Drumming

Playing style, basic rhythms and time signature

Hand position and style of play

With “Matched Grip”, the sticks are held the same in both hands: the back of the hand tends to point upwards, the longer stick end protrudes from the hand between the thumb and forefinger. There are three common variants. With the "German Grip" the palms point downwards. The sticks are played from the wrist and arm; this gives you more power when striking. In contrast, with the “French Grip”, the palms of the hands are turned inwards and the hands can be held closer together without the sticks touching each other. The sticks are played from the fingers, wrist and arm; It is easier to play dynamically and with accentuations (especially to play very softly), but you don't have that much power when you hit it. The "American Grip" tries to combine the advantages of both variants and is the mixed position between the two. The palms of the hands are directed at an angle of approximately 45 ° to the floor.

In contrast, jazz drummers in particular often prefer the “Traditional Grip” (also called “Classic Grip”), in which a stick (usually the non-leading hand, i.e. the left hand for a right-handed person) is at around 45 ° and a right angle to the forearm stands. The back of the hand points downwards, the longer stick end protrudes between the ring and middle finger to the playing surface, held up by the thumb. The other hand uses one of the variants described above. There are also drummers who use the traditional grip for both hands, but this is unusual. The impact is performed with a rotary movement. This rather unnatural posture and playing style is explained by the fact that the snare drum has its origin in the marching drum, which was carried in front of the stomach by means of a shoulder strap. Presumably because it was more practical for marching, the drum was placed at an angle and therefore could not be played symmetrically. Even with the first drum sets, the snare drum was often inclined on the drum stand. Many drummers or their teachers came from this background, especially in jazz, and this way of playing is still relatively popular there today. Above all, an even sequence of strokes between the left and right hand is not as easy to master for the beginner as with matched grip; however, once the initial stage has been overcome, there are no particular disadvantages of playing this way. In the case of marching drums, however, the traditional grip has been on the decline in recent years, because modern production technology now enables lap belts with which the snare can be comfortably worn horizontally while marching. Therefore, young drummers rarely learn traditional grip.

The more forceful the game, the more the punching movement comes from the forearm (individual punches can be similar to those of the whipping), while faster sequences come more from the wrist. At very high speeds even the wrist remains almost motionless: with the "Matched Grip" the stick is accelerated by the middle, ring and little finger, with the "Traditional Grip" by the thumb. Finally, for drum rolls, the sticks, which rebound from the batter head (so-called “rebound”), are partially “pressed” against the skin. However, this “press vortex” usually results in an undefined sound carpet. For a clean roll, the drummer has to use the rebound to get two hits (so-called double hits ) with one arm movement .

Simple basic rhythm and accompaniment

In the simple basic rhythm in the most common today, time signature , the ⁴ / ₄ - and ⁸ / ₈ -Stroke, you accompanied

by the 'leading hand' (right-handers: right) evenly striking or toning eight beats (beats) on the (ride) cymbal (or hihat cymbal),
the 'lead foot' (for 'right footers': right) emphasizes the first beat on the (deep, dark) bass drum,
then the third beat (backbeat) the 'non-guiding hand' (for right-handers: left) on the snare (high, bright) and at the same time the 'non-guiding foot' (...: left) by pedaling the hihat cymbal or 'chick',
then the fifth beat again the lead foot on the bass drum,
Then the seventh beat (again backbeat) again the non-guiding hand on the snare and at the same time the non-guiding foot by pedaling the hihat cymbals or 'chick'.

That was the first measure, and the following measures follow as well. The simple basic rhythm and the development of complex grooves from it are exemplarily explained by: Elvin Jones (d), Different Drummer, Video, approx. 1979.

Carrying rhythm

The art of playing drums in a band is to create a rhythm that carries the band and, together with the other instruments in the rhythm group (especially bass , percussion , keyboard or piano , guitar, etc.) creates the leading groove . For this purpose, the drummer usually uses a continuous rhythm in which the different sound bodies are used in addition. The starting point is usually the simple basic rhythm (see above). Its core is the evenly struck dark-light or low-high alternation between first the bass drum (dark, low: blow or beat) and then the snare (light, high: counter blow or backbeat), but in the grooves derived from it mostly varied beyond recognition. In very free styles, for example in free jazz or noise styles, the basic principle of the simple basic rhythm is broken permanently. Or, as an exception, in reggae of the 1970s, the simple basic rhythm was practically reversed: the backbeat with bass drum.

