49% of people are offended. 49% of people are offended over someone else being offended. 1% making jokes about bass players. 1% are making percentages.
Drummer_Jez I was kidding too, but I guess you used up too much of your brainpower to force out sarcasm to really try and understand someone else's comment. I still appreciate the effort.
+Drummer_Jez also .. internet txt lacks many of the tell tale signs of sarchasm like change of voice inflection, rolling eyes and such it is easy to interpret words in the wrong context
+Luke Norman With an image like this? thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/disabled-drummer-action-portrait-handicapped-suit-playing-outdoors-36615214.jpg :) #toofar?
+Luke Norman While I'm sure Glenn (and many others) would see the funny side of it, +SpectreSoundStudios has his work cut out dealing with the worlds' idiots as it is without needing the PC-brigade banging on his door.
I saw this one video and it explained why drummers suck without a metronome when playing fills. What it was is their breathing technique. A lot of drummers tend to hold their breath wile playing a fill. If you're not breathing, your body thinks something is wrong and speeds up your heart rate, making you go faster than the tempo. My advice, practice to a slow metronome going "boom tat boom tat" in quarter notes and focus on your breathing.
+Allan Dunlap that actually makes sense. i only hit some drums for fun and without any talent whatsoever, i'm a gitarist, but thinking about it, i hold my breath too.
+Allan Dunlap Is the proper breath technique to exhale before the fills or a constant breathing in and out? I'm saving up for a decent kit to start practicing right and I'm curious.
+K4RN4GE911 It's more of just not holding your breath. So constant breathing in and out is what I would aim towards. When I practice with a metronome, I count out loud with slower tempos. With faster tempos, I count half notes.
+Allan Dunlap I always thought it was because you usually play something with your right hand for time keeping - straight 8ths on the hat or ride are pretty common in pretty much all rock and pop music. And in Jazz they might be shuffled, but it's still time keeping. So when the fill comes around the steady ticking away of the right hand is interrupted.
Alright, I got a story. This was my band’s first ever live show, it was at my school and we’d been practicing for months. Everything was perfect, nothing could have gone wrong... or I thought. My drummer had forgotten his sticks and didn’t realize until we got on stage. My drummer slapped the drums the whole performance, the drums were so quiet that I could nearly hear them and I was standing right beside the drums. After the show, our drummer’s hands were bleeding and the drum kit (not his) was covered in blood.
It's like that scene from whiplash. It surprises me though that playing with your hands would hurt his hands. Must be pretty bad at hand playing then... get him to practice some djembe to get his hands in shape, so that if he forgets his sticks he can at least play like that. Did the show go well apart from that? I guess you didn't recover from his mistake? Hope there wasn't any drum solos, lol
Just to ward off any potential backlash from angry drummers (and because I'd like to see more videos like this) you should do this for every player in a band. As a guitarist, I want to see how badly you can rip into us, be worth a good laugh.
+JimJamBanx Haha exactly. As a drummer, I've been waiting for a video like this for quite a while. Not only is it hilarious seeing what drummers do but you actually learn 1 or 2 things about how to do things right. That being said, I spoke with my old kindergarten teacher and she said she'd gladly teach me how to count to 4.
Man that´s hard,, I know how you feel. Our bassist once asked me on the phone if he should bring his bass to the rehearsal. Not making this up, unfortunately.
I am drummer AND bassplayer... that's because we have two drummers in 1 band(not my idea). But since I'm drummer and bassist, am I kryptonite for Glenn? also what would my IQ be?
+Scott McKinstry I agree; with those little hidden arms, in addition to (at least) a light saber ejection-port, the little guy could certainly tear some things up. He could use his periscope to see above the set, to see the crowd.
My drummer is a well mannered clean cut guy who will buy you a beer if you're having financial issues... but he fucks it all up by bringing his girlfriend to practice lol
A man walked into a music shop and looked around for a while, before approaching the counter. " Hi, I would like that saxophone and that accordian please" the man said, "are you a drummer?" the store clerk asked. "Yeah, how did you know?" the man asked. "well I'll sell you that fire extinguisher for $50, but I'm not unbolting that raidiator".
As a drummer, I completely agree with you. There are too many drummers who want to "be like the pros" and try playing the most insane stuff, without even thinking about the fact that you need to be able to play the basic stuff without fucking up to be able to play the complicated stuff. I wish more poeple would actually see their own mistakes and try to fix them. Im all for making idiots see their own mistakes. Keep up the good work!
Love this episode Glenn. I've been a drummer for 30 years and I don't feel it necessary to copy Neil Peart or Mike Portnoy. Those guys already exist and they're better than me. So I just play basic drums and I try to do as good of a job as I can. Fills? We don't need no steenking fills! I CAN count to 4 but I know plenty of drummers that can't. Think I'll play this one for them.
This is so true, man. Out of all the drummers at my school, there's literally like one or two really good ones. All the others ones literally can't even do the beat for Reptilia, by the Strokes. Yeah. And they all play more or less exactly like you described. It's a nightmare at rehearsals.
what's worse is that most of those drummers don't grow out of that crap. Even talking about metronomes to some drummers is a bad idea even well into adulthood lol
Hey, Glenn! Just wanted to let you know I showed your vids to a couple of my friends from out music lessons. They found them hilarious and really informative! (which is a relief for me, cause one's a drummer and the other one's a bass player. Being a guitar player myself I'd love to see a How to not COMPLETELY SUCK at Heavy Rock Guitar, the constructive criticism is incredible. Once again, thank you for the work you put into these videos. Keep it up!
Glenn, I love that you mentioned Phil Rudd. The guy is probably the best example of a rock-solid drummer with impeccable timing and dynamics. He seriously does not get enough credit. I think I've learned more about being an effective drummer by trying to duplicate exactly what Phil Rudd is doing when I play along with his records than doing just about anything else. Even when you get into more complex stuff, the principles that Rudd's playing is based on are still a great foundation for your playing. Study Rudd and you will be a better drummer, I swear, even if you play progressive death-thrash-coregrind-whateverthefuck. Damn shame he ran into trouble in his personal life and can't be up there doing his thing anymore these days.
Dude. I fuckin' LOVE this video! Being a musician somehow should automatically imply that you also have a good sense of humor, right? You seem like a great and fun guy to hang with and even take some constructive criticism from. Even as a pro drummer, most of us aren't perfect, and recognizing that is actually part of being a pro; knowing how to keep your ears open to others in the studio. It's always fun watching your videos and grabbing tips and a perspective from a great studio engineer. All the best from me and The Dickies 🤘
I've got a little brother who started playing drums, except he never practices. He's to busy watching minecraft. Not playing, but watching. When we do play together, he gets so off beat that i give up playing with him within seconds. Jesus, I should make him watch this.
+16-bit gorillaz Lol if he's a little kid then thats just how they are, they'll say they really want something before they've even tried it and then give up in seconds :L my little bro watched me doing some game dev and he really wanted to try but he gave up and went back to watching minecraft after a few days.
+spooky "scary" skeleton he's ten. It doesn't help that I'm a bassist(I can admit to it) and my twin brother is a guitar player, so are whole family expected him to at least practice.
First of all, as a drummer for over 22 years I 100% agree with EVERYTHING you said, i cant tell you how many students ive had who do all of the above and when i try to correct the issues i get push back and even shit from parents over it because i make them learn how to read music, count, and keep time and get used to metronomes and click tracks way before i ever let them pick up a stick. Some pick it up quicker than others but i hate when i get an impatient parent or student that wants to know why im not teaching them drum solos and stick tricks week 1. My dad was a classically trained saxophone player and he beat it into my head the moment i told him at 8 that i wanted to be a drummer that your number one and most important job as a drummer and the thing that even if your bad at all other aspects will still serve its purpose, is to be a rock solid time keeper, a human metronome for the other musicians. He also said to think of yourself as the tempo babysitter, your job is to babysit everyone else's tempo by being the unmovable refference point, and to make sure the bass player doesn't drink the drano under the sink.
Hmm... I think the thing with drumming is it depends who wants to learn it. If you want to play rock drums with a band you most likely won't be sitting there staring at sheet music. I think learning how to independently hit the drums first is important because not being able to play without sheet music will be a huge roadblock when you plan to play with other musicians. I think sheet music has its place but I personally don't think it is that necessary to stare at an entire piece of sheet music if you are doing rock. Jazz and orchestral music might be different however. I think the best approach is to first teach how to hold a stick and where to hit the drum. Maybe learning how to count first is also important but being able to play on a drum kit at all and by that I mean do 3 things at once and learn coordination is the first big step in my opinion. Once that is possible would I continue teaching how to keep a basic 4/4 beat and move on from there. Here is the thing I am not a big fan of an ubertheoretical approach to everything. The truth is if students get confronted with a lot of theoretical stuff like reading sheet music and what counting is before actually being able to attempt to do it themselves and see what it is like, they might get demotivated and see that it is too much of a learning curve to even attempt. and I don't blame them. I hate when professors try to paint learning a certain subject or material as super complicated and over theoretical vs approaching a more learning by doing method and hence making it more practical. Obviously learning stick tricks and solos week one is ridiculous but rather than judging them for it it is good for them to understand why. And maybe say if you want to learn a solo first let's practice this pattern so you can develop your double stroke roll and eventually get up to speed for a cool drum solo. Keep the students motivated I think is a good idea. I don't want to criticize you for you teaching methods. I just want to give you a possible reason as to why some beginners might be uncomfortable with this learning method. I also don't think it is fair to label anyone as unintelligent or "stick make noise" because they might have a different approach to learning it. Another big part is that everyone has a different way of learning and the way you learned might not be the same for everyone else. Flexibility I think is an important factor. And finally no one is perfect and we all keep learning new things. I think students shouldn't learn everything day one but get a healthy foundation to build on themselves so they can stay motivated and learn new things because let's face it, people will make mistakes and trial and error will be an important factor in making progress in pretty much anything.
I've missed these kinds of videos, Glenn. Thanks for giving us a good laugh out of this one! I hope you can make more editorial-type stuff in the future. Or even just more comedy gold like this XD
I have been playing drums for about 6 years ( I started when I was 10) and most of what I have done in that time is a few grades and loads of live gigs. Whilst I was having fun at the time when I look back at old videos I realize that I really did fit the stereotype, my timing was okay but since i was big enough to actually see over the kit I have always hit too hard with no style and tried to put in too many fills. I also found out more recently that my timing was not as good as I thought it was when I sat down and tried to record drums at college, the whole song was out of time. Because of this I find things like drummer jokes and this video very useful as it encourages me to try break the stereotype. I have now started playing to metronome after that embarrassing experience and started learning how to play to jazz to add style to my playing and to stop me drowning out the rest of the band because I hit too hard.
About 9-10 years ago my band was recording with a local studio, our drummer in all his magnificent glory insisted on using a titanium kick plate on his drum head because that's what "Trve Kvlt Black Metal Drummers do", and honestly it would have been fine, except that he didn't have a soft beater ball (I don't know if I'm using the right terminology, I'm a guitarist) so it was just a piece of hard wood hitting a piece of hard metal so the entire recording all you could hear was "TINK TINK TINK TINK TINK TINKTINK" Is that how that shits supposed to sound or was he just an idiot? (It took us a whole day of bitching to convince him to try something else)
Damn. As someone who has all of the Woods of Ypres albums, I've never noticed how off-base the drumming was until you mentioned it. That stuff aside, even if David Gold was (or seemed to be) a massive douche, I'm still sad he's gone. His music is close to my heart because it helped me through some really tough times in my life.
I showed up to my friends inhouse studio (he plays guitar) I played with a his old beginner set, and he was so impressed with the punch, tones and accents stood out when I was recording. He basically said "I never heard those drums sound so good and punchy in the mix"
Dear Glenn, I'm going to give you a little advice in the form of 'How to not COMPLETELY SUCK at good content. And before you go saying 'you don't even have any videos', this isn't my content channel, I'm not putting myself up to that kind of ridicule. 1) Get your facts straight. Or at least base them off something that actually has a little depth to it. A few things you said are based off complete and utter bullshittery, and I know it's tongue in cheek exaggeration and a lot is based on previous assholes you've worked with, but it's a little stale. 2) Stop trying to force humor. Closing up your throat and doing shouty little rage bursts or even worse, putting on goofy accents that are just a tad awkward really take me away from the points you're trying to put across. Oh and BY FAR the worst thing is fake laughing at your own jokes. I did this in my first videos as a young awkward teenager and soon realized how fake and tragic it really looks. Sorry. (Saying that the actual believable rage I like, it's kind of your trademark after all). 3) Audio (come on, Glenn). I don't think I've ever worked a distressor so hard on vocals in my audio career. Dial down the ratio a bit, your voice sounds muddy as f*ck. I understand you don't want to be clipping when you shout but come on... you have more than one compressor and I think you're using two anyway, set up your thresholds man... Oh and please remove the sub 100hz on your voice too, it sounds like I'm stuck inside your throat. 4) Your jokes suck, sorry. 5) (And this is what I'm calling the 'helpful tip') Be a bit more natural. I know for a fact you're a good guy, you work your ass off no doubt for your wife as much as you. You make great tutorials and you've definitely taught me some things. Try to bring a little more of you into the videos rather than this big sack of rage and ignorance that is Glenn in a 'comedic' video. I'm not saying stop them obviously they are in fact what made this channel what it is. But try not to be so 2D and... lazy (for lack of a better word). These episodes are reminding me of typical trashy TV comedies, it's a really basic formula to please people on a simple level and doesn't contain much variety aside from the topic. Maybe try going off your script a little more because there's nothing faker than reading from a teleprompter (just watch the news). ANYWAY, of course take what I've said with a pinch of salt, obviously I don't mean to upset you. In fact, I've written this comment in the same way that you addressed drummers in this video so... If this comment did anger you, think about that. And try to take a little of what I said on board, it's just constructive criticism laid out in a 'SMG' kind of way. Feel free to message me back I'm absolutely open to discuss everything I've said. From a long term fan, thanks for reading. :)
Sure it's irrelevant. :) Truth be told, you're the first to bitch about my voiceover. Most want to know how I get it to sound so good. And yes, I do roll off below 100hz. Stop listening with your eyes.
+SpectreSoundStudios Hey I listened before I saw! Perhaps I'm just accustomed to different styles. Anyway nice arguing! I'm going to prepare now for the complete backlash I'm gonna get from your fans hahaha. Before anyone starts hating on me too bad, Glenn's been pretty nice about the whole thing on facebook.
+Luke Russe Nah, I agree with you. The vocals are compressed so hard his screaming can be easily mistaken for "whining". The "How to get your band ready for the studio" video was so perfect, partly because the vocal track had a good dynamic range and you can hear the difference in volume between talking and screaming. This kinda added to the raw passion of what he was screaming about. SpectreSoundStudios, I do love your channel and you'll do what you want. But perhaps you'll consider these suggestions.
i've always had a problem with speeding up songs, especially on fills unfortunately as a self taught drummer i never really had too much of an opportunity to practice drums at home because they were too loud or there wasn't any room or i didn't have a practice pad i basically learned everything i know by just being put on a kit and playing recently i started to play with my band using a metronome during rehearsal and it always helps vs trying to be a time keeper without really having too much of a foundation in that aspect i really appreciate your bold and brash attitude towards these things because as a producer myself it is a complete waste of time working with the kind of people you frequently mention in negative ways and it can be a real headache while most people hate your guts for the way you approach these subjects, i actually admire and respect the way you tackle the issues with sort of like a 'tough love' attitude towards musicians that unfortunately not a lot of people understand much respect to you glenn, thank you so much for being so informative
In case you were wondering, I practice and record to clicks and I can actually play whole songs without accompaniment, however I prefer a guitar scratch track with a metronome in it. I even let people listen to my drum tracks soloed because I know I played it right. I also never use triggers or sample replacement (if I get a say that is, sometimes I am not consulted) and once, just once, I did record a song in one take. It was a ballad.
If you’re offended by this video: you are the type of drummer he’s talking about. I’ve been playing drums my whole life and laughed my ass off at this. Learn to take a joke, kids. Life is a lot better if you don’t get offended by every joke you hear.
Thanks Glen. I am a drummer and I actually appreciate the time you are putting in to show the shortcomings of drummers everywhere. there are too many screwballs that have as you said the "stick make noise" mentality. it really goes to show that taking pride in one's craft is getting rarer and rarer as it becomes easier to take 1 - 2 takes and say screw it, good enough. people want to be good, but they have no desire to work for it.
My mate plays drums in an indie rock band, and they just finished tracking a new EP. He was super nervous going in because he's a huge Gavin Harrison fan (and Steely Dan, for that matter), and so he was worried that his playing wouldn't be super polished and consistent, especially since it was his first time in a proper recording studio. He must've practised heaps because he said he nailed his parts and cut all 6 tracks in one day (including setting up the kit) :P
You missed the really important magical method of hitting more than one piece of the kit at the same exact moment. I've seen countless drummers who couldn't even hit the bass drum and the crash at the same time, there was always a slight delay that fucked up the preformance. Oh, and don't get me started on volume balance. Smashing the shit out of the hi-hat but playing heel-down and without rimshots, but I think you have covered this one in one of your previous videos. But still, it's worth repeating because the main reason us drummers can't count to 4 is because we even forget what's after 3 :)
As rule of thumb, bass drum and snare are the most important sounds in rock, when it comes to drums. For example queen, "we will rock you". No hihat/cymbals yet the song works just fine. Take jazz as another example: if you know how to use the ride and a little snare you can almost forget the bass drum. Benny Greb speaks about this on his dvd "the art and science of groove". As soon as he showed it on dvd, it was completely obvious to me. Beforehand I knew I sounded wrong, but I never knew why. Since then I try to hit the bass drum harder and play the hihat softer. Small changes, but a big effect.
