Trial By Fire - Drumming Test

[Hollywood Jim]

Last night I had a unique gig. I was called to play with a singer/guitar player and a bass player who I never played with before. Just three of us. Blues and funk gig, easy stuff. Soft music in a winery. I was familiar with about half the songs. Here’s the kicker, the bass player did not show up. The guitar player and I played the gig.

So I decided I would need to play more musically and play a little heavier on the bass drum. Everyone thought I played good. But I did not enjoy it too much. It was frustrating. Because it exposed how much the same I sounded on a lot of the songs. I know two or three funk beats and after a few funk songs and a few shuffles I was getting tired of hearing my same old drum beats. (But people were dancing!) To be fair the guitar player played a lot of the same sounding songs. But with no rehearsals and no bass player I struggled trying to make the songs sound musical. Not an easy thing to do. I felt very "Exposed", it was like being a front man on drums. I used sticks, rods, brushes, cross sticking, everything I could think of. I really missed a bass player to play off of, if you know what I mean. I kept thinking “what would Steve Gadd play”. Oh heck, Steve Gadd would turn down the gig and not be playing at this level.

I’ve been playing drums for over 60 years but it was still a trial by fire for me. I was sure everyone heard every little mistake I made.

Just wondering if anyone else has been stuck in a situation like this?!?!!?



.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

Last night I had a unique gig. I was called to play with a singer/guitar player and a bass player who I never played with before. Just three of us. Blues and funk gig, easy stuff. Soft music in a winery. I was familiar with about half the songs. Here’s the kicker, the bass player did not show up. The guitar player and I played the gig.

So I decided I would need to play more musically and play a little heavier on the bass drum. Everyone thought I played good. But I did not enjoy it too much. It was frustrating. Because it exposed how much the same I sounded on a lot of the songs. I know two or three funk beats and after a few funk songs and a few shuffles I was getting tired of hearing my same old drum beats. (But people were dancing!) To be fair the guitar player played a lot of the same sounding songs. But with no rehearsals and no bass player I struggled trying to make the songs sound musical. Not an easy thing to do. I felt very "Exposed", it was like being a front man on drums. I used sticks, rods, brushes, cross sticking, everything I could think of. I really missed a bass player to play off of, if you know what I mean. I kept thinking “what would Steve Gadd play”. Oh heck, Steve Gadd would turn down the gig and not be playing at this level.

I’ve been playing drums for over 60 years but it was still a trial by fire for me. I was sure everyone heard every little mistake I made.

Just wondering if anyone else has been stuck in a situation like this?!?!!?



.

every country gig I play is the same 3 or 4 drum beats, within the same tempo range - for 2-3 hours....coming from a prog metal background, that was rough for the first couple of months, but I took the gig on purpose to expose myself to other styles of playing. Now that I am used to it, it is no problem <-- I have been playing with that group now for about 7 years

I would get self-critical at first about the beats being the same, but then I started focusing on how well the other parts were riding on my beats, and I becasme less worried about sameness, and more worried about overall feel of the picture

and gigs where shenanigans happen are soemtimes the best. When I was running around the country in a van playing punk gigs, I would often time encounter house kits that were just awful, and had to "punt" on many decisions while playing. The worst were when I would encounter a shared kit set up left handed, and the guy would not let me rearrange it. That happened twice. Many a beat were "recrafted" on the spot in those gigs. Also broken bass drum pedals/heads/spurs always made gigs fun. There were quite a few gigs where the floor tom became the bass drum...

adjustment on the fly is the best test of your musicianship

 

[brady]

Yes, that's the real test of your musicianship...that you show up and be a pro, playing what's needed for the song. It's not about how many notes you play.

Heck I play in a band that mostly plays traditional Chicago blues. I play so many shuffles a night, and after a while they do kinda feel the same, but it's what the songs call for.

I also play with another bluesy rock guy, and I swear he has at least 3 songs that are the same song but with different lyrics. I still just play what the song calls for even though I probably played that a few songs ago.

It sounds like that's what you did... If you had booty's shaking, I'd say you did your job!