Form, tempo and time signature

Creating a sustaining rhythm requires the drummer to keep the tempo steady and to master the respective time signature and form . The most common popular musical form is the song (the song). This consists of the skilful arrangement of the two basic forms: blues form (two 12-bar stanzas , each with pitches I-IV-IVI or low-high-low-high-low), aaba form ( four 8-bar stanzas, pitches per stanza a = I-IV-VI or low-high-high-low, pitches from bridge b = IV-I-IV-V or high-low-high-high) or from both basic elements derived form building blocks. Such a component or run through is also called a chorus (as opposed to a chorus as a solo, etc.). Form-related task of the drummer is here, for. B. to give each stanza a suitable room-filling background noise or 'chic' by playing cymbals or hihat, snare played with a broom, etc. and thereby specifying or indicating the structure of a piece; to prepare the beginning of each stanza and thus mostly the use of another musician (vocal part, guitar solo etc.), to emphasize the main points with the help of the increase / decrease in the dynamics of the drumming, interjections, 'turn arounds', vortices etc. Breaks or, more comprehensive, a drum solo drumming. Based on the high-low / light-dark reproduction of the pitches of a verse, the high-low / light-dark playing around a melody, etc., drum solos can be built up; see / hear z. B. Thelonious Monk (p), "Blue Monk", various recordings, late 1950s, drum solos. Other melody, chord or pitch schemes can also be reproduced in this way. However, the drums retain their character as sound instruments. This means that no specific tone is assigned to them, but rather they retain their unspecific sound character, i.e. high-low or light-dark gradations.

Vortices and rudiments

For example, if you want to insert a fill in, roll or vortex at the end of a twelve-bar stanza , the leading hand changes to the snare with the even 8 beats in the 12th bar. And exactly in between, the non-leading hand on the snare strikes the 16th note (so both hands strike alternately and evenly) while both feet continue to play as before. Both hands reach this roll of 16 even beats alternately with eight individual beats each, but also with four double beats each or with combinations of single and double beats ( paradiddle ). For example, the following combination is possible: double beat right, double beat left, single beat right, single beat left, single beat right, single beat left, repetition of the whole. About 25 basic types of vortices are internationally standardized as rudiments .

Double bass drum playing

When playing a double bass drum , both feet play what the hands previously played when playing vertebrae, while the right hand beats the beats (cymbals / hi-hat) and the left the backbeats (snare) evenly. By doubling, moving or omitting a single or double hit on the snare, but also straight bass drum and not only with the roll, but above all with the accompaniment, whereby the regular beats of the leading hand on the cymbal / hi-hat continue uninterrupted, arise from the simple basic rhythm various striking figures and especially with accompaniments the different styles. The pegs (by hand), however, are almost the same in all styles. Correspondingly, one proceeds in other time signatures, in slow and fast tempo, in ternary and free play, but we cannot go into that here.

Because it is so important, a double bass drum figure is shown here that corresponds to the simple basic rhythm above. The double bass drum playing developed historically from this figure, you can use it almost everywhere, even alternating with the above simple basic rhythm. You can, when you are “in a good mood”, even z. B. even develop further towards the paradiddle just mentioned, just like the hands play vertebrae.

The 'lead foot' (for 'right footers': right) strikes the above 8 beats (beats) evenly on the right bass drum (or the right or main pedal of the double pedal),
the 'non-leading foot' (for 'right-footed people': left) strikes exactly in between, namely 8 sixteenths on the left bass drum (or the left or secondary pedal of the double foot pedal). Both feet strike alternately and evenly.
The leading hand (for right-handers: right) strikes the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th beat of the right bass drum (of the leading foot) at the same time, on the cymbal (also try cymbal center or 'bell') or hi-hat, namely on their upper basin, which is either open or let down on the lower hihat basin (closed) or 'half-open' (depending on what you like).
The 'non-leading hand' (for right-handers: left) simultaneously strikes (emphasized) the backbeats on the snare, namely the third and seventh beat.

That was the first measure, and the following measures follow as well. The leading hand (for right-handers: right) does not play certain hits of the two bass drums, which removes one of the hurdles in learning to play the drums, more precisely improving hand-foot coordination: you learn to play bass drum hits 'in between' without that the hand goes along with it! If I do play the beats of the right kick drum with the lead hand, I am still learning not to beat the beats of the left kick drum with this hand. I could hardly do that, because that would be way too many or way too fast strokes. In particular, by omitting one or more of the above continuous double bass drums, you can develop a number of figures yourself.

More time signatures and the meter-in-meter game

Instead of a '8-shock' ( ⁸ / ₈ ) is further common clock species, for example, provides' 4p blow '( ⁴ / ₄ )' 12-Blast ( ¹² / ₈ ); '3 Blast ( ³ / ₄ ),' 6-shock ( 'sake of 12' or 6/8), '5er blow' ( ⁵ / ₄ ), '7 Series Blast ( ⁷ / ₄ ), etc. In the ³ / ₄ , ⁶ / ₈ , ⁵ / ₄ , ⁷ / ₄ , etc., starts with the simple basic rhythm and supposedly here second bass drum beat as opposed to ⁸ / ₈ , ⁴ / ₄ and ¹² / ₈ in fact, the new clock again at. This means that in these time signatures a unit or a bar has only one basic bass drum beat, namely the one that emphasizes the 1st beat of the leading hand on the cymbal: one of the historically determined hurdles in drumming in this case. The backbeats (on snare / hi-hat) are: 4 on 2 and 4, 12 on 4 and 10; 3 to 2 and / or 3, 6 to 4, 5 to mostly 4, 7 to 5 etc.

For example, "Not Fade Away," a hit song by The Rolling Stones , early 1964, in a relatively fast ⁴ / ₄ -Stroke, was an accent character based sounds like Clave Beat or bossa-nova-like and she would not two bars or even number of bars 'trimmed', actually runs continuously over three bars in four-quarters. With this three-bar structure, the regular - the four-, eight- or two-bar, in short: the symmetrical - if it seems too rigid, can be overcome without leaving the straight-bar basis. The whole thing is called meter-in-meter play (turn arounds) and may come. a. complex in front of Elvin Jones (d, modern jazz; McCoy Tyner , The Real McCoy , LP, mid-1980s, side 1, “Passion Dance”) or in salsa, where the bass drum is played as if one were a third hand ', or by Jack DeJohnette (d, Neobop, Rockjazz; Jack DeJohnette ..., The Art of Modern Jazz Drumming).

Beats or beats

The beats or beats, with accompaniments on ride, hi-hat cymbals and occasionally floor tom, other drums or cowbells, the drummer usually knocks through, marks and toned them for the band. Beats or beats are latent, that is, the more abstract the music is, e.g. B. in modern jazz or during a drum kit or other solos or in breaks, the more the beats or beats 'tick' like a common 'internal clock' in all musicians playing together. As a result, they don't get out of step. The beats and beats are binary (even, like latin, rock) or ternary ( 'dotted', triplet shuffle-like,: blues-rocking ¹² / ₈ , 'swinging' - somewhat imprecise - Jazz, many reggae and some rap - and hip-hop pieces) felt and played.

Scheme of the time signatures commonly used in popular music

Time signature (measure) (1): ⁴ / ₄ - ⁸ / ₈ - ⁶ / ₈ - ³ / ₄ - ⁵ / ₄ - ⁷ / ₄ - ... free:

fast (almost up tempo), ¹ / ₄ or ¹ / ₈ bpm> 200, binary (binary) (2)
medium (medium), ¹ / ₄ or ¹ / ₈ = 140, ternary (ternary) (3)
slow (slow), ¹ / ₄ or ¹ / ₈ <100, binary (binary)

(1) English name (in brackets). Intermediate stages, e.g. E.g .: medium-up (bebop, ...), Medium-slow (ballad, ...) Etc. - (2) binary = even, 'straight' (rock, latin, funk, soul, rap , ...). - (3) ternary = dotted, triplet, 'shuffle-like', 'swinging' (jazz, blues, boogie, reggae, marches, ...)

Drum solo

With a drum solo, the drummer wants to prove his musical and technical skills on the drums or "heat up" the audience at a concert. It can either be played as a solo part during a song or as a separate piece. The former usually has a fixed length and is only defined by the rhythms and patterns used. With the latter, the drummer has more freedom to experiment and can continue the solo as long as he likes.

Especially in the heavy metal sector, there are often drum solos between the individual pieces of music at concerts. It is not uncommon for the fellow musicians to leave the stage. Such a solo can last up to half an hour. Often the audience is involved; the drummer plays, pauses and the audience usually acknowledges this with cheers and applause. The drummer continues his game, pauses again and shortens the pauses a little more each time, so that at the end the drummer and the audience play or applaud at the same time. In the example of Felix Bohnke, the drummer of the German power metal group "Edguy", there are even elements from the film genre; so he plays to the opening melody of "Star Wars" during his solo.

Depending on the style, the artist's solos differ greatly. However, a successful drum solo is characterized by the precise and often fast play of sometimes very complicated rhythms, which is often seen as a calling card for the ability and talent of the drummer.

In traditional jazz, a good drum solo is primarily characterized by its coherence and the relationship to the piece being played. Especially in New Orleans jazz, the solo often reminds of the melody of the piece.

