Ghost Notes - my worst enemy

MaryO

MaryO

Platinum Member
So for the first time in 6 months of lessons I don't look forward to getting behind the kit to practice. I am currently working out of the Breakbeat Bilble and am starting to try to work on Ghost notes. Boy am I not getting it. Lack of coordination is more than evident and I just can't seem to get it right. Half the time, I can't tell the difference between my regular notes and my supposed ghosted notes.

Any advice (besides practice, practice and more practice which I'm already trying)? I'm really getting frustrated and feeling like I've hit a really big brick wall in my learning ability.

Thanks for letting me rant!
 
I approach this by thinking about stick heights. A 'full' stroke and a 'tap' stroke are initiated from different heights. A 'ghost' can be executed from a low height and repeat ghost strokes can use rebound too. Try practicing very quiet buzz rolls and you'll find your control improving rapidly.
 
Mary, I was having a little trouble getting my accents to stand out in my pipe band drumming so my drum Sgt. gave me this great exercise to work on. Its meant for working on accents but getting the other notes nice and ghost-ey is part of it too. So without further ado....

Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx XxXx X

Sorry I don't have notation software but I think you can tell. play the lowercase x's as ghost notes and accent the capital X's. Play it all with one hand then switch hands.

Personally I find that angling the stick a little helps to get a lighter hit, which is why I like trad grip but you can get the same effect with matched.
 
The same advice I tell myself, don't get frustrated, calm down.. you will get it. I can't remember if you see a teacher or not from your other posts. Anyway I'd probably start with just one basic off-beat ghost note in a basic groove, a very common one:


HH x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
SN ----o--x----o--
BD o-o-----o-o----


The ghost note is right between the 2 hi-hat hits so I guess you could just practise that motion of RlR (keeping the snare hit just a tap) - or rlR if you're doing up/down strokes on the hats (the lower case "r" being the up stroke on the hats).

I'm not a teacher so there's probably people who can give you much better advice, but that's the first thing that comes to mind.

Hope I've got that right...
 
The way I was taught (and the way I've shown others) is to play a 16th note beat with the left hand on the snare playing ghosts (the e's and ah's) and the right playing on the hi-hat and coming over to play the snare on 2 and 4. I find it a good way to start because the left hand is playing ONLY ghost notes. Play the left hand a couple of inches away from the rim and about an inch or two of stick height.

Keep at it. It will come.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I will definitely try your suggested exercises.

I do have a teacher and will have him go over it again with me at my next lesson.

I have very high expectations of myself (often too high) and always get frustrated when I can't grasp something quickly. Time to take a deep breath and try again....
 
Slow down and simplify enough that you're confident and consistent that your ghost notes are less than an inch off the surface of the drum, and that your main strokes are much larger. Then work on endurance (such as 100 bar repetitions) of such exercises.
 
the answer is ibviously lots regular hand practice. Too ease the mind a little bit, view everything a ghost notes, play everything on the snare low, and then add accents to the backbeats.

I try to get my students started early on understanding ghostnotes and get them to apply this to that simple 8-note groove with some extra offbeat 16ths that every young drummer seems to know instinctively.
 
This has helped me: Playing a three-pattern with two hands, even quarters and eighths. So the 1 shifts between the hands. Accent the 1 only. Keep doing this and as you do it more, exaggerate the difference between 1 and the 2/3 more and more - really exaggerate it, so where you lift the sticks above your head to play the 1, but barely a half inch to play the 2 and 3. Then accent the 2, but not as much as the 1. Try this with a 4 pattern, 5, etc. and at different speeds.
 
I think you need to relax a little bit and just stick with it. It's just music. I think you're making it harder than it is. Ghost notes will seem trivial after a few months of practice with them.
 
Play rimshots as backbeats, you get a very loud backbeeat that way with minmum effort. Most of the pro guys a lot of the time, funk guys also play like this so in order to get that sound it has to be done. Great for live playing to, really cuts through the mix. I allways play rimshots, unless im playing a softer song, or doing some recording and want a really fat snare drum sound or something.

