Playing with a click, the importance of subdivisions

bermuda

bermuda

Drummerworld Pro Drummer - Administrator
Staff member
I know the subject has been covered before, about playing with a click being easier with friendly subdivisions (at least 8th notes), and a drum or percussion loop to play with rather than a sterile click.

This clip illustrates how well a percussion loop works. In this case, a 16th note tambourine shaking. While 16ths are normally a bit intense, this is so undeniable I can't help but lock in. It's like playing with Ray Cooper. :)

The tambourine is actually part of the house mix (along with the jaw harp on the 8ths), but it also serves as my click for the song (parody of Give It Away by Red Hot Chili Peppers.)

View attachment Bedrock.mp3
 
Yes, you are right sir. The slower the tempo, the more a subdivision helps.
The 1/8's on the gibbit away now really lock it in.....you cannot deviate with that going.
 
I typically program a quarter note pattern (maybe woodblock or cowbell) and an 8th note pattern (shaker). I'm trying to lock my bass drum and snare to the 1/4 note, while the 8th note is just an aid to help the groove and fill in the timing gaps.
In other words, I concur completely with your post. (y)
 
The yabba-dabba-doo chorus is too funny :)

More reference points definitely helps to keep things clean. When we were home recording later on, I found I enjoyed playing along with rhythm boxes. The combination often sounded better than one or the other alone.
 
I always enjoyed playing with a clave, 3-2 or 2-3 didn't matter, but I felt it made me play more locked in and musical instead of with just quarter notes.
 
I'm interested in exploring moving from click sound only to percussion. What do you guys use, software and hardware, for programming click? Looking for something easy to turn off/on at my discretion (for out-of-time breaks, retards, or when click just gets in the way, etc.).
 
I’m old school, I just make a few bars with my samples & desired pattern in Acid (Garage band works the same.) Then I copy the bars to the desired length. Or the Roland pad will simply loop the bars: hit the pad to start, hit again to stop playback.
 
ottog1979 said:
Looking for something easy to turn off/on at my discretion (for out-of-time breaks, retards, or when click just gets in the way, etc.).
Click to expand...

I know that there are other options out there, but I used to use a foot pedal with my Boss DB-90 at church to stop the click.

These days, I mount my DB-90 to my hi-hat stand. The Start/Stop button is pretty big, so it's easy to tap with my left hand at the ends/beginnings of songs. I don't program anything because sometimes we have to change up the order of things during the middle of our set. I leave a set list on the top of my kick with our songs and the BPMs ready to go. I've been using the Boss for so long, it's second nature to turn it off an on with my pinky with my left hand without even looking.

1699283461872.png
 
Interesting. I'm trying to get away from practicing with a click so much but this will help break up the monotony when I do so. Thanks for the tip.
 
Agree with all this completely, but... though I would advise all to learn to play well with a 1/4 note click as well. Because the fact of the matter is, it's not always our call as to what the click sounds like.

Not a good idea to be the "new guy", getting called on a recommendation for that first session and then be all "Is it possible to add shaker 1/8ths to the click and change the main click from a woodblock to a cowbell, and maybe accent the "ones".

Not saying your performance might be better with those changes... but there really is an expectation of being able to function with a 1/4 note click - particularly a medium to fast tempo. With IMO the exception being when the click starts to fall below 80 - suggesting adding 1/8ths or even just doubling the click speed - is hard to argue with.

Mainly though - just pointing out - that isn't always our say - so be as prepared as possible to cope with functioning on the fringes of your comfort zone.
 
dcrigger said:
Agree with all this completely, but... though I would advise all to learn to play well with a 1/4 note click as well. Because the fact of the matter is, it's not always our call as to what the click sounds like.

Not a good idea to be the "new guy", getting called on a recommendation for that first session and then be all "Is it possible to add shaker 1/8ths to the click and change the main click from a woodblock to a cowbell, and maybe accent the "ones".