Mostly knowledge of rudiments help a versatile performance, as z. B. the double beat is helpful with vertebrae and fast rhythms.

A special form of the percussion solo is the performance of a percussionist performed as a single performance, i.e. H. without an accompanying musician. Such performances often take place on the street, also with improvised instruments made of buckets, plastic barrels etc. The pure play on the sound bodies can be loosened up by artistic use of the sticks (as with "normal" drumming).

history

18th to early 20th century

As early as the 18th century, European orchestras adopted the so-called bass drum cymbal effect from Turkish military music , by simultaneously hitting the bass drum with a pair of cymbals that were then attached to the top, which would become the forerunner of the later hi-hat. This effective effect is not only used in classical or serious music, marching music , traditional and modern jazz , but has also become essential for playing drums in rock and popular music. While earlier marching bands had distributed the individual percussion instruments to several players, as is still the case with marching orchestras today, the first jazz bands at the beginning of the 20th century only had one drummer. He combined the most important percussion instruments and played them in a new way as a single instrument, the drums. The American drummer Sanford A. Moeller summarizes their playing techniques in his Moeller technique .

From the 20th century

General

Until around the 1950s, jazz had a decisive influence on the drums. From the sixties the influence of rock music on the drums became decisive. From the 1980s, electronics such as drum computers and e-drums became increasingly important compared to conventional - 'acoustic' - drums. Around 1990 electronic drumming in techno, which was almost entirely digitally produced and which took popular music by storm, achieved mass effectiveness. In addition, the acoustic drum set still exists. And in a kind of counter-movement, world music - 'global village music' - includes acoustic percussion instruments from all over the world, especially today, in times of the Internet and globalization.

Traditional jazz and swing style (1917 to 1940)

1917 is considered to be the starting point of acoustically documented jazz history, as that year the Original Dixieland Jazz Band made the first sound recording of this new style. The period up to the end of the actual swing era (around 1940) is a unique epoch in the history of music, insofar as we can document the emergence of a completely new instrument and the way it is played nowadays very precisely on the basis of tens of thousands of records. In contrast to all other instruments commonly used in jazz, the drum set did not have any direct precursors in European and African music.

The conventional division of this epoch into the two major sub-styles of older jazz ( traditional jazz and swing ) is only of limited use to describe the development of drumming. As Gunther Schuller has shown, the transition from the older, march-like 2/2 time (so-called “two beat” feel) to the more modern “walking”, i.e. 4/4 style, was more gradual and far less abrupt than older jazz historians (Panassié, Berendt et al.) had assumed.

To put it simply, the first two and a half decades of jazz drumming are shaped by four main tendencies:

the development of the instrument as such: it was not until the late 1930s that a certain uniform idea of which instruments should be included in a jazz set (although the range of variation, as mentioned, is very large to this day). In favor of the bass / snare / tom-tom combination with hi-hat and cymbal, which was ultimately regarded as essential, some previously important effect instruments ( woodblocks , cowbells ) were dispensed with.
the development of playing techniques to accompany the improvisational approach to music in smaller bands ( combos ). Important stylists in this context are the drummers from Louis Armstrong's environment, mainly Baby Dodds , Zutty Singleton and Paul Barbarin , later also Sid Catlett .
The latter also took part in the development of big band drumming, which placed its main emphasis on an orchestral style of playing that carried and supported the arrangements of the large ensembles that dominated jazz in the 1930s. This branch of drumming began with Kaiser Marshall , the drummer of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, and produced the major big band drummers, including Cozy Cole (with Cab Calloway ), Jo Jones (with Count Basie ) and bandleader Chick Webb .
Finally, during the swing era, the drums were also emancipated as a solo instrument. Although each of the aforementioned (black) drummers developed solo ideas (Webb in particular should be emphasized here), Benny Goodman's drummer Gene Krupa was by far the most popular soloist among the broad (white) audience .

The notion of the quasi-natural rhythmic competence of black musicians, which is widespread in Europe, and a number of myths perpetuated in jazz literature, often obscure the view of some musical facts of a fundamental nature, as presented to us by the evidence of the extensively transmitted sound recordings:

At the beginning of jazz, the rhythmic concept of groove and especially that of swing only existed in the most embryonic form. Both emerged over the course of about a decade and then gradually found their drums-like shape. The black musicians also had to “learn to swing first”. The pioneer in this regard was not a drummer, but the trumpeter Louis Armstrong , who z. B. in the famous Hot Five and Hot Seven studio recordings shows far more rhythmic consistency than any of his fellow musicians.
In particular, wind players such as Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins first established the asymmetrical element of the swing feel and triplet phrasing . The emphasis on the easy beats “2” and “4” ( backbeat ), which seems to be taken for granted today, and the triplet rhythm of the ride cymbal that played around the quarter notes were only established as a fixed rhythmic pattern at the end of the 1930s.

