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Each month we will be featuring different drummers
and styles of music, letting them speak their mind on all aspects
of drumming, equipment, what they love about the drums, philosophies
and their reflections on music from the drummers unique perspective.
Please contact us
if you would like to share your thoughts at info@MetroMusicMayhem.com.
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Seriously Dude?
I
have always thought I took the job of playing drums
and singing seriously. I always buy the best quality
equipment I can afford, upgrade whenever possible,
till I have the very best. I would show up to a
gig 2-3 hours early to setup, not only my drums
but, the PA, lights, even a projector, screen and
laptop! I would do all this not for any other reason,
but to have a great show. I then
played with all my heart, emotion, and energy. Again
to have a great show! Well sometimes the show wasn’t
that great. I didn’t know what the problem
was; I thought “I did my part, and then some”.
I know now, I was in denial.
You can have the best, put out 120%, even show up early;
it doesn’t matter
if the performance is subpar. My philosophy had always been” You have 4
or 5 people in a band, and each person had experienced life differently the day
of the show, yet you expect them all to be on the same page and perform together
as one, impossible!”. With that philosophy, no wonder the show has potential
for failure, and IT’S NOT ME! It WAS me many
times, I know that now. |
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I am the time keeper. That’s my job. Keep the right
time, EVERYTIME!
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I found a product
on the internet called “Tempo Ref”. This
device attaches to my snare drum and displays the
tempo I am playing on the snare……..OMG!
I love this thing. No matter the tempo the song has
been started at, I can monitor the tempo throughout
the song. Now….I AM the timekeeper! No more
arguments about tempo, and if there are, it’s
about the overall tempo, not whether you sped up
or slowed down. What I’m finding is that a
lot of the players who thought their tempo was impeccable,
need to spend some time working with a click track!
I am working hard to BE the click track. I have the
BPM for every song for every band I play in, loaded
in the set lists. I use a metronome in my EVO to
click off the tempos then monitor from my snare.
I’m LOVING IT! I can see where I used to speed
up when I would sing, slow down when the lead came……whatever;
now I can control it, and the band. Want a little
more excitement in the chorus, kick it up 1-2 BPM
and then back down again at the verse…it’s
HUGE!
I AM THE TIMEKEEPER!
Seriously Dude ! |
Paul Green Drummer/Singer/Sound/Lights/Multimedia
- Currently performing with Smoke and Mirrors, Roll
the Stones, OMOFO, The Joe Rush Band,
Rick Derringer,
4 Piece Band, Steady Freddy, Foxy, Nobody’s Fault,
The Free Radicals, and many more…..”
Paul
can be contacted at Greenhouse2k@hotmail.com |
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