@@steffenpanning2776 No. Jazz is Ride and Hi hat and then snare and kick for coming. in Jazz hi hat and ride are the most important elements of the kit. You can play through an entire song not hitting the snare once in jazz but not being able to control the hi hat pedal with your foot is a big no no.
As a Progressive Metal drummer, I didn't know you had a reason to count to 4, so I looked it up. I felt like such an idiot, I always counted it as 16/16! I want to thank you for opening my eyes to this amazing discovery, Glenn, my bandmates will surely be thankful too.
+Sam Damarell What are you talking about exactly? Cause I never made that comment I just posted a suggestion for maybe a future video, cause blues isn't as easy as some people might think, there's alot of mistakes that can be made with it... I'm not following, what's your point?
4 years ago recording at spectre you gave my former drummer shit for having the high hat top to high, you said "are you guys trying to play fucking disco"? We were put off at first but over the course of a couple hours we learned to trust your opinions. Anyways.... keep these videos coming Fricker!
so fucking true!!! but usually I notice that it is the drummers with NO musical background other than waking up and saying " hey mom, I'm gonna be a drummer!" that are guilty of these crimes of nature. As a drummer of 15 years, THAT is what I take offense to. At least learn how to play in time, it is literally your job! Drumming, or any other instrument takes more than having fast hands or feet. if you ain't got time, your speed ain't worth shit, son! Gaaaaahhhhhhhhddd!
Bought a drum tension watch and it's made a world of difference!! My band mates love my drum tone. Well worth the money. I tune my drums to a standard then slightly adjust at the practice space. Play in the pocket and rock it!!!
+Denni Bryant One of four things would happen: 1. They will quit the drums 2. They will pretend to know what is going on in the music 3. They will bitch at you for questioning their intelligence and challenging it 4. They will learn to count to 4 and then work on counting past 4 to play some Zappa
+Denni Bryant You never really have to count beyond 4 - all those complex time signatures are basically composites of binary (2 or 4) and ternary (3) segments. So something in 17/8 might be counted: 1-2,1-2-3,1-2-3-4,1-2-3,1-2,1-2-3, or other types of groupings depending on the tune. The tough part for Drummers in Zappa is tempo. A lot of what he wrote depends on giving different instruments different time signatures and on creating tension through having some instruments push or drag at some part. The problem is that Rock drummers usually have problems with the multiple time signature stuff, while Jazz drummers tend to interpret the pushs and drags as global timing cues. And that's good Rock and Jazz drummers - Rock drummers are good at setting a global time signature, Jazz drummers are good at picking up tempo cues from the soloist. But within the context of Zappas music these skills are more of a hinderance. So arguably there are 3 types of drummers (4 if you include classically trained precussionists): Rock drummers, Jazz drummers and Zappa drummers...
Aloha Chief Glenn. I wish you could've met & witnessed & tracked my good friend, a drummer extrodinere; Full Tama, deep maple snare (others, too), zilch isn't all the way around, practiced his lessons dutifully. We went through 3 acts together in the late '80's & early '90's, Seattle. My fantastic friend was a fantastic man of intelligence, wit & was like having my very own Tommy Aldridge to work with. In '94 (terrible year; lost everything down to my fingernails, from playing at will all over the PAC NW.), his good family job of vending machines, destroyed two low vertabrae. I heard a few years ago, the heavy depression induced drinking took him into a telephone pole. I'm doing Addictive Drums now, gotta re-amp them & every trick I can recall from my early '90's studio intern days. It's so not the same. I had THE best, smartest, kindest friend that just got EVERYTHING right. And the Universe robbed his life. Nowadays, I'm just impressed if a live drummer can follow his own hi hat.
Glenn, as a drummer - one who is professionally qualified, makes a good living, doesn't drink and can count to four - I do see the humour in what you do most of the time, but sometimes you do your credibility no favours but slating everyone as the same and that makes people like me, who aren't 14, don't worship you and do actually know better, take you less than seriously when you are actually trying to be serious. Sometimes, just sometimes, the overbearing condescending attitude doesn't come across as funny as you think which is a shame as I think you have some interesting things to say as well as stuff which has left me laughing my arse off.
Not what I said. Having been a drummer for over 25 years and a gigging one for most of that, as well as being involved in the media side of things too, I know they're are a lot of drummers out there who do suck and so fair's fair. But there are far more guitarists than drummers - by default - and probably singers as well, who are far worse for the type of thing you make 'us' out to be. It's the everyone who isn't a guitarist is a cunt vibe that gets old, that's all. Deserving a bashing if you act like a twat is one thing, no matter what you do, and I completely put my hand up to doing that myself, but to say that every drummer (in this instance) is as thick as shit, can't count and can't play is ridiculous. Doesn't exactly nurture the future generations really either who will watch this and go into a band situation with the wrong attitude or approach. All I am saying is time and place, that's all, not everyone is what I say they are and that's that.
I'm a drummer who uses a metronome, has bee. classically trained and... Is sad to say he knows plenty of other drummers who follow this EXACT formula. Seriously, there are guys who I've had to play with who can't actually fucking play the drums right. YOU FUCKING PLAY WITH A METRONOME YOU DO NOT HAVE PERFECT TIME! Thank you
+Alvaro Silva But in his defense he played with a guitarist and a bass player that actually LISTENED to each other and were able to make it not noticeable.
Hey Glen, just watched this video and it was a massive eye opener. Being a drummer my self I have taken what you said and I am now applying it to my practice time to better myself as a musician. Love the channel and thanks.
So... David Gold died a few years ago... I don't really care. Lying on the album cover and lying to fans AND showing that you (I mean him ofc) don't give a fuck about people who created an album with you is a total disgrace. Feels like WoY is not important for me at all now, even if some of the songs are still pretty good. Thanks for sharing the history Glenn and keep up the good work with these videos :)
Yeah Glen, you make a good point about a drummer that doesn't hit hard enough, but the thing I hate is a drummer that only knows how to play extremely loud. Hard enough to always break sticks, heads and cymbals. Not to mention, you don't need to practice at 150db at band practice. You should only have to play loud enough to be heard. i had a drummer that played rather soft but accurately. His timing was a bit of an issue occasionally, but he still played with control and you didn't leave band practice with permanent hearing loss every time. He didn't break sticks and he was loud enough to be heard and we didn't bother neighbors when we practiced. So there is something to be said about playing at a volume that is necessary for the occasion.
THIS Video. Spot on. I don't understand at all how a drummer can demand to not play to a click in the studio!! My band practices to a click constantly. Click tracks make you tighter and in time all the time. Drummers that won't play to a click give the rest of us a bad name, and we have enough to overcome already. Sheesh.
I'm a drummer just starting out (Been playing for almost 1 year) and I am taking this to heart from the start. Yes I do act like a complete mong on the kit, but only after 1: asking if I can, and 2: to get it out of my system. Currently I'm a glorified metrimone who has a double pedal. I am actively learning how to use it and how to set up my drum kit to the best positions.
I'm a total butterfingers with sticks so here's what I do. I take fine sandpaper a few times and rotate AROUND the parts of the stick I will hold a few times (not up and down the stick). THEN I wipe off the stick with a damp cloth or just clean it under water. THEN fully dry the stick, usually in front of a fan cause wet wood changes to useless wood. THEN when it's dried I take drummers stick wax and wax going up and down the stick rotating slightly after each up and down to cover the whole stick. Then I never have to worry again since I don't even sweat when I'm working out with 176 heartrate. If your hands sweat during drumming you would probably need to rewax every few hours-years
Hey Glenn. Drummer here. Just want to say that I absolutely love your videos. Especially this one. That part about the bad odor, so true. Playing drums is quite the workout, it makes you smell like shit.Your videos are so brutally honest and ruthless towards idiots and that's why I adore them. I can honestly say that I agree with 99.9% of this video. You're right, counting to 4 actually is crucial. At my first drum lesson, my teacher told me to get used to counting to 4 constantly while walking cause it definitely helps you ascertain a solid tempo and pocket from perpetual repetition. Also, of course using a metronome is SO IMPORTANT and so many drummers fail to acknowledge that. This is where my .1% of disagreement comes from. You praise Phil Rudd for playing with finesse and amazing timing but I heard somewhere that he never used a metronome while recording for acdc. If that's true, doesn't that completely contradict what you said? If you could shed some light on this, that would be great. This might just be a biased opinion cause I'm not an acdc fan. I just think he gets way more credit than he actually deserves.
