Running Tracks!
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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 3 TECHNIQUE ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Hand Development, Rudiment Training ................................................................................... 4 Read Music! ................................................................................................................................ 5 Four-Way Coordination .............................................................................................................. 5 Knowledge of Styles ................................................................................................................... 6 Soloing ........................................................................................................................................ 6 KNOWLEDGE .................................................................................................................................. 8 Know Your Drummers! ............................................................................................................... 8 Know Your History! ..................................................................................................................... 9 Know the Repertoire! ................................................................................................................. 9 TOOLS ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Tuning! ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Click Tracks! ............................................................................................................................. 10 Running Tracks! ....................................................................................................................... 11 Electronics! ............................................................................................................................... 12 Play Percussion! ....................................................................................................................... 12 SKILLS........................................................................................................................................... 14 Listen! ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Take Direction! ......................................................................................................................... 14 Make People Like You! ............................................................................................................ 15 Be Consistent! .......................................................................................................................... 15 Never Stop Learning! ............................................................................................................... 16 BUSINESS ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Have an Image! ........................................................................................................................ 17 Social Media! ............................................................................................................................ 17 Run a Tight Business! .............................................................................................................. 18 About Rich Redmond ................................................................................................................... 20 INTRODUCTION Hello drummers! It is my sincere desire to help YOU! I wanted to boil my 42-year journey as a drummer into a few macro-nuggets. This is the big picture. Absorb it. Use it. Live it! Here’s to your success! Follow along, Rich TECHNIQUE Rich Teaching Nic Johnson Hand Development, Rudiment Training Technique is a means to an end. When we have good technique, expressing ourselves musically becomes easy. Work on developing your hands evenly. Get some rudiment training from a qualified player in your area. I can’t say enough about having a one-on-one relationship with a great teacher and doing in-person lessons. Scouring YouTube will only get you so far. Find a teacher that will make you accountable to your lesson material. This is crucial for consistent growth and development. Rudiments are the building blocks for all drumming. Think of them like scales for other instruments. Without them, you are trying to build a house with no foundation. Take the time to get this part of your playing together. Rudiments are the cake. The icing will come. Rich’s Chart on the Video Shoot for Jason Aldean’s “Johnny Cash” Read Music! Reading music has saved my career time and time again. It is the one skillset that always sets me apart from my competitors. If you can read music, you will be able to attract many more opportunities to yourself. Reading music allows me to interpret the written page or create my own charts from hearing music. Reading music has opened doors for me to play all kinds of music with a variety of groups in many different venues: classical, military, choral, marching bands, steel drum bands, cruise ships, musical theater, corporate party bands, wedding bands, tribute bands, percussion ensembles, fusion bands, smooth jazz bands, bebop bands, big bands, classic rock groups, country groups, Americana groups, studio work, and more. Being a great reader gives me peace of mind that I will never be out of work. If you can read music, you have a serious leg up on the competition. Reading music well gives me permission to be an educator, author, and clinician. This means more work in the music business and many more revenue streams. Four-Way Coordination Coordination is king! Drummers do four things at once. It’s called four-way coordination. I see many drummers of all experience levels consistently using only three limbs. This means they usually ignore the left foot on the hi-hat. That foot may as well be a dead fish! The hi-hat played with the foot is a musical ligament that holds together the muscle and bone of grooves. You can also think of it as the force that binds the universe together. Time spent developing four- way coordination is always time well spent. Musicians around you will notice the difference in your depth of groove. It helps. Spend time on it! Knowledge of Styles Knowledge of styles is crucial to our drumming success. In the new music business, it is helpful to be a jack of all trades, master of all. There are so many kinds of music and nearly all of them need a great drummer. Disco, classic rock, modern rock, jazz, smooth jazz, big band, pop, folk, country, country rock, southern rock, Latin styles, heavy metal, calypso, soca, reggae…the list goes on and on. Each of these styles has cultural and musical rules. Immerse yourself in different music. Play along to records. Seek out the experts. Play with musicians that have deep experiences with this music. Learn! Absorb! The more styles of music you can convincingly play, the more opportunities you can attract to yourself. Even if you just want to play rock and roll, learning other styles of music will influence you and make you sound different than the next performer. Pour these styles and influences into your own little cauldron and make your own musical recipe. We all want to be unique and have a voice. Learning about many kinds of music will get you one step closer to that voice. Rich on Tour with Jason Aldean Soloing Drum Solo! Soloing will not get you the gig! That’s right—very rarely is soloing on the top of a band or band leader’s list of most important musical skills. Time, groove, feel, sound, and musicianship are usually the desired skills. However, soloing is a much-needed tool for your drumming arsenal. There are three types of drum solos: • Soloing Over a Vamp: This frequently happens in fusion and Latin styles. The members of the band will play a rhythmic figure repeatedly as the drummer creates a magical musical story that builds. Use dynamics, sound sources, and phrasing to create excitement and take the listener on a journey. • Soloing Over the Form of a Song. This is most common in jazz groups that play standards like “All the Things You Are” or “Autumn Leaves.” The key to this is to know the song’s melody intimately and be able to sing it. There is nothing worse than a drummer losing everyone in the band when they blow the form of a song. A musical drummer can sing or hum the melody and always knows where they are in the structure of a song. A considerate drummer will give the band subtle musical cues to mark the sections. A good drummer is truly a conductor, always directing musical traffic and keeping everyone on track and happy. • The Open Drum Solo is that solo where the band leaves the stage and the drummer entertains a sea of smiling fans. Most common in rock groups playing arenas, this is an art form that goes back many years. It started with the great big band drummers and was then taken to the next level by players like Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Carmine Appice, Ginger Baker, Don Brewer, Alex Van Halen, and many others. KNOWLEDGE Clockwise from Left: Gene