Creativity

[Weslapootayn]

I've been having a lot of problem with building creativity in both my fills and my beats. I know exercises to increase every other area of drumming that I want to get good in, but other than rudiments I'm not too sure about what to do as far as creativy beats and fills go. I listen to Metal, and pretty much only metal. Metal isn't the only kind of music I like, I'm just too lazy to get anything else. I'm thinking that maybe part of the reason why I'm so redundant is because all that I play to is metal. So all my beats are metal beats, and all my fills are metal fills. I don't want that. Maybe I should get some jazz? Funk? Any suggestions as to what I could do or what jazz or funk bands I should listen to? Just something to get me goin'. Haha, thanks guys!

[Wotto]

Get a listen to Dave Weckl....theres some crazy stuff right there !
Listen to tracks - Transition Jam, Crossfire, In the Pocket, Braziluba, the Chicken just to name a few.

I LOVE Metal music ( old skool stuff not Death ) but I listen to a lot of smoother stuff like Steely Dan, Dave Weckl, Lee Ritenour ( with Rodney Holmes drumming ) , George Barker, Kenneth Skoog Project and many others.
Man, I even play along to some Blues Brothers from time to time !!

Find some jazz here- free - http://music.download.com/?tag=MDL_head_home

Hope this helps a little

Wotto

[Roger]

Endless combos with the multi tom rolls that my friends (who most seem to play drums..) all think are one of the coolest looking things they've seen me doing.

[Weslapootayn]

Endless combos with the multi tom rolls that my friends (who most seem to play drums..) all think are one of the coolest looking things they've seen me doing.

I don't really wanna do that lol...it's not that skilled to just slam around combos on the toms.

[Roger]

But it looks cool :D. Again you can make some good combos by playing doubles around the kit. Or rudiments like a double paradiddle with the accent's on the toms and the rest on the snare. Also you could do that lick where you play two strokes and then another two on the bass drum.

[Kjbakke2]

this is gunna sound odd
but learn some covers
i started learning some underoath stuff and because he uses some odd placements of fills
it forces you to start thinking like him
so long in short
learn covers
might i suggest underoath
especially wrtiotng on the walls
very fun song to play
=]

[Kjbakke2]

also listen to a band names saosin
not for the singing by any means
but the drummer is one of the most creative i have heard
he doesnt just sit there and do fast double bass drumming or tom rolls all day long
he uses jaw droppng placement of ride bells and such though
so i like alternative big deal hahaha

[kay-gee]

Music is a vocabulary. The more words you know that better sentences you can create and the better communicator you become, the more interesting you become. I suggest a serious study of rudiments. learn to play at all tempos and mix them up. Listen to as many DIFFERENT kinds of music as possible. Don't just close off anything that is not specific to your taste. (ex. heavy metal) Listen to the different tones of your toms and imagine usings them to create musical patterns. Different ways to extract tones from drums.
Most of all learn the joy of being able to sit right in the pocket of a groove.
Hope these help a bit...

all the best...