You Know you are a drummer if......(Pt.2)

(continued from part one)

Picture it. You are at a concert with an opening band or band(s) you are unfamiliar with.   There is no one on stage to look at but roadies so what do you do?  I'll tell you what I do.  I check out the band's banner/backdrops if they have them, I check out the backline equipment to get a sense of the band i.e. are there two guitarists? Is there a keyboard player? But mostly I check out the kit to see if it is big or small.  From looking at the gear on stage, the band has already made its first impression, and they haven't even walked on stage or played the first note yet.

You can tell a lot about a drummer, or any musician by the gear he plays with. At the local level, I always check out what other drummer's are playing when I share the bill with other bands for the first time.  Are they lefty? Does the drummer have cases? Are the skins beat to shit?  Are the cymbals cracked?  Is the hardware rusted or pitted?  Does he use a throne? Is there something original and distinctive about the kit? These details of the instrument  can reveal details about the drummer. It is always fun for me to check out the drummer in action later and see how accurate that first impression is.  This leads us to....

Rule #3: A drummer uses quality gear.

You need to have good gear to get the job done.  Notice I used the word good and not expensive.  You can have very solid gear that does the job without breaking the bank.  Wether it is a massive 12pc kit with all the bells and whistles, or a 3 piece kit with two cymbals - it is more about getting what you need to get the job done.  Two classic patterns that non drummers may fall into:

1. "Drummer"A - image first/money no object:  buying drums and cymbals more for how they look on stage, or for the brand name than for how they sound. Cannot imagine how he could not get an endorsement once the drum company sees how cool he looks standing behind the kit with his awesome piercings and tats.

2. "Drummer" B - path of least resistance/lazy:  bought a drum kit his buddy was selling for cheap. Uses the least (and smallest sized) gear because he hates all the work it takes to set up and tear down the kit. Does not invest any money into his instrument unless absolutely possible (i.e. a repair that duct tape cannot fix). He also secretly wishes to play the harmonica.

Hopefully you fall into the "C" category. You know what you need and get a good quality instrument that you can have for years. You add or subtract pieces according to the band or gig you are playing.  You maintain that instrument for years and are inspired to greatness by it.  A flashy color or a boutique kit is just icing on the cake for you.  If you want it- you get it - but you play the shit out of those drums because you love them.

I don't think there has ever been a better time to be a drummer.  The gear just keeps getting better and better.  The amount of products, companies and variety out there staggers the mind.  Drummers  have the most unique instrument on stage.  We can tune it how we want to, we can choose to play on as many or as few drums as we want.  We can even  dive into the realm of triggers and sampled sounds, sequencers, drum loops and electronic drums . 

If gear can reflect  professionalism and personality, then what does YOUR kit say about you?

Virtual band still p#sses off the neighbors 2

I am a real drummer. Even though I have tonnes of  real gear, I took the plunge and purchased the Rock-band bundle back in February.  I thought if I am going to play video games anyway, I might as well play something musical right?  Plus I thought it would be really fun to jam with my friends, the musically inclined and not so musically inclined.  My impressions of the game will be in two parts: A) Solo as a drummer and B) Multiplayer (not online) with up two two other real life band members. These impressions also include the recently released Rockband 2.  Read on for part two: Playing well with others in Rockband/Rockband 2.

What is the hardest part about forming a band?  Is it finding the right members?  Is it getting the right sound?  Is it getting the right look? Is it not getting evicted by the neighbors? Or is it finding the right name?  Many of these same questions will have to be asked when you pop in Rockband or Rockband2 for the first time.

Once you fire up the game, you  will get to customize your characteristics /clothes and choose your name. You will also have to sit through this for every other member of your band ( so this would be a good time to read through the manual that came with the game to kill some time.)!  You have the option to get really picky about every detail or just take what they give you and get down to making music.  The game will even generate a band name for you if you can't think of one.

In Rockband 2  the character you create can play any instrument that you have connected to your system.  This  is a big improvement over the first Rockband. Now my "drummer" character can sing or play bass/guitar according to what I am playing/doing in real life.  This usually happens to drummers a lot as  bringing Rockband drums to a buddies house will be tougher than say a microphone or guitar(again, just like real life).  Plus the "stick noise" from playing on the kit is still enough to annoy most parents/significant others in the next room...welcome to the life of a drummer!

