Drummers And Guitarists: It's Time To Talk

You can never make natural conecting percussion out of robots or mechanical beats. To me a real drummer gives a song  its heart beat. Only humans can feel music machines don't do that.

Bill, as your long term friend and sometime collaborator, I agree with all you said, but I want to expand on a few things; firstly I've always looked at Chordie as a musicians site not just string twangers union. Secondly and probably most importantly, when I started out as a solo ( when Elvis clocked out ) all the clubs I played at had an organist and drummer, most were OK some were rubbish. As the 70s became the 80s clubs found they couldn't afford an artist and backing music, so we had to resort to the hated drum machine, then backing tapes which cost a fortune and inevitably stretched and sounded awful.

I have noticed on a more happy note that groups are having a resurgence locally, I've seen 2 bands in the last month and they seem to be getting a good turn out. Funny thing is they all seem to be crumblies my age 65 or older....rock on Tommy

You bought..... two cojones?????  But I thought Jim.........

Oh, wait!

Never mind

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Sorry, but I think you know by now there's no way I was gonna let that one get by me, right?

Your Pal (AND  FAN!!!!!)

Bill

Actually, for a time i was playing bass in a small group in which the rhythm guitarists each had jobs that kept them traveling.  So sometimes we'd have one, and sometimes the other.  Well, the other and I really clicked and thought the drummer was the son of a friend of the other and I, he fell right in with our groove.  We would frequently have our lead singer say, "Hey, let's play these three songs today," about 45 minutes before lights up.  Though none of us had heard of the songs, we'd ask "fast or slow, and what kind of beat?"  We'd work it out and be performing for a couple hundred folks songs that we had never heard before, and had never heard a review tape, but we'd be rock solid on the groove.  Those days were always a treat.  I can't think of anything that'd put a smile on my face better than bass, rhythm, and drums really clicking.

Sounds like we had similar beginnings Bill.  I also started playing drums when I was 12 years old in Jr. High School.  My folks were pretty poor and drums were the only instruments that parents didn't need to purchase as they were provided by the school.  Through practice, I got pretty good and when I moved up to High School I was the "first chair" drummer much to the chagrin of the upper classmen who were drummers.  I was picked for the "all county" band and received a few accolades so our band director talked my parents into buying me a set of Ludwigs so I could play in the jazz band and looking back they sacrificed quite a bit so I could play.  My heroes were Joe Morello and Ed Thigpen but like you, that changed after the Beatles made their appearance in the US.  I played drums in a rock band in high school that played local high school dances etc and also with a 17-piece "Big Band" that played at country club and Elks dances, etc. I also taught rudimental drumming and had 14 students.

But then one of those "life changing" events happened.  After I graduated from high school, a couple of guys that had graduated a few years ahead of me and were pretty good guitar and bass players,  had spent some time in Nashville doing studio work.  They returned to my home town and were wanting to put a country band together and needed a drummer.  I thought I was too "kool" to play country music so in an effort to change my mind they took me to a country/bluegrass festival hoping that I'd like the music and have a change of heart.  What happened is I didn't care a lot for the country bands but the bluegrass pickers blew me away.  Maybe it was music that appealed to my Appalachian roots, but regardless - I was hooked!  However, as you know, the genre does not use drums but rather a heavy bass line to keep the beat steady.  A changed man, I quit playing with the bands I was in and few months later sold my drums.  It was several years later I finally tried to learn how to "mash the wires" on an acoustic.  I've never been good enough to play bluegrass very well but there's still no other style of music that gets my feet tapping.  Its now been over 45 years since I've picked up a drumstick.

DE