Natalie: Hello and welcome to episode three. Yes, one, two, three, we're now up to of the Gigajam essential drum skills course part one
Brian: Yes
N: Brian
B: Correct
N: Natalie
B: Brian
N: Natalie
B: Oh, Natalie
N: We're just introducing ourselves….
B: Oh, sorry
N: …so that everyone knows who we are
B: Marvellous. We're there now
N: Excellent. I hope you've been practising between now and the last lesson, cos if you haven't Brian is gonna be very upset with you. Aren't you Brian?
B: Well no, not upset as such perhaps…
N: What?!
B: ….perhaps disappointed
N: Ooh sometimes that is worse
B: Well yes, you have to be very careful about the whole practise thing. I mean obviously if you're trying to learn an instrument it's incredibly important that, you know, you have the necessary motivation in the first place to, to carry it through. However, you know, lives are busy these days, children have got lots of school work to do, and they need some down time as well. So, you know, it's very important that teachers shouldn't put too much pressure on their students to be practise, practise, practise…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …otherwise there becomes this association that, you know, practise is work. If you don't do the practise you feel bad, that has another negative vibe on, on, on the whole drum thing, or whatever musical instrument it is. So I think it's important to be, you know, relaxed about practise. Do it when you can,…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …make the time available, short chunks. I don't think it, it's good to sort of have bad vibes about practising
N: Okay don't, don't stress about your practise
B: Don't stress about your practise…
N: Alright
B: …do what you can
N: What are our lesson objectives for today? How many have we got?
B: Well today we've got another three lesson objectives
N: Mmmhmm
B: And we are moving forward through the pathway, again, taking it step by step. You will recall we've already introduced quarter notes and eighth notes?
N: Yes, I remember that
B: Splendid, so we're now going to introduce sixteenth notes
N: Oooh!
B: Alright, okay
N: Right
B: Then what we're also going to do, is we're going to develop the single stroke roll that we introduced in lesson two
N: Mmmhmm
B: And we're going to do that in the same way as we did in lesson two by applying that to our sixteenth notes as well. And then what we're going to do, we're gonna take a little move of direction away from grooves…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …but we're still gonna use grooves, but now going to introduce another part of playing. Drumming is made up fundamentally of groove playing, whatever style of music, and then fills
N: Groove style and fills
B: Yeah. Grooves, whatever style, and fills. So the fills are the kind of ornamental playing, the excitement that's created within the music, you know, buzzes to…that create a vibe when you're changing between verses and choruses, and very important part. The ability to be able to play grooves and fills is an essential part of the drummers' armoury
N: Repertoire
B: Thank you
N: Arsenal
B: Yes, qu…
N: Treasure chest
B: Yeah, I was just gonna try and say Queen's Park Rangers there, but perhaps that's not appropriate to get that in after Arsenal
N: Yeah, I know
B: Moving on. Okay, so what we should do is get down to business with the understanding sixteenth notes. Recap very quickly, quarter notes are worth one beat each
N: Yes
B: Yes, four of those in a bar
N: Mmmhmm
B: Eighth notes, there are eight, eight eighth notes in a bar…
N: (Laughs)
B: …and they're worth half a beat each
N: That's easy for you to say
B: It, well yes, and sixteenth notes, well we've now got sixteen of those in a bar, and they're worth quarter of a beat each. Let's have a look at the computer. Let's have a little look at the example that we have here…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and see if that helps us understand it. So quarter notes here, with our count underneath one, two, three, four
N: Yes
B: Then underneath here we've got eighth notes, one and, two and, three and, four and
N: And that's how we count it always striking down on a word, one and, two and,…
B: Correct
N: …three and, four and
B: Now, what we've got here in sixteenth notes, we've got a slight change of appearance, and we've also got an extra couple of, oooh…
N: Little wordy sounds
B: …of little wordy sounds to, to introduce us. But what I'd like to say is that the quarter notes are the same as they are for the first two bars…
N: Okay
B: …so the beats, one, two, three, four. The 'ands' are effectively where the eighth notes would be in the eighth note bar…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and then, what we've got here is, where the note represents a quarter, we have the 'e' and then where it represents three quarters of the way through the beat we have 'a'. So effectively we've cut the note, a quarter note, into four quarters
N: Yes
B: So we've got one e and a, and we say that because it's easy than saying…
N: (Laughs)
B: …one and a quarter and a half and three quarters
N: And another one, and then coming up to…
B: Yeah
N: …two
B: So that's hard work. So we've got this little vocabulary, this little language that we've got now, so that we can count sixteenth notes reasonably fluently once you get used to saying 'e' and 'a'. One e and a, two e and a…
B & N: three e and a, four e and a
B: Make sense?