Thanks Glenn. this summer i got a pretty standard kit because I figured id teach myself to play them to improve my overall playing and songwriting for the guitar and bass (and cello but you dont exactly play metal with those often). I know right. a drummer who plays and understands other instruments and music. anyways, now i know what to focus on and how to "not completly suck at drums". you are saving me from a lot of arguments.
The "take a dump in a urinal" comment killed me man. We all know a drummer who's done it XD. You have got to do this with the rest of the band as well! I want to hear you make fun of me and my guitar playing peers!
The guy that's the complete opposite to what Glen described is Rob Bourdon. Solid technique, always seeks to improve himself, can completely play on time (heck, he plays live perfectly like how it was recorded in the studio) and is a very humble and nice guy. On another note, I started playing without a metronome/click track but I am trying to improve myself as a drummer/song writer so I started using one 2 years ago. Put me off at first, but it was a just a matter of getting used to. Thanks Glen for the encouragement/warning!
I love Rob Bourdon's work. He was one of my major influences. It is a shame that linking park is now basically an EDM band and Rob Bourdon is nowhere near as good as he was during the Meteora and Hybrid Theory days.
I played in a punk band for years we practiced all the time. A PUNK BAND!!!! I was the drummer I never used a metronome but because we practiced so much I'd get the guitar player in the headphones the drums in his and it worked. Mind you it was only punk rock.
I had a drummer who decided it would be funny to cover a peanut butter sandwich in shrooms before a gig. He started tripping out half way through our set and we had to either stop or play half tempo. That was the last show with that drummer.
In a musical I played in, we had to use an electric drum kit. At one of the last performances, during one of the songs, the drumkit decided to just collapse towards the end of the song. No one noticed before the song was finished and we heard the drummer laughing.
I've been playing drums for about 23 years now, I'm still learning heaps, pushing myself to try harder stuff, etc; but I recently went back to the fundamentals of technique, precision and power... holy fuck my arse it's helped SO much!!! It's worked on my Bass, Guitar, Recording, and non-music related things like racing and even at work! A lot of this is thanks, in no small part, to people like Glenn giving inspiration and a mental kick in the arse. If I could offer one piece of advice, it is practice and practice properly. Don't think you know it all, because the second you stop learning is the second you give others the edge on you!
At my school there is a beat up 5 piece Yamaha kit and some kids like me also play on that kit, which means when I adjust the cymbals and toms, it obviously is changed the next time I played on it. One day I noticed that the ride stand kept collapsing whenever I went for a fast blast. The next day, I see a freshman bending the ride stand to a 90 deg. angle without loosening the bolts, and I ran in there and screamed "STOP!". Ugh, I feel your pain glenn hope this never happens to you anymore
For the special kind of stupid drummer like me, counting with words instead of numbers has helped a lot with not only keeping time but phrasing and dynamics as well. For example in a straight four thrash song instead of '1-2-3-4', I'd be thinking 'I want more beer'. The trick is to adjust the phrase to break monotony, perhaps a two-bar phrase 'I want more beer, right now right here'. Toss in some triplets with 'Fucking now fucking here'. And don't forget to be awesome, cheers!
I played a show i Hamburg once where we had a opening band who's drummer showed up on his fancy motorbike, late for soundcheck , and asked if he could borrow our drummers kit. After a while he came back and asked about cymbals. And right before they started playing he came back again asking for drum sticks. Maybe you've met him? ;)
Damn Glen!!! I haven't seen anybody go off on drummers like this since that Dude from the movie "Whiplash"!!! He won an Oscar though. Don't know what the TH-cam equivalent is, but you definitely get my vote!!!
Drums are one of the hardest instruments to play but often underestimated. Too many people, drummers included, think "have stick, hit drum" is all what drumming is about but that couldn't be further from the truth. Learning to play the drums is a combination and balance between strength, dexterity, finesse and technique. When you put a good drummer against a bad drummer it's like watching a fight between a well trained martial artist and some buff dude that spends his entire day in the gym. It doesn't matter how strong the dude might be, against good technique he will be face down on the ground in seconds.
As a drummer myself, I have to completely agree with you, counting to four, holding your sticks, playing on time and with power are the absolute basics of drumming. And some drummers just decide to casually skip the one thing that they have to fucking master-rythem!
I heard of a drummer that had dissaperared by the time he was supposed to count in the second song on their first bigger festival gig. He was found crawling under his drum raise looking for the drumstick he lost during song no 1. He had spares, but he was cheap too! :)
49% of people are offended.
49% of people are offended over someone else being offended.
1% making jokes about bass players.
1% are making percentages.
Successful Failure 0.01% seeing the comments like this and not caring.
1% are the 1%
50% of all statistics are wrong
Are you the same guy that did this same comment on the guitar version of this video?
100 percent of non bass players are making fun of bass players.
1 2 3 4
You wouldn't expect this from a drummer would you? Well, it was easy to figure because those number thingies were right next to each other
Try it with sticks in your hand.
SpectreSoundStudios It's really hard to type with sticks in my hand
SpectreSoundStudios I'm a simple man: when I see boobs I pull out my dick
+Jan Dries 10/10
+Jan Dries SAVAGE
if my band only plays songs in 3 do I still have to know how to count to 4?
+Drummer_Jez Exactly, that ignorant fuck Glenn doesn't know his shit at all.
+Mezurashii5 I love his vids .. I was just being sarcastic .. jesus fuck .. why is everyone on the internet always so butt hurt over everything
Drummer_Jez I was kidding too, but I guess you used up too much of your brainpower to force out sarcasm to really try and understand someone else's comment. I still appreciate the effort.
+Mezurashii5 lol .. hard to tell anymore man .. you sneeze too loud and people are freaking out that you are racist or something
+Drummer_Jez also .. internet txt lacks many of the tell tale signs of sarchasm like change of voice inflection, rolling eyes and such it is easy to interpret words in the wrong context
STICK MAKE NOISE! :)
; )
+SpectreSoundStudios
New T shirt idea?
+Luke Norman With an image like this? thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/disabled-drummer-action-portrait-handicapped-suit-playing-outdoors-36615214.jpg
:) #toofar?
+Niall O'Brien
Bwaaaaahahahahaha
That would be perfect.
Glenn, you know what to do!
+Luke Norman While I'm sure Glenn (and many others) would see the funny side of it, +SpectreSoundStudios has his work cut out dealing with the worlds' idiots as it is without needing the PC-brigade banging on his door.
I saw this one video and it explained why drummers suck without a metronome when playing fills. What it was is their breathing technique. A lot of drummers tend to hold their breath wile playing a fill. If you're not breathing, your body thinks something is wrong and speeds up your heart rate, making you go faster than the tempo. My advice, practice to a slow metronome going "boom tat boom tat" in quarter notes and focus on your breathing.
+Allan Dunlap that actually makes sense. i only hit some drums for fun and without any talent whatsoever, i'm a gitarist, but thinking about it, i hold my breath too.
+Allan Dunlap Is the proper breath technique to exhale before the fills or a constant breathing in and out? I'm saving up for a decent kit to start practicing right and I'm curious.
+K4RN4GE911 It's more of just not holding your breath. So constant breathing in and out is what I would aim towards. When I practice with a metronome, I count out loud with slower tempos. With faster tempos, I count half notes.
Allan Dunlap Gotcha. Thanks fr the tip!
+Allan Dunlap I always thought it was because you usually play something with your right hand for time keeping - straight 8ths on the hat or ride are pretty common in pretty much all rock and pop music. And in Jazz they might be shuffled, but it's still time keeping. So when the fill comes around the steady ticking away of the right hand is interrupted.
Alright, I got a story. This was my band’s first ever live show, it was at my school and we’d been practicing for months. Everything was perfect, nothing could have gone wrong... or I thought. My drummer had forgotten his sticks and didn’t realize until we got on stage. My drummer slapped the drums the whole performance, the drums were so quiet that I could nearly hear them and I was standing right beside the drums. After the show, our drummer’s hands were bleeding and the drum kit (not his) was covered in blood.
It's like that scene from whiplash. It surprises me though that playing with your hands would hurt his hands. Must be pretty bad at hand playing then... get him to practice some djembe to get his hands in shape, so that if he forgets his sticks he can at least play like that. Did the show go well apart from that? I guess you didn't recover from his mistake? Hope there wasn't any drum solos, lol
Just to ward off any potential backlash from angry drummers (and because I'd like to see more videos like this) you should do this for every player in a band. As a guitarist, I want to see how badly you can rip into us, be worth a good laugh.
+JimJamBanx Haha exactly. As a drummer, I've been waiting for a video like this for quite a while. Not only is it hilarious seeing what drummers do but you actually learn 1 or 2 things about how to do things right.
That being said, I spoke with my old kindergarten teacher and she said she'd gladly teach me how to count to 4.
xIcarus227 Yeah will drummers have trouble counting to 4, guitarists have trouble counting past the first 2 strings.