Basic rhythmic pattern of swing accompaniment

The tradition that the bass drum was not used in studio recordings so that the needle does not jump out of the die can be refuted as a myth based on countless recordings. Presumably this restriction existed in isolated cases, which would explain why anecdotes of this kind seemed worth mentioning to the veterans of early jazz in their memories, recorded much later; it was by no means a common practice.

When the tuba was replaced by the double bass as a bass instrument in jazz , the music lost one of the main elements of its march-like sound. The double bass is also much quieter than a tuba, but is better suited for realizing the 4/4 walking bass lines, which were then perceived as very modern .

The musical trend was towards a quieter, more elegant, less “flat-footed” bass drum anyway. The rhythm groups of the era also quickly learned that the continuous quarters on the bass drum ( four on the floor ) (played at a correspondingly discrete volume) could enormously support the sonority of the double bass, which was of particular importance in those times before the advent of electrical amplification to create a solid, danceable rhythm.

The example of the famous Gene Krupa shows how complex this task is. The comparison between Krupa and Jo Jones at Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert from 1938 is illuminating. Krupa always tended to "drown" the bass by playing bass drum quarters (and tom-tom accents) too loudly gave the Goodman band a rather "top-heavy", poorly "grounded" ensemble sound. In contrast, the Basie rhythm section (with Jones on drums, Walter Page on bass, Freddie Greene on guitar and Basie on piano) presents a much more balanced, transparent, but also more rhythmically driving sound.

In the textbook opinion of the period 1917–40, which was critically questioned here, jazz, which mainly led to the development of the drums, is divided into: jazz preforms (up to approx. 1910, especially ragtime); Traditional jazz is the New Orleans style (approx. 1910–20), Dixieland and Chicago style (approx. 1920–30) and swing or big band style (approx. 1930–40).

Modern and free jazz, Dixieland revival, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll (1940 to 1960)

The pervasive rhythmic and therefore particularly well danceable big band jazz of swing changed around 1940 to more listening jazz of the smaller combos, to the style of bebop as the first of the styles of the now beginning modern jazz era (bebop, cool jazz, hard bop , Modal ). Modern jazz drummers like Kenny Clarke are characterized by more abstract drumming. Snare or bass drum no longer accompany continuously, but combined snare and bass drum interjections comment on the improvisations of the other musicians and shift the emphasis to exactly between the usual rhythmic focal points. At the beginning, the beat was still marked by cymbals or hi-hats, but both went on in a dissolved game up to Elvin Jones and the sixties. Regular beats 'tick' as a common orientation then only like an 'internal clock' in every musician in a jazz combo. Around 1960, any order dissolves in the completely free ways of playing the emerging free jazz ' .

Nevertheless, certain procedures emerge in free jazz, e.g. B .: Avoidance of everything that has so far made up sound, euphony or music, i.e. dominance of the noisy and dissonance ('European direction'); spontaneous inclusion of the respective environment, such as the stage floor or the seating in the hall and everything that is not an instrument in the traditional sense, but expresses something specific with a certain noise (Han Bennink, among others); increasing density towards the 'middle' and now and then decrease in density on the way to the 'end', whereby this happens or has to happen spontaneously by all those involved; Making otherwise inaudible things audible ('unheard-of'), such as moving a 'needle in a haystack' with the help of electronic amplification ( Tony Oxley , among others). To persevere and play through such principles consistently and spontaneously to several people requires the highest musical ability, even if the temptation to cover up inability with so-called free play is quite great. The German drummer Günter Sommer is known internationally as a versatile free jazz master .

It is true that modern jazz is considered to be the head of all popular music because of its 'bondage' (in contrast to free jazz) and here the achievement of the highest possible abstractness, whereby this is then consequently called 'belly' and not devaluation. Rather, it will be the interrelationship between 'gut and head', popular music would never have experienced important influences without its modern jazz division and vice versa. Since Dave Brubeck's (p) hit “Take Five” ( Joe Morello , d), not only its 5/4 time signature and odd time signatures like 3/4 next to 4/4 have been part of the standard level in jazz drumming, but also in drumming in general.

