Excuse the brevity of this post. But conciseness is in line with the concept of simplicity.
Simple, no-frills, in the pocket playing is what is moving my drumming career forward. More and more, when describing successful musical experiences, I hear myself saying things like: “all I did was play simply and in the pocket and everyone loved it.”
I wish I had the maturity to play this way earlier in my life. I have a lot of chops…. But I am not particularly inclined to use them lately, and I think that is a good thing.
Perhaps this seems like trite advice….you’ve heard it all before. But I promise you. It works.
Play simply and think about feel instead of chops. You’ll work more.
Mark Feldman is a session drummer from NYC.
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
He first gained attention as one of the winners of Modern Drummer magazine's very first drum solo contest, judged by Rush's Neil Peart.
He's played with Oz Noy, Will Lee, Alison Krauss, Curtis Stigers, Emily Remler, Joel Hoekstra, GE Smith, Andy York, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Shanahan, The Drifters, The Marvelettes, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and many other artists.
For more info: onlinesessiondrummer.com
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I agree 99% I’ll get on to why not 100% in a second. I also have plenty of chops. Some can be quite musical but the thing that gets and helps me keep my gigs is the fact I can groove. I’ve recently joined a Latin Funk band and the reason I got it over the other drummers is because I played the grooves and basic transition fills during the audition. Now that I’m in the band the leader is asking me to do solos and what not but it’s not what got me the gig.
The reason I have the 1% that doesn’t agree is because certain styles of music require you to push the boundrys a bit and let your hair down so to speak. Would Steve Jordan work well in Dream Theater?
Hi Kyle –
I pretty much agree with you. It’s good to have the technique in your back pocket to use as you see fit. Sometimes you’ll be asked to solo or play busier, and you want to be able to do that if called upon. I don’t necessarily agree with you about Steve Jordan, howeverÔǪ.and forgive me for now I am being nit picky. I’m pretty sure that Steve Jordan, if he wanted to, would be able to handle the Dream Theater gig and do the busy style and intricate fills if asked. Listen to Steve’s early fusion recordings, most notably with Steve Khan, and you’ll notice he has a lot of chops that he doesn’t use frequently. I don’t think he’d ever want that gig, but I if he did, he could nail itÔǪ…