DRUMMER CAFE

My DI gave me a copy of this essay by Brad Houser in Bass Player magazine. I wonder if Chrisso knows this guy, as he plays w/ Edie Brickell, among other bands.  I thought it was a really great piece (altho I did "clean it up" a bit ).


robyn


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Resist The Urge

Having played bass for a long time, I have noticed some destructive tendencies among bassists and drummers:  Gratuitous Fill Playing. That phrase alone pretty much sums up the entire matter, but let's dive a little deeper into it.
 
 A "fill" is just that:  filler, not substance. It seems that most of us bassists and drummers throw in more fills than necessary. This tendency becomes especially acute during funk grooves, althought a lot of us over-fill in any style.  Have you noticed that we tend to put in a fill every fourth bar, or every 16 beats?  Almost all of us do it. But in a lot of African music, and in classic James Brown, the bass relentlessly repeats the same figure over and over.  While some of you might think this is boring (I did at first), what actually happens is that a trance--an energy field--begins to build, which can and will produce an amazing feeling in the audience/dancers/musicians.  There is nothing quite like it.  In these situations, Gratuitous Fill Playing will destroy the trance and make you or me sound like Jackass No. 1.  It will also piss off the dancers, and the bandleader will start cursing at you.

 As an instant remedy, I propose the quick fix of No Fills 16.  Resist the evil temptation to put in that fill every 16 beats.  Drummers, please avoid the dreaded groove-stopper fill and the obligatory cymbal crash on the next downbeat.  It's as if I were walking down the street, and the...RED LIGHT!  STOP!  Then I need to wait for the fill to finish before I get to start walking again.

 Bassists do this just as often, and it is equally egregious. To illustrate, here is a little story:  A few months ago, I was doing a jazz-funk gig.  Big stage, huge low end.  I noticed Fills 16 happening, as they usually do, especially coming from me and the drummer--although the whole band was in on it, resulting in kind of like a bunch of pathetic little ejaculations, draining away the groove's vitality.  I caught myself (No Fills 16, bitch!) and forced myself to stick to my bass line.  Lo and behold, the band solidified, becoming more focused and coherent, as did the dancefloor.  Wow! What a difference!  I have also noticed that if I stick closer to my bass line and remember No Fills 16, when it comes time for a (gasp) bass solo, I have more energy and ideas available--and my fellow musicians seem to lend more support.  Strange, but it works.

 Before you play a fill, ask yourself:  Is it necessary?  Is it contributing to forward motion, or is it a groove-killer?  Wait...don't fill...wait...wait...build...breathe... wait...keep those shoulders down and relaxed...wait...okay, now drive the band into the next section with a powerful melodic idea.

 Have fun stripping away all the extraneous BS.  Your fellow musicians and audience members will think you are a genius, and Miles Davis will be smiling as bright as the sun.

I'm sorry, did you say something? 

Seriously - that was a great essay.  My mind immediately jumped to the incredibly tasteful drumming of Karen Carpenter, who IMHO, was one of the best when it came to placing just the right fill at just the right moment. . .  and only where necessary.

This is the mark of someone who's spent a lot of time listening to studio drummers or playing in the studio in the 70s and 80s. I almost say don't fight it because I've already given up!

Let's not get too down on fills.
The right fill at the right moment can lift a whole band performance, either live or in the studio.
This is a good reminder to think about how you want to play something.
Also a good reminder to keep working on your playing - in my case practicing not opening the hi-hat (disco style) every four bars. 

Great discussion.

I definitely like how it all feels and sounds Much more when I cut back on the fills.
However, at this audition I'm going to next week, I Guarantee I play more fills
than I should.    

I'm glad for this great discussion! For me as a noob drummer, it's always been a source of anxiety to "come up with" different fills during a song, so that I'm not playing the same fill every time.   Reading this was actually a great relief, that, boy I don't have to come up w/ beaucoup fills every 4 bars--hurray!
 One song we do w/ the praise band is in 6/8, the original (I'm very anal about copying the original as closely as I can when it's warranted) has a very simple tom pattern, kick on 1 and 4, w/ a few snare accents on the bridge, no fills, and ends w/ the only cymbal crash in the song. Very simple to play, but gives the song a wonderful Celtic feel and a ton of energy! The first time I played it this way, many people came up to me afterwards and commented on it.
 So I'm gonna work on this no-fills/frills thing, and see what happens when I do them less often. Altho many times my "fills" are just a hit on 4a, and that's it.

robyn

My problem is I do this thing where I fill, but disguise it as part of the groove. Its a problem because I just cant stop myself.