Simon Phillips ( Toto ) behind his drums with two bass drums

Modern jazz has individual popular successes (eg: "Lullaby Of Birdland", George Shearing, p, 1952, or "Take Five", Dave Brubeck, p, 1959) and an enormous influence on drums overall between around 1940– 60 (e.g. in the rock 'n' roll hit: "Rock Around The Clock", Bill Haley , voc, g, 1954). But from the beginning, modern jazz was even considered elitist at times and triggered counter-movements, such as the return to traditional jazz, the Dixieland revivals, and further developments of the swing style, especially towards rhythm and blues and then rock 'n' roll of the 1950s. In contrast to the simple swing bass drum and the multitude of commenting snare bass drum interjections of modern jazz, compact percussion figures develop in rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll with the help of the now flexible kick drum: Different kick drum double hits in interplay with the regular snare -Backbeat result in so-called ostinate (regularly recurring) impact figures. An example of this is "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry (voc, g), 1957. On cymbals and especially now closed hi-hats, the beats or beats are again clearly to dry and difficult.

Rock music, soul, funk, jazz rock, reggae, neobop (1960 to 1990)

From the end of the 1950s, the new style of rock music began to take shape. The occasional change was noticeable in the fact that the eighth notes were played more evenly (binary) in contrast to the dotted eighth notes (ternary) of the rock 'n' roll and basic modern jazz feeling that had prevailed until then. The decisive factor here may have been the influence of evenly played Latin styles, such as the 'invention' of the chacha around 1956. The change to the beginnings of more even rock music still takes place mainly in the USA, the world center of popular music until then, with pieces such as “Peter Gunn "by Duane Eddy (g), 1958, or" Tallahassee Lassie "by Freddy Cannon (voc), 1959.

But with groups like The Shadows and then, above all, the international breakthrough of the Beatles ( Ringo Starr , d) in the early 1960s, the center of popular music shifted to Great Britain. The result is the beat or beat music , with which the more even rock music style of playing is now establishing itself internationally from Great Britain and dominating everywhere. Jazz has stopped mainly influencing the development of the drums. Beat music or early international rock music adopts the ostinate percussion figures from the rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll of the 1950s, which had already been remodeled from the ternary to the more binary in the first pieces of rock music in the USA. The intense interplay of electric bass (guitar) and ostinate percussion figures became striking with the beat music , which achieved its 'rich' sound that is still known today through more direct recording techniques from The Kinks , The Yardbirds and The Who . This, together with the metallic guitar sound, shaped the typical line-up of beat bands and then rock bands par excellence: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums, vocals mostly by the guitarists at the same time. The keyboard was only added later.

In the second half of the 1960s, the USA regained some of their popular musical dominance with soul music. The binary way of playing or hitting began to differentiate itself mainly through the soul of James Brown (voc) and went over to jazz rock towards the end of the 1960s . The soulful-rocky 4/4 or even 'Proto-8/8' becomes slower, more beats, beats or beats can be accommodated per unit or bar, and left to the constantly knocked 8th-note accompaniment level of the beats (on hi-hat or cymbal) better to play the hits 'in between', d. H. especially 16th notes on the bass drum. This was shown by successful soul pieces like “Hold On I'm Coming” by Sam & Dave (Al Jackson, Jr., d?), 1966, with which ostinate percussion figures from 16th notes of the bass drum beats became very popular for the first time. With that the 'real 8/8' (16th bass drum beats) was complete as first soul and then above all typical rock music time signature.

Neil Peart , drummer for the progressive rock band Rush

In the 1970–80s, funk and rock jazz also led to a slower 8/8 with broken 16ths on hi-hat / cymbals, e.g. B. in "Use Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine", Bill Withers (voc), 1972–74, as well as "Stratus", Billy Cobham (d), 1973, and rock-jazzy-ostinate hit figures dissolved again a little Direction of dynamic snare bassdum interjections like in modern jazz. The reggae of the 1970s ( Carlton Barrett , d, with Bob Marley , voc, etc.) brought the ternary feeling back into it, and rocky, shuffle-like 8/8 emerged, e.g. B. with “Rosanna”, Toto , Jeff Porcaro (d), 1982. The rap that emerged from the early 1980s continued that funk-rock-jazzy and reggae-influenced development. From the late 1970s, modern jazz experienced a revival (neobop or new bop), with The VSOP Quintet, Tony Williams (d), around 1977, and the Chick Corea (p) Acoustic Band, Dave Weckl (d), at the end of the 80s. Latin playing styles have been gaining influence in rock music since around 1970, primarily through Carlos Santana (g). Conversely, especially in the 1980s, the bass drum found its way into salsa as well as other Latin styles and is then played as if one were using a 'third hand', as Elvin Jones (d) did before in modern jazz drumming and in this context the Focus shifted between the beats. In the whole range of more even playing styles, binary as well as ternary as well as Latin, the 70s-80s rock music now forms almost classic varieties with an unbelievable stock of style elements ( Deep Purple , AC / DC , Motörhead , Jethro Tull , Iron Maiden , Slayer , Judas Priest , Black Sabbath , Uriah Heep , Dream Theater and others). The drums reach the largest dimensions in their structure. Double bass drum playing or double foot machine playing is gaining in importance ( Terry Bozzio ). Up until then, double bass drum pioneers were rather exceptional ( Louie Bellson 1940s-50s, Keith Moon , Ginger Baker 1960s).