***** Metal guitarists trying to do session work: "Can't I just play the powerchords?"
Love this idea. 😀
+JimJamBanx pretty sure he already did
"That's 1 2 3 4, not 1 2 3 + 7/8"
B-b-but Dream Theater!
I'm a drummer, and this is all true XD. Our guitarist once forgot to bring his fucking guitar though.
Man that´s hard,, I know how you feel.
Our bassist once asked me on the phone if he should bring his bass to the rehearsal.
Not making this up, unfortunately.
Hahaha, that's actually beautiful. Thanks for sharing XD
Sometimes it sucks being a musician
I am drummer AND bassplayer... that's because we have two drummers in 1 band(not my idea). But since I'm drummer and bassist, am I kryptonite for Glenn? also what would my IQ be?
+Ruud Wiggers I suppose it would be a mathematical product of those. So even less.
*****
I'll surprise you. My bass is 6 string. And I fucking solve most differential equations (though I still suck at bass)
Let's clarify, most people suck at bass. :P
+Ruud Wiggers Your IQ is dependent on your dedication and performance.
I am a drummer and bassist too, and my iq is above average.
I'm killing myself so the universe stays in order.
I'm a drummer, could you please loop the part between 1:06-1:09. Thanks!
idk man, R2 D2 on drums would be pretty sic
+Scott McKinstry I agree; with those little hidden arms, in addition to (at least) a light saber ejection-port, the little guy could certainly tear some things up. He could use his periscope to see above the set, to see the crowd.
+Scott McKinstry I can only hope that's a Slipknot SIC
***** no, you're just thinking about it too hard lol
Damn haha
THICC
My drummer is a well mannered clean cut guy who will buy you a beer if you're having financial issues... but he fucks it all up by bringing his girlfriend to practice lol
You poor bastards!
the Bain of any band, the girlfriend, yikes!
bane*
A man walked into a music shop and looked around for a while, before approaching the counter. " Hi, I would like that saxophone and that accordian please" the man said, "are you a drummer?" the store clerk asked. "Yeah, how did you know?" the man asked. "well I'll sell you that fire extinguisher for $50, but I'm not unbolting that raidiator".
This video was like 1% actual useful advice and 99% complaining about the same old "everyone but me is an idiot" crap
I'm very curious to learn what instrument you play, Zach!
+SpectreSoundStudios I usually just fart into a microphone
I'll always remember David Gold as one of the coolest musicians I've ever met.
As a drummer, I completely agree with you. There are too many drummers who want to "be like the pros" and try playing the most insane stuff, without even thinking about the fact that you need to be able to play the basic stuff without fucking up to be able to play the complicated stuff. I wish more poeple would actually see their own mistakes and try to fix them.
Im all for making idiots see their own mistakes. Keep up the good work!
***** yes exactly. and that is the problem.
As a guitarist, i can acknowledge that a band is nothing without a great drummer and bass guitarist. It what makes a good band, excellent.
Love this episode Glenn. I've been a drummer for 30 years and I don't feel it necessary to copy Neil Peart or Mike Portnoy. Those guys already exist and they're better than me. So I just play basic drums and I try to do as good of a job as I can. Fills? We don't need no steenking fills! I CAN count to 4 but I know plenty of drummers that can't. Think I'll play this one for them.
Yep, technique and timing trump speed any day... especially playing fast offtime, weakly, and awkwardly.
This is so true, man. Out of all the drummers at my school, there's literally like one or two really good ones. All the others ones literally can't even do the beat for Reptilia, by the Strokes. Yeah. And they all play more or less exactly like you described. It's a nightmare at rehearsals.
what's worse is that most of those drummers don't grow out of that crap. Even talking about metronomes to some drummers is a bad idea even well into adulthood lol
+Jorgen Wu Am a big Strokes fan and...seriously? Shouldn't that be something like a day 1 drum beat tutorial they teach on drum school?
+TheRoniverse You'd think so, right?
+Jorgen Wu Reptilia is actually a good basic beat! Go figure!
I used to practice to CCR when I first started. Good solid, easy beats and good tempo to keep along with.
Hey, Glenn! Just wanted to let you know I showed your vids to a couple of my friends from out music lessons. They found them hilarious and really informative! (which is a relief for me, cause one's a drummer and the other one's a bass player. Being a guitar player myself I'd love to see a How to not COMPLETELY SUCK at Heavy Rock Guitar, the constructive criticism is incredible. Once again, thank you for the work you put into these videos. Keep it up!
Glenn, I love that you mentioned Phil Rudd. The guy is probably the best example of a rock-solid drummer with impeccable timing and dynamics. He seriously does not get enough credit. I think I've learned more about being an effective drummer by trying to duplicate exactly what Phil Rudd is doing when I play along with his records than doing just about anything else. Even when you get into more complex stuff, the principles that Rudd's playing is based on are still a great foundation for your playing. Study Rudd and you will be a better drummer, I swear, even if you play progressive death-thrash-coregrind-whateverthefuck. Damn shame he ran into trouble in his personal life and can't be up there doing his thing anymore these days.
As a drummer, I love the generalizations.
Dude. I fuckin' LOVE this video! Being a musician somehow should automatically imply that you also have a good sense of humor, right? You seem like a great and fun guy to hang with and even take some constructive criticism from. Even as a pro drummer, most of us aren't perfect, and recognizing that is actually part of being a pro; knowing how to keep your ears open to others in the studio. It's always fun watching your videos and grabbing tips and a perspective from a great studio engineer. All the best from me and The Dickies 🤘
I've got a little brother who started playing drums, except he never practices. He's to busy watching minecraft. Not playing, but watching. When we do play together, he gets so off beat that i give up playing with him within seconds. Jesus, I should make him watch this.
+16-bit gorillaz Lol if he's a little kid then thats just how they are, they'll say they really want something before they've even tried it and then give up in seconds :L my little bro watched me doing some game dev and he really wanted to try but he gave up and went back to watching minecraft after a few days.
+spooky "scary" skeleton he's ten. It doesn't help that I'm a bassist(I can admit to it) and my twin brother is a guitar player, so are whole family expected him to at least practice.
16-bit gorillaz Haha kids man, can't ever decide on one thing to do :p
@@SpookySkeleton738 it is never too early to start playing properly. Get him used to using a metronome. It will help a lot.
First of all, as a drummer for over 22 years I 100% agree with EVERYTHING you said, i cant tell you how many students ive had who do all of the above and when i try to correct the issues i get push back and even shit from parents over it because i make them learn how to read music, count, and keep time and get used to metronomes and click tracks way before i ever let them pick up a stick. Some pick it up quicker than others but i hate when i get an impatient parent or student that wants to know why im not teaching them drum solos and stick tricks week 1. My dad was a classically trained saxophone player and he beat it into my head the moment i told him at 8 that i wanted to be a drummer that your number one and most important job as a drummer and the thing that even if your bad at all other aspects will still serve its purpose, is to be a rock solid time keeper, a human metronome for the other musicians. He also said to think of yourself as the tempo babysitter, your job is to babysit everyone else's tempo by being the unmovable refference point, and to make sure the bass player doesn't drink the drano under the sink.
Hmm... I think the thing with drumming is it depends who wants to learn it. If you want to play rock drums with a band you most likely won't be sitting there staring at sheet music. I think learning how to independently hit the drums first is important because not being able to play without sheet music will be a huge roadblock when you plan to play with other musicians. I think sheet music has its place but I personally don't think it is that necessary to stare at an entire piece of sheet music if you are doing rock. Jazz and orchestral music might be different however. I think the best approach is to first teach how to hold a stick and where to hit the drum. Maybe learning how to count first is also important but being able to play on a drum kit at all and by that I mean do 3 things at once and learn coordination is the first big step in my opinion. Once that is possible would I continue teaching how to keep a basic 4/4 beat and move on from there.
Here is the thing I am not a big fan of an ubertheoretical approach to everything. The truth is if students get confronted with a lot of theoretical stuff like reading sheet music and what counting is before actually being able to attempt to do it themselves and see what it is like, they might get demotivated and see that it is too much of a learning curve to even attempt. and I don't blame them. I hate when professors try to paint learning a certain subject or material as super complicated and over theoretical vs approaching a more learning by doing method and hence making it more practical.
Obviously learning stick tricks and solos week one is ridiculous but rather than judging them for it it is good for them to understand why. And maybe say if you want to learn a solo first let's practice this pattern so you can develop your double stroke roll and eventually get up to speed for a cool drum solo. Keep the students motivated I think is a good idea.
I don't want to criticize you for you teaching methods. I just want to give you a possible reason as to why some beginners might be uncomfortable with this learning method. I also don't think it is fair to label anyone as unintelligent or "stick make noise" because they might have a different approach to learning it. Another big part is that everyone has a different way of learning and the way you learned might not be the same for everyone else. Flexibility I think is an important factor.
