The Real Weezy Jams

Drum Solo Tip- Visuals

weezy7556 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:55:29 +0000

Everyone loves visuals. Seeing what cool and creative things drummers can do with their sticks while playing is always awe inspiring. Visuals, or tricks if you will, can add just as much excitement to your personal solos and playing as well. They grab the audiences eye and allows you to showcase a skill that you have mastered well enough to incorporate during a performance or on a whim.

In my personal playing a tend to revert back to a lot of tricks and spins that I learned during my years in the drumline. The drumline is the ultimate of example of being able to play and utilize visuals well. One of the hardest aspects of using visuals in your music is that you cannot let the movements mess up your timing. Each count of the visual must be up to tempo with the counting of the piece otherwise it will not flow well together and ends up sounding choppy.

For your viewing pleasure I have included some of favorite drummers who show off their visuals, as well as my favorite drum cadence. Please enjoy.

GOBBI JR.-

STERGIOS KOUROU-

GRAHAME O’SHEA-

MICHIGAN STATE DRUMLINE-

Drum Solo Tip- Rim Shots and More

weezy7556 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:43:35 +0000

During my most recent lesson we focused on rim shots and other types of sounds your set can produce aside from striking the actual drum heads. A nice rim shot, or click, is a great way to add a variety of sounds to your solo, songs, or just a jam session. Rim clicks are usually softer sounding than striking the snare head so they also allow you to showcase the hi-hat, or other cymbal, beat, as well as your bass drum beats. If your new to rim clicks, here is a quick explanation on the best technique you should practice to get the most solid, bright sounding rim click you can.

Rim Shots and Clicks:A How To

Hold your stick, whichever you plan on using as your snare beat, as you normally would. Place the stick on the snare at about a 45 degree angle with the butt of the stick against the rim closest to you.
Roll the “extra fingers” so you are essentially touching the stick with just your index finger and thumb. The rest of your fingers should be resting on the drum head. This creates the proper pivoting motion needed to produce the “click” sound without getting any reverberation that would come from the drums head itself. Think of your extra fingers as dampeners for your snare.
One you have the proper hand position, move the butt of your stick away from the rim so that your stick will click the rim slightly more than half way up the stick. Think of this as the “sweet spot” on a baseball bat. You will be able to feel where the stick will produce the highest quality sound.

Now, you don’t have uncurl your fingers if it feels too uncomfortable. Just be aware of the fact that your fingers could strike the drum head in an unwanted manner, or could leave the drum head which could alter the crispness of the click’s sound. That is just more my personal preference.

There are a ton of other sounds at your fingertips aside from just rim clicks. Anything you can strike is essentially a drum including the cymbal stands, drum shells, and even the sticks themselves. Don’t be afraid to explore different sounds or integrate new things into your repertoire.

As always, here are some of my favorite solos and songs that exemplify the idea of thinking outside the box, or in this case, outside the drum head.

SCOTT PELLEGROM-

BUDDY RICH-

CARTER BEAUFORD-

Drum Solo Tip- Find Your Groove

weezy7556 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:56:05 +0000

As I am currently in the process of writing a new solo for myself to sort of “showcase” the progress I have made with my new drum teacher, I m learning a lot about the creative process as I go. Going into it I, and many other people may feel this way too, was working mainly on different sections, or different beats/rhythms, that I thought sounded good. I soon encountered the problem of how best to transition from section to section without it sounding choppy, or just what it was, a bunch of different beats only tied together by the fact that I was playing them all.

So, my tip for everyone when creating a solo, soloing in general or freestyle, or just jamming alone or with friends, is to find a groove that will act as the “base” of what you are playing. The groove can be anything really. Consistency, timing, and variation will play important roles as you branch off from the groove beat. There are many way to go off the groove beat, using stops, chokes, runs down various drums or cymbals, or just an abrupt shift, you will know what sounds good and what doesn’t groove well together, have fun with it. The key, I have found, is to try and keep that groove beat constantly playing in your mind the whole time. So, lets say you’ve switched from the groove beat to a paradiddle type beat. While I’m playing the paradiddle beat I should have my groove in the back of my mind so that when I decide it’s time to switch back to that “base” beat, I can just right in at the right time and at the right tempo. As always, it is much easier to understand what I’m talking about by seeing it in action. Here are some solos that portray that groove beat idea perfectly.

DERICO WATSON-

SCOTT PELLEGROM-

Guitar Hero: World Tour- Pros & Cons

weezy7556 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:28:39 +0000

Guitar Hero: Word Tour is Guitar Hero’s version of Rock Band. They added a drumset and vocals to the preexisting guitar and bass. After playing the game for quite some time I developed very strong feelings of both frustration and a realization of potential benefits for drummers.

