Save the Neil Peart fills and just find the Downbeat

"Save the Neil Peart fills and just find the Downbeat!!!" is an actual experience of mine and I honestly deserved to hear it. That whole experience happened to me over 10 years ago now and is one that I will never forget! I mean who honestly forgets when the artist you're playing with stops everyone in rehearsal mid song and chastises your fills as being too Neil Peart-ish? It's like a round about way of saying "Why don't you just sit in your room with all of your Rush CD's and play your new set of octobans and rototoms but don't waste our time with that nonsense here." And honestly to this day that guy was totally right and I learned a lot from that experience at the young age of 20. And the more that I played with him and other artists I realized that 98% of the artists and bands that I have played with could care less about the new fill you just found in the Dennis Chambers bag of tricks. They just want you to create that feel behind them to give them a comfortable cushion to play within.

Makes sense right?? Of course of course! What am I really talking about?? Well I'm talking about the 1 and the 3. The Downbeats.. but more importantly the 1. That first downbeat at the top of the measure can sure be a tricky one if you're playing a fill that's going to rush the downbeat on the one or make you miss it entirely. And I'm not saying that those fills don't always fit or aren't always appropriate. But I am saying that more often than not.. they probably aren't. So you need to seriously ask yourself; Are your fills a little too Neil Peart-ish in the context of your church worship service, top 40 cover band gig, or just a country/western jam down at the local VFW? Does your downbeat fluctuate or not happen at all at the top of each measure? Do you even know what a downbeat or a measure is??

So that's a good start here. A little bit of realization and enlightenment if you will. But I also must say that even though we're giving Neil Peart a bad rap on his fills. I can honestly tell you that even with how busy he plays and how many toms he hits in a fill. I've never heard Neil Peart not land on the downbeat. So am I contradicting myself by saying that all the fills in your bag of tricks will always push you away or off the down beat of every measure?? Maybe it could appear that way but let me explain myself a little further. Here are some questions that you should ask yourself to help determine if you fit in the "I play a fill too much" and "I'm in love with my toms" "ADHD" Drumming.

• First of all how many toms do you have? And do you find yourself hitting them more than your snare?
• Do you understand the term "In the pocket" or the "Groove"
• Do you play with a click track/metronome or scorn it's existence? And if you do play with one can you play to it and practice with it?
• Do you think that drummers who play little or no fills are bad drummers?
• Are the words "Solid Drummer" offensive to you?
• And lastly, are you never being called back for the last gig you played?

Ok so we're whittling away at who the professionals are and who might need to woodshed on some simple and practical basics of musical taste. And I don't say these things to demean anyone. I say them all to help! I get asked so many times by drummers on how to become a professional drummer. Among a few things that I suggest I always say play solid, simple, and let your artist and whole band know where the down beat is at all times. And if you read below here are some more tips on how to play less fills and find your feel for solid grooves, tasteful fills, and knowing how to accentuate the downbeat for all to hear.

• Practice by taking one tom away at a time. Or all of them --  I actually played and still play a kit to this day with only a floor tom. Did I just blow your mind?? Maybe some of you.. But it is truly an emancipating feeling to know that you have only a few fills to make work with a floor tom, kick, and snare. And you'll be amazed at what you come up with! But if you love your toms more than your snare, kick, and hi-hats (Where groove most often happens).. then you should try this approach. It's a little like going on the patch or chewing nicotine gum for a smoker. Basically you just keep lowering the dosage as needed and you soon become cigarette free. Or is this case "Neil Peart-ish fill free" . Give it a whirl and you'll be amazed at how many compliments and respect you'll get by your band by how you focus more on the groove than 100 tom fills.
• Listen to what professional drummers in Pop, Country, and top 40 music do -- I actually heard an interesting stat from a studio engineer friend of mine that the biggest #1 Pop/Rock songs of all time have little or no tom fills at all. And as I listened to a bunch of old #1's he was totally right! And as I researched further I also found that those drummers are no slouches.. Drummers like Vinnie Colaiuta, Jeff Porcaro, and Steve Gadd. Whom are all technically on another level than a lot of us but still get that playing on a song involves tasteful playing and giving everyone the joy of knowing where the down beat is. One of my favorite songs is a song that Vinnie Colaiuta played on by Sting called "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" It might have one tom hit in it.. maybe?? But the song is all that funk shuffle groove that Vinnie does so well.. and when it's appropriate to "Go Off" at the end of the video. Then Vinnie does so very tastefully. Here's a peek 

