"Simple" Drumming

Shitty drummers always use fills. They usually posses certain characteristics that make the fills unbearable, but lets stick that aside.

I have a goal. I've been working this into my practice schedule where I get a CD on headphones and just play along to it straight through. I pick an easy one, the first selection was The Strokes-Is This It. Future picks are going to be Wire-Pink Flag (which I unsuccessfully attempted to do 2 years ago,) Sam Cooke-Live at the Harlem Club, and Jon Richman and the Modern Lovers. I played through Marvin Gaye's greatest Motown hits and that was excellent, though I feel like I was leaving a lot out. Still, by not playing all the notes and fills that are visible in their absence, you get a feel for how the songs work.

Its interesting, simple records might have one drum break in the whole thing, or one complicated ride pattern, but its enough to make you realize that these drummers could be playing a lot more, and are consciously choosing not to . And it makes the song work which is the ultimate goal. Many of the returns to the chorus on Is This It are made stronger by the lack of a drum fill. If the first half of the measure is the same in chorus and verse, you arent going to even notice the shift until the song demands it (it will be seemless).

I was thinking to myself "this is R&B drumming! whoa!" Actually, its soul drumming, more Sam Cooke than Marvin Gaye, but the point remains that you simplify your life and make your playing better by playing with the music enough to really start to smell what they are stepping in.