Jazz Comping Bass Drum

Another stupid question from me: jazz drummers, how active is your bass drum?

I record all my practices, probably because I'm a masochist, and I notice when I'm comping with my left hand my right foot does one of two things: keeps time with light fours; or is mostly silent with the occasional 1 or 'bomb'.

So I either feel like I'm just filling the song up with predictable beats or leaving way too much empty space.

When you are just keeping time, maybe doing a bit of comping behind the lead instrument, how busy is your bass foot?
 
I'd say your approach is musically quite normal in most situations.

I definetly use the bass drum a lot when I practice, not necessarily right when gigging, but working in the BD more, hi-hat too for that matter, is just a matter of dynamics and control.

For generally soft longer lines I probably play them more equally. Plenty of times when that's not really appropriate, thogh.
 
It depends on the song; in some songs I might not really hit the BD at all. Others I'll be dropping bombs all over the place!

When I was in school, my tendency was to leave it out and then drop it on an occasional 1. My teacher was really bothered by that and had me practice all my rudiments and resolution points with my right foot until I could play on any of the 8 beats found in a typical 4/4 8th note grid. I still don't use the BD very often, but I will use to accent parts of the melody or to comp a soloist.

I think of the BD like another tom that I can use sparingly to accent the form of the song and the melody. Don't worry about empty space, let the bass player take care of the low end sound, and then just accent when you feel it's needed.
 
Another stupid question from me: jazz drummers, how active is your bass drum?

I record all my practices, probably because I'm a masochist, and I notice when I'm comping with my left hand my right foot does one of two things: keeps time with light fours; or is mostly silent with the occasional 1 or 'bomb'.

So I either feel like I'm just filling the song up with predictable beats or leaving way too much empty space.

When you are just keeping time, maybe doing a bit of comping behind the lead instrument, how busy is your bass foot?


you are thinking way too much about things like this and not listening to nearly enough jazz music
 
Good question. "Not that busy", I guess would be my answer. I don't "feather" except on dance gigs. For every 8 bars of playing, I could play maybe 2-10 comping notes on the SD or BD. I haven't counted. Usually it's either a melodic thing between the drums, or a punctuation. That probably doesn't help you-- I think your first source for things like this should be seeing other drummers play, and listening to records-- they will tell you everything you need to know. Try not to play the bass drum on 1 too often.
 
Good question. "Not that busy", I guess would be my answer. I don't "feather" except on dance gigs. For every 8 bars of playing, I could play maybe 2-10 comping notes on the SD or BD. I haven't counted. Usually it's either a melodic thing between the drums, or a punctuation. That probably doesn't help you-- I think your first source for things like this should be seeing other drummers play, and listening to records-- they will tell you everything you need to know. Try not to play the bass drum on 1 too often.

Yeah, you and tcspears both keyed into the main thing that bugs me: that darn one. It's a crutch, bot for comping and in odd-time playing.

I think the major problem is that to play well you have to have a reason to do whatever technical thing you're doing, not just the technique to do it. In musical terms I guess that's 'melody', right? You need to have some concept in your head of the thing you're trying to say. I would love more exercises for that, not just the technical side of playing Syncopation between my left hand and right foot.

I've heard people mention the "Mary Had a Little Lamb" thing on drums, which I don't think I really get (curse you Stevie Ray Vaughan for ruining the search term). But are there other ideas for how to start thinking in terms of phrases rather than chops?
 
But are there other ideas for how to start thinking in terms of phrases rather than chops?

Yeah, listen to a whole lot of jazz and learn the sorts of phrases that make up the language.

Alternatively, take the rhythm of the melody of jazz standards and play those. Start by simply playing the rhythm on the SD, even with one hand if you have to. Then, you can take snippets of those lines and work with them, improvise around them, etc. Break them up between limbs and around the drums. Or use them as comping figures.

For example, take the rhythm of first line of "Lullaby of Birdland".

Dah-vi-da-vi-doo-ahh...


Use that as a SD comping figure with your cymbal pattern. Then play it on the BD. Then play the first note on the BD and the rest on the SD. Then play only the last note on the BD. Alternate SD/BD or BD/SD. Play long notes on the SD and short notes on the SD (SD/BD/SD/BD/BD/SD) or vice versa.

Play that figure any which way you can. Use the toms, play it in unison with both hands on the SD/RC or SD/TT over 2/4 on the HH.

When you're done, do the second line of the same tune in the same way.

Most importantly, try to phrase it like a singer (you can do worse than studying Ella's versions). Which syllables does she emphasise? Which notes get the most weight? Which get less weight? Apply that to how you play the phrase. You'll develop your touch and control.
 
Yeah, you and tcspears both keyed into the main thing that bugs me: that darn one. It's a crutch, bot for comping and in odd-time playing.

Well, start hitting the 4 instead-- you can play the snare drum on the & of 3 before it, and have that be your home-base thing. Kenny Clarke and a lot of other people do that all over the place.

I think the major problem is that to play well you have to have a reason to do whatever technical thing you're doing, not just the technique to do it. In musical terms I guess that's 'melody', right? You need to have some concept in your head of the thing you're trying to say.

To me, melody is just the tune-like quality of any two or more notes played in a row, on any instrument-- I never think in terms of trying to be melodic vs. some other way of playing. If you just hear things as melodic, that will lead you to play things that sound more overtly melodic, and less "drumistic", to people listening to you.

As far as reasons are concerned, the only reason you need is that you think something is going to sound good with what's going on.

I would love more exercises for that, not just the technical side of playing Syncopation between my left hand and right foot. I've heard people mention the "Mary Had a Little Lamb" thing on drums, which I don't think I really get (curse you Stevie Ray Vaughan for ruining the search term). But are there other ideas for how to start thinking in terms of phrases rather than chops?

The long note/short note thing with Reed is good-- you use the syncopation section of the book, playing the 8th notes on the snare, and everything else on the bass, while playing time on the cymbal and hihat. You can develop a pretty good two-tone melodic sense from that.

Again, it's good to be aware of these things, but thinking about them in the abstract doesn't really help-- they really will sort themselves out through a lot of listening, watching other drummers live (good ones and not-that-good ones), and playing. If you're ever overwhelmed with questions or uncertainty, go do that.
 
Keith Moon was not a jazz drummer, but I've heard him described as an orchestral percussionist. He played to the song, particularly the vocal using everything in front of him. Play to the music and quit overthinking it. Feel it.
 
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