Studio Drummer – Drumming Your Way To Good Health

I’ve said for years that drumming has been great for my health.  Not only can it be a great overall cardio workout over the course of a show night but if you sit properly with good balance and good posture, drumming is a fabulous continuous workout most notably for the lower back.  I play heal up with my kick foot as many do.  I’m pretty much heal down though with my hi hat foot.  But the effect of balancing on the stool is nothing but great for the lower back, at least in my experience.  It seems so many people have back issues and I feel that years of playing often long gigs or long sessions leaves me with a tired lower back.  That’s the key though!   A tired back as opposed to a sore back!   What I’ve effectively done is a 4-5 hour or a 6-8 hour balanced back workout.  Next day I’m good to go!

That brings me to a key piece of gear in the drum kit arsenal.  The drum throne!  Funny how folks will spend a ton of money on the kit and then sit on a piece of garbage where the seat of the drum stool is wobbling around or is too small, the feet are not sturdy etc etc!  This is a fundamental piece of gear!  Having an effective and strong connection to the ground in a balanced secure way is essential to playing well when you’re talking about milliseconds in execution and timing which of course great drumming entails.  And of course, like I was saying earlier the effect on the lower back especially can either be enhanced by a good throne or diminished by a bad one!  So make sure that you test and shop effectively for a sturdy and robust drum throne that suits your body, body weight and your movements.  Many people today go with light weight hardware for stands etc.  I would argue that this is the one piece of gear where you should lean in the other direction and go robust.   Think about your posture when you play and the balance of your body.  Don’t allow your balance to detract from your execution as well as overwork muscle groups… Cheers

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Studio Drummer – Small Collaborations

Sometimes small collaborations can be the most fruitful.  You don’t need a lot of chefs is what I’m saying.  Or at least for some projects less chefs in the kitchen is better!  Decisions can be made much more quickly.  I did a great project with a superb guitarist named Scotty Hall where this was exemplified.  Just the 2 of us.. so to speak:)There was no ‘committee’ whereby decisions had to be deliberated on.  It was a grand total of 2 people making the musical and production decisions.  As long as both parties are fully putting the music first and the songs first then this can leave a lot of room for personal creativity.

I posted this album as an example of what I’m talking about entitled REZ.  Much respect and remembrance to my great friend and great musician Scotty Hall who died in 2006

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Studio Drummer – Another interesting Jeff Porcaro Observation

Like I mentioned in the previous post, our shows with Toto some years ago, were very interesting and very informative from a drummer’s perspective.

After our set I stood directly behind the staging and I could see through the scrim at the back of the stage.  I was standing on the floor of the theatre and the staging was higher so I was basically looking at the back of Jeff’s kit, at his foot level.

He was heel up on his bass drum but his hi hat foot was heel down and totally still.  In other words it was not involved in keeping time.  It was controlling the tension on the hat cymbals.  He would of course deftly adjust the tension in the lope of his groove, creating his signature magic of great groove playing.  When he would go to the ride then of course he’d be doing foot hat patterns along with the ride but I really took notice of the fact that when he was playing the hat with sticks he was very still with the hh foot.

This made perfect sense since his recordings always have a beautiful hi hat texture, a very consistent texture.  Not too tight in general, not too loose.  He knew how to get the best sonic texture and musicality out of the hi hats.  It was an instrument unto itself.  Drummers too often don’t think in those terms.

Another top individual in the music industry, this time a producer, being Mutt Lange (Def Leopard, Shania Twain) has been known to tell drummers (which shall remain nameless)  that they don’t play individual instruments/components very well.   This is exactly what he’s talking about.  A component and a very important part of the studio drumming is hi hat and hi hat texture and feel.  It’s an ‘inner, internal component’ of playing great studio drums.  Separate yet inclusive in the making of a great sounding and consistent groove.

Next time you are recorded solo the hi hat and listen to it.  Does it consist of static and inconsistent transients that just slosh around?  Are you choking the tone of the hats or stomping on the foot pedal when it should be a set tension?   Or is it compelling,.. such as if you were just playing the hat by itself and trying to make it convincing, such as in an intro?

Some would say the Devil is in the details, well perhaps God is in the details…

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Studio Drummer – Hi Hat Can Be A Very Musical Instrument

The hi hat is a ‘musical instrument’ so treat it like one, approach it like one.

*FIRST RULE IS DO NOT BOUNCE YOUR FOOT ON THE HI HAT WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING A CONSISTENT CLOSED OR SEMI CLOSED HI HAT PHRASE.*

When we were touring with Toto I got the chance to stand at the back of the stage and watch Jeff Porcaro play.  The stage was at about my head level since there were risers toward the back of the stage so my head level was right at his foot level.  I’ve always loved his textures. He was a beautiful studio player with great nuances in his playing, truly one of the all time greats.  His kick foot was a slamming heel up technique!  It was a beautiful fat kick presence but his hi hat foot?

Heel down and his foot was dead still!

If he was playing a closed or semi closed pattern on the hat his foot never moved unless he was making very subtle and specific adjustments.  That was a great lesson to me.  I also got to meet Jeff and hang a bit.  He was an awesome guy, very humble!  He also gave me the greatest drumming compliment of my entire life.  He said to me “your time is a motherfucker man!”  We lost a lot of music they day we lost him.

So what you’re doing by bouncing your foot is constantly changing the tension of the hats, which is affecting the sound and emotion that you’re producing. 

Think of a piano player. You don’t see a piano player stomping on the dampening pedal or keeping time on it either.  The pedal serves a specific function on both instruments, in our case it’s tension and cymbal decay. 

Of course if you’re playing something that involves opening or closing or if it’s a foot hat pattern then this rule doesn’t apply.

But creating a high end, very consistent kick, snare and hi hat groove involves being very much aware and in control of the hi hat subtleties and texture!  The same of course applies kick and snare and to ride cymbal technique and all the subtleties surrounding that as well.

I’d encourage you to study some great players here. Steve Gadd is another outstanding example. Listen to the use of the hi hat and his command of the instrument.  Also listen to the great players use of tip and shank techniques utilizing the sticks to create different groove soundscapes.

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