Whenever I play and 8th note on the hihat grove I always sneak in some sixteenths on the hihat. Usually around "4 e &" sometimes around "2 e &". Measure after measure. My rationale would be that it helps the groove, or that since it is on the hihat it doesn't count as a fill, but a better guess would be that I can't stand dead air or can't maintain time without subdividing. So I try to be rock solid and simple in my 8ths, kick, snare, etc. But as soon as my mind wanders I'm doing it again.

Al Jackson, Jr (great 70's soul drummer) would play song after song with no fills. I cover a lot of his stuff and have tried to emulate that.

My adult son is also a musician and has heard me play many times, in many different styles of music. He has started counting how many fills I do per song. A month or so ago, I played a soul tune... at the end he held up one finger. Seems I hit the small tom once in the song. Funny.

OH, I recently listed to the playback of a rock gig I did a couple weeks ago. My juices got flowing and and the groove suffered because I played too many fills and crashes. @$%#, see what trying to show off got me?!

I guess it goes back to my comments in a thread about the Weird Al show.  It was something to the effect of "Not only excellent musicians but great entertainers!"  It must be that old adage of what the song requires and adding "at the moment". 

That is why music is art rather than a science; however some science can be practiced as an art.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "old days" and it varies considerably by genre and style within a genre.  I remember some very busy (manic) players in my youth as Chris points out.  I do get bored easy also, so I don't listen to a lot music that is "trance inducing".  

What I listen to and what I get to play live are not always the same thing if you know what I mean.  I often listen to either very busy music - fusion, big band, prog OR Benny Carter, Billy Evans.  With other musicians I mostly play R&B, Rock or church praise stuff.  So it takes some effort to move from one style to another.  I absolutely love Portnoy on Neal Morse's "One" but I can't take that kind of playing to the gig for two reasons 1) whenever I try to get fancy, I get in trouble 2) even if I could, it would be a distraction.  So it seems to me that knowing when to do what is the name of the game and learning to listen from an audience point of view is a skill to strive for.  

See, I listen to alot of that older stuff now and I don't really like what Mitch Michell, Moonie, Genesis and even  some  of what Rush and Led Zep did.

Same with jazz and other prog rock stuff.  It just sounds over the top at times.

Which is cool for some folks.

I really like how Chrisso said a live performance should be stepped up in intensity.  I will have to remember that.  I do indeed forget that at times, especially at gigs I can't stand.

I agree.

I can personally guarantee I never "play perfect" for the situation.  But heck I'm playing so that's all that matters.  If somebody likes it, awesome.  If I like it, awesome.  If they don't like it and I don't like it then things can get rough.   

Alot has to do with the sound, and I usually know pretty quick.  If everything is phat and sounds good, hopefully my musicality will take over and I can try and make some magic.  But if everything is lame and I'm in hell; I just won't take responsibility for my actions there on out

I tend to do that, too. It's easy to fall into habits like this, or like going to the ride cymbal for the chorus of the song, etc. But habits are NOT a good reason for playing something. It should be a conscious choice.

Also - and this is something that may affect older drummers more than younger ones - the common structures used in popular music have changed over the years. We used to have very distinct sections to songs: verses, B sections, choruses, bridges, intros, outros, etc. Each of these sections often required a different groove, or at least some modification in the drum part.

With the advent of sampling and computer-based recording and composition, we're seeing a lot of music with less distinct sections. Many hiphop tunes don't have a bridge, and/or they don't require a different groove for the chorus than for the verse. I read a Steve Gadd interview where he said he doesn't put nearly as much emphasis on changing grooves for different parts of songs as he used to, because these days the music often no longer dictates changes like that.

Many very popular - and thus, influential - songs have drum parts that were not crafted by drummers. They were programmed by producers or songwriters, or lifted from the grooves of other songs and assembled in a sort of sonic collage. This, too, has changed the landscape for us.

But I will say one thing about the notion of needing to play more notes to excite an audience. I don't think that's a necessity. What IS a necessity is playing with conviction, and conveying that conviction to your audience. You can do this with how physical you get with your instrument, with how animated you are when you play, and with your facial expressions - no matter how many notes you were playing. One of the keys to Ringo's success was that he looked like he was having fun, bobbing his head nonstop to the music.

From Aronoff to Gadd, when you watch those guys play, there is NO question that they are "into it" - as a result, drummers and non-drummers alike absolutely LOVE to watch guys like that play, no matter how simple or complex their drumming may be. So I recommend that you give serious thought to what you look like when you play if you're concerned (as you should be) about appealing to your audience.