The Benefits of Saying ‘Yes’
I have been thinking a lot about the benefits of saying ‘yes’ to various playing opportunities. In this post I want to look at some of the obvious, and perhaps not so obvious benefits of saying ‘yes’.
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I have been thinking a lot about the benefits of saying ‘yes’ to various playing opportunities. In this post I want to look at some of the obvious, and perhaps not so obvious benefits of saying ‘yes’.
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When we look at the drumset we are looking at a thoroughly modern invention. It was only since the turn of the 20th century that this instrument even EXISTED! We’ve gone from ‘low boy’ hi-hats and tacked head toms to remote cable hi-hats, every depth and diameter of tom, bass drum, and snare drum imaginable; not to mention enough cymbal varieties that we could sheath the great pyramid and still have bronze left over.
Here’s the thing though. Maybe you don’t have that much gear. Maybe you have a nice sounding 4 or 5 piece kit with a ride, a crash, and a set of hi-hats. Why do the cats with the big kits have to have all of the fun of making interesting noises? Have you ever asked yourself: ‘How can you get more sounds out of my kit?’
It’s easier than than you might think? In this post I hope to be able to offer some ideas (some my own, some I’ve knicked from fellow drummers, articles, etc…) These are just some of the ideas available for you to create your own unique sounds on your kit.
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I once heard a story from Billy Ward that he took a lesson with Elvin Jones on a trip to New York City when he was a kid. The drum studio had this beat up kit and when Elvin sat down at it and played it, the kit sounded like a million bucks. Moral? It’s NOT the kit, it’s the player. That said, a nice kit sure makes your music making experience more fun and often times, more inspiring. I love drum gear – LOVE IT. As such, I have a fair bit of it kicking around. Of course, what I use depends on the gig, but here’s a list of goodies you might see at a gig or session.
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Over the past couple of months I’ve been doing a wide variety of sessions for clients including Vox Lumiere, Tyrone Wells, Nickelodeon, The Voice, Robin Grubert, Ronan Chris Murphy, Lee Ferris, David Bowick, and Michael ‘Smidi’ Smith.
I’m humbly grateful for all of these experiences. They enrich me in a variety of ways. There’s the obvious financial one (so I can keep the lights on), but there are plenty of others. One of them is re-imagining what a drumkit is and can be. These sessions got me thinking about some of my favorite players.
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Well, NAMM was pretty interesting this year. While it lacked in innovation (in my humble opinion), there were some interesting things to check out. This year though it was really all about being on the floor and hanging out with friends and seeing faces I only get the chance to see for this brief sonically challenging weekend in January. I wouldn’t say I got the chance to see everything I wanted, but amongst the madness, certain things stood out. Here are my rather biased highlights…
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