Pros-

The various levels of difficulty help track your progress, and allow people of all abilities to get the most basic drumming experience.
Many types of songs allow for different techniques/beats to be utilized. For example, Coldplay’s “Shiver” is a great song to help practice off beats on a snare, whereas, 30 Seconds to Mars’ “The Kill” is great for practicing bass drum off beats. Not to mention the song selection is impressive, and includes many of my personal favorites.
Since the your playing with actual songs it’s just like using a metronome. Using a metronome while practicing is always a good idea to help build consistency, and improve accuracy.
By learning the drum parts to the various songs, no matter how basic it might be in comparison to the real thing, it can help build ideas when it comes to creating your own drum parts.
Guitar Hero is a game. To access the better/harder sets and songs you have to complete various tiers in succession. This, in a sense, forces you to master whatever beats and rhythms within each song might be. You aren’t able to just practice what you’re good at.

Cons-

The mostly plastic bass drum pedal leads to a plateau effect speed wise, and double bouncing is impossible. So, especially on the harder songs where the bass drum beats are faster, you can end up losing due to somewhat faulty equipment. To be my own devil’s advocate, a bass pedal that would meet my standards as a “good enough’ pedal for the game would probably cost as much as the entire game.
The size of the drums can be very frustrating, especially if you play an actual set most of the time. You have to alter your playing style slightly and that can encroach upon the groove, relaxed, or just natural feeling you want to have while playing.
While they’re are specific sections designated for fills you are penalized for variation in the other sections. It’s a game though, you have to be able to win and lose and so there needs to be deductions for missed notes and so on.
You are limited to a 4 piece set with only a hi-hat and a strange crash/ride hybrid cymbal. This offers little variation within the game, and could potentially lead to “stunted growth” if you start using a real drumset after you have been playing the game for a long time.

Top 10 Drummers

weezy7556 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:26:22 +0000

I always preach that drumming diversity is an extremely important aspect of any drummer’s growth creatively. The following list is my personal ten favorite drummers based on their skill, creativity, uniqueness, and how often I find myself using things I’ve heard them doing in my own practices. I have not rated them one to ten because they each provide their own unique style and value to my drumming repertoire.

CARTER BEAUFORD- Dave Matthews Band

THOMAS PRIDGEN- The Mars Volta

JAMES SULLIVANN (THE REV)- Avenged Sevenfold

JOHN DOLMAYAN- System of a Down

Danny Carey- Tool

NATHAN FALLOWILL- Kings of Leon

CHAD SMITH- Red Hot Chili Peppers

DAVID SILVERIA- Korn

CHAD SEXTON- 311

JOSE PASILLAS- Incubus

Drum Solo Tip- Utilize Space

weezy7556 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:56:59 +0000

It is mind blowing at times the incredible speed and power some drummers demonstrate in their solos and performances. Being faster, more consistent, and jaw-dropping, is what many drummers strive for. However, I have learned that silence within a solo is just as important as times you play. Some of my own tips for utilizing space, or at least things to think about, would be how you transition between sections of your solo. By pausing longer, or shorter, you are making a decision about how much space, or silence, you want within the section. Stops, or “choking” the cymbal, produces a great effect in that you have the power of a crash that abruptly stops. You can take this further by stopping on off beats, or alternating crashing and choking in succession between cymbals. As always, it helps tremendously to see these things in action, so I’ve included a clip of an amazing drummer, Scott Pellegrom, who actually taught my current drum teacher in previous years. Enjoy.

Double Bounce for Bass Drum

weezy7556 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:26:31 +0000

Learning to control the bounce in your sticks is crucial for speed, rolls, and variability in your playing. However, learning to control the bounce from the bass pedal and bass drum itself has turned out to be, at least for myself, one of the most challenging but beneficial techniques to master.

Just like on your snare or tom drums, the bass drum pedal will have a natural tendency to bounce back. To see this in action strike the bass drum with the pedal and make sure you take your foot off the pedal after it hits. You will notice that it bounces back and forth until its momentum wares off. If you can utilize that bounce and strike the head again on the recoil stroke, you can speed your bass drumming up by a ridiculous amount. You would be amazed at the things you can do with just a single bass pedal, seeing as double bass pedals can cost around 300 dollars for a decent one.

