I'm a human drum machine

I get bored as both a listener and a player by beats that sound the same from song to song. If nothing else, each song should have rhythms that reflect its particular personality - in my opinion.

But what do I know? I've often seen audiences go crazy over bands and DJs where most of the music sounds pretty well the same. So I just continue to play what I like and continue to not be in demand.
 
When I play at church, I feel robotic and predictable,....

Sure, it feels sterile sometimes.... .

If you just go through the motions, it could feel this way. But if you play it with feeling....well that makes all the difference. This falls under the heading of my tag line, it's not what you play, it's how you play it. Nowhere is that more apparent than the money beat. You have to really feel, and lay into, the down beats on the bass and the upbeats on the snare, while not overpowering the hi hat. It's the difference of going through the motions versus truly feeling the quarter notes that makes or breaks this beat.
 
If you just go through the motions, it could feel this way. But if you play it with feeling....well that makes all the difference. This falls under the heading of my tag line, it's not what you play, it's how you play it. Nowhere is that more apparent than the money beat. You have to really feel, and lay into, the down beats on the bass and the upbeats on the snare, while not overpowering the hi hat. It's the difference of going through the motions versus truly feeling the quarter notes that makes or breaks this beat.

In addition to this, I would add that I'm really concentrating on playing the spaces in between the notes as well ;)
 
Shuffle beats are easy to vary though. You could shuffle the kick, the snare, the bronze, you can shuffle combinations of 2 or more pieces. With a money beat, there's not as much variation to employ. But I do agree that rhythms need to change it up every so many songs.

Agreed, although I try not to do this within a song unless it's part of the arrangement. Like Robben Ford's "Start it Up" or something. I do change up rhumba beats during songs but mostly as part of the dynamics. A sidestick and muted snare thing I learned from June Core or the pattern on the rims for really quiet parts and then a straight bell while working the pattern around the kit on the left for the higher energy parts.

I did 3 gigs this weekend that involved playing Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". I see so many people going crazy over the pre-chorus part which totally loses the groove for me. Especially when everyone else is trying to play the horn line, including the bass player. Stevie keeps the four on the floor and backbeat though all of this. The trick with this song is keeping that steady insistent kick and backbeat while being loose on the ride, a la Mr. Wonder. Who is the master at playing loose but still making it groove so hard you can't help but dance.

My first thought upon reading Bo's original post was: It works for Steve Jordan...
 
Nowhere is that more apparent than the money beat. You have to really feel, and lay into, the down beats on the bass and the upbeats on the snare, while not overpowering the hi hat. It's the difference of going through the motions versus truly feeling the quarter notes that makes or breaks this beat.

It depends on the genre, Lar. I like the old chunky Simon Kirke style hat playing as much as the slinky funk / Purdie approach. There's a couple of nice tutorials on hat dynamics and patterns on YT - one is Rich Redmond's money beat tutorials and another is in a long lesson with Mark McLean. Each demonstrates ways of dressing up the money beat with hat feel variations.
 
And just think of how many famous drummers and bands have toured the world and made millions of dollars doing just what Bo did this weekend. Kenny Aronoff, Charlie Watts, Ringo Starr, the list goes on and on.

So true. Recently I have been asked to participate in 2 bands that specifically told me that they want it simple and tasteful. It makes sense because they have a lot of vocals and keeping things tight and adding anything extra, no matter how cool I think it is just doesn't work. I record everything I can and that was the first thing I noticed from my first rehearsal.
 
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