JackOnDrums

What makes a good drummer

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:51:39 -0400

Now this is a topic that is very debatable(?) depending on your influences, the styles of music you’re into, you’re favortie drummers/musicians and so on and so forth. However, i’m going to share with you my personal thought on what makes a good drummer. I love all aspects of the instrument, the rhythms involved, the maths involved, the co-ordination involved, but for me, in this exact order, a great drummer will have the following aspects.

1) Great time (You’re a drummer, timing is essential!)

2) Feel (I will always, ALWAYS, prefer to watch a drummer with bad technique and a lot of feel, than I would a drummer with outstanding technique, but no feel …)

3) Creativity (Watching drummers play somewhat quirky things that havn’t been done before always interests me, also their ability to be creative and do exactly what is neccesary to the track they are playing to.)

4) Independence (Ok, so it’s not likely to be used in musical situations, but for crying out loud, the instrument is supposed to be fun! The above ideas are to be used with music and can all get a little repetative, so relax, and have fun trying to train your body to do things you shoudln’t be able to do …)

So there are the 4 things I look for in a player and am currently trying to improve on, a long with technique, another huge importance of the drum kit, it’s what gets you from A to B, easily! BUT, technique falls into each category … See what I did there? Time, Feel, Creativity, Independence all require TECHNIQUE!

Until next time

The Setup ... Kind of

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:18:09 -0400

Ok, so here’s a shot of the kit with the new heads, the new room, and the VH Tribute setup. I’m not planning on using the hi hats on the right side, nor the 21” K custom Special dry ride, they’re for my practice purposes only. I have also got a set of roto toms to my left, and the bellcow (I started calling it that with a mate a few years ago and it stuck …) to my right. Hopefully i’ll get a new video sorted, I just need an idea of what to do. Thanks for the interest, until next time …

-Jack

New Video

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:24:51 -0400

So, i’ve finally moved into the lock-up, put the new heads on the kit, and then made this 5 over 3 polyrhythm idea. The feet play R L L, and the hands play R L R L L. See what you think …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rnv9xVAfX8&feature=plcp&context=C4294af3VDvjVQa1PpcFMqq8bTomwDiv4hShn4r30la5A6Ih7Kwus%3D

- Jack

Dope Yo!

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:16:55 -0500

Ok, so i’m pretty happy at the moment, I’ve got a band practice in a few hours with my Van Halen tribute act, then tomorrow i’ve got my Jazz audition in Kings Norton, where I then travel further into Birmingham to watch a Jazz gig.
I was selecting heads for a Music shops new drum kit too, and I was asked that if I was to tune the heads onto the kit when the heads arrive, I could have my own choice of heads bought for my kit, so me being the massive drum nerd I am didn’t even hesite in the offer.

The Van Halen tribute band and myself are moving in to the new lock-up Monday, or Tuesday, so i’d best get my set of keys cut soon as! I will also be dropping a few snaps of the kit and a video on here as soon as the new heads are on, and everythings all said and done

On the drum side of things, i’ve nearly configured my set-up to aquire what’s needed for the VH tribute band, and it’s more or less a scaled down version of Alex Van Halens kit. It sounds a little something like this …

Mapex Saturn - Blue Galaxy burst

10x5.5 (or 12x6, havn’t yet decided …)
14x12
14x5.5 BP Tribal snare
22x18

Cymbals (Zildjian)

17K dark Medium Thin crash
18A cust. crash
20K Heavy ride
14K/Z hi hats

And then to top it all of, an LP micro snare, turned off, and to be used as a roto tom idea. There are a set of roto toms at the lock-up which are just lying around with a DW X-hat mount, I may ask my mate if i can purchase them from him …

Ok, so that wraps it up, pretty long post this time, none the less, if you read until this point, then that’s awesome, and I thank you for the interest.

