Busy Week

It's been a mad old week this week... I've not had a chance to transcribe any more of Kinky Reggae or write any of it up in Illustrator. In other words I've been distracted by a new DVD - Laurel Aitken at Club Ska. Recorded 2004-2005, the DVD is of two gigs at Club Ska: the tribute show when Aitken was in hospital and his return gig once he was out and recuperated. As well as performances featuring Aitken's backing band, The Pressure Tennants*, there are interviews with various stars of Ska including the legendary Rico.

The stand out thing about the interviews was the debt that is owed by the Ska musical style to R&B. When asked what his favourite music was, Aitken replied 'R&B' and went on the name Sam Cooke and Ray Charles as his heroes. Another older ska producer said something like, 'We were just playing R&B' and stuff like that...

Everything goes back to the Blues.


* they later on became El Pussycat Ska, featuring Brother Dave Anderson on drums, whose Taye GoKit inspired me to explore compact kits.

Rest

After a week transcribing nearly half of The Wailer's Kinky Reggae, I've had an enforced rest as I've had to concentrate on putting together a CD cover for the new Mojo Hand live recording. I want to copy the work I've done so far on the track into Adobe Illustrator before I do much more.

Rest

After a week transcribing nearly half of The Wailer's Kinky Reggae, I've had an enforced rest as I've had to concentrate on putting together a CD cover for the new Mojo Hand live recording. I want to copy the work I've done so far on the track into Adobe Illustrator before I do much more.

Splash as a ride?

Started playing around with my old Meinl Laser splash cymbal last night... it actually has a very nice bell sound - could this be my new ersatz ride cymbal? There's only one way to find out...

Swing Open Hi-hat

Played two great gigs this weekend. One with Mojo Hand and the other with the Blues Demons. Both with my new mini-kit. One gig is full on electric guitars and the other acoustic guitars. My playing is taking on aspects of both gigs - I use sticks, brushes and rutes in both. The only real difference is the volume level, all out for Mojo and controlled for The Blues Demons.

One technique I've started to use in both bands is the swing open hi-hat. In a nutshell I play the swing rhythm on an open hi-hat, controlling the sound using my left hand. The hi-hat is held slightly open with the foot but other than that it doesn't move. The cymbal is played on the top with the tip of the stick. The left hand does the work, either holding the cymbals together or letting the cymbals ring/sizzle. On the notation, the little 'o's show where the left hand lets go so the cymbals can ring.

Something else that I got from Tommy Igoe's  Groove Essentials DVD. Great for giving swing numbers a different feel.

Note to self - must buy a small fan to attach to my hi-hat stand.

Up to the end of the first chorus

Yes, as you can tell by the slightly surreal title, I've managed to transcribe The Wailer's Kinky Reggae from the introduction, though the first verse, up to the end of the first chorus. Its deceptively simple drumming, with lots of inflections and little touches. Those fills are tricky! Bass drums in strange places, let alone the cross-sticks... It doesn't help that I'm counting in half-time, so what feels like sixteen-notes are actually eight-notes. Why count in Half-time? Reggae is half-time, is why! Slow slow slow. The guitar plays the backbeats and the drummer plays the snare on beat three. Give it a listen and count along, if you can.

Anyway, yesterday we finished off recording overdubs on our new Mojo CD. As well as re-recording harmonica parts, I overdubbed maracas on Bo Diddley (by Bo Diddley of course). The man used a drummer and dedicated maraca player to play his clave-based songs. The maracas are an important part of the sound, providing high-end sound to the drum beat.

Tonight I'm at Barwell with Mojo and Chris and Ruth George are coming down. I haven't seen Chris in six months so that'll be cool. Another chance to use my new piccolo snare drum to play the blues, this time with slightly looser snares. So hopefully an even fatter sound then.

Music-wise, I'm listening to Edward II.

Thirty-three seconds and nine bars

Began transcribing Kinky Reggae this morning and got a huge thirty three seconds into the song (3 minute 39 seconds long), and that's just the intro. Already I've written a fill with a ruff in it; eight bars of rhythm based on half-time one drop; seemingly random cross-stick played in time with the one drop (beat three on the bass drum); a light cymbal note together with some hi-hat snatches; a nice triplet-y fill leading into the first verse - in short, every bar is different.

That's fifteen minutes of repeated listening. I think its best to limit my transcription time to that or else I'll get fed up! Which defeats the object. So far I've had an education, and that's just the intro on its own alone. I've not got to the really expressive stuff yet!

Moleskine Music

Moleskine diarys are hardwearing - they have to be when I use them! I prefer an eighteen month so I can start keeping track of both this year's and next year's gigs right now. When I bought my new one at the weekend I noticed a Moleskine manuscript book... Lovely little thing, the same size as my diary, and perfect for me to carry around. I'll be able to transcribe cds and work out new ideas whenever and wherever I want. I've wanted something like this for ages. Most manuscript paper comes in pads, printed on cheap paper. Disposeable. I wanted something more like the hardback sketch books I love to use - something that would last and could be returned to time and again. Transcription is such a useful skill, I've found it invaluable.

Of course the first on the list for in-depth transcription is Kinky Reggae, off The Wailer's Catch A Fire. A chance for me to really study Carlton Barret's reggae drumming. And what better way than to record the whole performance in my new book.

Emphasis not accent...

In my previous post, I talked about the relative sound balance of the instruments when playing rock - snare drum loudest; then bass drum; the hi-hats/ride should be controlled and not too loud in the mix. There's another way to add more life and even a little swing to the proceedings...

The eight-notes on the hi-hats can be played evenly - each note exactly the same as the rest. However its more natural to emphasise the quarter-notes. Not an accent, mind you, just an emphasis. This gives rock beats a lilt, a slight swing which sounds very natural.

Speaking of emphasis, this playing up of the quarter-notes on the cymbals can also be applied to swing and shuffle beats. This doesn't have to apply just to the cymbals. Instead of accenting the backbeat when playing the shuffle with the left hand, I've started to emphasise the two and four instead. This sounds more natural than a heavy accent and is easier to play, giving me the strength to play the double shuffle for longer.

Sound Balance

Eight-note rock grooves can be played two-dimensionally. In other words, with every instrument struck with the same intensity. This promotes a consistent performance, which to be fair is a goal in itself, but sells the beat short. For a start, the snare sounds best when its the loudest instrument. It doesn't have to be a lot louder, but definately louder than the bass drum. The hi-hats should be the quietest sound. Silky smooth in fact. This makes the drums the dominant sound in the set, not the cymbals - the classic rock sound. This is the opposite approach to swing and shuffle music, in which the cymbals, especially the ride, are the loudest instruments. My old drum tutor showed me this approach to playing rock when I first had lessons, but it took ten years to get the balance right. At first I didn't worry about it, not until I heard Jeff Porcaro play a shuffle on a live recording. Talk about perfectly balanced kit sound, and that's not engineered either. Pure technique.