N: It does make sense. And what I would say from a personal point of view…
B: Yeah
N: …is don't forget the bits after four, cos you might think I've got to four I've stopped, but then there's the e and a
B: Oh that's absolutely correct, which brings you back to the beginning of the exercise. Now quite often that's very confusing for students, they get to here...
N: Mmm
B: …and they forget that although the exercises carry on from here it, in terms of moving forward the next note is really here
N: Yes
B: That's where the next one is, so it follows on immediately afterwards
N: Mmmhmm
B: Okay, so we know what, what they, the values of the individual notes
N: Mmmhmm
B: And we also know how to count them
N: And we've seen how they look as well
B: Well yeah, I just wanted to go to explain about how they look, because they are very similar…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …to the eighth notes. The difference being here, well let's have a look at the similarities. We've got a note head, and we've got a stem
N: Yeah
B: We've also got a bar, or a beam, but we've got two of them
N: Yes
B: Okay, now that is a very subtle, you know, when you just take a cursory glance at a note, that's a very subtle difference, but it's a fundamental difference. So, a couple of facts, eighth notes have a single tail, and sixteenth notes have two tails
N: Mmmhmm
B: So that applies right across the board with eighth and sixteenth notes. So that's how you can distinguish between them. One tail for the eighth notes, two tails for the sixteenth notes, no tail for a quarter note
N: Exactly and here we've joined them up so they're in units, as it were
B: Yes, I mean it's common use here, the protocol of scoring out the notes is that we've divided them into beats, so it actually divides the bar quite conveniently into the four quarter notes. This is why I think it was extremely important to start with quarter notes because when you're looking at a bar of music and you're trying to assess it quickly, what's in the bar, you can see that it's compartmentalised…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …into, fundamentally into quarter notes
N: Alright then, enough talking…
B: Good
N: …let's hear it
B: Okay, well what I'd like to do, as always, is have a look perhaps at the single stroke roll and an application by using the video. So what we're going to do is use our single stroke roll right, left, right, left pattern all the way through
N: Yeah
B: And watch the video to see how that comes together. Here it comes now
(Video starts to play)
B: Quarter notes
N: Yeah
B: Eighth notes
N: Speeding up
B: Well…sixteenth notes
(Video stops playing)
B: Not speeding up as such
N: Oooh, yes…
B: You're playing…
N: …you picked me up on that there!
B: …well you're playing more notes, okay, the tempo remains consistent, which is essential when playing music. The tempo remains consistent but you are dividing the bar up into smaller subdivisions, and therefore you're getting more notes
N: Yes
B: So that's what gives the impression of playing the music more quickly, and that is how rhythm is created, by using different subdivisions. So even at this very early, very early stage, we're introducing some quite complex rhythmic structures…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …which you're going to rely on very heavily as you, as you move on through the course
N: Alright, move on…
B: Yes
N: …to that drum kit over there
B: Shall we do that?
N: Let me here you play
B: Let me here you…me play this
N: (Laughs)
B: Okay
N: Let me here you say it!