- Jack

Symbols

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:53:29 -0500

“Symbols”. A common spelling error when people infact mean “Cymbals”. This is something i’ve seen over the years and can’t tell you just enough how much it grinds my gears to the extent I feel like poking my eyes out of there sockets with my drum sticks, just so I don’t ever have to worry about reading it anywhere ever again. YouTube, Drum related discussion forums, things of that nature is where you will commonly see this word used in the incorrect manner. But seriously, read this very carefully, cymbals, cymbals, cym … bals. This is how one would go about spelling the instrument on your drum set, you know, the big round sheets of metal, cymbals. A symbol is something that represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning, it is NOT, I repeat, NOT a musical instrument …

So, after 7 years of seeing this and keeping it in, rant over.

- Jack

Back in the swing

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:42:31 -0500

I went with a jam for my good friend and great pianist, Sophie (YouTube; SophOnKeys) and we started messing around with some keyboard and drum ideas and came up with this funky little jam. Nothing flash, i’m just trying to get more comfortable playing traditional grip as well as getting “back in the swing” of playing with other muzo’s as i’ve been required to do so as of late …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGP3drpVzjw

Until next time.

Why I don’t get out much … Ok, so here’s a...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:55:04 -0500

Why I don’t get out much …

Ok, so here’s a pretty cool set of Latin variations i’ve been having a load of fun experimenting with. They’re super simple, but highly effective when voiced around the kit properly. The foot pattern is something i’m currently switching up to give the patterns a completly different feel, for example, the Bion pattern with the left foot closing the hi hats on the down-beats, and then switching it and playing your left foot on the up-beats. Or possibly even a Samba foot pattern to make the feel of the pattern bouncy, yet strict.

As some of you maybe aware, I had an audition with a Van Halen tribute act on Friday night, and I got the job! I’m not a VH fan, but i’m super stoked none the less. Where now getting a few things sorted to hopefully move into a lock-up in the near future. I have another audition for a Jazz quartet next week, which i’m extremely worried about, it’s a long way from home, but i’m hoping to knock the ball out of the park in that audition too.

Wish me luck would you? …

YO! I was searching through some old videos of mine in search of...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:52:00 -0500

YO! I was searching through some old videos of mine in search of some co-ordination stuff I used to do, and in turn I came across this little gem. After a year and a half of it being on YouTube around a year ago, it still had barely any views and no comments, I was pretty gutted to say the least as I was proud of the fact I’d learnt it all in one day. None the less, I hope whoever sees it now likes it, even though it was shot when I was a little younger and couldn’t care to much about technique …

I won’t be posting on here too much now either, I will probably say a few times a week at most, let’s see if I can control myself … Thanks.

- Jack

A few things

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:25:05 -0500

I have the first practice with my Van Halen tribute band tomorrow (Friday 02.03.2012) in a cool lock-up not to far from where I live, i’m really looking forwards to it to say the least. Following this, I have then got to head up to Birmingham the following week to have the first practice with my new Jazz ensemble, this is pretty scary being as I can’t drive yet and am having to catch one bus and two trains to get the the studio, but i’m really excited to be playing with a large group of Jazz muzos.

And I can’t go without once again saying thanks if you’re planning on following me on here, and thanks for understanding that FaceBook has pushed me to the edge, hence my being on here.

Last but not least, a sticking! Give this one a go …

R L L R - L R R L - R L L - R L L - R L

It’s a simple sticking consisting of an inverted paradiddle, two bounce triplets, and the right hand followed by the left, all in 16th notes. This sounds awesome when moved around the kit, especially because of the triplets involved. Do with it what you will! Until next time …

- Jack

Moving ...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:08:22 -0500

Wazzup!?

I just want to take a second to thank the people that were part of my FaceBook page, JackOnDrums. The one and only reason I actually created that page was because I was aware that there were certain people on my private FaceBook account that weren’t drummers, so the likelyhood of them wanting to hear me ramble on about all things drum related, obviously, wasn’t very high. Now FaceBook had this new Timeline idea, which I’m not exactly the biggest fan of, and for some unknown reason they decided to do it with my page too, causing frustration. So, this led me to asking a few friends about different ideas and blogspots that were similar to my page, and Tumblr was a really popular option, even though I wasn’t all that aware of it and how many people actually use it. So here I am, I’ve semi-officially(?) moved, and may be deleting the FaceBook page in the near future so I can keep things simple and you won’t have to check different sites to find out what i’m up to …

So thanks for the support thus far, and I hope you like the idea on here.