music thoughts... from a drummer
Oh man. I bought a copy of Nirvana’s Nevermind last week at a thrift store for $1. I haven’t owned this record since junior high. The drum tones are CRAZY awesome. I heart Dave Grohl.
I will say that he possibly overuses the crash cymbal on most of these tracks… but who cares. It’s so rocking. I mean, listen to the fill at 0:47 of “Drain You.” SO HUGE. Is it just me or is he underpinning the 16th snare notes with 8th notes on the kick there?
My students say this a lot. I used to say it a lot too, back in high school when I didn’t know better. I say “didn’t know better” because I have a different take on things these days.
Another phrase showed up at a lesson yesterday. A student was having trouble with an exercise, and I told him to focus hard and go slower. He said: “I am focusing, but I think my arms just don’t want to do it right.” I’ve heard that phrase many times from other students, but this time we stopped and talked about it. The phrase is related to “this is too difficult,” in that it places the blame on the pattern or your arms, and not on YOU.
The way I see it is this: your arms have no mind of their own. They do what they’re told to do. Now, sometimes the arms are told to do something by habit or by discomfort. This is problematic for drummers, because it can give the impression that you don’t have control over your own limbs. But, this is not true. We ALWAYS have control over our own motor skills (with the exception of illness or injury).
So, a more accurate version of the phrase above would be: “my arms just don’t want to do that, and I’m not currently putting in the mental effort to MAKE my arms do what I want them to.” That sheds light on the real issue. It’s not your arms’ fault for being “unwilling” to play the rudiment/fill/exercise/whatever – it’s YOUR fault for not using the very real control that your mind has over your arms.
Many times I think I’m focusing on doing something, but I’m really not. I intend to tell my arms and legs what to do in trying to master a difficult pattern, but I’m really just hoping that they’ll figure it out on their own.
So, anyway, after discussing this with the student, he tried the exercise he was working on again and immediately had much more success. I asked him if he thought the exercise felt easier after out discussion, and he said yes, and told me that he felt like he had a clearer picture of what to focus on.
Legendary rudiment guru Jim Chapin passed away this last Saturday (4th of July). His personality is evident in this video, and he’s SPOT ON with his assessment of technique vs real music.
Money quote: “There’s no sense in becoming a technical giant if you’re not going to be a musical giant.” Booya.
HT: Jay Corkran
Remember the 5/4 piano teacher? He was a discovery brought to us by Expert Village, a website designed to offer how-to videos for anything you can imagine. The site has since been expanded and revamped, and it’s now called eHow. This video on how to play a hip-hop groove is what you might find if you search “drums.”
At this point, I’m confident that this dude’s videos are an elaborate joke. I mean, they MUST be, right?
I am sitting in the 7th Street Entry right now, listening to this band called The Daredevil Christopher Wright. I have to say, they are very cool. Eccentric, but cool. You should check them out if you ever get the chance.
So, I’ve been on this Chris McHugh kick lately. Man. Just love that guy. The recent Keith Urban record is killer, and same with the last two Rascal Flatts records. However, after much listening, I’m still liking the self-titled Owsley record as mt favorite Chris McHugh performance, as well as Keith Urban’s previous album (Love, Pain, and the Whole Crazy Thing), and I included both of those records on the AEDSK list.
Anyway…
This post is just a presentation of a theory I have after listening to Carrie Underwood’s 2nd album, Carnival Ride. McHugh plays on that record, which is of course why I’ve been listening to it lately, and why I’ve taken to theorizing about it. However, the interesting thing about that record is that Matt Chamberlain plays on it too, but the tracks aren’t labeled as to which drummer played on what. The liner notes read simply, “Drums: Chris McHugh, Matt Chamberlain.” So, I’ve spent a ton of time trying to decifer which drummer is playing on which track. Actually, my 4-year-old daughter Betty really likes Carrie Underwood, so the truth is I’ve spent far more time than I care to admit listening to Carrie Underwood. Let’s just say I know both her albums top to bottom from memory. And… after all this listening… I’ve come to a conclusion about who is drumming on each track.
I think Chamberlain only plays on track two, the radio single called “All-American Girl.” That’s it. The rest of it is McHugh. I’m saying this because only “All-American Girl” exhibits any Chamberlain-esque playing, and all the other tracks have very signature McHugh moments. Feel, tones, patterns, sequences, fills… these two players have VERY finger-print characteristics, and I’m pretty confident at this point about my ID-ing track two as the only Chamberlain track.
So, my theory is this: the whole record was tracked in Nashville with McHugh (and all the other usual suspects for A-list Nashville records). Then, “All-American Girl” was discovered last-minute as a viable song for the record, and it was deemed necessary to be included. McHugh wasn’t available for the session, so Chamberlain did it.
Makes sense, right? I think so. Give it a listen and tell me what you think.
My friend Seth just hipped me to this video interview with Brian Blade about his new solo record. I mentioned Brian’s singer/wongwriter album a few months ago, and this footage reveals more cool stuff about that.
… is one of my favorite studio players. The session at Masters Studio yesterday was for a rock-country record, and I found myself constantly referencing McHugh’s playing as I worked through the songs.
I’ve looked for clips of him on youtube before and not had much luck, but it turns out all you need to do is search “Keith Urban” and there’s suddenly tons of footage of McHugh in action. This is the best one I found.
I’m at Masters Studio all day today. This studio used to be called Flyte Tyme, and was owned by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Michael Jackson recorded the single “Scream” here, and Janet Jackson recorded most of her records here.
It feels weird to walk these halls after the events of last week. The mono overhead mic is the same one used for MJ’s vocals.
I am again finding myself without the time to maintain this blog the way I would like. I’ve been wading through some thick reading material lately, along with a ton of other time-consuming stuff.
Hang in there with me. I promise to not let things slide into the normal musician state of one blog post every three months. Good things come to those who wait, right?
Ryan Paul & the Ardent celebrates the release of the debut record, La Vita Nuova, tonight at the 331 in Northeast Minneapolis. The show is free, and 21+.
I expect to see everyone who reads this blog there. Everyone.
6/21/09 Update: The good news for those of you that couldn’t make it to the show is that someone in the crowd caught some cell-phone footage of the show. The bad news is that it’s cell-phone-footage quality.
Recent Comments