Since 1990

New rock and double bass drum playing

In the 1990s, rock music began playing with rap and colored US drummers ( Dennis Chambers and others) who, however, did not pursue it any further, becoming increasingly flexible with the double bass drum or double pedal. That means double bass drum or double foot machine strikes no longer sound continuously, but artfully with accents and pauses. In this way, new, concise ostinate stroke figures are formed. Despite this spurt of development, rock music seems to have entered something like a frayed late phase, as it initially looks as if countless styles of rock have emerged on a colorfully patched carpet. But with a time lag, now in the middle of the 2000s, the colorful patchwork quilt gives way to clearer contours. From a geographical point of view, bands from the USA, Latin America and Europe (especially still from Great Britain, then Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, France and others) are involved in the strong expansion of the double bass drum or double foot machine game, which has become the standard. Here and there one begins to cautiously describe the style or the style bundle as New Rock and thus, despite all the differences and cautiously, summarize bands such as Tourniquet , Metallica , Limp Bizkit , Deftones , Sepultura , The Pissing Razors, Pantera , Rammstein and others . a. As a double bass drummer, u. a. Eddy Garcia, The Pissing Razors, Texas, who is probably both arranger and pianist in salsa.

32nd bass drum hits

From the mid-1990s, 32nd bass drum hits found their way into drumming. This happens because the 8/8 time signature, which has dominated rock and "popular" music since the 1960s, is played more and more slowly. Either double bass drum playing is used, as various US, Latin American and European rock bands do. Or single bass drum playing is used, for example in various newer song versions by Whitney Houston or by other, often colored US artists.

An example of a US rock band's double bass drum playing is “Rise & Oppose” by Diecast (2004). An example of single bass drum playing is the song "Oh" by Ciara, featuring Ludacris (2004). The very slow 8/8 tempo is expressed in the fact that 16th notes are struck through as beats or beats, particularly on the hi-hat, but also on the cymbals (with 32nd notes 'decorations'). The snare backbeat occurs on the 5th and 13th beat. Mainly ostinate bass drum figures are formed, which are combined from a mixture of 8th notes, 16th notes and 32nd notes on the bass drum.

Another way is to limit the hand-hit hi-hat or cymbal beats to eighth notes. Here the basic rhythm is held by the hands when playing the double bass drum. This creates a special contrast to the energetic double bass drum figures, which consist of 8th / 16th / 32nd notes. Especially with songs with 32nd single bass drum playing, you can clearly hear the computer generated and the stronger inclusion of global or world music percussive effects and alienations.

The slow pieces in 8/8 time are often overlaid by double-time play, which builds up additional stimulus or unbelievable tension from faster playing within slow limits that you actually cannot and will not leave. An example is "Bills, Bills, Bills" or "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child (1999). More precisely, double-time play, which can already be found in traditional jazz, means that the melody leaders (vocals, lead guitar, wind instruments, keyboard, etc.) play twice as fast. In doing so, however, drums and bass in particular, but also others such as rhythm guitar, accompanying keyboard, accompanying brass or string section, remain in the rhythmic-chordal foundation. In other words, the rhythmic-chordal instruments in this case keep the slow 8/8 time and support the melody playing, which is twice as fast, at most with quick interjections (ornaments). Attempts to let the drums run completely along with the snare backbeat twice as fast, but earlier brought the whole building of tension to collapse with double-time play.

A versatile 16th note bass drum playing style, but entirely without 32nd notes , can be heard in "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige (2005-06).

64th bass drum beats

There are also approaches to make possible by using two bass drums 64ths on the bass drum. In general, in Death Metal and related music styles, it can be observed that extremely fast, sewing machine-like bass drum parts are increasingly being played. See also: double bass

Current trends (since 2006)

Single and double bass drum playing

Compared to the 32nd double bass drum playing, the 32nd single bass drum playing has recently become more important. Playing single bass drums has the advantage over double bass drumming of containing the simple basic rhythm (see above) through the interplay of both feet (and not hands as with double bass drumming). This is physiologically easier, that's what drum set play is traditionally based on, and it covers all drum styles. Seen in this way, the effort involved in mastering the double bass drum game, which essentially only occurs in Hard & Heavy or New Rock, and since not even in all pieces, is disproportionately high.

