The Drum … or the Drummer
I miss jam sessions.
I know they’ll be back eventually. And it’s not just that I miss playing music, with the enjoyment of people I know and the challenge of locking in with people I don’t know. Early on in my drum building venture, I found a great benefit – and great enjoyment – in another side of jam sessions.
Before I escaped big cities to the mountains, I used to frequent one of those jams where the real players show up when they're in town. The drummers had serious – I mean serious – chops and despite a lot of years of playing, I was frankly pretty intimidated there. The first time I went, I brought my own snare, one of my personal demo drums, not being confident in what the house kit might offer. So I walked in and gave my drum to the house drummer who set it up in the kit, and then I got a beer and made myself comfortable.
I never did play that night, but I got to listen to about a dozen terrific drummers play my snare – soul, funk, blues, country, jazz, fusion, whatever. Now, I really love the workshop part of this drum building stuff, but I also really get off on hearing a great drummer playing an instrument that I've made. I was getting compliments on the sound from guys that hadn't played it yet and were waiting for their turn to try it. By the end of the evening, there were five drummers – all pros – gathered around a table talking about the drum, asking questions, comparing preferences. Yes, it ended up with a couple of build orders soon after.
But my point is that we forget, I think, how good the drums boutique builders make really are, especially in comparison with the mass-production ones. We get caught up in the details of the craft, and we forget about how exciting it is for a good player to use a fine instrument. Every one of these guys made the drum sound different. Every one put part of himself into it, brought different things out of it. And I could see that point when each one stopped being a stranger with it and built his groove around the sound and feel of the instruments he was playing.
In discussions online about my last blog entry, which was about just how a drum’s design influences its sound, a number of people pointed out that the player – not just the instrument components – is an enormous factor (which I did include toward the end of the article). And I agree 100% with that. The shape and weight of the stick, the tip design, the technique, the angle and height of the stroke, the position on the head, the control of bounce and nuance – you can hear the signature touch of a good drummer.
So this begs the question: when it comes to sound, is it the drum, or the drummer?
The short answer is that it’s a combination of the two. It’s actually no different from any other musical instrument in that regard. A great drummer can make a mediocre snare or kit sound good, just by the way he or she plays it. Really good drummers can do that out of experience, evaluating the instrument as they’re playing it and finding out what qualities it’s capable of, and what works to draw the best qualities out. They won’t adjust their playing style to the drum, but they will adjust their choices of what tools and techniques they’ll use to get sounds they like. Does the drum lose sensitivity at the edges? OK, don’t play there, then, if it’s not the sound you want.
A less capable drummer is likely to hit every drum the same way, which will make that player sound different every time. It’s the drum that’s solely responsible for the sound, because the player isn’t so involved in that process.
So while it might seem that a fine drum would be wasted on that same player, the fact is that a drum that produces good sound will produce good sound no matter how it’s played. An average drummer will sound better when using a better drum. Not play better, mind you, just sound better – although the feel of a fine instrument can often inspire a performer’s best, whatever that may be.
But one of the key things about a fine instrument is that it gives the skilled player a much wider spectrum of capabilities. For those who really bring nuance and control to their performance, a high-end drum can answer to those demands. So instead of limiting themselves to what the drum is capable of, the artist can go anywhere his head and heart and technique want to take him.
And that’s what it’s all about for me, even though I wouldn’t put myself in the true “artist” performance category. Adequate is just not enough. As a player, I don’t want to be limited by my drums – I want to be enabled. I want to be empowered. I want to play the sounds that are in my head.
