
 
Check DW video with Terry Bozzio and Chad Wackerman, awesome stuff !
 
A lot of the old Motown stuff was two drummers. Often one will use a ride while the other uses the hats. Or one will do a ride figure on toms. Both snares together (with great drummers in sync) makes for a fat sound. Check out the Standing In The Shadows DVD.

Well, that DVD was a lmuch ater re-make of their tunes, i.e. done as live performances, to include both living drummers in the gig (Allen and jones). There is not necessarily two playing on the Motown records. Recall they had few tracks to use, and there was not room for 2 drummers in the snake pit to do those records. Benny was first and Uriel and Pistol took turns, there was so much work to do, almost round the clock. Thats what I read in the books.

Do you have another source for this fact other than that late DVD?

On the OP, I like 2 drummers. Its wonderfully impractical (for most bands who gig in tight spaces) and it works superb for some bands - the Allmans as a great example. Listen to that Clapton Crossroads DVD (pic shown) and tell me you cannot pick out the 2 drummers?
 
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