My backup instrument for this part of the review was the bass guitar.  One because it is a little easier than guitar, and two because you don't often have people arguing to play bass.  My brother plays bass and I have a deep respect for those unsung people who help us drummers hold down the rhythm section - so the choice was natural.

I won't go into too much detail about each instrument as I'd prefer to deal with the band dynamics.  However I will go over a  few things regarding the bass as I am pretty sure not too many articles  address the bass details  much.

As far as playing bass guitar, well you will probably be holding a guitar controller when you play(Rockband does not make a bass controller - bassists get no respect!). Like guitar you'll have to hit the notes as they scroll towards you on screen.  Also you end up using the whammy bar for bass as well (which shows that Rockband hasn't shown bassists the amount of love which it shows the other instruments...yet).  Bassists usually have less notes to play (in quantity and at the same time) than the guitarists do.  Also there is usually at least one guitar solo per song (which can be tricky), so that is another way the bass differs from playing guitar.  I admit I haven't played every track, but there is not one that I can think of that has a bass solo in it.  I got up to playing on the hard difficulty pretty quickly and can do some of the simpler tunes on expert.

However this does not mean that there are no challenging bass lines available to play.  Run to the hills by Iron Maiden, Train Kept a Rollin' by Aerosmith and Shackler's Revenge(which I could not play for the life of me) by Guns N Roses were all exceptionally challenging.

If you have talked to anyone who has played either Rockband game, you know that playing with friends is the best part of playing Rockband.  There is just something about grabbing your instrument, choosing a song and then doing the best you can to kick some butt!  

You are rewarded for playing a harder skill level by gaining more money and more fans when you finish each song.  However the harder the difficulty the more likely you are to fail and lose fans/money. Each band member can choose their individual difficulty level.  It is usually good to start at say medium and work your way up as you get the hang of it.

If you are having difficulty and are about to be booed off stage, any band member who has built up enough energy (read the first part of this review to learn more about building up energy)can "save" you and get you back into the song.  However three strikes and you are out (even the rock gods have their limits)!  When one player "strikes out" it is only a matter of seconds before the crowd stops the song altogether.  You'll often see the drummer throw his drumsticks down in disgust.

If you are all rocking on a grand scale and building up a lot of energy you'll build up the most points when all the band members go into "overdrive" at the same time (meaning using all their individual energies up at the same time).  This is pretty tricky on  the tougher songs as everyone has to be doing well enough in the song to earn the energy in the first place.  The payoff when you accomplish it though is awesome.

Between both RB games and all the downloadable songs online there is reportedly over five hundred songs you can play!  There is an incredible amount of variety here and I think it is safe to say there will be many songs you like available to play.  As well there will be songs you might not even like but will LOVE to play on this game with your band (trust me, it will happen).  Just keep in mind it is called Rockband for a reason- there are no country or rap songs here!

Another fun part of the game is the challenge component.  You will have challenges that start out as "warm up" challenges of maybe 4 or 5 songs that are fairly easy, right up to a metal onslaught of every metal song in a row (17 songs on my hard drive).   These challenges unlock other challenges and a lot of the highest level challenges give you unlockable content that you cannot purchase in the shop ( my male bassist got a "deer suit' complete with antlers, spikes and a dead bird on his chest, while our female singer got a new top to wear...namely a SNAKE and nothing else)!

This game appeals to a large cross section of people. It is easily the most social game I have played.  So often playing video games adds up to only one person playing alone staring at a screen for hours.  Even when you play with others online, there is still a distance between you and your online buddies.  Rockband attracts many people who usually have no interest in video games.  Rockband2 has added a "no fail" feature to allow moms and dads to play with their "rockstar" kids (without bombing out) as well as the "young" dad who is perhaps trying to bond with the pre-teens.

If you have trouble drumming up (pun intended) people to play with you in front of your t.v., there is a online feature in Rockband 2 that allows you to play online with others to form a band.  I have not tested this personally so I cannot comment on lag or other connectivity issues.  I would guess though that this experience would still be better than playing alone.  There are also daily challenges for your band to accomplish and updates to you when some breaks one of your records etc.  Sounds like there is a lot to keep you busy if you do a lot of online gaming.