B: Well, absolutely, it's a struggle isn't it? I'm gonna play this on the snare drum…
N: Yep
B: …but as always what I'm going to do, is I'm going to enlist the assistance of the Xtractor and get some timing and playing going together. So we'll load it up here, we'll get it blaring out. We'll listen to what we're supposed to do so we can hear it nice and clearly, and then I'll join in
N: Alright
B: And have a look for any technical points that you then want to put, pick up or question me on
(Xtractor starts to play)
N: I'll be looking very closely
B: Okay…four, one, two, three, four, one and, two and, three and, four and, one e and a, two……one and, two and, three and, four and, one e and a, two e…..one, two, three, four, last time…….Make sense to you?
N: It does make sense to me…
(Xtractor stops playing)
N: …and what…
B: Any thoughts
N: …became apparent when I was watching you…
B: Yeah
N: …is that you have to be having that count in your head…
B: Yeah
N: …to always bring you back that one, two, three, four
B: Yeah, I think what's, what's crucially important there is that, you know, you can hear what you're doing very clearly. But the counting in the head I'd take a step further and make another point. I also use my foot…
N: Mmm
B: …as a physical motion. Sometimes counting in your head isn't reliable enough, and also I count out loud as well so that I can hear where I am counting, I'm actually articulating what I'm hearing in my head. So it's not, I wouldn't rely on just having an idea of the tempo in your head, I would articulate it physically because when you're playing, you're articulating the sound and the pattern and the timing…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …out loud. You're actually making physical motions. So by moving your lips in time, you know, one e and a, two e and a, I mean that has to be as accurate as your playing
N: Yeah
B: Yeah, and when the two are tied together, you're beginning to get to that point when you're really developing a nice strong sense of time
N: Mmmhmm, and obviously you started, you're right-handed, you started with your right hand
B: Yes absolutely
N: If you're left-handed?
B: Well, if you're left-handed, the same as with the eighth notes in the example that we looked at there when developing the, the eighth notes patterns, is you're looking to start using your strong hand, your lead hand as it's often referred to.
N: Mmmhmm
B: And that would be starting with the left, so perhaps we finish this part by having a look at left hand and perhaps recording a pattern into here. See how we get on
N: Okay
B: See if I can play it a little bit better. Here we go
(Xtractor starts playing)
N: The clock's against you cos it's nearly time for a break, but I'm gonna let you do it
B: I'll be very quick, three,…
N: But you won't be speeding up
B: …four, one and, one hopes not…
N: (Laughs)
B: …three and, four and, one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a, one, two, three, four, one and, two and, three and, four and, one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. Shall we just have a little listen?
(Xtractor stops playing)
N: Yes. Let me have a little look
B: So, there's the result from that performance
N: You did very well
B: Well not too bad, I mean I, hey we got thirty-three percent because I didn't finish the exercise. What that doesn't tell me is that there were a couple of uneven notes because I, I didn't quite strike them in the same dynamic range, so make sure you listen back to your exercises
N: Very good advice. More good advice coming up in part two, see you then
N: Hi there, welcome back to part two. Brian…
B: Hi
N: …we've nailed two of our objectives…
B: Yes
N: …which was the sixteenth notes, talking about them, playing them,…
B: Yes
N: …understanding them.
B: Yes
N: And our single stroke rolls, incorporating those
B: That's correct
N: Third objective?
B: Third objective is to introduce simple fills…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …around the kit. So what we've done so far through the course is we've looked at playing grooves…
N: Yes
B: …and then we've looked at note values with the aid of single stroke rolls. What I now want to do is, is look at grooves and fills
N: Okay, what's the difference between them?
B: Okay, good question, a groove is fundamentally when you're playing time of the music, in the style of the music. So, you know, we're playing with rock music, pop music at the moment, this is the main body of music where you're, you're playing the groove, the time of the music, holding the beat together. So, typically, it's bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat involved
N: Mmm, like we've been learning in the last few episodes
B: Exactly, and we'll continue to do so. But there are other things to play, I mean as I've said earlier, the drumming is really made up of grooves and fills. So we need to have a look at fills because, where they are different to the grooves is they are a musical expressions that we, that we use and that enhance the music. So quite often it will be, say, to create impact, to create excitement, sort of a, a flourish
N: Mmmhmm
B: And, in musical terms they are often used to denote changes in mood within the music. So it may be getting exciting going into a chorus, lifting it…
N: Yeah
B: …arousing, or dropping back down into verses and so on and so forth
N: Okay
B: So that's when we would use fills
N: So they're like the icing, the icing on your drumming cake?