You can get ghost notes sounding good without using rimshots tho, like everything it takes lots of practice. Bear in mind that they dont have to be that quiet, Check this out, no rims, just nice balance between the two. Steve white has really great technique. Practising parradiles etc will speed up your ghost note playing no end. Its all about the motions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbcskoZvNqs&feature=channel_video_title

Defo check out, Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie, Benny Greb, Clyde Stubblefield, Keith Carlock, David Garibaldi. Check their videos on drummerworld to. You will learn a lot just from watching and listening. Check for use the use or rims, stick level etc.
 
Much great advice from everyone already. All I can add is this. For me at least ghosting allows for a great deal of improvisation in what would otherwise be fairly straightforward beats. Getting the hang of ghosting and internal dynamics in general is of the greatest importance. It's also something that you will keep getting back to again and again. You'll never be finished practicing this stuff, so enjoy the ride.
 
Don't be afraid of ghosts lol.

It takes good stick control to play ghosts. Not sure, at this stage of development, if you're ready to tackle them yet. Ghosts fall under the dynamics heading, and IMO that is best saved until you have good stick control sorted out.

Basically you have to be adept at mixing up really large and really small strokes with ease. Judging from your vids, you don't have a good large stroke yet, meaning a full rebound. I see it as a half height rebound at this point. If your large stroke isn't large, your ghosts won't sound good by comparison. It's the noticeable difference in volume that makes them sound awesome. Your large strokes need to be larger and your small strokes need to be smaller. Right now you are at HIT tap, HIT tap, HIT tap, but the goal is HIT tap, HIT tap, HIT tap.

Practicing a very loud backbeat type rimshot hit followed by the quietest tip hit you can do, in a steady repeating pattern is good practice. You need to be in full control of the dynamic separation to play good ghosts, something that at 6 months, I'm not sure if it's the right thing to be working on yet. I think practice on more basic stick rebound heights is a prerequisite. Once you get good control of large strokes and small strokes...then you can incorporate ghosts in your playing. A ghost is the lightest tap you can do, and should be about 1/8th the volume of your backbeat. The more separation, volume-wise, the better.
 
Last edited:
Some major advice from everyone already. All I can add is this. For me at smallest ghosting allows for a major pot of improvisation in what would otherwise be evenhandedly straightforward beatniks. Getting the secure of ghosting and inner dynamics in overall is of the sterling grandness. It's also something that you instrument enter exploit rearward to again and again. You'll never be processed practicing this whatsis, so bask the journeying.



Jeep Power Steering Gear Box
 
darban98 said:
All I can add is this. For me at smallest ghosting allows for a major pot of improvisation in what would otherwise be evenhandedly straightforward beatniks. Getting the secure of ghosting and inner dynamics in overall is of the sterling grandness. It's also something that you instrument enter exploit rearward to again and again. You'll never be processed practicing this whatsis, so bask the journeying.
Click to expand...

Ghosts....I can live with 'em......but man, how I loathe those straightforward beatniks!!! That's just not the stuff of sterling grandness at all, I tells ya!
However, exploiting rearward again and again......well, I won't tell anyone if you don't....especially if you keep quiet on the whatsis (I thought that the basking was our little secret anyway???).



Back on topic. Mary, I've always found those simple dynamic control exercises listed by several others previously, help a bunch when aiming to accent some notes and ghost others.
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
Ghosts....I can live with 'em......but man, how I loathe those straightforward beatniks!!!
Click to expand...

Straightforward beatniks? Like Maynard G Krebs???

I have to focus on not playing ghosts (and ruffs) in slow and medium tempo tunes when a song needs a clean beat. My left hand naturally wants to do it, which I guess comes from playing (ie. fudging) along with too many 70s fusion records back in the day.

Ghosties are easy as pie to play - often just singles, with RH on hats and LH on snare - but it's hard to keep them quiet and precise enough to be spot on. I usually play them off-centre on the snare, where there's more bounce and a nice, open sound.
 
Here is one of Tommy Igoe's exercises for playing accents.
RxxxRxxxRxRxRxxxLxxxLxxxLxLxLxxx

The hard part is getting the note following the accent nice and low. The best way to do this is to play it as slow as you need to execute a nice soft note following the accent. You may also want to use a mirror to look at stick height. I don't think the accent needs to be super loud but more important that the ghost notes are soft, especially the one following the accent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top