Listening to music that you can’t play well

drummingman said:
Kind of a funny question, but do you enjoy listening to music and drumming that you find very hard to execute well? Meaning things that are technically above your skill level or even conceptually above your ability to fully understand it? Are you able to really enjoy the music and the drumming if you’re not able to emulate it accurately? Or is that a barrier for you being able to truly immerse yourself in the music as a listener?
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Completely. I love listening to stuff way beyond my skills
 
joedrum said:
Years ago I remember having trouble with Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights". I was like how does he do that? Then I read Don Brewer kinda said he was having the same issue with the song. So he asked David Teegarden of The Silver Bullet Band about it and Teegarden told him it's because they used 2 drummers (or maybe it was him playing 2 separate drum tracks). No wonder I couldn't play it!
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Yeah, I remember trying to play that one years ago. I'm gonna try that one again.
 
That's most of the time, I think. Most good drummers have their own thing they do, that other people can't do, or don't do because they don't think and hear exactly the same way. So even if I could do the same gig, I'm feeling like I'm hearing something I couldn't do, because the other person will have their own stuff worked out, and probably knows the material better than me. And they get to play the gig, I have to sit and listen and imagine what I'd be doing, which is not the same as doing it.

With drummers I don't like or understand, there's usually something else going on beyond I can't do that. Something about their approach doesn't connect with me, or their playing decisions don't make any sense to me. Or it's just music I don't want any part of.
 
There are some Jazz drummers that do things that I'm not able to do. I listen to them, study them, but it's going to take time for me to learn.
 
I like some Jazz and prog Rock, but my mind just doesn't work like that, let alone my hands, so it's all beyond me.
 
I enjoy listening to a lot of rock or jazz music, and while I can play some of them well, others are a real challenge.
 
Miles Davis is relaxed driving the car background music , especially ' Miles Ahead ' . Same with Bill Evans . Atmospheric and polite . When I sit behind the kit I'm anything but that . Weird, huh ?
 
doggyd69b said:
I was listening to a song, (I can't remember the name) but he is playing what seems to be a simple pattern, but then you try to follow along and struggle to find the one.... Then it hit me after listening to it again, he is playing four different patterns but he keeps them in 2 or 3 different rotations. So say he first plays them in order 1,2,3,4. then he would play 3.1.2.4, then 2.1.3.4, Then goes back to regular programming. Maybe that is what I would do from now on try to first see what the sequences are, then understanding what is actually being played in each... This wasn't the song I was talking about but it was also one that gave me trouble when trying to play along, because it sounds very easy but it is not.

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I've seen this guy's videos before. He does an excellent job of explaining the patterns they're playing but completely ignores the polymeter factor and the fact that the song is in 4/4. If all you're doing is deciphering these patterns, you haven't learned a Meshuggah song. If you don't figure out how to hear it in 4/4 you're going to be helplessly lost.

Haake said the first thing he does is memorize those patterns, but that's merely the first step.
 
I listen to lots of jazz, but I have very rarely gotten the chance to play it, and when I did, it was a long time ago. Peace and goodwill.
 
joedrum said:
Years ago I remember having trouble with Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights". I was like how does he do that? Then I read Don Brewer kinda said he was having the same issue with the song. So he asked David Teegarden of The Silver Bullet Band about it and Teegarden told him it's because they used 2 drummers (or maybe it was him playing 2 separate drum tracks). No wonder I couldn't play it!
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Ah Ha!! That's how some of these songs are played - 2 Drummers or Double Dubbing of the drums.... But how did the Silver Bullet Ban play that LIVE ? 2 Drummers? I feel better reading this knowing my abilities aren't as bad as I thought they were!! :):)
 
Croatian Man said:
Ah Ha!! That's how some of these songs are played - 2 Drummers or Double Dubbing of the drums.... But how did the Silver Bullet Ban play that LIVE ? 2 Drummers? I feel better reading this knowing my abilities aren't as bad as I thought they were!! :):)
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One drummer. Added tambourine.
 
Croatian Man said:
Ah Ha!! That's how some of these songs are played - 2 Drummers or Double Dubbing of the drums.... But how did the Silver Bullet Ban play that LIVE ? 2 Drummers? I feel better reading this knowing my abilities aren't as bad as I thought they were!! :):)
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I think live where you or I would focus on what's going on with the drums most in the audience are just having a good time. Rhythm sections generally don't get a lot of attention.
 
A few of the early Chicago tunes I found challenging. Similarly, Steely Dan and Little Feat has some songs that took longer than I expected to get the right feel. I love all three bands (well, mainly just the old stuff with Chicago) and still listen to them today,
 
Yeah I have a handful of albums that I listen to in my car and when I play along it's just hard to groove with them because they're different tempos to what I seem to gravitate to in the practice room and on stage. It's a bit unsettling.

Maybe that tells me exactly what I should be working on.
 
Cmdr. Ross said:
I've been a Rush fan since 1985 and I'll be in the grave before I could accurately emulate any of Neil's parts.
But I can listen to them all day, every day.
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Exactly. There are few that play Rush drum parts correctly, Maybe a few songs people get through but to play it right is a different thing.
I do not see myself reaching that level.
Today, it is so different, all the drummers out there blow me away. Golden Earing Radar love is one of my favorite songs, but the drums are way over my head. It sounds like triplets, but it sounds like 16th too. is so confusing. I guess for me all music is way above my level. That is why i pretty much play the beat and slide by best i can. But I love all music, (oops that could be a lie), Cannot begin to name all the drummers that always surprise me, but it seems appropriate to drop the name Billy Cobham here. Back to Rush, I started listening to them before Moving Pictures which was probably around 80 something 2112 was the one I was listening to when moving pictures came out. I even had the first one with a different drummer. Not sure if it was the next one but then I got subdivisions and then power windows, I skipped some and got test for echo which you hear the DW difference big time when he switched
 
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