And finally no one is perfect and we all keep learning new things. I think students shouldn't learn everything day one but get a healthy foundation to build on themselves so they can stay motivated and learn new things because let's face it, people will make mistakes and trial and error will be an important factor in making progress in pretty much anything.
I've missed these kinds of videos, Glenn. Thanks for giving us a good laugh out of this one! I hope you can make more editorial-type stuff in the future. Or even just more comedy gold like this XD
Keep throwing ideas at me!
Will do, mate. Love your work.
+SpectreSoundStudios how about how not to suck at lead guitar?
+SpectreSoundStudios How not to suck at vocals?
I guess that's been done if you count the video on how to hold a mic.
I have been playing drums for about 6 years ( I started when I was 10) and most of what I have done in that time is a few grades and loads of live gigs. Whilst I was having fun at the time when I look back at old videos I realize that I really did fit the stereotype, my timing was okay but since i was big enough to actually see over the kit I have always hit too hard with no style and tried to put in too many fills. I also found out more recently that my timing was not as good as I thought it was when I sat down and tried to record drums at college, the whole song was out of time. Because of this I find things like drummer jokes and this video very useful as it encourages me to try break the stereotype. I have now started playing to metronome after that embarrassing experience and started learning how to play to jazz to add style to my playing and to stop me drowning out the rest of the band because I hit too hard.
Why do they make drummer jokes so simple?
So the rest of the band can understand them...
Or "because the guitarist writes them", same thing ;-) .
Im a bass player and i don't get the joke.
About 9-10 years ago my band was recording with a local studio, our drummer in all his magnificent glory insisted on using a titanium kick plate on his drum head because that's what "Trve Kvlt Black Metal Drummers do", and honestly it would have been fine, except that he didn't have a soft beater ball (I don't know if I'm using the right terminology, I'm a guitarist) so it was just a piece of hard wood hitting a piece of hard metal so the entire recording all you could hear was "TINK TINK TINK TINK TINK TINKTINK"
Is that how that shits supposed to sound or was he just an idiot? (It took us a whole day of bitching to convince him to try something else)
you are more angry than angry joe
you FUCKED IT UP
Ya dun fucked it up!
Finally some love for my kind. I was getting jealous of all the attention you devote to bass players.
Thack you, Glenn.
Damn. As someone who has all of the Woods of Ypres albums, I've never noticed how off-base the drumming was until you mentioned it.
That stuff aside, even if David Gold was (or seemed to be) a massive douche, I'm still sad he's gone. His music is close to my heart because it helped me through some really tough times in my life.
I showed up to my friends inhouse studio (he plays guitar) I played with a his old beginner set, and he was so impressed with the punch, tones and accents stood out when I was recording. He basically said "I never heard those drums sound so good and punchy in the mix"
Please, make a video on how to not completely suck at guitar/vocals/keyboards/whatever.
Dear Glenn,
I'm going to give you a little advice in the form of 'How to not COMPLETELY SUCK at good content.
And before you go saying 'you don't even have any videos', this isn't my content channel, I'm not putting myself up to that kind of ridicule.
1) Get your facts straight. Or at least base them off something that actually has a little depth to it. A few things you said are based off complete and utter bullshittery, and I know it's tongue in cheek exaggeration and a lot is based on previous assholes you've worked with, but it's a little stale.
2) Stop trying to force humor. Closing up your throat and doing shouty little rage bursts or even worse, putting on goofy accents that are just a tad awkward really take me away from the points you're trying to put across. Oh and BY FAR the worst thing is fake laughing at your own jokes. I did this in my first videos as a young awkward teenager and soon realized how fake and tragic it really looks. Sorry. (Saying that the actual believable rage I like, it's kind of your trademark after all).
3) Audio (come on, Glenn). I don't think I've ever worked a distressor so hard on vocals in my audio career. Dial down the ratio a bit, your voice sounds muddy as f*ck. I understand you don't want to be clipping when you shout but come on... you have more than one compressor and I think you're using two anyway, set up your thresholds man... Oh and please remove the sub 100hz on your voice too, it sounds like I'm stuck inside your throat.
4) Your jokes suck, sorry.
5) (And this is what I'm calling the 'helpful tip') Be a bit more natural. I know for a fact you're a good guy, you work your ass off no doubt for your wife as much as you. You make great tutorials and you've definitely taught me some things. Try to bring a little more of you into the videos rather than this big sack of rage and ignorance that is Glenn in a 'comedic' video. I'm not saying stop them obviously they are in fact what made this channel what it is. But try not to be so 2D and... lazy (for lack of a better word). These episodes are reminding me of typical trashy TV comedies, it's a really basic formula to please people on a simple level and doesn't contain much variety aside from the topic. Maybe try going off your script a little more because there's nothing faker than reading from a teleprompter (just watch the news).
ANYWAY, of course take what I've said with a pinch of salt, obviously I don't mean to upset you. In fact, I've written this comment in the same way that you addressed drummers in this video so... If this comment did anger you, think about that. And try to take a little of what I said on board, it's just constructive criticism laid out in a 'SMG' kind of way.
Feel free to message me back I'm absolutely open to discuss everything I've said.
From a long term fan, thanks for reading. :)
Thanks for writing! Just curious, what instrument do you play?
+SpectreSoundStudios That's... irrelivant. Haha
Sure it's irrelevant. :)
Truth be told, you're the first to bitch about my voiceover. Most want to know how I get it to sound so good. And yes, I do roll off below 100hz.
Stop listening with your eyes.
+SpectreSoundStudios Hey I listened before I saw! Perhaps I'm just accustomed to different styles.
Anyway nice arguing! I'm going to prepare now for the complete backlash I'm gonna get from your fans hahaha.
Before anyone starts hating on me too bad, Glenn's been pretty nice about the whole thing on facebook.
+Luke Russe Nah, I agree with you. The vocals are compressed so hard his screaming can be easily mistaken for "whining". The "How to get your band ready for the studio" video was so perfect, partly because the vocal track had a good dynamic range and you can hear the difference in volume between talking and screaming. This kinda added to the raw passion of what he was screaming about.
SpectreSoundStudios, I do love your channel and you'll do what you want. But perhaps you'll consider these suggestions.
I started writing more songs in 3/4 so I only need a drummer capable of counting to 3.
They'll get confused when they realise they don't have 3 hands.
The "stick make noise" part had me in stitches.
Haha!
i've always had a problem with speeding up songs, especially on fills
unfortunately as a self taught drummer i never really had too much of an opportunity to practice drums at home because they were too loud or there wasn't any room or i didn't have a practice pad
i basically learned everything i know by just being put on a kit and playing
recently i started to play with my band using a metronome during rehearsal and it always helps vs trying to be a time keeper without really having too much of a foundation in that aspect
i really appreciate your bold and brash attitude towards these things because as a producer myself it is a complete waste of time working with the kind of people you frequently mention in negative ways and it can be a real headache
while most people hate your guts for the way you approach these subjects, i actually admire and respect the way you tackle the issues with sort of like a 'tough love' attitude towards musicians that unfortunately not a lot of people understand
much respect to you glenn, thank you so much for being so informative
Dude! what about How to not COMPLETELY SUCK on Lead Guitar!!!!
+Mariano Arnaiz Zak Wylde is your prime example of that. HE SUCKS
+69zenos1 LOL!
+69zenos1 How, seriously on what level? I appreciate his style is strongly influenced by old blues but just why?
+Mariano Arnaiz TH-cam doesn't allow videos that long. LOL
Stacy Fenton you have a TH-cam channel, upload a video of you playing...
In case you were wondering, I practice and record to clicks and I can actually play whole songs without accompaniment, however I prefer a guitar scratch track with a metronome in it. I even let people listen to my drum tracks soloed because I know I played it right. I also never use triggers or sample replacement (if I get a say that is, sometimes I am not consulted) and once, just once, I did record a song in one take. It was a ballad.
If you’re offended by this video: you are the type of drummer he’s talking about. I’ve been playing drums my whole life and laughed my ass off at this. Learn to take a joke, kids. Life is a lot better if you don’t get offended by every joke you hear.
Thanks Glen. I am a drummer and I actually appreciate the time you are putting in to show the shortcomings of drummers everywhere. there are too many screwballs that have as you said the "stick make noise" mentality. it really goes to show that taking pride in one's craft is getting rarer and rarer as it becomes easier to take 1 - 2 takes and say screw it, good enough. people want to be good, but they have no desire to work for it.
Fuck Im crying hahaha
:)
spot on mate
Thiago Araujo Im not your mate, buddy
+Miguel Mella fight, fight, fight, fight!
