Can you become a great drummer without being a good music reader?

dpk204

Senior Member
I remember my drum teacher tried to make me learn this snare drum solo book by Charlie Wilcoxen. That stuff was way over my head and even today when I open up the book, it's scares me.

Can you become a great drummer just by feeling the groove or do you need to be an excellent sight reader.
 
Maybe a great drummer, but not a working drummer.

Define "work"?

I say it's possible......but it depends on what type of work we're talking about. There are plenty of brilliant drummers out there who don't read......just as there are plenty of brilliant gigs out there where the ability to read is paramount.
 
I remember watching the "Burning for Buddy" special and when Billy Cobham came up, he was jamming but not even looking at the drum set. He was affixed on the sheet music and playing some cool big band stuff.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't keep learning but is it really a handicap if you can't read music fluently?
 
I remember watching the "Burning for Buddy" special and when Billy Cobham came up, he was jamming but not even looking at the drum set. He was affixed on the sheet music and playing some cool big band stuff.

Okay, so what does that tell you?
 
Maybe a great drummer, but not a working drummer.

I like this phrase. With all due respect to PFOG, sometimes there becomes a standardization for some things. And out around me, people who pay drummers for their time are at least expected to be able to follow a chart, and as I've discovered in my relatively non-busy music career, being able to follow the chart is really 90% of the battle! I mean, we all have to end when it ends!

So, maybe being able to read note-for-note stuff, while important, is not the end-all, but the ability to follow a simple chart after a talk down is tantamount to the performance. Lots of times I'll get a chart, and in the initial talk-down with the leader, it's all about the road-map. I haven't seen alot of drum charts that had actual notes on them. Maybe phrases that they want you to accent while you're playing time, but a part written out like you'd see for a Zappa tribute band, that would be rare.

I think if you altered your approach - figure out the road map first, then worry about the actual notes, would actually help you better. You'll be able to blaze through more charts with any college band or working band as a sub, and then the reading will come simply because you're looking at different notes with every different chart.

In college, the first time I opened up the 'book' for the drummer, there were about 200 charts in it. They all had numbers, and all night the leader would just call numbers and you'd pull it up, he counts it off and you go! When I played for the LA Lakers house band back in the day, it was the exact same thing. Lots of times now I ask for a piano chart if they can give me one because then I'm seeing where the tune is going because there's more info to read....
 
Don't worry about it. Just keep playing and working on it. Over time you'll get better at it.

Also, books have a lot of great ideas. Keep that in mind, you can learn a lot from them.
 
Just a great few names: John Bonham, Ian Paice.
 
Let me put it this way: I've never been unable to do a job because I can read music.
 
I would say 'No'.

Every 'great' drummer can read at least to some extent. If you don't know how to read, how do you know exactly what you are playing, or how to learn it?

And the others are correct, I don't see anyone being a working drummer without having any knowledge of music.

The guitarist in my band say he's a drummer but admits he can't read music. He's more of a drumset owner really. He's pretty good on guitar, but quite frankly, he sucks on drums. He sounds sloppy and totally out of time. In other words, he sounds completely self-taight. Somehow he manages to be in time on guitar.

Do yourself a favor and learn all you can. This site alone has a wealth of information in the clinic section and other areas.
 
Some people can, but as far as successful musicians go, they seem to be in a minority.

Planning on being a great and working drummer is a lofty enough goal for me... I don't want to make things harder for myself by inability to read!
 
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Hi there,

That's a really hard question to answer coz 'great drummer' is such a subjective concept, isn't it? What is a great drummer? Ask any person and you'll get a different answer.

I am learning at the moment and reading is frustrating but it's a skill you can totally master if you put in the practice - that's the beauty of it - it's formulaic, it doesn't involve any tricks, it's just what it is and once you know it, that's it, you know it. My take is that I can't think any disadvantages to learning to read music. But I can think of disadvantages to not learning. So why not add as many skills to your repertoire as you can? It doesn't have to be about being a 'great drummer' but just about mastering your craft to your fullest potential.

Happy reading!! :)
 
Look up Doug Tann on Facebook. He'll tell you all about it. He has worked for Princess Cruise lines for 20 years and , yes , if you want a job like that, you MUST SIGHT READ.

Also much STUDIO work depends on sight reading.

I have an incredible ear. However , if you try and throw in unusual breaks at me ,I can't FEEL them. I must try those songs a few times before I get it, but if you can sight read.............you can nail it the first try.

Dan
 
I will address this the same way that I address it with my students. Let me put it this way - would you even be on this forum if you could not read or write the English language? Probably not. The forum would be useless to you. You could still speak the language and communicate with your family and friends. But you would always have to ask others for answers to your questions. Going to a library, reference book, or internet article would be useless.

Now if you can't read music, you need to figure stuff out yourself or have people show you things. I can assign two pages out of Wilcoxon's book each week and my students can come back playing it as written - in one week's time. Now - how long would those two pages take to learn if I had to play it for you measure by measure and you had to memorize it, including stickings? Much longer.

What about drum magazines, websites, method books, transcriptions, etc...? Would you want all of that information to be foreign to you because you can't read musical notation?

Also - there are gigs that require reading and gigs that don't. I can do both, although most gigs that I play require that I read music. Why would you want to limit the amount of work you can do?

Jeff
 
Sorry if I'm missing something really obvious here, but there's one thing I've always wondered whenever this topic has come up (and it comes up A LOT):

Why would a person even ask this question instead of simply learning to read? To me, it seems that learning to read is not a huge ordeal. Am I wrong about this? Do most people find it extremely challenging or time consuming for some reason? I realize it takes a bit of effort like anything else, but I've always felt that learning basic note values was a pretty quick and simple task compared to other things that drummers face (such as learning good hand technique or learning to play a decent shuffle). I don't consider myself to be any sort of natural genius at reading. I just picked up a couple of books and learned it like everyone else. It wasn't a major undertaking for me or for most of my students. With this experience as my background, I've just never understood why a drummer would label themselves and define themselves as a "non-reader" year after year when this is something that could easily be changed within a few months or even less. Can anyone explain this to me?
 
Sorry if I'm missing something really obvious here, but there's one thing I've always wondered whenever this topic has come up (and it comes up A LOT):

Why would a person even ask this question instead of simply learning to read? To me, it seems that learning to read is not a huge ordeal. Am I wrong about this? Do most people find it extremely challenging or time consuming for some reason? I realize it takes a bit of effort like anything else, but I've always felt that learning basic note values was a pretty quick and simple task compared to other things that drummers face (such as learning good hand technique or learning to play a decent shuffle). I don't consider myself to be any sort of natural genius at reading. I just picked up a couple of books and learned it like everyone else. It wasn't a major undertaking for me or for most of my students. With this experience as my background, I've just never understood why a drummer would label themselves and define themselves as a "non-reader" year after year when this is something that could easily be changed within a few months or even less. Can anyone explain this to me?


Amen, brother!

It may seem intimidating at first, but it's really not that difficult.
 
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