• Listen to the artist and bands you're playing with -- Most of the time you'll know when you're "going off" a little too much because the other guys around you will probably tell you or just never call you again. So make sure to eat some humble pie if you're told that you're being a bit too busy. It's for your own good!! I promise!
• If you're playing a cover song then simply copy the fills that the drummer played on the record -- Unless the Artist you're playing for just simply hates the drum fills on the song you're playing then do your best to play a variation of them. But you must remember that a lot of songs that you hear on recordings have been scrutinized by a producer, A&R person, manager, engineer, Artist, and full band. So I guess that fill is the fill that they wanted to keep in there.. And let's hope that if it was too messy then they would've have canned it. But whatever the circumstance here... Do your best to just learn the fills where they are placed in the song. 
• Learn to groove, keep your fills from speeding you up or slowing you down into the next measure --  This is an advanced task that will take you locking yourself into a room with a click and hearing how you naturally play your fills into the next measure. Fills are usually 8th or 16th note based and the faster they get, the more apt you'll be to rush your next downbeat. I know of studio drummers that would practice for days on this very thing. They were tired of having to punch and re-punch fills that were too busy and rushed the next downbeat. Now we have Beat Detective and Flex Time to fix these issues in the digital recording world. But when you're playing live you don't have that nice warm blanky called "You're about to have surgery on your whole drum track"
• Knowing how to play simple and tasteful is what makes you a professional player -- Some of you will disagree but to be honest I have used about 6 or 7 drum fills of the 100 drum fills I've learned in in my life just this this year. No one cares that you have the coolest fills ever! No one but a small majority of people in this world will ever hire a drummer based on the amount of fills he or she has up their sleeve. It all will revolve about how confident you are in the pocket and how great you make that Artist's music feel. If you are playing too much you just simply will not last long. So slowly break down you're playing and use this word in your brain at all times while playing RESTRAINT
• Avoid the Clinic Drummer mentality -- I think that everyone loves a good drum solo, and so DO I! But it's a drum solo and I've only played a few of them in my 17 yr studio and touring career. I've heard a lot of technically off the charts drummers play the socks off a clinic and blow my mind. But when I've heard some of them try to groove in a simple worship song at church.. it just felt wrong. You can tell who spends more time "In the pocket" and grooving.. and who spends more time on drum solos. So marry your metronome and spend more time on the thing that will keep getting you work. "The Groove" 

There is probably more that I could write.. but I think we get the point and have a pretty good start right here.

In my new E-book that will be coming out next week.. I'll be talking about this subject in a bit more depth and hit the next topic similarly to this in succession "Where's 2 and 4?" or better known as the Back Beat.

Until then feel free to start the dialogue on here and learn from other professionals like myself on how you can better serve the Artist and Band you play for. I hope some of this helped.. Feel free to ask me any questions at all. Have a great week! God Bless!

Warm Ups and an Awesome Mullet

My warmups are pretty lame most of the time.. and I feel like I'm being lame most of the time by doing them. But when a few friends have told me that they have had wrist and arm problems. I felt like I had to make sure that I warmed up to avoid the inevitable wrist surgery in my future if I didn't warm up properly. Not long after hearing from different drummer friends that warming up properly has helped them avoid surgery or surgery again. I began to contract a bit of repetitive fatigue in my wrist from my own lack of warmup routine. I feel, in retrospect, that it was a combination of poor warm ups, years of developing bad habits, and just laziness to be honest. So I decided to take a bit of my friends advice and decided to really get on the warm up train.

Warm ups aren't a new thing in music, sports, and in academia. So why after all these years was I so reluctant to warm up? To try and possibly save myself from an impending injury that would cost me thousands of dollars and months away from my drum kit? I decided that I was being downright irresponsible. So I started to develop a series of warm ups and I turned to Youtube for help.

It seems that I always land back in Dave Wecklerville (As my mom so lovingly called Dave Weckl) Maybe it's because he's one of the most fluid players I've ever heard or seen play. Or maybe it's because I just LOVE to watch his hair fly around like someone just scared a racoon out of the air conditioning ducts. And I digress.. (sigh). So I happened upon the Video Back to Basics. It helped me determine the best warm ups for me through a lot of natural things that I just so happen to play when I'm behind the kit. I think it can and should be different for most people and for me it seems warming up takes a bit longer because I'm just a big guy with lots of tension in my muscles. So I developed some things that I do before I play. I definitely stretch a bit and I warm up a bit also. In my ebook that is coming out next month I will be explaining what I do to warmup and how I address the drum kit.