My mate plays drums in an indie rock band, and they just finished tracking a new EP. He was super nervous going in because he's a huge Gavin Harrison fan (and Steely Dan, for that matter), and so he was worried that his playing wouldn't be super polished and consistent, especially since it was his first time in a proper recording studio. He must've practised heaps because he said he nailed his parts and cut all 6 tracks in one day (including setting up the kit) :P
You missed the really important magical method of hitting more than one piece of the kit at the same exact moment. I've seen countless drummers who couldn't even hit the bass drum and the crash at the same time, there was always a slight delay that fucked up the preformance. Oh, and don't get me started on volume balance. Smashing the shit out of the hi-hat but playing heel-down and without rimshots, but I think you have covered this one in one of your previous videos. But still, it's worth repeating because the main reason us drummers can't count to 4 is because we even forget what's after 3 :)
Lmao
As rule of thumb, bass drum and snare are the most important sounds in rock, when it comes to drums.
For example queen, "we will rock you". No hihat/cymbals yet the song works just fine. Take jazz as another example: if you know how to use the ride and a little snare you can almost forget the bass drum.
Benny Greb speaks about this on his dvd "the art and science of groove". As soon as he showed it on dvd, it was completely obvious to me. Beforehand I knew I sounded wrong, but I never knew why. Since then I try to hit the bass drum harder and play the hihat softer. Small changes, but a big effect.
@@steffenpanning2776 No. Jazz is Ride and Hi hat and then snare and kick for coming. in Jazz hi hat and ride are the most important elements of the kit. You can play through an entire song not hitting the snare once in jazz but not being able to control the hi hat pedal with your foot is a big no no.
"Drummers get excited and finished to early" is a brilliant double entendre! 😂
You told the David Gold story about drums, eh? xD Speaking of, any opinion about Woods of Ypres last album, Grey Skies & Electric Light?
I was long overdue in telling that story! As for the last album, I've never listened to it, for too many reasons.
SpectreSoundStudios Fair enough! Was just curious if you'd followed his work after the debacle. Thanks for the story!
I think that the best example of a drummer who played basically but still was amazing was Martin Kearns of Bolt Thrower. R. I. P. Good Video.
this was so funny and 1,2,3& 7/8,and 4
+Chad Szeliga If you can count to 7 you can count to 4...
+playingforbritain Not necessarily. 1,2,3,6,7,9,13 / 1,2,3,6,7,9,13..
As a Progressive Metal drummer, I didn't know you had a reason to count to 4, so I looked it up.
I felt like such an idiot, I always counted it as 16/16! I want to thank you for opening my eyes to this amazing discovery, Glenn, my bandmates will surely be thankful too.
David Gold died.
Do you honestly think I don't know that?
+pakiw2 Good riddance then.
+SpectreSoundStudios How about a "How not to completely suck at Blues Guitar"?
+Sam Damarell What are you talking about exactly?
Cause I never made that comment I just posted a suggestion for maybe a future video, cause blues isn't as easy as some people might think, there's alot of mistakes that can be made with it...
I'm not following, what's your point?
+KeysOfMyMind I think he meant to reply to Glen.
4 years ago recording at spectre you gave my former drummer shit for having the high hat top to high, you said "are you guys trying to play fucking disco"? We were put off at first but over the course of a couple hours we learned to trust your opinions. Anyways.... keep these videos coming Fricker!
so fucking true!!! but usually I notice that it is the drummers with NO musical background other than waking up and saying " hey mom, I'm gonna be a drummer!" that are guilty of these crimes of nature. As a drummer of 15 years, THAT is what I take offense to. At least learn how to play in time, it is literally your job! Drumming, or any other instrument takes more than having fast hands or feet. if you ain't got time, your speed ain't worth shit, son! Gaaaaahhhhhhhhddd!
R.I.P. David Gold
@4'06 : "You do need your sticks yto play your drums !"
John Bonham says he doesn't get it.... ^^
Yeah, and you're not John Bonham :p. Hang on to your sticks, smart guy!
Dude, I'm not even a drummer !!! That was just a JOKE ! -__-'
@@agathespen5617 This song is called "Four Sticks". Good Luck.
@@taunoctua245 I was refering to "Moby Dick", but nevermind, that comment is 3 years old and the joke went right over Glenn's head xD
Bought a drum tension watch and it's made a world of difference!! My band mates love my drum tone. Well worth the money.
I tune my drums to a standard then slightly adjust at the practice space. Play in the pocket and rock it!!!
I would hate to introduce any drummer who can't count to 4 to Frank Zappa.
+Austin Washington With Zappa they'd have to know how to count to shit like 17, too.
+Denni Bryant One of four things would happen:
1. They will quit the drums
2. They will pretend to know what is going on in the music
3. They will bitch at you for questioning their intelligence and challenging it
4. They will learn to count to 4 and then work on counting past 4 to play some Zappa
+Denni Bryant You never really have to count beyond 4 - all those complex time signatures are basically composites of binary (2 or 4) and ternary (3) segments. So something in 17/8 might be counted:
1-2,1-2-3,1-2-3-4,1-2-3,1-2,1-2-3, or other types of groupings depending on the tune.
The tough part for Drummers in Zappa is tempo. A lot of what he wrote depends on giving different instruments different time signatures and on creating tension through having some instruments push or drag at some part. The problem is that Rock drummers usually have problems with the multiple time signature stuff, while Jazz drummers tend to interpret the pushs and drags as global timing cues. And that's good Rock and Jazz drummers - Rock drummers are good at setting a global time signature, Jazz drummers are good at picking up tempo cues from the soloist. But within the context of Zappas music these skills are more of a hinderance.
So arguably there are 3 types of drummers (4 if you include classically trained precussionists): Rock drummers, Jazz drummers and Zappa drummers...
Simon Gunkel Dude, it was a joke.
Aloha Chief Glenn.
I wish you could've met & witnessed & tracked my good friend, a drummer extrodinere; Full Tama, deep maple snare (others, too), zilch isn't all the way around, practiced his lessons dutifully.
We went through 3 acts together in the late '80's & early '90's, Seattle.
My fantastic friend was a fantastic man of intelligence, wit & was like having my very own Tommy Aldridge to work with.
In '94 (terrible year; lost everything down to my fingernails, from playing at will all over the PAC NW.), his good family job of vending machines,
destroyed two low vertabrae.
I heard a few years ago, the heavy depression induced drinking took him into a telephone pole.
I'm doing Addictive Drums now, gotta re-amp them & every trick I can recall from my early '90's studio intern days.
It's so not the same.
I had THE best, smartest, kindest friend that just got EVERYTHING right.
And the Universe robbed his life.
Nowadays, I'm just impressed if a live drummer can follow his own hi hat.
Glenn, as a drummer - one who is professionally qualified, makes a good living, doesn't drink and can count to four - I do see the humour in what you do most of the time, but sometimes you do your credibility no favours but slating everyone as the same and that makes people like me, who aren't 14, don't worship you and do actually know better, take you less than seriously when you are actually trying to be serious. Sometimes, just sometimes, the overbearing condescending attitude doesn't come across as funny as you think which is a shame as I think you have some interesting things to say as well as stuff which has left me laughing my arse off.
So, it's funny when I'm not picking on drummers?
Not what I said. Having been a drummer for over 25 years and a gigging one for most of that, as well as being involved in the media side of things too, I know they're are a lot of drummers out there who do suck and so fair's fair. But there are far more guitarists than drummers - by default - and probably singers as well, who are far worse for the type of thing you make 'us' out to be. It's the everyone who isn't a guitarist is a cunt vibe that gets old, that's all. Deserving a bashing if you act like a twat is one thing, no matter what you do, and I completely put my hand up to doing that myself, but to say that every drummer (in this instance) is as thick as shit, can't count and can't play is ridiculous. Doesn't exactly nurture the future generations really either who will watch this and go into a band situation with the wrong attitude or approach. All I am saying is time and place, that's all, not everyone is what I say they are and that's that.
I'm a drummer who uses a metronome, has bee. classically trained and... Is sad to say he knows plenty of other drummers who follow this EXACT formula. Seriously, there are guys who I've had to play with who can't actually fucking play the drums right. YOU FUCKING PLAY WITH A METRONOME YOU DO NOT HAVE PERFECT TIME! Thank you
For my band the bassist was the guy who took a shit in the urinal lol
hahah
did he mistake it for a bidet
I think you need to make one of these for the far more common "Know It All" sound engineer - you won't have to dig too deeply either at least! :)
John Bonham played out of tempo and he's one of the best drummers of all time.
+Alvaro Silva But in his defense he played with a guitarist and a bass player that actually LISTENED to each other and were able to make it not noticeable.
+69zenos1 Exactly. The whole band was in the pocket; it doesn't matter that you couldn't put a click to it. Same with Nico McBrain and Iron Maiden.
Hey Glen, just watched this video and it was a massive eye opener. Being a drummer my self I have taken what you said and I am now applying it to my practice time to better myself as a musician. Love the channel and thanks.
