| | The Worshipping Drummer-Jimmy John Morris
Part 8
Miscellaneous beats in worship (How to work it out)
Right-click here to download the MP3 lesson 8 with audio examples
Click here for the PDF for lesson 8
Well ...we've done it. We've gone through an introduction of Basic Rock & Ballad (intimacy) playing, Playing within a 6/8 time signature, Sixteenth notes, moving from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal, floor tom, and crash cymbal, and a beginning look at triplets (an introduction to Shuffles & Jazz feel).
So what do we do if the song that we are playing on doesn't fit into one of our categories?
In Session 8 we'll look at what to do with Miscellaneous drum set beats.
A few years ago the song "Hungry" came out and most drummers turned their ear, welcoming the change from the 2 & 4 that they normally play on the kit. Some didn't attempt the song thinking it was just too difficult, a Steve Gadd lick left for a drummer's drummer too work out. I remember having a worship leader at a youth conference years ago sit down and try to explain this beat to me ...quite a sight to see.
So what do we do when the rhythm that we want to play is difficult? Here are some suggestions.
- Start slow. Most beats are playable if you can simply dissect them. On the audio lesson we have taken the 2 measure drum phrase from the verse of hungry and cut it apart so we can hear beat one, two, three, and four independently from each other.
- As I said before listen. Don't give up - put time into and work out the tough stuff. I remember seeing Randy Butler at a worship conference tell guitar players to learn difficult chords and not be afraid of playing them. We should have it settled that we will always be a student when it comes to our musicality and persistent in learning to worship God anew and daily.
- What grid are you in. Is the rhythm in 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 ...is the song a straight feel or a shuffle, and ask yourself is this rhythm in a quarter note pulse, eighth note, sixteenth note, etc. Look at all that we've gone through together and find out what is closest to your "new rhythm."
- Play along on a snare drum. For example with hungry I decided that the song was in 4/4 and had a 16th note syncopated feel. So I started off simply by playing sixteenth notes on the snare drum. Then I added accents from the rhythm within the 16th notes. Lastly I only played the accented notes and found the core rhythm.
- Lastly I found a drum set rhythm that was close to the recording and adapted it to what I thought that the drummer was playing.
For some of you each step in this process will be important while others will be able to skip certain steps, which is fine.
And don't forget that after you worked all this out and finally "own" your new drum set rhythm a person leading worship will turn around and look at you and say something like, "Let's try this song differently this time ...can you just play 2 and 4 on the snare with open hats... yeah...that sounds great."
Congratulations of going through all the lessons with me. Email me if I can help.
Jimmy John Morris
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