Tag Archives: Drummer

I want to bang on the drum all day.

By jluellen on | Leave a comment

I don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day.  Todd Rundgren

This is my continuing story of being a drummer, and trying to be a leader even though it does not always seem like a drummer would be a leader.  Or how I am a drummer and how I can serve and follow and how that impacts leadership.

I play the drums in a Praise Band.  No I am not a lead singer or even a lead instrument.  I am a guy who has been in and out of a lot of bands playing various instruments and various styles of music.  I have been playing the drums lately and it is a lot of fun.  I actually don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day

Are we the best musicians?  No, but we are having fun, and we are serving others.  A lot of the music we play have more parts or instruments than we have people in our band.  We have a keyboard player who sings, a guitar player, a bass player and I am on the drums.  Some of the songs we play have multiple guitar and keyboard parts.  We have to scale things down because we do not have enough people to cover all the parts.

I have one message when we play.  I tell everyone to play with confidence.  You do not have to try to cover a lot of parts, but you must be confident in the parts you are playing.  I listen to some of the songs we play and the drummers are full-time musicians who are playing at a very high level of musicianship.  I am a Bass Player who is playing the drums part-time, a couple of times a week if I am lucky.  I may only get to play a couple of times a month if my day job gets in the way.  I don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day

I can not play at the level of the drummers who are on the recordings we are copying, but I can play based on my own experience.  My experience tells me to keep it simple, play with confidence and have fun.  When a musician is having fun, people can tell.  It rubs off on the audience.  When a musician is playing with confidence, people can tell.  You can see it and hear it in the performance.  When a musician is playing with confidence the audience can feel it in the performance.  The best way to be confident and have fun is to stick to the basics.

I often find myself playing basic drum beats.  I keep basic patterns but I switch the combinations of what drums and cymbals I am using.  I keep this simple, but I play with power.  I call it my Big Lazy Rock Drummer imitation.  Sometimes when I play I miss a beat or miss hitting a cymbal.  I make a mistake, but it makes me laugh.  It makes me laugh because I am having fun.  I do not have to be drinking or taking anything to have fun.  I am having fun because I am making music and I can tell other people can feel the performance.  It makes me laugh because I wonder what it is like to be on a big stage playing for a big crowd.  I don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day

In my own mind I am one of the Top Ten Bass Players in the world.  In my own mind I am the greatest Non-Famous Bass Player you have never heard about in a magazine or have never seen on television.  I am not the world’s greatest drummer.  I am a bass player playing drums who is having fun.  I am having fun and playing with confidence and it rubs off on the people around me.  I miss playing the bass guitar, and people tell me they miss me when I am not able to pay the drums.  They miss the feeling that a simple, confident and fun performance brings to the table.  A good drummer keeps a good foundation not matter how simple or complicated the parts they are playing.  A good leader can stick to the basics and keep things simple and make sure everyone is confident in their part.

The best leaders in my mind are servant leaders.  The best leaders prepare others to take the lead.  The best leaders can follow others.  The best leaders provide a solid foundation and know how to keep things simple and fun.  This is my approach to playing the drums.  I want to be a better leader.  I want to be a better musician.  I know there are more and better drummers out there.  I hope I can help teach others and I hope other drummers will come forward so I can switch to guitar or bass or keyboards and help add more parts to our music.  I hope more drummers will come forward so nothing is missing if I can not be there one week because of work.  Until then, I don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day!

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Little Drummer Boy Part Three.

By jluellen on | Leave a comment

Learning to be a servant leader:  This is part three of my journey as a drummer, or at least my attempt to blog about my latest musical adventure.  I have learned that sometimes you have to follow to lead.  Sometimes your submission and your service provide the strength that others need to follow.

I play most of the classic Rock and Roll instruments.  I play Guitar, Bass, Keyboards and Drums.  I have played all different styles of music in front of all different types of crowds.  Sometimes I say; I have done everything but become famous.  None of that matters.  What matters most is that I love music, and I am open to play whatever is needed to move a group forward. Lately this means playing the drums.

I have been getting positive feedback from the people who I jam with, and the people who have heard us play.  Sometimes I feel like I only have a couple of simple patterns that I play on the drums, but I try to make them fit the music.  I have learned that the people who I have been jamming with rely on me on a certain level.  I am there to provide a solid foundation.  I am an anchor of sorts.  I provide the launch pad that others can take off from and also a place for them to land.  Many people identify with the beat, the rhythm of the music.  Not many people view the drummer as a leader of a group of musicians. A great drummer can make or break a performance.  A solid and reliable drum beat is more important than a flashy drum solo.  I took that approach from the beginning.  Provide a solid steady beat as a drummer.  Now after taking a week off because of schedule conflicts, everyone was happy that I was back in the fold.

I have been openly praying that other drummers would come forward, so that if I was not available the group would not suffer; more on that later.  This week, I was back in the fold, back at practice; and it seemed like things were not as organized as before.  Though we had a few good performances under our belts, it seemed like this practice was not as good as the others.  We seemed like we were not all together on the same page.  This provided a valuable lesson to me.  Not to be a leader who was pointing out mistakes.  My instincts told me to provide reassurance to the rest of the players.  I said more, by saying less.  I played a bigger role by playing a more simple part.  I was able to make more of an impact by keeping the drum parts as simple and open as possible.  I was trying to create as much room as possible for everyone to hear each other.

The first song in our set required us to all come in together at a fast pace.  There was a little bit of confusion between the players.  Because I was not pointing out every little thing that was wrong, when I did speak, people listened.  They did not tune me out like they would have if I would have been complaining out each little mistake we were making.  I was able to laugh at myself when I missed a drum beat or a cymbal crash.  I was able to smile and keep going.  This seemed to rub off.  At our Saturday Practice with mainly just the instruments, and at our Sunday practice where we added in the singers, things did not seems as smooth as they were in our previous performances.  I again challenged myself to say more by saying less.  Only make the most important points.  How long were we holding changes?  Should we all start together or come in one at a time?