So... David Gold died a few years ago...
I don't really care.
Lying on the album cover and lying to fans AND showing that you (I mean him ofc) don't give a fuck about people who created an album with you is a total disgrace. Feels like WoY is not important for me at all now, even if some of the songs are still pretty good.
Thanks for sharing the history Glenn and keep up the good work with these videos :)
I'm pretty sure he did write it, though.
Yeah Glen, you make a good point about a drummer that doesn't hit hard enough, but the thing I hate is a drummer that only knows how to play extremely loud. Hard enough to always break sticks, heads and cymbals. Not to mention, you don't need to practice at 150db at band practice. You should only have to play loud enough to be heard. i had a drummer that played rather soft but accurately. His timing was a bit of an issue occasionally, but he still played with control and you didn't leave band practice with permanent hearing loss every time. He didn't break sticks and he was loud enough to be heard and we didn't bother neighbors when we practiced. So there is something to be said about playing at a volume that is necessary for the occasion.
THIS Video. Spot on. I don't understand at all how a drummer can demand to not play to a click in the studio!! My band practices to a click constantly. Click tracks make you tighter and in time all the time. Drummers that won't play to a click give the rest of us a bad name, and we have enough to overcome already. Sheesh.
I'm a drummer just starting out (Been playing for almost 1 year) and I am taking this to heart from the start.
Yes I do act like a complete mong on the kit, but only after 1: asking if I can, and 2: to get it out of my system.
Currently I'm a glorified metrimone who has a double pedal. I am actively learning how to use it and how to set up my drum kit to the best positions.
Aaannnnddd lost composure as the end with the 'stick make noise'. Love the bluntness and practicality of your explanation videos, man!
I'm a total butterfingers with sticks so here's what I do. I take fine sandpaper a few times and rotate AROUND the parts of the stick I will hold a few times (not up and down the stick). THEN I wipe off the stick with a damp cloth or just clean it under water. THEN fully dry the stick, usually in front of a fan cause wet wood changes to useless wood. THEN when it's dried I take drummers stick wax and wax going up and down the stick rotating slightly after each up and down to cover the whole stick. Then I never have to worry again since I don't even sweat when I'm working out with 176 heartrate. If your hands sweat during drumming you would probably need to rewax every few hours-years
Hey Glenn. Drummer here. Just want to say that I absolutely love your videos. Especially this one. That part about the bad odor, so true. Playing drums is quite the workout, it makes you smell like shit.Your videos are so brutally honest and ruthless towards idiots and that's why I adore them. I can honestly say that I agree with 99.9% of this video. You're right, counting to 4 actually is crucial. At my first drum lesson, my teacher told me to get used to counting to 4 constantly while walking cause it definitely helps you ascertain a solid tempo and pocket from perpetual repetition. Also, of course using a metronome is SO IMPORTANT and so many drummers fail to acknowledge that. This is where my .1% of disagreement comes from. You praise Phil Rudd for playing with finesse and amazing timing but I heard somewhere that he never used a metronome while recording for acdc. If that's true, doesn't that completely contradict what you said? If you could shed some light on this, that would be great. This might just be a biased opinion cause I'm not an acdc fan. I just think he gets way more credit than he actually deserves.
Thanks Glenn. this summer i got a pretty standard kit because I figured id teach myself to play them to improve my overall playing and songwriting for the guitar and bass (and cello but you dont exactly play metal with those often). I know right. a drummer who plays and understands other instruments and music. anyways, now i know what to focus on and how to "not completly suck at drums". you are saving me from a lot of arguments.
I am a drummer and that was the best vid on drumming you have done so far. Hats of to you good Sir
The "take a dump in a urinal" comment killed me man. We all know a drummer who's done it XD. You have got to do this with the rest of the band as well! I want to hear you make fun of me and my guitar playing peers!
I was like "this is exactly the tutorial I needed" but then i clicked on the video and saw the "not".... well still a good vid.
The guy that's the complete opposite to what Glen described is Rob Bourdon. Solid technique, always seeks to improve himself, can completely play on time (heck, he plays live perfectly like how it was recorded in the studio) and is a very humble and nice guy.
On another note, I started playing without a metronome/click track but I am trying to improve myself as a drummer/song writer so I started using one 2 years ago. Put me off at first, but it was a just a matter of getting used to.
Thanks Glen for the encouragement/warning!
I love Rob Bourdon's work. He was one of my major influences. It is a shame that linking park is now basically an EDM band and Rob Bourdon is nowhere near as good as he was during the Meteora and Hybrid Theory days.
I played in a punk band for years we practiced all the time. A PUNK BAND!!!! I was the drummer I never used a metronome but because we practiced so much I'd get the guitar player in the headphones the drums in his and it worked. Mind you it was only punk rock.
I had a drummer who decided it would be funny to cover a peanut butter sandwich in shrooms before a gig. He started tripping out half way through our set and we had to either stop or play half tempo. That was the last show with that drummer.
hey GLenn,
I'm a drummer and i fucking loved this video. Keep up the great work!!!
Stick make noise!!!!!
In a musical I played in, we had to use an electric drum kit. At one of the last performances, during one of the songs, the drumkit decided to just collapse towards the end of the song. No one noticed before the song was finished and we heard the drummer laughing.
I've been playing drums for about 23 years now, I'm still learning heaps, pushing myself to try harder stuff, etc; but I recently went back to the fundamentals of technique, precision and power... holy fuck my arse it's helped SO much!!! It's worked on my Bass, Guitar, Recording, and non-music related things like racing and even at work! A lot of this is thanks, in no small part, to people like Glenn giving inspiration and a mental kick in the arse. If I could offer one piece of advice, it is practice and practice properly. Don't think you know it all, because the second you stop learning is the second you give others the edge on you!
As much as I enjoyed this one it felt like there was a lot of "padding" in-between the pearls of wisdom.
At my school there is a beat up 5 piece Yamaha kit and some kids like me also play on that kit, which means when I adjust the cymbals and toms, it obviously is changed the next time I played on it. One day I noticed that the ride stand kept collapsing whenever I went for a fast blast. The next day, I see a freshman bending the ride stand to a 90 deg. angle without loosening the bolts, and I ran in there and screamed "STOP!". Ugh, I feel your pain glenn hope this never happens to you anymore
I feel almost honored that the only people who were successful in any capacity in my community started off as drummers.
For the special kind of stupid drummer like me, counting with words instead of numbers has helped a lot with not only keeping time but phrasing and dynamics as well. For example in a straight four thrash song instead of '1-2-3-4', I'd be thinking 'I want more beer'. The trick is to adjust the phrase to break monotony, perhaps a two-bar phrase 'I want more beer, right now right here'. Toss in some triplets with 'Fucking now fucking here'. And don't forget to be awesome, cheers!
I played a show i Hamburg once where we had a opening band who's drummer showed up on his fancy motorbike, late for soundcheck , and asked if he could borrow our drummers kit. After a while he came back and asked about cymbals. And right before they started playing he came back again asking for drum sticks. Maybe you've met him? ;)
Damn Glen!!! I haven't seen anybody go off on drummers like this since that Dude from the movie "Whiplash"!!! He won an Oscar though. Don't know what the TH-cam equivalent is, but you definitely get my vote!!!
Drums are one of the hardest instruments to play but often underestimated. Too many people, drummers included, think "have stick, hit drum" is all what drumming is about but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Learning to play the drums is a combination and balance between strength, dexterity, finesse and technique. When you put a good drummer against a bad drummer it's like watching a fight between a well trained martial artist and some buff dude that spends his entire day in the gym. It doesn't matter how strong the dude might be, against good technique he will be face down on the ground in seconds.
As a drummer myself, I have to completely agree with you, counting to four, holding your sticks, playing on time and with power are the absolute basics of drumming. And some drummers just decide to casually skip the one thing that they have to fucking master-rythem!
Hahahaha Glen you just made me snort laugh with that "Sticks make noise" joke at the end. :D
Dude! That "Stick make noise" killed me. I'm still laughing, 20 minutes later. HAHAHAHAHA! Thank you, that made my week.
I've been a drummer for 40+ years and this guy is spot on for the most part...(not to mention fucking hilarious!!) Well done, brother!
Bahaha from one tuber to the other, you're awesome! GREAT VIDEO
Great videos with plenty of information as always! Also entertaining as well!
Thank you for what you do Glen!
Bout time this video came out. Thanks for uploading frequently man, your great. Keep it up
I heard of a drummer that had dissaperared by the time he was supposed to count in the second song on their first bigger festival gig. He was found crawling under his drum raise looking for the drumstick he lost during song no 1.
He had spares, but he was cheap too! :)
jesus... i was fucking BLESSED with the people i've played with... a brilliant bassist, and very talented and intelligent drummers...
I am a drummer, and I would never do so, but shitting in a urinal is pretty damn funny.