B: Well, to some extent yes that, that could be said is true. Yes
N: Mmm
B: Yes, splendid
N: I like that expression
B: Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at developing some simple fills, but again we're going to reinforce previous learning. We're going to incorporate a groove in front of each of the fills firstly…
N: Right
B: …so we've already done that so we should be reasonably competent
N: Are we gonna carry on with the groove that we're familiar with?
B: Yes, we're gonna stay, we're gonna stick with rock groove one from lesson one to begin with
N: Mmm
B: But you can put any groove in, in that particular bar. And then we're going to introduce quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes using single stroke rolls around the kit to create the fill. So we're bringing everything together, so all of the information that we've learnt previously we're bundling up into our playing. So the whole idea is we're not missing any gaps here, not creating any gaps in the way we're learning and moving forward
N: It's the Gigajam structured pathway
B: Yeah, very structured. Yes
N: (Laughs) Alright…
B: Okay
N: …let's take that first step on that pathway
B: Okay, great stuff. So let's have a look at the, the first groove and fill that we've got, which we've got in video form here which I'm going to bring up. And then I'm going to play it and I'll talk about how the notation on the musical stave relates to the drum kit
N: Okay
(Exercise starts playing)
B: Here's the groove. Right, simple quarter note fill around the kit. Noting that I'm starting with my right hand on the snare drum, left on the hi-tom, right on the mid-tom…
(Exercise stops playing)
B: …left on the floor-tom. So let me show that in more detail now
N: Alright
B: So, when we're playing the fill we're playing the snare drum, then we move to the hi-tom, with the left hand…
N: Yeah
B: …so avoiding our cross-over, here, right hand to the mid-tom…
N: Yeah
B: …and the left hand coming down here
N: Keeping the sticks very separate from one another
B: Absolutely, which means that we can then return here freely. So if I just put that together, I'll play it round the kit once more. Slightly more fluently perhaps. So, one, two, three, four. Okay? So that, that is one bar of fill
N: Right, right, left…
B & N: Right, left
N: (Laughs)
B: Exactly. So we're using our single stroke roll and we're using quarter notes, all the things that we've learnt previously. So if I, if I now put a bar of groove in front of that, we'll take our rock groove from lesson one. So it's one, two, three, four. This is when I now play my fill which would go one, two, three, four. So we come back here to our groove
N: Mmmhmm
B: So the ability to link groove and fill is essential, and to make it as seamless as possible. So what I'll, I'll just do is I'll play a few bars of groove, fill, groove, fill. Okay, here we go, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Make sense?
N: It does make sense, yes. What I notice is, obviously, I may have a tendency, and maybe some people that are practising at home…
B: Sure
N: …may have a tendency to almost stop and think, ah, where am I going now?
B: Right, good. So the best way to combat that is to actually play with some music so it keeps your, your tempo steady. So you've got to keep moving forward. Fluency is one of the most essential parts of a musicians playing…
N: Mmm
B: …that ability to keep the time going, equal gaps between beats, moving from groove, moving to fill, out of fill back to groove, really, really important. I know that some of this stuff may look a little simple. It is simple but it doesn't make it easy…
N: No
B: …and there's still a huge, huge, huge distinction that we have to make there. So, why don't we just try our exercise here, which we've got up on our screen. Play with the music to get the flow together
(Exercise starts playing)
N: Yeah
B: Two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Make sense?
