Sidingsound

Spare a thought for the guy at the back

You know, now that I've been learning drums for a bit (adding it to guitar, ukulele, mandolin, bass guitar and the rest), I can honestly say I think the tub-thumper at the back of the band (which they usually are, unless one's name happens to be Dave Clark) is often the most maligned and undervalued member.

Fine. So drummers don't play a melodic instrument as such—oh, and what a debate we could have there!—and some of them do tend to fit the "Animal" stereotype, if we're honest—but with the exception of the keyboard player, it's unlikely that any other band member will usually be playing two, three or even four independent parts at the same time, as the drummer may be doing.

That's what I've found most difficult to get used to when learning the drums, especially when some patterns might (say) require you to play quarter-notes on the hi-hat, whilst playing a combination of quarter- and eighth-notes on the kick and snare. And doing this whilst keeping accurate time and doing so over the full duration of a song...

...well, all I can say is: don't wheel out the drummer jokes until you can prove you're able to play what they can! And if you think about it, a good drummer can potentially save a bad band, but a bad drummer can kill a good band...

Whilst I'm here, I might as well mention that I've made no progress on either the original CD project I've referred to in the last month or two, and am even thinking of dropping it entirely, in favour of moving on to new material. I can't see there's much prospect of me being able to work on the old stuff for the rest of the year, not least because I have a couple of other short-term projects which are likely to take me up to Christmas (of which I may post more in due course).

Thanks for your patience in the meantime, and please keep an eye on the blog...

Labels: demos, drums, music

posted by Tim @ 19:36