If you are a drummer that plays in a band, ANY band, ANY style, people usually want two things from you:
1. Good time/groove
2. Set ups
1. Requires you to listen, pay attention, understand and assimilate A LOT. This takes time, so do not rush. Listen to a lot of different music and play along with different music. Practice with a metronome A LOT, your goal should be to have the metronome only on beat 1 and to be able to play at 60bpm, with a perfect groove.
2. The most important thing you have to know when setting up a band hit, is knowing the band hit! In other words, if you play volleyball and you are a setter, you have to be aware of where your spiker will be in order to create the perfect set. If you do not know where your spiker will be or cannot predict it, then your set will be a wild guess, resulting in… yes, nothing. The feeling you get when you set it up just right and the spiker nails the spike, is exactly how you should feel when setting up a band. The drummer is the setter, the horns are the spikers. This means that your set-up has to be clean, precise and at the right time!
Components of a set-up:
1. Cleanliness
a. This is not your opportunity to whip out your best fills. This is the opportunity to keep things clear and simple. A great example is the classic big band set up: unison triplets on floor tom and snare.
2. Precision
a. The subdivisions that you play during your set-up have to be absolutely perfect, in order to maintain the quarter note and get everyone ready. If you play the subdivisions poorly (dragging/rushing/uneven) this will throw off the unanimous time-feel of the band that you, as part of the rhythm section, had previously established and worked so hard to maintain. When people in the band start questioning where the time is… that is when trouble hits, and when it is time for the horn hits… well, they might not sound like hits, maybe more like drops, because everyone will be playing at different times.
3. Timing
a. Drum charts are hard to follow sometimes, and it is easy to get lost in all of the repetitive slashes. So sometimes, you might do the perfect set-up, but a bar earlier or two bars earlier. The best method for playing the right thing at the right time is really knowing the song. This is the volleyball example. You have to know where to set the volleyball, in order to get the spike, which means you have to know where to play your set-up to get the hits. You have to know the melody, the chord changes and backgrounds. This way you will always know where you are, and everything you play will be supportive of what is happening or about to happen, because you will be playing the song, not a piece of paper.
Now that you understand the philosophy of setting up hits, let’s get into the technicalities. Here is a simple guide to setting up different hits with 8th notes as well as with triplets. Notice that the set-up is written with snare and bass only, this is just for learning purposes. When you get the hang of the figures (in time and comfortable), then you should try to orchestrate (use different drums/sounds for the figures). First try everything, you will hear right away what sounds wrong and what sounds right. You should also listen to many big band records, and pay attention to how the drummers are setting up band hits. Listening is always the best and fastest way to learn.
If you have any questions, or are interested in lessons, email me at tetyanahar@gmail.com.
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