Fewer words were spoken, but I spoke with more confidence.  Be a solid foundation that everyone could reference.  With a little prayer and a little luck our third official performance sounded the best of them all. Everything went from being kind of shaky the day before to coming off smooth and polished.  After we were done, someone told me it looked like I was having fun when I was playing the drums.  I was.  I was able to laugh at my mistakes, and keep a solid beat for everyone else.  Sometimes to lead you have to listen to others, follow them, and give them the room to grow.  This is the approach I took, and it worked.

One a side note, three different people of different ages expressed interest in playing the drums.  Now I was not threatened or offended; I hope I get a chance to teach them, and to step aside and get them ready for the times when I can not be there.  I want to make sure the group does not miss a beat, if I am there or not.  I want to do what ever needs to be done so the music keeps going; with or without me.  This is a whole new level of leadership I hope to learn along the way.

I hope to be able to teach others what I am learning and then add more musicians into the group.  I wan to be a part of mentoring and coaching others to learn to play.  I hope it opens us up to being able to play more styles of music.  I hope it is not only fun for me, but for the other people playing.  I hope that the music we are making inspires others.  I want to believe that my service provides leadership and inspiration to others.  I want to be part of making a difference.  Slowly, my prayers are being answered.  I feel like I am growing as a leader because of it.

Thanks again for taking a minute to be a part of this Motivational Mojo.  Now bottom line, get up, stretch and get out their and chase your dreams.  If you are not chasing your dreams, I might feel like I am wasting my time.  No this will never be a waste of time.  If I can get through to one person at a time, than that is enough.  60 Seconds of Motivational Mojo Out!

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Finding Balance, the Little Drummer Boy Part Two:

By jluellen on | 2 Comments

For the second weekend in a row, I was able to play the drum with a group of musicians.  We were learning new songs and had one day to get it them down.  Finding the right balance was vital to our success.  I am learning to be a leader by being a good follower and servant.

Let’s review my journey as a drummer.  I have never owned a real set of drums.  I did have a toy set when I was a kid.  I have owned various other musical instruments, mainly the Bass Guitar, Six String Guitar and Various Keyboards.  I play the drums because I like the drums and I will play what is needed most to keep things moving forward.  I have been asked to play the drums because a drummer is what is needed most.  So I am taking what I have learned from other drummers and try to apply it to this situation.

Normally, our singer / keyboard player is used to leading a vocal group to pre-recorded music tracks.  Now we are trying to build a band to take the place of the pre-recorded music.  This weekend, we had to learn three new songs in one practice session as a band, and then we got one practice session with the vocal group.  Everything came down to finding balance.  As a drummer I did not want to play to loud.  I did not want to play too fast.  Lastly I did not want to play too complicated and lose the beat.

So first and foremost, I did not want to be too loud, because then I could not hear the two guitar players, the keyboard player or the singing. I would have just been a drummer bashing away.  As a leader, it is very important that we listen to the people around us, and make sure we are all in harmony.  Now the flip side of this is playing too soft.  As a drummer, if I play to soft then there is no definite beat to follow.  As a leader; if the leader is to quite, than you may not be making steady progress.  Both a Leader and a Drummer have to know when to be loud and when to be quiet so that everyone follows a nice steady pace.

Secondly, I had to keep myself from playing too fast.  Sometimes the singers would kind of hold notes and let them linger through changes in the song.  This would change the feel of the song, which would of course change the pace or rhythm of the song.  If I played too fast, I would lose the singers through the changes.  The easy solution was to slow down a little and make sure we are all staying together.  As a leader, it is important to keep everyone moving together. Projects, Programs, Clubs and Companies have to learn to work as a team.  Win together or you will lose together, so it is important to keep everyone moving together.  A leader can not run ahead of the pack so fast that they lose the pack.  Again, the flip side of this is moving too slow.  You have to keep a steady pace.  You have to maintain a level of energy that everyone can follow.  The same is true of being a drummer; if you play too slow, the song will lose energy.  Again it was important to find that balance.

Third was not playing too complicated.  As a group we were listening to the recorded versions of the songs and there was a lot going on.  There was more music than we had players to cover all the parts.  We had to keep things simple.  We had to pick out what parts of the songs were the most important and make sure we covered those points first.  We had to keep things simple and yet put first things first.  If we got too complicated then we would get lost as a group.  I feel leaders need to learn this lesson.  Do not get to complicated, but still put first things first.  As a drummer; I told the group, it is better to play less and stay steady than to try to do too much.  As a drummer and as a leader in the group, I had to listen to my own advice.  I took some very complicated drum parts and kept them very basic.  Keep it simple and stay on target.  As a leader, we should do the same things.  Figure out what are the most important and vitals things and do them first.  Do not get too complicated.  Now the balance is if you are overly simple, everything sounds the same.  You have to be able to switch things up and not get boring without being so complicated that everyone gets lost.  Balance, balance, balance; a Leader and a Drummer have to maintain balance.

Even though it was not obvious to the people in the crowd when we were performing, I was able to play a leadership role in keeping our newly found band on pace.  It is a great feeling to be a to be a leader and a follower and a servant all at the same time.  I hope this thread helps you find balance.  Not too loud and not too quite; a leader has to be heard without drowning out everyone else.  Not too fast and not too slow; a leader has to set a steady pace, and make sure everyone stays together.  Not too complicated and not too simple; a Leader has to put first things first, and know how to change things up to avoid being boring.  A Drummer is like a Leader when it comes time to find that balance.

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