Teamwork

First time playing live with this group.
 Listening was crucial.
It was amazing.

I know the first thing you're thinking as a drummer is "what teamwork, they need to follow me." I used to be arrogant and think if they couldn't follow what I'm doing then they shouldn't play. I wrote in my last post about playing with musicians and drummers that are better than you, and want to tie that into this post. Musicians that have toured with big names, and have played with the best of the best are the guys that you want to learn from. The first thing I learned the hard way was it's about the song, not about the drums. It's not about showing every chop you know in one song. I learned that the most important thing above chops is timing and groove. Listen to what is being played, better yet most times the magic in a song is what's not being played. I also learned that having an open mind is the funnest way to make music. As a band everyone should be putting things on the table, try them out if they don't work throw it, but be open to compromise for the better of the song. Recording your sessions is a huge benefit, it's amazing how awesome you're not when you hear yourself back. Talk it out amongst yourselves, the likes and dislikes from everyone. You'll find that if you can work with your band, you'll come up with some amazing parts to your songs. The two biggest complaints I hear from artists are: 1. "my other drummer never listened to what the musicians were doing." 2. "drummers are to loud." I'll write later on the second one, but for now the first one hits home. We as drummers and percussionists NEED to listen to the other musicians. Unless you're a clinic, or solo drummer we need to pay attention. Our job is to make them sound amazing, let them play off of us as we lay the foundation for them to groove. I personally hate soloing, I love to play music with others. To me music is a conversation, with your instrument, between you and your mates. The most important thing for us to do is let the audience in on our conversation. That's when the magic happens, but to get there we have to listen to each other and not talk over or interrupt each other. "Now, go get your drum on."