Bag of Tricks: Carter Beauford on DMB's "Satellite"

Earlier in the week we talked about flams.

This is one of my favorite tracks that utilizes a ton of simple, single flam fills and back beats, as well as flams on the toms as part of fills.

Check out the video for "Satellite."

Starting at the 2:16 mark, Carter Beauford starts using just a single flam as part of a fill. It's not a complex idea or figure (for the purposes of this post, it's not even worth notating!), yet it fits the song and feel perfectly.

Honestly, Carter has as much in the chops department as any other drummer in the rock-pop arena, yet he chooses his notes and fills based on what the music demands. This tune is also a very good example of a concept known as duality, where Carter mixes the very simple (single flam, quarter note fills) with the complex, such as the switching between time feels and using broken patterns and accents in fills to obscure the pulse.

I know a lot of drummers who don't like the way Carter plays, and I can honor that. But you've got to at least respect the man for what he does with the music. Whatever else he is, he's not a plain, "anyone with two sticks and a pulse could have played this track" type of musician. You can hear that it's him whenever you hear a track.

So, again, play around with flams (pun intended). Hopefully they'll become a tool that you're comfortable with and that will expand your vocabulary and ability to express yourself on your instrument and through the music.

As always, happy drumming!

Beyond the Kit: Be Immature! Okay, not really, but...

I had a bit of a revelation while teaching lessons tonight (also while listening to Coldplay, but that's a different story!).

Two experiences converged in my mind.

1. Over the years I've had the blessing of teaching hundreds of kids, mostly pre-teens and young teenagers. And having had lots of time to watch and listen to their reactions in certain situations, I've become pretty good at sensing frustration. I've heard, "I can't do this," and "I don't like this," a million times - almost every time I ask them to do something new, challenging or confusing.
2. For the past few years I've been a father (best job ever!). My wife and I have two kids - one very active 3 1/2 year old, and an equally active nine-month-old. Watching them learn and helping them to gain skills has been maybe the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Truly amazing.

So, here's what I learned:

Little kids - babies, toddlers and young children - absolutely do not care if something is hard or easy. Those terms don't exist yet.They also don't care how many tries it takes to get something done. Honestly, (especially for you parents) when your kid wants something and is determined to get it, they will not quit until they are satisfied in one way or another. 

Think about learning to walk. How many times does a child fall, stumble, bumble - they essentially fail - while learning to crawl and then walk? And some of those tumbles really hurt! Yet they continue to get up and try and keep working at it. Why? Because they have a goal, an end vision in mind. 

Imagine if that little nine-monther thought to himself, "Y'know, I've tried to walk around now for the past six months, and....it ain't happenin'. I don't like walking anyway. I'm not good at it. So...I'm done. I'll just crawl. Crawling's good, right?" 

Nope. Won't happen. Again, because little kids don't care if it's hard, and they don't care how long it takes. They care about walking or running, or throwing the ball or whatever it is. I see my younger child watching his big sis, and all he's thinking about as she's careening around the house is, "I'm going to do that. As soon as possible!"

But something happens to us as we grow up. We begin to get sensitive to what others think of us, and what is expected of us. Many of us develop an expectation that we will be good at everything we try or experience success right at first. 

So when it takes some time and/or effort to develop a skill, we usually try one of two tactics. First, there's the, "I don't like it," line of defense. This is essentially an attempt to excuse ourselves from having to work at something because it's unpleasant. It's like saying, "Oh, I don't look good in orange." If I don't like it, then it's not good for me so I shouldn't do it.

The other tactic is, "I'm just not good at this." This one is a little more offensive to me because it carries a sense of finality. Kids wield this one like the hangman's noose. We try to use it in the sense that a 5'2" man would when asked why he doesn't play basketball. (Ever hear of Spud Webb?) It gives them an excuse to not even try. I hate that. I will allow my students to say, "I'm not good at that yet, but I will be."

I've been a father long enough to know that when my daughter tells me she doesn't like something, she really means, "I don't know how to do it, and that scares me." When she gains a little bit of ability and confidence, it magically becomes her favorite thing to do. 

So it is with most of us, and especially musicians. We don't "like" things we aren't good at. Conversely, we tend to like the things we are good at. If you're not good at playing jazz, you won't like playing jazz. But as you gain some jazz chops, you'll suddenly find yourself looking for opportunities to play.

That being said, there are some things you won't like, and some things you won't be good at. But don't throw excuses around. You've got to give things a fair shake and develop a skill. At least give it your very best effort over a reasonable period of time. 

Well, you get the point. You wanna like basketball? Get good at it. You wanna enjoy talking about Shakespeare? Read it!

Alright, I'm done for today. Feel free to join the conversation below.

Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Flams

The Flam is one of the most basic rudiments.

And I'm going to give you one of the most basic pieces of advice you'll ever get about playing it.

The way to good, clean flams is simply to keep the strokes separate (unless you're trying to play flat flams). And what I mean by 'separate' is to keep the main stroke high and the grace note low. There are numerous opinions on how much lower/softer the grace note should be from the main note, but a general rule of thumb is to keep as much separation as the music will allow.

