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Thread: Originality

  1. #1

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    Default Originality

    Im having trouble with originality in my drumming, all my songs have a good variety within them, however when im practicing i always sit down and play the same stuff and sound the same, any ideas on different approachs or ideas in general

  2. #2

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    poke around online for as many drum solos as you can from every style of drumming you can find....just listening to different stuff helps alot

  3. #3

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    I sort of have the same problem, and I'm begining to expand the music that I listen to, for inspiration, and so that i can develop more talents and create new fills and beats.

  4. #4

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    One of the keys to developing originality is to clear your head of everything else. This is a bit hard by try to remove any preconceived ideas of how one would play the drums or approach a fill. Pretend that you landed another planet and they have this thing called a drumset that looks cool. You sit down to play it but don't know what to play. So you just start doing your own thing. Kind of a silly example I guess but the point being that you have to try to clear your mind and get rid of thinking about what you're 'supposed' to play. They when you start developing some cool ideas of your own, you will need to fit them into the context of what's 'acceptable' and what's not with relation to the music you're playing.

    Along the lines of what Utopia was saying, you should also continue to work and develop beats, fills, and ideas from other players. Build your vocabulary. The more vocabulary you have, the more you have to draw from when creating your own ideas. Think of it like an artist's palette. The more colors he has on that palette, the greater the chance of him creating something unique and different.
    Last edited by drummer; 10-01-2006 at 10:27 AM.

  5. #5

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    Thumbs up Originality

    Hey, amp, drummer's got a great idea. While you can pick up ideas from other drummers, if you just cut-and-paste them onto what you're already doing, they may fit...but they may not. Play with them, pun intended, and adapt them to your style and what you're playing. It may take some doing, but it'll be worth it in the long run.

    Keep up your progress, man!
    keep the beat goin' ... Don't keep it to yourself!

    Charlie

    "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," 1854

    "There's a lot to be said for Time Honored tradition and value." --In memory of Frank "fiacovaz" Iacovazzi

    "Maybe your drums can be beat, but you can't."--Jack Keck

  6. #6

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    Wasn't it Keith Richards who said we're all just magpies, hearing and copying eachother over and over?

    You might try listening to music that is totally different from what you normally listen to, even if you don't like it that much. I don't pretend to understand jazz, but I do appreciate the artistry there. The phrasing is really funky compared to blues or rock. Sometimes I listen to it just hoping some of the weird phrasing will sink in and become part of my vocabulary.

  7. #7

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    Great point Roaddebris. I used to work with a jazz guitar player that had the most original flair to his sound. It was a mid-eastern sort of slant. And wouldn't you know it, he listened to middle eastern music a lot in his spare time. It made his playing sound very different from everyone elses, but "very" cool and different.

    Another example of this is Stewart Copeland. No one could figure out why his drumming with the Police was so unique. Well, he said it was because he grew up all over Europe and traveled many places in the world as a young boy (I believe his father was a diplomat). Stewart was exposed to many different music cultures and it had a profound affect on his sound. Of course, it just came to him by default but we have to make a concerted effort.

  8. #8

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    listen to alot of foreign music, i just heard alot of middle eastern music at my cousins engagement party, i flowed what the guy was playing on some kinda bongo thing i think it was called a tublay, but anyway since i followed what he was playing i kinda branched off of that and played similiar things on my set
    Eskimos

  9. #9

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    Cool Originality

    Hey, Metal-head--I think what you heard at the cousin's engagement party are tablas...they're hand drums from India that became popular in the late 1960s when Ravi Shankar introduced the sitar to rock music.

    There are usually two of them and they're set up something similar to bongos, but you don't play them between your knees or on a stand. I think they sound cool, but they're one of the few hand drums I haven't played (yet!).

    And you've already taken a step toward originality because you've adapted them to your set...one thing I saw a few years ago that sounded cool--if a little, pun intended, off-beat, was when a drummer--whose name I didn't catch--played four-four with bass and high-hat while layin' down a funky beat on a conga drum; he had it where the snare would be on a regular set.

    That was all he was playin'--no side toms, no floor tom, no other hand percussion. Had a gospel feel to it, and man, he was cookin'! I think that can be adapted to other hand percussion...
    keep the beat goin' ... Don't keep it to yourself!

    Charlie

    "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," 1854

    "There's a lot to be said for Time Honored tradition and value." --In memory of Frank "fiacovaz" Iacovazzi

    "Maybe your drums can be beat, but you can't."--Jack Keck

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