newoldie
Silver Member
In jamming the other day with a 5 piece group, we practiced only covers of classic rock songs. The volume in the practice studio was somewhat muted due to the soundproofing so it was hard to discern all the sounds that might otherwise come through in a live gig setting, assuming mics are in place, acoustics are decent, etc.
In my own practicing of the songs, I listened carefully to the fill-ins and ghost notes that peppered each phrase of the songs, figuring this would be the right starting point from which to join the group practice- if the group was true to the original recording, these details would come through and be consistent with the resulting jam; if the group didn't follow the original closely, I would still have the skeleton outline of the tune ingrained and could adapt as needed. The group turned out to play the tunes close to the original which was somewhat refreshing compared to other groups I've practiced with where the tunes deviated enough to warrant a new interpretation on phrasing, repeating bars, ending differently, etc.
However, unlike the studio recording drum details, it dawned on me that in a jam, you really can't tell the fine Ghost Notes that come through from a professionally engineered song. It's almost as if playing those fine details live won't amount to anyone noticing them. You have to ramp up all the strokes enough to be heard and make a difference.
If this assumption is also correct for live gigging events (vs. live jamming), how do others compensate for not playing these finer details, except to the extent a quality mic is placed right next to the snare might pick some of them up? I'm talking about normal volume rock songs, not quieter ballads or acoustical tunes.
Do you just continue to play them with the attitude good if they are noticed and if not, they still complete the groove for the drummer to follow along? Or do you pick up the volume on all the strokes to ensure they're even heard?
I'd guess you'd have to play the Ghosts as almost the same volume as regular notes for the sound to penetrate through and get noticed by the audience.
Or, is there a situation in which these finer Ghost notes are picked up enough to warrant keeping them at that lower volume?
In my own practicing of the songs, I listened carefully to the fill-ins and ghost notes that peppered each phrase of the songs, figuring this would be the right starting point from which to join the group practice- if the group was true to the original recording, these details would come through and be consistent with the resulting jam; if the group didn't follow the original closely, I would still have the skeleton outline of the tune ingrained and could adapt as needed. The group turned out to play the tunes close to the original which was somewhat refreshing compared to other groups I've practiced with where the tunes deviated enough to warrant a new interpretation on phrasing, repeating bars, ending differently, etc.
However, unlike the studio recording drum details, it dawned on me that in a jam, you really can't tell the fine Ghost Notes that come through from a professionally engineered song. It's almost as if playing those fine details live won't amount to anyone noticing them. You have to ramp up all the strokes enough to be heard and make a difference.
If this assumption is also correct for live gigging events (vs. live jamming), how do others compensate for not playing these finer details, except to the extent a quality mic is placed right next to the snare might pick some of them up? I'm talking about normal volume rock songs, not quieter ballads or acoustical tunes.
Do you just continue to play them with the attitude good if they are noticed and if not, they still complete the groove for the drummer to follow along? Or do you pick up the volume on all the strokes to ensure they're even heard?
I'd guess you'd have to play the Ghosts as almost the same volume as regular notes for the sound to penetrate through and get noticed by the audience.
Or, is there a situation in which these finer Ghost notes are picked up enough to warrant keeping them at that lower volume?