Take two objects of similar weight, size and shape. Imagine two basketballs. If you drop them from a given height, they'll hit the ground at the about the same time and with about the same force. But if you drop one from a lower height, it will hit the ground slightly earlier and with slightly less force. As you increase the difference in height, you increase the difference in the arrival time and force.

So, logically, your sticks are two objects of similar weight, size and shape. If you "drop" them from the same height, they hit at the same time with the same volume (force). This is a flat flam (which we'll talk about another time). If you want to create a normal, concert/rudimental snare drum flam, you start the grace note stick very low, and the main note much higher (depending on the dynamic level, accents, etc.). Then, just let gravity take over and play the notes.

Especially when it comes to concert and rudimental snare drumming, don't underestimate the power of good ol' physics. Gravity pulls down, and sticks/heads bounce up. Your fingers and hands are just there to help and control (and, of course, do cool visual stuff, twirls and stick flips). So don't think that you have to do all the work. As one of my old instructors puts it, "Let the sticks do the work."

I hope this helps your flams. As always, stay relaxed, use your ears, and rely on good technique. Those things will get you everywhere you want to go.

Happy drumming!

Gear Up: Music Stand (Repost)

This has been on my mind of late, so here it is again. Originally posted October 29, 2011.

Too often we don't think about things we need to be successful that aren't a drum, cymbal or stick.

One of the most important? A good music stand.

There are many good choices, but this one is my favorite: http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&pageID=3

Well worth the money in terms of stability, durability and ease of use. I can't stress enough how important your music stand is to your success.

Despite its all-metal construction, this stand is relatively light-weight and has few parts. Less parts means less parts that can break or fail. Also, the stand is sturdy enough to hold some percussion goodies - like a triangle clipped to the desk, or sticks and mallets on a towel with the desk set flat.

Get a good music stand, put it where you practice, and use it every day.

Happy drumming!

Weekly Recap: 2/27 - 3/2

It was an epic week on the blog. Catch up on anything you missed.

Gear Up: Drumheads - Snare

Ryan Tilby dishes on drummers

Beyond the Kit: Visualization

Bag of Tricks: KT Tunstall - "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"

Friday Feature: Carter Beauford

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Friday Feature: Carter Beauford

It's time for this post. It's been time for a long time.

Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band is one of the reasons I play drums.

(Start here, then go listen to some tunes. It may be helpful to start with the band's first major release, 1994's "Under the Table and Dreaming." )

I started playing drums in the sixth grade in the middle school band. By the seventh grade, I had a drum set in the basement and was jamming with a friend (a once-in-a-lifetime guitar talent, it turns out). By the ninth grade, everything I heard on the radio just made me mad. I'd constantly think to myself - or complain aloud to anyone who would listen - "I can do anything any of these guys do! Why am I not famous and making loads of cash as a drummer?" (Reason number one is probably that I was fifteen years old, but I wasn't really thinking of that.) Anyway, long story short is that I wasn't hearing anything that I thought was creative or sophisticated, and I was pretty frustrated with what I thought was the height of modern pop-rock drumming.

The summer after my junior year I had to borrow a car from my boss (cool boss, no?) to run an errand. Her car was a late model Acura with a killer sound system, and the disc that was playing was the aforementioned "Under the Table" album. I had heard of DMB but never actually listened to them, so I didn't even know who I was listening to. When I got back I was actually a little disappointed when I found out (skeptical kid!), but it was too late. I was hooked. I had never heard a drummer do things like Carter did/does with the backbeat, fills, set-ups and pulse*. It was like going from black and white to color.

Fast forward about six years and I owned everything then available from DMB and played in a band that had a fiddle player. And since then I've done more studying and listening and loved every minute of it. Carter B is the man, and his playing has only gotten better and more musical.

After you've had a chance to just get immersed in the music, it's worth checking out Carter's instructional video, "Under the Table and Drumming." There's not a ton of nuts and bolts instruction, but a lot of, "This is what I was doing on this part," and a few great conceptual things.

There are a million videos I could choose from to give you a sample of Carter's playing, but I've always believed that's all about the music - the song as a whole - and that the drummer has to contribute to that. So this track is my all-time favorite DMB tune, and one of Carter's grooviest and most musical performances.

One caveat: this video conforms to the radio edit of this track. Do yourself the favor of tracking down the album version and giving it a thorough listen. It's almost double in length to this version. No offense to Dave, but the best music happens after the singing stops. See if you can count the number of instruments being used during this track.

Alright, enough talk (er...type). Let's get to the tune.

As always, happy drumming!


*It doesn't hurt that Carter plays an unusually large and complex drum kit. You can check out his current configuration of gear here. 

Bag of Tricks: KT Tunstall - "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"

I'm fascinated by how musical and powerful a simple lick can be. Here's one from another favorite modern pop tune. (Did I mention that I love any kind of hi-hat fill?) This may be the simplest fill I've ever posted, and it's still one of my favorites.

It occurs at about the 2:30 mark.

One thing I love about this music video is that KT plays all of the percussion instruments - bass drum, snare drum, tambourine, chair, hand claps, etc. Tons of energy and a lot of fun.


Happy drumming!