Not saying your performance might be better with those changes... but there really is an expectation of being able to function with a 1/4 note click - particularly a medium to fast tempo. With IMO the exception being when the click starts to fall below 80 - suggesting adding 1/8ths or even just doubling the click speed - is hard to argue with.

Mainly though - just pointing out - that isn't always our say - so be as prepared as possible to cope with functioning on the fringes of your comfort zone.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed. i have a weekly church gig, and the whole band gets a loud, sterile 1/4 note click going to our in ears monitors. The leader often says stuff like “ guys, let’s lay into the click, just pretend it’s another musical instrument in the ensemble…. That’s all well and good, but a metronome click sound pounding out abrasive click quarters is not a very musical sound. I’d much prefer a percussion loop, but I’m not even sure if that is an option with tracks the church uses. I’m glad to be working there, and don’t want to be making those kind of suggestions….. I just do my job, and deposit the check, and of course , always show up prepared and do what’s requested of me.
 
I have a couple of comments which are just of course my opinion, and not designed to question anybody's usage or motivation or anything. It's just happens to be what I do or think about.

It seems to me that people like the click, or at least before digital recording and moving everything around to a grid, people liked the click because it was extremely precise. There's a lot more room to move around when you have a shaker or a tambourine and still be in a great pocket, but maybe not necessarily be dead on, or spot on, or burying the click, or whatever term people like to use.

The other comment is that I practice daily, or try to, but I never play to quarter notes or subdivisions. Much to the contrary, I try to play with two empty bars, or four empty bars. And I really try to internalize the time, or pulse, or whatever you wanna call it. I Practiced to a click for a long time, but for me, practicing with longer bar lengths helps me understand how my own personal phrasing can work or, sometimes not work. Both rushing and dragging.

But that's just me. Just my comments. Have a good weekend y'all
 
jaymandude said:
I try to play with two empty bars, or four empty bars. And I really try to internalize the time, or pulse, or whatever you wanna call it. I Practiced to a click for a long time, but for me, practicing with longer bar lengths helps me understand how my own personal phrasing can work or, sometimes not work. Both rushing and dragging.
Click to expand...

That's a nice training tool, but can be extremely disruptive when the click comes back and you're a little (or a lot) off. Hopefully that's motivating, but seems like it would be more tense and frustrating.

When I use a click, it's not because my timing needs help... it's because I'm on the job and need to synch with a video and/or audio track that augments the band's live playing.* As such, I can't afford to have gaps or otherwise test myself in that situation - I need a click I can follow, without fail.

Maybe I've been fortunate to create my own clicks, everyone I've worked with seems to understand that drummers have their preferences. I make my clicks easy to play with, so I feel more natural and not needlessly focused/distracted when I'm playing. In the process I've learned where my tempo issues lay (such as triplet fills!) and automatically adjust both with and without a click.


* Or if a track needs to be a certain length - such as for a commercial or TV theme - and straying by even 1bpm is a liability.
 
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It's funny and you're so spot on.

For the first six months or so of practicing with the two and four bar gaps, I used to tense up like a motherfucker when I knew the click was coming back, terrified of where I would land :). And yeah, it's just more of a kind of practice tool, I've been recording a lot of gigs and depending on all the influences and rushing band leaders I feel pretty good about it. But it's just a training tool.

Just to add, my natural tendency is to play just slightly ahead or on top, which is not necessarily a problem, especially live. I've heard this on my recordings as far back as I can remember. But so many of my favorite guys have a laid-back quality to them, and so I wanted to see if I could, just at least maybe, try to teach myself how to do that. Get closer to the feel that I really like.

But clicks on the gig, on the job? That's real :)
 
bermuda said:
The tambourine is actually part of the house mix (along with the jaw harp on the 8ths)...
Click to expand...
I've listened to that song 100 times and never noticed the jaw harp. I had to give it another view on YouTube to make sure I wasn't crazy.
 
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