Triplet Fills

Ok, so I'm at a gig yesterday (parade) hold on for dear life, and prior to out departure we are joking around and the bass player (great player, professor at Berlklee, great guy) says " The guitar player and I kid around about you're triplet fills, we know where they are going to be placed" So I'm thinking this is not a bad thing because the bass compliments my triplet fills and it sounds pretty good.

Then I start thinking about the comment and my mind starts. So I ask him, "do the triplet fills bother you?" He said " no but when you do them during Surfin USA (Beach Boys) it kind of takes away from the dancing, not a big deal"

We are only talking one measure and ending on the one of the following measure, never saw any of the dances break stride and glare at me! But I will stop doing them in that spot anyway, because thats the way I am Don't see it making much difference but I aim to please, agree or disagree?

Sounds like a "limelight" comment to me. Be sure to make a note of when he crawls up the neck or strays from strict pulse

From what you described, I get the impression that your bass player thinks that a triplet fill during Surfing USA doesn't exactly conjure surf music. If it's at the very end of the song....that may be the only place you could get away with it. Perhaps the fill doesn't match the vibe of the rest of the song, and they would like a fill that is more in line with the feel of the rest of the song. In the middle of the song I think it would be a little inappropriate. To end it, not as much. Are you basically ending with the triplet fill?

Larry, I think you are on the right track. It's not really a big deal but it's funny how we go about our playing and the effects a small thing like a one measure fill can have on another player or the song. Years past something like this would bother me, now I take it as an oppurtunity to make a song feel better if possible.

I'll disagree with Andy here. I don't think it's a limelight thing at all (after all, it's Surfin' USA to a Berklee prof). Actually, I think the guy was very professional with the way he presented the idea. He was humorous and phrased his criticism within the needs of the music and its audience. This is the kind of bass player we all should like!

(And I'll bet the when he crawls up the neck or strays from a strict pulse, it's phrased as quarters and 8ths, and not triplets. You can and probably should improvise, but keep it "in the bag".)

Since this song has nothing but straight 8ths and quarters (and maybe some 16ths coming from a guitar solo), then triplets become a whole new dimension, and, when played at the same time as the 8ths from another instrument, create a 3:2 polyrhythm, and some "friction". If someone is trying to sing 8ths at the same moment, it will especially stand out! The same could not be said for triplets played against quarter notes, however, since there is no "friction".

Keep it in the bag, man. Always.

brentcn said:

I'll disagree with Andy here. I

Click to expand...

You have to place my comments in context. I am, after all, the official Drummerworld forum murderer of classic songs

A lot of musicians are predisposed to never play a song the same way once. And certainly never the way the original was done. While I've never been a note for note kind of guy (too ADD for that) I do enjoy the challenge in shifting gears and adopting the original vibe of the song. Playing covers for an audience is taking them someplace familiar. Letting them enjoy the experience of a live performance comfortably. Surf music being different than southern rock or James Brown funk. I get more out of copping the feel and vibe of the various genres, and the audience's reaction to it, than doing everything "my way". Some times it's fun to put a new twist on an old song. But not the same twist on every song if you know what I mean. To me, that is the boring aspect of playing covers. Maybe those folks who look down their noses at playing covers have that issue because they are sleepwalking through them with the same basic feel. Maybe try studying the music a bit more, learn the vocabulary of each style and how the arrangements and production are put together. Then if you really want to make something different out of it, you have more to draw from. This goes for the sounds as well. Not that you need a monster kit or a ton of pedals for each song. Just try to pull something more like the original sound from what you have. Expand your tone production chops. Bury the beater on a disco song, bounce it off the head for a James Brown song. Loosen the snares and play off center for a New Orleans vibe, tighten them and play dead center for an early 80's vibe, off center rim shots, centered rim shots, so many different things to make each song sound unique. JMHO.