Question for drummers

[Skittles]

Pardon my ignorance, but how is drumming music created? Is it improvised from a song? When the song is written or played or what? Is drumming itself ever "written"? Do you have to experiment to get the right beat? I've just always been curious.

[Kierkegaard]

1. Training, experience.

There is a wealth of drum 'history" out there for aspiring musicians to draw from. All players borrow from those who went before them. After learning the fundamentals of the instrument, and absorbing some of this history, it becomes a natural extension of the musician's arsenal. Using that, some curiosity, and hopefully some artistic ability will ultimately determine a percussion part. I have written pieces from 'the bottom up' before, starting with just a percussion idea and have had some interesting results. Most drum parts are supporting foundation and are logically derived from existing melody/chord structure.

Hope that helps!

[curse10]

2. Depends on the music

for symphonic pieces it's written out just like any other instrument

[bobthedrummer]

3. All of your questions have a bit of the truth to them, Skittles.

Scored music has definite percussion parts, and structured meter.

Improvisation is "jamming", sometimes the songs that have been played a certain traditional way are played to a different rhythm or style.

Experimentation is creativity. Repertoire is important, it gives the drummer more room to experiment.

Usually I go with emotion in motion when playing (aka feel or groove).

I'm an advocate of using the "less is more" concept, it's like the discipline of the blues-which is the antithesis of technical playing.

I play on a kit, hand drummers may take a different approach.

[realisticphish]

5. i agree with less is more

i hate drummers who fall in love with themselves, usually young guys, and solo all over the place, or huge fills. its ridiculus, and ruins the rest of the song. thats why i am a big fan of tim alexander, from primus; great drumming, but subtle

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[bobthedrummer]

7. Cool, that's where dynamics really becomes crucial to the feel!

:hi:

[realisticphish]

4. its a mix

usually, a drummer (im talking drum set here) will start out with an idea for a beat; a simple pattern, something easy. then, as the rest of the band creates the melody and bass line, the beat is altered to fit better with the rythms, and add accent to important notes in the guitar/bass/whatever line. at least thats how i do it; in jazz, its pretty much all improv, with sheet music for the instrumental part, so you can lead into accented notes

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Skittles]

8. cool

I've always wondered because I think very often the drumming can make or break a song

[noise626]

6. it really depends on the drummer...

...firstly, I myself am not a drummer, just a run of the mill guitarist. But I've worked with plenty of drummers so maybe I can assist :)

It really depends on the drummer as far as how he or she fits the drums into the structure of a song. Many drummers are "ear-trained". They learn to play drums by listening to music and playing to it, many times mimicking it until they get a feel for where the song goes. Drum music is written out via way of an augmented version of the traditional time signature music staff. But instead of notes on a scale, you have beats that are written per bar. Depending on the music style, there can either be a great deal of improvisation or none at all. Keep in mind that the drummer's most important job in the band is to keep time, since all of the rest of the band revolves around that back beat.

What kind of music do you tend to listen to, BTW? I'm curious as to what sort of drumming you have been exposed to :D

pax
ant

[Skittles]

9. oh, I've always been a die-hard rock 'n roll fan

I guess I got to wondering about drummers after watching the AC/DC Stiff Upper Lip live DVD last night. I found Phil Rudd to be quite fascinating, it all looked like another day's work even though I figure it's got to be quite physically exerting hammering away like that song after song. :D

[bobthedrummer]

10. Not really-it's all in the wrist!

:headbang: