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Thoughts on my drumming

Started by Alex Smith, July 10, 2013, 08:51 AM

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Alex Smith

Hi Guys, I'd appreciate feedback on my playing style.
https://soundcloud.com/alexander-t-smith/
What do you hear as my strengths? Weaknesses? What could I focus & practice on?

Bart Elliott

Your drum sound seems to fit well with the overall "retro" sound of the music.

After listening to a minute or so of each track, here's what I noticed ... which would be things to work on.

The balance of the drums seems to be too heavy on the HiHat. In rock, the Kick and Snare drum is what makes the music "dance" and move. I would work on bringing down the volume of your HiHat (eg. right hand), and focus on bringing out the Snare drum and Bass drum. Some of this might be the recording, but I can tell just by the sound of each instrument that you are really laying into the HiHat more than the Snare backbeats and Kick drum.

Pocket. Your backbeats are not consistent in their placement. Within just a few measures your backbeats go from on top to right on to behind the beat. In order to make the music feel good and maintain a consistent persona, try to keep the backbeats more alike in their placement.

Fills ... the notes are getting compressed or squished. Work on opening up the figures, giving each note its full value. An example is the fast sixteenth-note fills around the kit; they are getting squished and rushed.

Musically, I personally like your choices of what to play; it's the execution that needs more attention ... which will raise the level of your playing immensely ... and you'll sound like a pro!

Thanks for sharing.

Alex Smith

Thanks Bart. I've been working on my time since those recordings and have gotten much better. I also just got an electronic drumset and practice with the metronome a lot more now.

I appreciate the advice on the hi-hat volume. That's something I never noticed and I've been more aware of it.