drumdevil9
Platinum Member
Playing softly comes up a lot.
Rick Dior is one of the smoothest cats I've ever heard.
Rick Dior is one of the smoothest cats I've ever heard.
Could you please expound on the high velocity a little, Todd? Seems a little incongruous with playing quietly in my mind. Do you substitute stick speed for height? Because I've done gigs where playing as loud as Mr. Dior in that clip could get us fired.To me that's not that soft. A lot of the time that's sort of a normal mezzo forte. Playing really softly (like a quarter of that volume) with that much fluff in your grip-- that was my basic technique for a long time, and it fell apart when I had to play really quiet. I needed to switch to a more controlled grip.
The trick is to play softly without losing the energy. I play low but solid, with high velocity strokes. To me you play legato when you want a legato sound, not just to play quieter.
Could you please expound on the high velocity a little, Todd? Seems a little incongruous with playing quietly in my mind. Do you substitute stick speed for height? Because I've done gigs where playing as loud as Mr. Dior in that clip could get us fired.
OK, I believe I get what you're saying. Not necessarily subbing out busyness for lack of volume, and keeping movements crisp and closer to the drums, right? Thx for the explanation!I just move the sticks fast, even when I'm playing softly. I don't try to play lighter or with slower motions just because I'm playing low. You don't have a lot of space to do a legato motion when you're playing 1-4" off the drum or cymbal. Thinking about a fast motion gets you away from thinking about hitting, which I don't think is helpful for technique or sound. A lot of my technique is about being direct, closing up some of the physical fluff people add between the impulse to play something, and actually playing it.
I've not been the drummer, but I do play occasional gigs with a drummer who has to play that quietly and quieter. He can darn sure do it, too.I've never had a need to play much softer than he's playing. Maybe sometimes and yes there would be more controlled lower strokes. But if a player that naturally plays hard/loud needed to tone it down this would at least get him part of the way there if not super softly. Maybe the video addresses people who would never watch it.
That’s a great page! I’d not heard of Rick until a few days ago. Thank you!Just added Rick Dior to Drummerworld: