Tastefully Overplayed

KamaK

Platinum Member
Not sure whether this belongs in "Drummers" or "Drum Technique".

I'm a big fan of drummers and albums that have copious amounts of tasteful overplaying.

I've been listening to The Knack (Get The Knack) and The Muffs (Blonder and Blonder) interspersed with healthy doses of Keith Moon in between.

Does anyone have other similar suggested listening?
 
Hmmmm, need a little clarity on "overplayed".

Yeah, I was reluctant to post anything played by good drummers. But then I figured the OP wanted to hear a drummer that played a lot of fills.

Lots of fills, that's the way I play. Remember the Roger Rabbit movie. Where Rodger could not resist filling in the end of da da dada da with da da ?
That's me. It is very difficult for me to resist adding a fill at each transition in a song. LOL

OH NO ! is this going to lead into another long discussion on overplaying........

.
 
don't see any overplaying on the Knack. That dude really suits their band/sound.

I think Rain is Ringo's studio best. Love it. They started to use weed and maybe George Martin finally let him loose on that one.
 
Yeah, I was reluctant to post anything played by good drummers.

OH NO ! is this going to lead into another long discussion on overplaying........

Indeed. It certainly is not my intention to start a thread with conflict. I was just looking for similar material.

I had never given the Young Rascals consideration before, but will give their works a critical listen this week.

I'm a big fan of the Beatles. Every time I try to play Ringo's "Rain"/"She Said" fills, I find myself battling my intuition. Swung 16th note triplets with accents in places that sound divine, but my limbs always manage to screw up. I love that something that sounds so simple can completely throw me off my game.
 
Would Green Day When I Come Around be considered overplayed?

For the pace of the song, it seems the drummer is playing twice as much... but it works so nicely. I love playing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8dh9gDzmz8

I love their work and agree that it's overplayed, but I'm looking for a different dynamic. If I were forced to categorize it, I'd put it in the "Busy Rhythm" folder. Artistically, it was a good idea for that song, as the guitar/bass progression literally chugs along, and it wouldn't have the proper energy to it without the drums.

I might be showing my age, but I'm looking for more of a classic-pop vibe. I've been watching the guy from Elvis Costello and the Attractions today, and digging him.
 
I think I'm of a different mind-set when I say "overplaying". I don't think of it as just someone who plays a lot of fills. To "overplay" by my standards, you have to disrupt or step over the music by doing too much. Tony's example of the beatle track there doesn't stick out to me. Even though usually we might not put those fills there, they don't really detract from anything in my opinion, and in fact caused a very capable drummer in his own right to label it as one of the best drum tracks ever recorded.
 
Overplaying versus playing "for the song" is completely dependent on musical genre and era. Nobody freaked out when a drummer in a pop band played a fill over a vocal 20 or 30 years ago, but you'd be excommunicated from Nashville for trying that today.

I bring this up (a lot, I know) because what sounds good for the song evolves and can change again. If everyone decided hearing drummers do more stuff on pop records sounded good, then it would become a trend and sound like it was "right for the song" to everyone.

Nobody today would play the drums the way Bruce Gary did on My Sharona. Which sucks, because they are part of what makes that a great song. And if you played a drum-less version of 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover to a drummer today and he had never heard it before, he wouldn't in a million years think to play what Steve Gadd did.

Simple pop songs that would have worked okay with money beats, but were made much richer by drummers who didn't feel like it was sacrilege to play something.
 
Would Green Day When I Come Around be considered overplayed?

Yes, I would consider that song one where the drummer "overplays" his part, but it's also tasteful because his part interlocks with the rest of the song. The song would be less interesting if the drummer and bassist weren't overplaying.

If you want to hear some overplaying for the sake of overplaying, but it's wonderful because it maintains a great feel, listen to Dave Weckl. I shake my head listening to his stuff because it's "chops for the sake of chops" but it grooves...
 
I agree with some of the above posts that "tastefully" and "overplayed" don't belong in the same sentence. It's either tasteful and fits in with the song or its overplayed and doesn't. but it really can't be both.

In terms of "busy" drummers, here is a list of guys who to me fit the bill with iconic drum parts that nevertheless add to the song:

- Mitch Mitchell
- Keith Moon
- Tony Williams
- Alex Van Halen
- Stewart Copeland
 
I don't think "overplayed" needs to always have negative connotation connected to it or be connecting to something that doesn't fit a song

when a tune is great and would have sounded fine with the drummer playing the bare minimum but he plays a bit more wide open .... to me he is overplaying the tune .... playing more than was needed

there is good overplaying and bad overplaying .... not always a bad thing

take for example the Miles tune So What

Jimmy Cobb plays it one way on Kind Of Blue
Tony plays it another way no Four & More

Jimmy plays the bare minimum and Tony completely overplays it ..... both are absolutely fantastic

and also to me ... overplaying doesn't always mean the amount of notes... like say Carter Beauford ... it can mean excessively and unnecessarily bashing.... Taylor Hawkins comes to mind
doesn't mean he doesn't sound great... he is just over playing

Ringo over plays the tune Rain..... it would have sounded great if he just played the bare minimum because the song is great..... but he opened up a bit and it sounds amazing

many of my favorite players pretty much constantly over play

Elvin Jones
Tony Williams
Antonio Sanchez
Keith Moon
Stewart Copeland
Jack DeJohnette
Kirk Covington
etc etc

just the way I see it ... you don't have to agree
 
Back
Top