5 Subtle Ways Pros Can Tell if a Drummer's "Legit"

I remember the first time I saw a “bad” drummer with chops. It was a revelation.

He could move his hands faster than mine.

He could do impressive things on the kit, and had worked out impressive combos and stickings. He could play louder, for longer, than I could.

And yet, anybody who’s played in a band for more than a year would’ve wrinkled their brow, and - hopefully not looking right at the drummer cause that’s rude - thought “that ain’t it”.

Similarly, I saw a bucket drummer in the subway in 2019, and I knew immediately he was legit. There are tons of bucket drummers in New York, and most are…I’m sorry, but well-meaning amateurs. Hobbyists.

But I could tell that this guy had played real music.

Years later, after decades of playing with groups, in recording sessions, and sometimes with difficult music, there’s a set of things I do automatically. They include knowing where “1” is at all times, learning tunes quickly, being able to play unfamiliar kits, and plenty else.

But it wasn’t until I started asking my friends to evaluate some of these subway performers that I realized: these musical skills that pros can identify immediately…

…aren’t necessarily well-recognized among the general public.

Which is why I made a video about it. My most popular video to-date.

Curious what the skills are, and whether you measure up?

Just check out the video.

Enjoy!

Tony Williams and Mel Lewis did this - can you?

Tony/Connie/Mel Exercise

Yet another lesson has me asking "what's clickbait and what's not clickbait".

The original idea behind this lesson was simple: my How to Really Play Jazz Part 1 video was one of my most popular videos...

...but it was also getting long-in-the-tooth, at 5 years old.

Time for a reshoot.

But "the reshot How to Really Play Jazz Drums" wasn't going to fly.

And, to be fair, there's a lot that's updated this time around.

Here's the crux, and if it sounds similar to the problem I outlined in my "how not to get vibed" lesson, that's because it is.

At the time I made the original lesson, drum instruction was mute on the subject of what to practice if you wanted to do anything other than 2 & 4 on the hi hats...

...unless you were ready to play like Roy Haynes or Paul Motian.

Which was mysterious and infuriating to me, because it's not like "mixing it up" while staying relatively "straight ahead" is new.

Indeed, Connie Kay was doing it...70...years ago?

Mel Lewis throughout his career.

Tony Williams, best known for his Plugged Nickel stuff...and maybe those ridiculous clinics at the yellow Gretschs (Gretsches?)...did it.

So maybe it's not clickbait.

I'm going to show you how to do the thing Connie, Mel, and Tony did.

But I can guarantee you they didn't practice it this way.

And, to be frank, this week's lesson isn't opposite-end-of-the-map from the "how not to get vibed" one, which used Max Roach as the template to explore some "non-two-and-four-yet-straight-ahead" playing...

...but it's a different angle from which to tackle it.

And a more "in depth" approach to the teaching. Less storytelling, more teaching.

Hope you enjoy.

N

5 Subtle Ways Experienced Musicians Can Tell if You're Legit

The email subject affords me more nuance than the YouTube Title field.

How to express a strongly held opinion - that drumming's about a lot more than just chops...and even a lot more than just how good your solos sound in the practice room...

...without coming across as a self-important douche.

Put yourself in this headspace: you know you've got a lot to work on. You're well-acquainted with your flaws.

Sometimes it's a struggle.

Sometimes you go weeks without feeling like you see any improvement.

But you're in the shed every day. Trying gamely.

Then, you flip open the laptop, and see some videos from people who obviously didn't even try.

Who, at the time of the video, weren't aware there was a bar, much less that effort was required to reach it.

I knew this week's lesson would be a tough one to pull off.

How to express that, flawed-though-I-am, my 20-some years of toil...

...of getting yelled at in percussion ensemble...

...of sweating through rough rehearsals and gigs, and festivals with jazz bands...

...of not-getting gigs, then, finally, of getting gigs...

...I've noticed a few things that bandleaders - and, indeed, audiences - appreciate from a drummer.

Things I thought were obvious.

Then you go on the internet, and realize they're not.

So, I've gotta make a video that makes it sound like I think I'm sitting above a whole echelon of musicians.

In Judgment.

Which I'm not.

And I've gotta call it something like "5 Ways Pros Can Tell a Good Drummer from a Bad One".

And I'm not impervious to these flaws, either. I run afoul of them all the time.

But, switching hats, some people don't even f@#$ing try😛

And a lot of the general public, it turns out, is not even aware these are a thing.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this week's lesson.

See you next week,

N

The worst things about sharing a practice space in NYC

It's tough to keep aware of the nuances of our situation.

Once a situation, skill, or routine becomes "normal", it's easy to lose sight of what about it would seem exotic to an outsider.

So it goes, routinely, in jiujitsu class, when a brown belt will remark, after I finally nail a move, "oooh - that was the detail you were struggling with? It never occurred to me that I'd need to highlight that."

And so it is with practice situations in big cities. "Lockouts".

I made today's lesson mostly in a fit of frustration.

I'd been talking with my perennial jam buddy about, some day, making a lesson about how musicians can be...predictably...terrible.

Petty with money.

Careless and disrespectful of other people's time, and their property.

Forgetful and unreliable.

So it goes with many-a-musician one runs across in the ubiquitous shared practice dungeons dotting NYC.

Most things in life - and most-everything in New York - has a taste of "love hate" to it.

Mostly we relish it. It's what keeps us from being "basic".

It's in that spirit that we'd occasionally quip, "musicians, amiright?"

But, a few times-a-year, it hits...I dunno...boiling point.

It was after one such week that I decided to make this week's lesson.

But I assumed it might resonate with a few hard-core folks who'd also lived through it.

I was wrong.

I was too deep in it to recognize the novelty. Since I published the video, it's gotten a ton of comments, many of them from people who had no idea this is what it's like in big cities.

"Now I understand your snare head."

"Now I understand your 'depressing' environs".

Sidebar - I LOVE my practice spot, the same way I love my family. It's got a window.

It's got a window.

Anyway, be it with city diehards, or suburbanites who never dreamed one might not have a house one can practice in...it looks like I've struck a chord.

See if you agree.

Back next week with another LOW. See you then,

N