Connection of bass drum and snare basic rhythm

The main development, with regard to double hits, took the drumming through the alternating bass drum-snare basic rhythm, less through "four-on-the-floor" (see below). The current development boils down to a combination of “four-on-the-floor” with the extremely flexible, alternating bass drum-snare playing style.

"Four on the floor"

The simple basic rhythm is based on the interplay of both feet, except for double bass drumming. If one of the feet follows the movement of the other, with right feet the right kick drum foot moves the left hihat foot movement, then the continuous kick drum sounds. Some find continuous bass drum hits full of energy, so something like that sells well. Others see it as a huge problem, unimaginative rumbling, bass drum heaviness or “modern marching music” in a negative sense. "Krupa's loudly played bass drum quarters" (see: 3.2.2 Traditional jazz and swing style, 1917 to 1940), the bass drum continuous in quarters, which, viewed positively, is a quasi-massive trademark of the big bands in swing, are judged to be problematic Era, of the pervasive rhythmic and danceable big band jazz of swing.

The continuous bass drum is a recurring phenomenon in the history of drums that can be called "four-on-the-floor", although in the narrower sense it was only used to describe the continuous bass drum beats in the 1970s disco wave. The tradition of the “four-on-the-floor” begins in march music, can be found in jazz of the swing era and a corresponding continuation in that big band drum voices are still played with the swing feel today all four quarters of the bass drum should be noted. The "four-on-the-floor" are continued in some rock-and-roll pieces, for example in Jerry Lee Lewis' (voc, p) "High School Confidential", 1958; then in the early rock and / or twist hit "Red River Rock" by Johnny & the Hurricanes, 1959; furthermore even in partly fast 1960s beat pieces like “My Generation” by The Who, 1965, with the actual double bass drummer Keith Moon; continue with The Staple Singers, "Respect Yourself", ca.1970; the 1970s Disco Wave and Boney M .; with techno around / from 1990 or with current DJ favorites and remixes as well as songs by the band Rammstein .

The main development, e.g. B. in relation to double hits, the drumming actually took place through the alternating bass drum-snare basic rhythm, less through "four-on-the-floor". Right now, in 2006, American musicians are also trying to a. Justin Timberlake (voc) to combine the extremely flexible, alternating bass drum-snare playing style based on the above-mentioned simple basic rhythm with "four-on-the-floor". These musicians have achieved considerable success in examples that can be positively assessed and trend-setting (Puff Daddy, voc, "Come To Me"; Ne Yo, voc, "So Sick" and "Sexy Love"; among others). B. MTV and other channels that are continuously playing in rotation. This is also associated with a roll-back of other tendencies, which again shows that and how strong market interests and dominance are behind the implementation of styles.

The simple basic rhythm due to the interplay of both feet is theoretically very precisely two-quarter time because of the two bass drum beats per bar, the 'continuous bass drum' theoretically very precisely four-quarter time because of the four bass drum beats per bar. However, the simple basic rhythm stand despite his two bass drum beats per bar, and the whole building upon it style developments in the notes mostly in the ⁴ / ₄ . Mainly found on the basis of that fundamental rhythm and in ⁴ / ₄ the development of the drums essentially held: a contradiction unfortunately still antiquated theoretical perspective and doctrine.

literature

Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5 , pp. 375, 404, 416f. u. a.
Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Perry : The Art of Modern Jazz Drumming . 3. printing. DC Publications, North Bellmore 1989
Joachim Fuchs-Charrier : History of drum set playing. The history of the drum set in the 20th century. Percussion textbook and performance book with CD. That's how the best drummers played . Leu, Bergisch Gladbach 2001, ISBN 3-89775-041-4
Elvin Jones: Different Drummer , Video, ca.1979
Anthony Lush: Drums Step by Step. The modern drum school for self-study and lessons . PPVMEDIEN, Bergkirchen 2004, ISBN 3-932275-67-5
Joe Morello: Rudimental Jazz. A modern application of rudiments to the drum outfit . Jomor, Chicago 1967
Hugo Pinksterboer: Pocket-Info Drums. The ideal reference work for beginners and advanced drummers . Schott, Mainz a. a. 2000, ISBN 3-7957-5127-6

Web links

Wiktionary: Drumming - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations