Fast...

triitone

Junior Member
Still being very new to drumming, I am trying to get a general idea of what is meant by FAST. You read things where someone says that a drummer has fast hands, a fast foot, or is fast with a double pedal. Is there some sort of general definition of fast? If someone can play 1/16 notes on the snare at 180 BPM, is that fast? Or does fast not begin until 280 BPM? Does it differ if they are moving around the kit as opposed to just playing the snare? Is the definition different if they are plying singles vs. doubles? What is fast on the bass drum? How about with a double pedal? Does fast differ by genre?

Thanks.
 
Devoid of musicality it's simply a higher number of notes within the bar of the time signature.

I suspect the human impression of fast is relative to the unpredictable change from slow.
 
No more of a definition than saying some cars go fast. Race cars go fast. Depending on the racing class, some go faster than others. In drumming , fast , ruins more young drummers than anything. But there is no number to achieve fast.
 
Yea, like wally said... People who aren't musicians especially tend to think of "fast" in relative terms. In fact, I've actually had guitar players get frustrated because they told me they wanted me to play "faster" so I did... Well, turned out, what they meant is they just wanted to play at a smaller subdivision, usually 16ths against the pulse rather than 8ths for example. I guess to them, 16ths were "twice as fast", while us drummers just think of it as more notes at the same speed/tempo.
 
Fast is a subjective definition, but let me give you some fast examples that are unquestionable fast.

* If you play jazz, playing at 400 BPM is pretty "up (fast) tempo":

Here is an example (Stan Levey on drums): VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmIxswvPByA

* Or you can undoubtedly say that Ronald Brunner Jr. is a fast drummer: VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fdUzFz1_aQ

If you don´t really study the instrument seriously you´ll find very hard to understand what is fast (or actually anything), is like everything, ACTIVE involment in something starts giving you KNOWLEDGE/OBJECTIVE APPRECIATION

Best regards!
 
I define fast as how quickly using comic sans will make people not read a post :)
 
These are JAZZ tempos...

Which are in line with classical .
BPM is BPM


Largo is 40-60 BPM
Larghetto is 60-66 BPM
Adagio is 66-76 BPM
Andante is 76-108 BPM
Moderato is 108-120 BPM
Allegro is 120-168 BPM
Presto is 168-200 BPM
Prestissimo is 200+ BPM

He's just giving examples.
 
Can you two stop fighting, take your jazz tempos and go play outside?



Also "jazz tempos" is one of the silliest phrases I've heard. And I sit around making up silly phrases as a past-time.
 
Let's just say we disagree on this subject because I don't want to get in a pissing match.

I´m pretty sure you are not a profi musician, otherwise you would know that at 168 to 200 ("Presto" in "your" classical list), or up to much higer is not Up Tempo in Jazz.

* Don´t confuse disagreeing with being wrong.

A pissing match? post a VIDEO of your Jazz Playing please... (I´m posting mine here)

Here me playing about 200 BPM, as you can see it´s clearly a MEDIUM TEMPO, still basically phrased in triplets:

VIDEO of me at about 200 BPM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0XzNlIdu8
 
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I´m pretty sure you are not a profi musician, otherwise you would know that at 168 to 200 ("Presto" in "your" classical list), or up to much higer is not Up Tempo in Jazz.

* Don´t confuse disagreeing with being wrong.

A pissing match? post a VIDEO of your Jazz Playing please... (I´m posting mine here)

Here me playing about 200 BPM, as you can see it´s clearly a MEDIUM TEMPO, still basically phrased in triplets:

VIDEO of me at about 200 BPM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0XzNlIdu8

Damn that's some nice playing...
 
I´m pretty sure you are not a profi musician, otherwise you would know that at 168 to 200 ("Presto" in "your" classical list), or up to much higer is not Up Tempo in Jazz.

* Don´t confuse disagreeing with being wrong.

A pissing match? post a VIDEO of your Jazz Playing please... (I´m posting mine here)

Here me playing about 200 BPM, as you can see it´s clearly a MEDIUM TEMPO, still basically phrased in triplets:

VIDEO of me at about 200 BPM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t0XzNlIdu8

You wanna see my chops?
I play orchestral and rudimental.
Plenty of my stuff online.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7k2d9ZswgE

Try playing this at 130
 

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I wanted to see your JAZZ chops...We were talking about Jazz, or? Or the next thing will be Ikebana?


I put you an example playing at the tempos you clasified as "FAST" in Jazz and proved you they were MEDIUM, that´s it END OF THE CONVERSATION (you are wrong and I´m correct).

The other thing I don´t understand is why I should play Tornado for you, you didn´t play it on that video you linked yourself (yes, I can read music and I NOTICED, what can you do?, hahaha), you just played "something"... at around 100.

Please, don´t make me comment more please...

Accept your mistake or say nothing...Anyway, no more from me.
 
I wanted to see your JAZZ chops...We were talking about Jazz, or? Or the next thing will be Ikebana?


I put you an example playing at the tempos you clasified as "FAST" in Jazz and proved you they were MEDIUM, that´s it END OF THE CONVERSATION (you are wrong and I´m correct).

The other thing I don´t understand is why I should play Tornado for you, you didn´t play it on that video you linked yourself (yes, I can read music and I NOTICED, what can you do?, hahaha), you just played "something"... at around 100.

Please, don´t make me comment more please...

Accept your mistake or say nothing...Anyway, no more from me.

From what I can see, your 200 bpm was basically using cut time.


100 bpm?
Try 120 or 126.
And people pay to take lessons off of you?


Play professionally?
I've played with some fairly famous people and $50 to $75 bucks a gig don't pay for much in the bay area.
$100k is poverty wages in SF.

It's just a hobby these days,my starving musician days are long gone.

You say you met Alphonse Mouzon?
He was pretty much broke and playing Holiday Inn stuff before he died.
I played with Donald Bailey(he played sax as well as drums) a couple of times and he pretty much ended up the same way.
 
How fast is fast? How long is a string?
Don't worry about words and speed, see what it gets you? Arguments.

Just play man, just play. You're on a journey, enjoy it, stop worrying about speed or how fast, it will come. There is actually plenty of incredible slow drumming.
 
This thread pretty much explains why a focus on speed is utterly irrelevant.

If pissing contests are your thing, do sports, not music, because in sport speed really is an indicator of how well you are doing.

Think of music as a language. Language mastery is not synonymous with how fast the words come out, nor even how big the words are, but how powerful the communication is.
 
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