DRUMS
SIMPLE IS STILL GOOD - LET ’ S MAKE IT EVEN SIMPLER | Carl Albrecht
Today I ’ m back to preaching “ groove .” It ’ s STILL our most important job as a drummer . You can play a million notes , but if it ’ s not “ in the pocket ” it ’ s worthless . Every time I play I ’ m thinking “ time and feel .” I never think of making a show of my latest cool idea . NEVER ! If I ’ m called to play busier , or do a “ drum solo ”, my mind and spirit are about “ saying something ” that will touch the hearts of the people and hopefully touch the heart of God . But I also believe that just keeping good time touches people . As my friend Don Potter says , “ Worship is in the groove .” A classic quote from an inspiring veteran worship leader .
How do I practice and teach groove exercises ? The best exercise for time keeping I ’ ve used is still the 8-bar phrase study . I know I ’ ve written on this before , but I still see the need for this discipline in so many drummers . Repetition is a great teacher . So even when my time is limited this is my go-to exercise for my students and myself . You can keep that concept in your routine forever . If you haven ’ t seen my other articles on the idea it simply goes like this … Pick a groove idea . Set your metronome to one tempo for five minutes . Play the groove for 8 bars . Only do a fill in the 8 th bar . Then go to a variation of the groove for the next set of 8 bars . Repeat ! Keep changing the variations as you go . But today we ’ re going to adapt this idea a bit . So … let ’ s dive in .
Pick any groove concept you want to work on from any of your favorite music . It may be something you ’ ve heard recently or anything that you consider a favorite song . Let the song play all the way through while you play along with it without any fills or cymbal crashes . That ’ s right … you are focusing on time and feel while playing with your favorite drummers on the recording . Use your imagination to see yourself “ playing inside ” their groove , but letting them do all the fills and crashes .
Like the “ playing 8 ’ s ” exercise don ’ t change anything for eight measures . REALLY ! Ofcourse , if there ’ s some radical change of feel on the recording you may be forced to adapt your groove after every 4 th bar . But if at all possible try to keep any variations to the feel happening only at the next section of 8 ’ s .
At first this might feel really weird . But really let your imagination focus on being in your favorite band with double drummers . In real situations like this quite often one drummer will just keep time and the other will do the fills . They might even switch rolls for different songs . Throughout the history of recorded music many bands and artists have done this . Even in modern worship we are seeing quite a few groups with a drummer and several auxiliary drummer / percussionists filling out the grooves . It can make the music feel huge if it ’ s done well . And THAT is the key phrase … “ IF it ’ s done well .”
If you ’ re technically set up to record yourself then load the songs into your system and record yourself playing along to the track . Go back and listen after each take and see how it feels . Are you perfectly locked into the groove of the recorded drummer ? Mix your drums into “ the picture ” so that you can hear yourself in context to the song . Listen for any “ flamming ” of kicks , snares , and hi-hat patterns . Also pay attention for how well you keep things steady while the recorded drummer does the fills and crashes . Be sure you don ’ t let the time wander around . The goal here is to keep the time perfectly locked in to the recording and yet staying as relaxed and loose as possible . Concentrate … YES ! Tense up ... NO !
Like the other “ playing 8 ’ s ” exercise be sure to mix up the types of grooves you play . Don ’ t just play one feel . The basic four grooves are 1 . 8 th notes 2 . 16 th notes 3 . Triplets 4 . Shuffles or swing time . Also mix up the bands and artists you play along with . Don ’ t get stuck in a rut .
Finally , it ’ s really helpful to do this exercise with music you ’ ve never listened to before ! Even though you don ’ t know the whole song you can probably copy the basic idea pretty quickly and play along . It ’ s really amazing how this idea will force you to listen carefully to the music . And that is what this exercise will really help you develop . Remember ! Concentrate hard … but stay relaxed ! Oh … and have fun !
Blessings on your groove ,
Carl Albrecht Professional drummer for 30 + years , playing with Paul Baloche , Don Moen , Ron Kenoly , Abe Laboriel , LeAnn Rimes and others . He ’ s also a clinician , author & pastor . Contact Carl for coaching , online lessons , producing , or sessions . I ’ m still growing too .. www . CarlAlbrecht . com LMAlbrecht @ aol . com