Music without drums

Fishbones

Silver Member
Hello again everyone!

Haven't posted in awhile - been pretty busy.

I was wondering - do any of you guys listen to music without drums? I'm not talking music with electronic loops; I'm talking music without any drums or percussion whatsoever.

I love a lot of solo piano music; especially avant garde/experimental jazz (Cecil Taylor and the likes and classical music (some of the solo work by John Cage, Steve Reich, etc.)

I was wondering if anyone else is the same.

Don't get me wrong - most of the music I listen to has a drummer or a programmed drum track. But there is some music without that I love equally.

What do you guys think?
 
I love bluegrass. It's very rhythmic. If music doesn't have rhythm, I don't care about it too much. I love classical too, but that has percussion.
 
I once mixed a big band where the drummer got stuck in traffic and didn't make the downbeat for the first set. So we went without him. The bass player was just layin' it down for the band and the hall was up and dancin'. After the drummer showed up, all night we were saying, "what's that noise?"

I probably listen to 45% of music without drums (and if I'm working on computer-generated music in my studio, the drums usually happen last anyway), which probably explains why I get a little annoyed that everyone thinks the drummer is responsible for the time. Time is everybody's responsibility.
 
Oh yeah...

Check this out - Andy McKee / "Hunter's Moon":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II39Y9yrmB0

Does this music _need_ drums (or any other instrument)??
Well there _is_ some kind of percussion going on ;-)

Here's another one - Andy again, "Common Ground" - watch out for the powerful 'chorus' section (1.17->, and towards the end)!
(I can play this tune - the only one I managed to learn from him, and this piece opened the door for another playing dimension for me on the acoustic guitar...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31bORXYhsqQ&feature=relmfu
 
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I've been listening to Beethoven's piano sonatas a lot recently. I would say that a lot of the "classical" music I've been listening to also falls under this heading, but in many cases the strings and horns have percussive elements (obviously not in the strict sense of striking something, but in a sonic sense). I also listen to a lot of ambient music.
 
I actually love playing along with/listening to music with no drums! In my experience, music without drums usually features significantly better and more interesting playing than playalong tracks. Consequently playing along to music without drums is a lot more rewarding than with playalong tracks. Here is a link to me playing along with a recording of Christian McBride and Roy Hargrove:

http://haredrums.blogspot.com/2011/11/loving-bass.html
 
Absolutely. In fact, I'm a fellow Cecil Taylor nut. I love his stuff without drums, especially his solo work. Peter Kowald (Was Da Ist!) probably played his best stuff solo, no drummer necessary.

Of course, our tastes put us on the fringe, as I'm sure you're aware.
 
all the time, im really into acoustic folksy kind of stuff like city and colour and iron and wine. but im also a singer and guitarist so it appeals to me. i suppose youre asking if someone who plays only drums listens to music without said instrument.
 
I like all kinds of music that's played well, regardless of the instruments used. Joe Pass
guitar with Neils Pederson bass, The Tony Rice Unit (normally a bluegrass band has replaced
the banjo by doubling the mandolin or fiddle and made jazz recordings on occasion) are 2
examples.
 
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