I have to say that with my friends recommendations and a bit of sudden awareness to my own impending doom for my wrists; I curbed my problems over time. In my future ebook I'll describe how I address the kit before a rehearsal or performance and go over a few helpful warmups that you might be interested in. They'll be in a Video format for you to easily see and hear how they work. It's not rocket science or hard math.. Just something practical for you and I to take away and to save our wrists from a possible sidelining surgery. But just for your enjoyment, I included one of my favorite excerpts and a bit of inspiration to how I came about creating my own warmups. So Check Dave out and let's all wonder and dream of how we can attain that Mullet of his... Oh yea and his chops as well :)  God Bless my friends!

The Wicks

In August 2009 I met a guy on a flight from Seattle to Dallas, TX named Jedidiah Wick. When he found out I was a musician he told me his wife was a singer and they were interested in ways to start a music career. I think I had been up since 5am flying from Anchorage, Alaska that I was a bit delirious but I was also somehow intrigued about how well Jedidiah engaged me in conversation. It didn't seem to be a desperate plea for help but more of a how can you help us progress farther along than we have already gone. I enjoyed the conversation and when our flight arrived in Dallas I gave Jedidiah my number and told him to call me when he and his wife wanted to make a record. And I have to be honest that I never really thought much about it after the flight. But I have to attest that it was one of the better conversations that I've ever had on any flight I've ever been on.

So of course time goes on and I decide to move to LA. I get this email from Jedidiah out of the blue in December 2010 that he and his wife want to make a record. So when I finally moved into my place in Sherman Oaks, CA I scheduled a conference call with The Wicks to talk to them about budgets, schedule, and record details. From the first moment of the conversation with them I was struck by how serious and driven they were. It wasn't a "hey can you produce a record for us and get us signed??" But more of a "How can you help progress our career and give us the tools we need?" I was very impressed with that... And honestly it made me work harder for them and alongside them.

So I found out that Pauline Wick had written all these awesome lyrics but had no Music. So I took on the challenge of writing all the music to the lyrics she gave me and we solidified the rest of the music all together in Marina Del Ray, CA while in Pre- Production. We worked our tails off in making this record and it was a fun and creative effort all around. Please take a listen and buy the 7 songs from the top or bottom link.

Vocals and all things VOX by Pauline Wick
More Vocals by Jedidiah Wick
B3 organs by Troy Welstad
All Guitars by Steven Miller
Mixed by Steven Miller
Mastered by Dale Becker
Everything else by dis one guy

Now on every flight I take anywhere I make it a point to engage someone in conversation. Because I never know when I'll find another awesome group like The Wicks out there again. So Thank You Wicks for helping me emerge from my mundane airport and flying cocoon. :)



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The Jungle for Indies/The World as your Instructor Summary

So I posted two articles this week. They are two very different articles dealing with two very different subjects. I just wanted to sum up what I'm saying in both. And I've yet to finish "The World as Your Instructor" but still let me abridge both before finishing those thoughts.

What I'm not saying:

• In Regards To: It's a jungle out there for the indie artists -- I'm not saying.. Don't ever sign a record deal!! but I am saying be wary, wise, and discerning about what you do sign!! And again let me share the article below because I believe it's really not saying that as well. It does give some great advice. And there are a lot of good nuggets for you to think about. So again here it is.  http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/what-are-the-odds-of-succeeding-without-a-record-deal.html

•  In Regards To: The World as Your Drum Instructor -- Before I finish pt. 2. I wanted to let you know that one of the best things you can do is find a Drum Instructor. What I'm saying in part 1 is that I didn't have that convenience in the part of the world I lived in Circa 1991.  And 1991 was a world without Internet and Cell Phones. Some of you that may be reading this might not have these amenities. That post is for everyone, but ESPECIALLY for the man and woman who has to teach yourself your particular instrument. But if you're in distance to a Drum Instructor that can help you learn how to play. Then that's great!! and I say DO IT! But I say find one that fits you and helps you build upon your great habits. I'm saying as a teacher, that I would never deconstruct a drummer's natural talent and natural approach to the drums. I would only deconstruct the bad habits that I knew would become harmful to a drummer's health. i.e Arms and Wrist. So to clarify... Find an instructor if you absolutely can. Find one that fits you and helps you meet your goals. Some might push you and make you mad. But I believe one will definitely help you and make you a better Drummer. If you're aren't in a place geographically to do so. Then use all that you can possibly can to make you better. It always comes down to your drive, passion, natural talent, and love for the instrument no matter your circumstances. Just make sure and find the instructor, or resources, that foster your passion and drive. But doesn't turn you away from the love of your instrument. Hope everyone has a great weekend and thank you so much for reading my blog!!  Thanks!