One of the best examples of great bounce control, and utilization of the technique is by Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

You can tell when he using the double bounce technique on the smaller “bass cam” when his foots seems to slide up the pedal. He hits the pedal once, and then catches it a little further up the pedal to create the double bounce. This is not something that you will just pick up right away. It is going to take practice and here is a good exercises to practice double bounce bass drumming. Make sure you start slow, use a metronome, and can stay at a constant speed consistently before moving on to a faster tempo.

Add some variety in the tom parts by moving around from one drum to the other. After you’ve got it down try adding cymbal crashes or switching the drums around even more. This is just a good exercises to help you while you work on speed and control of the double bounce.

Broaden Your Horizons

weezy7556 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:45:36 +0000

Although most people can narrow their favorite drummers down to just one person, I am not able to do as such. There are just too many different kinds of music and drumming styles to narrow just one person as my favorite. Also, by listening to and appreciating multiple styles and genres of music, you only add to your repetiore and will be able to produce more interesting and complex solos and rhythms.

Here are some of my favorite solos from various styles and different drummers.

JAZZ-

HEAVY METAL/THRASHER-

ROCK-

FUNK-

ALTERNATIVE-

ALL TIME FAVORITE- Mike Mangini…

There are tons of videos and tabs out there that are literally at your fingertips. These are just some of my favorites that I find myself referencing and utilizing the most. Be creative, try and put some funky beats into your heavier rock solos.

Best Rudiments to Master

weezy7556 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:34:13 +0000

Participating in drumline forced me to practice and master various rudiment exercises. We worked on diddits (which helps double-bounce control), triplet rolls, flam accents, eight notes, and paradiddles. Along with the benefits practicing these, and other rudiments, can have on your speed, control, stamina, but these are great things to use as a foundation to lots of different drum set beats.

FLAMS- To execute a flam, you simply, either with the left or right stick leading which will be indicated in the music, let both sticks drop at the same time, but control one to strike the head just slightly earlier the other.

ROLLS- There are many types of rolls that are classified by the number of bounces within each stroke. Each time your stick strikes the head it bounces off the head. To see this principle in action hold your stick vertical and then let gravity take over and just let it drop. You will notice that the stick will naturally bounce. By learning to control the number of times the stick bounces each time it strikes the head, you can achieve faster, more even, and more complicated rolls. *Note- A single stroke roll will not bounce, each stroke will yield one beat on the head.

Single Stroke-

Triple Stroke-

PARADIDDLES- A pretty simple pattern that is just RLRR LRLL and repeated. There are other variants just like for rolls called double, triple, and so on paradiddles.

Single Paradiddle-

Double Paradiddle-

Electronic Kits VS. Acoustin Kits

weezy7556 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:35:47 +0000

Both acoustic drums and electronic drums have their benefits. I currently play a Roland TD-9SX electronic set. I first started playing on an acoustic Yamaha Rydeen set, but had to make the switch to electric when I moved into my apartment. I take lessons on a Pearl acoustic set and it still takes me a few minutes to get used to playing one after I have been playing the other for a while. These are, what I believe, the pros and cons of both:

Acoustic Pros-

Fuller sound.
The feel of sticks on drum heads and cymbals cannot be replicated on pads.
Can add more hardware easier.
Less expensive, comparatively.
Can jam with others easier, and will sound better than hooking up to a speaker.
Better response time and head bounce.

Acoustic Cons-

Loud… sometimes too loud.
Harder to transport/more dangerous for hardware.
Replacement head costs/ cymbal replacement costs.
More tuning time.
Limited number of sounds you can produce.
Larger, in some cases.(A 5-piece acoustic is generally bigger than a 5-piece electric)

Electronic Pros-

Can play any time, anywhere.
Produces many different kit types and sounds, (based on which model)
Easily transported
Compact
Various “extras” can be helpful and fun. Examples being a built in metronome for practice, quick recording features, 50 songs to play along with of various genres, 50 different sounding kits to choose from.
Once you get it tuned to where you want it, and yes, you can tune each head individually, you will not need to do it again.

Electronic Cons-

Don’t get that full, round sound.
Slower response time.
Not as realistic bounce or head feel.
Has to be plugged in, and therefore near a wall or outlet.
Harder to get add-on hardware.
Limited setup options
More expensive
Cant play with others as easily.
Will NEVER compare to the drum sound that an acoustic set produces.

These are simply, what I believe, to be the most obvious benefits and drawbacks for both types of sets. Every drummers situation is different and requires different accommodations. At the end of the day though, I always prefer the sound and feel of an acoustic set. No electronic set, no matter how advanced they get the heads, can replicate the feel of sticks crashing against the cymbals or beating against the drum heads.