N: Yeah, I can see it so much better now…
(Exercise stops playing)
N: …and hear it so much better now, with the music
B: Great
N: Cos you're really hearing the distinction between it
B: And it's really important to play along with music. It gives you that platform that it…and the relevance of why you're putting these, these two pieces of technique together
N: Mmmhmm
B: Because the purpose of course with any technique that you're learning, any skill or any knowledge is to actually put it into practice…
N: Yeah
B: …by playing your music. Normally the music that we love
N: Okay. With that backing track that you had there..
B: Oh yes
N: …obviously practise it at maybe the slower speed…
B: Yes
N: …get fluent with it, absolutely,…
B: Yes
N: ….speed it up a bit?
B: Yeah absolutely. Take, as soon as you become proficient, move the tempos up, yeah? And as you become more and more comfortable those tempos will become easier
N: Mmmhmm
B: But don't, don't play at a tempo where you're falling over…
N: Yeah
B: …because then you lose all fluency. Play at tempos that enables you to maintain your fluency
N: Do you have to get to a level of perfection before you boost it up?
B: No. Never wait for perfection because it will never come, I mean perfection doesn't come. By it's nature you strive for it, but you don't wait for it. And it's important that you, as soon…once you're comfortable, and you've reached a reasonable standard move on…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …because in the studies that you carry on you'll be using the skills that you've been working at, so they innately will improve behind it. And you'll find that when you then go back to revise your studies, which all good musicians do all the time, you'll find that they're easier…
N: Mmmm
B: …they're suddenly easier. Well they're not suddenly easier…
N: (Laughs)
B: …you've been working on them, yeah, but you didn't realise
N: Yeah
B: Can I introduce eighth notes to you quickly?
N: Oh, why not hey!
B: So it's the same, exactly the same principle going round the kit, and I'll just play the, along to the exercise here. So it's a bar of groove…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …the same groove, and this time we're playing eighth notes. So it's two notes on each drum, and I'll demonstrate that before we play with the music
N: Definitely
B: So what you'd be doing here is you'd be playing one and, two and, three and, four and
N: Mmmhmm
B: Make sense?
N: Yeah
B: And then a groove in front of that. Great. Let's get the music going
(Xtractor starts playing)
B: Four. One and, two and, three and, four and, one, two, three, four, one and, two and, three and, four and. One and, two and, three and, four and. Okay?
N: Very good. I'm guessing what's coming next…
(Xtractor stops playing)
N: …is the sixteenths
B: Well, it's the sixteenth notes. Let's go straight for it. So what I'm going to do is exactly the same exercise, but what we're going to do this time is instead of playing eighth notes or quarter notes, we're superimposing eighth notes in that second bar.
N: Mmmhmm
B: Yeah? So let's get the music up and then play along with it. Firstly I'll just demonstrate the sixteenth notes
N: Yep
B: Now you may want to play this exercise a little bit slower because of course you've got a lot more notes to get in. But I'll play it here, so four notes on each drum, again using single stroke roll. So one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. Okay it's gonna be a bit of a rush to start with…
N: Yeah
B: …so it's probably worth just practising that a few times. Once you're comfortable with it, let's go for it
N: (Laughs)
(Xtractor starts playing)
B: Two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a, one, two, three, four, one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Three, four, one e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. Making sense?
N: I think you handled that brilliantly
B: You're very kind
N: But obviously people that are out learning, starting off, haven't got your twenty-five years of experience
B: Thank you for that!
(Laughs)
N: Sorry, I wasn't supposed to mention that. Take it easy
B: Yes
N: Start with one of your slower Nirvana ballads for example
B: As you do, yeah or certainly find some slow music from your collection. You, you're gonna have some in there somewhere. It can be difficult with some of the rock stuff but you're gonna have to play something that's slow to get your sixteenth notes, and you've got a lot of notes to get in there
N: Indeed, something that isn't slow is this music
B: Oh, no way!
(Laughs)
N: I'm gonna be watching out for those fills that you're gonna be slipping in there
B: Well, I'll try my best
N: Alright. It remains for me to say to you that that is the end of episode three, but join us again for episode four coming very shortly. And keep watching to find out how you can get hold of your very own Gigajam course notes. See you next time