I have heard many real musicians and wannabe lament the recent trend of instrument related video games.  For some reason people are threatened by others claiming expert status on Guitar hero or Rockband.  I just take it as entertainment.  Video game skills do not transfer to the real instrument and vice versa.  However I think it is a great way to expose today's younger generation to a lot of classic bands and music that they might not have heard of before. If anyone is inspired to pick up a real instrument and learn to play directly from getting hooked on either video game series, that can only be a good thing in my book. Just be careful to as cranking the tunes and bringing "the rock" will still P#ss off the neighbors!

 

copyright 2008 www.drumystic.com Virtual band still p#sses off the neighbors 2

Virtual Rockband still p#sses off the neighbors!

 

I am a real drummer. Even though I have tonnes of  real gear, I took the plunge and purchased the Rockband bundle back in February.  I thought if I am going to play video games anyway, I might as well play something musical right?  Plus I thought it would be really fun to jam with my friends, the musically inclined and not so musically inclined.  My impressions of the game will be in two parts: A) Solo as a drummer and B) Multiplayer (not online) with up to two other real life band members. These impressions also include the recently released Rock-band 2.  Read on for part one: Virtual drumming in Rockband/Rockband 2 (Or playing with yourself).

Okay, lets start with the kit.  I was impressed overall at how portable and yet sturdy the drums are.  You have four different colored pads (which corresponds with the colors on the Xbox360 controller) and of course your kick pedal.  The pads do not feel like real drums incase you were wondering, and the pedal (from the original Rock-band bundle) is plastic and not very similar to the real thing either.  But lets digress, the pedal on my real kick drum probably cost more than the entire rock-band bundle! To date there is currently no foot control for the hi-hat, or for a second kick drum. Oh yeah drumsticks are provided as well with a "rock-band" logo on them. They are small (for me) probably about a 5A size, but they work well in that you don't want to bust your plastic drums right?

Next was the "notation" for the drums on screen.  I am sure many of us have seen the guitar hero "template" where the notes come towards you on a "guitar neck" with colored notes on it that you have to play at the correct time.  I thought "how the heck can they do that with the drums?"  Turns out...the same way!  The notes also come flying down a guitar neck...I guess it works if it does bother me a little as a drummer.  The actual kick notes are orange lines that lie along the guitar neck itself.  Since there are only four pads, they "change" from cymbals to toms depending on what is needed for each song.  The hi-hat and snare pads remain constant, and of course the kick drum. *Word of warning: There WILL be times when your pads do not always pick up your playing. I recommend living with it and saving "perfection" for the real  stage. Another option are the aftermarket kits and pedals you can purchase for considerably more money and quality than the "stock" kit. 

Since playing an instrument is difficult, there are various difficulty settings to choose from.  On drums if you play on "easy" you will only have two different pads to hit.  The game will filter out the basic drum patterns and totally leave out any and all kick drum. HOWEVER you will still hear the song exactly as it was recorded.  This is where those of us who really play begin to be "penalized" for actually trying to play what they hear.  No matter what difficulty setting you are playing the game at - you will be rated on the notes it shows on the screen, any other notes (even if they are technically in the song) will be regarded as an error.  So for a lot of you real drummers out there, some of the easier levels are HARDER to play than the original song because you have to totally filter out what you hear and ONLY play what you see.  Do yourself a favor if you have played drums for any amount of time, skip to the hard level at least.

Now it is time to explain the "other" difficulties.  Songs themselves are of varying difficulties.  So naturally you start with "easy" songs and gradually move up to the "nightmare" or "impossible" songs.  So just because you start the game on "hard" difficulty and breeze through "In Bloom" and "Paranoid" don't think that when "Run to the Hills" or "Tom Sawyer" come along later on in the game you'll get off so easy.  The other way that songs can be difficult is that a lot of times a seemingly simple song has a deceptively hard part that even the game doesn't rate properly - so you are caught totally off guard.  The Linkin Park song "Closer to the edge" shocked me when I failed the first 3 times I tried to play it (Tom Sawyer gave me no such problem). 

What happens when you fail?  Well fail and your virtual self (who is onstage performing to a virtual crowd) will be booed offstage and the song will end abruptly (if you are playing solo).  There is a crowd meter on display to always let you know how you are doing at any point in the song.  Miss a few notes and you drop down the meter, miss a lot of notes -  the meter will drop lower, you begin to hear the crowd booing and your screen will turn red in warning. Missing more notes (or playing incorrect notes) when you are near the bottom of the meter will get you ejected from the song.  You will also lose fans if you play badly enough to fail a song(new for the Rock-band 2 solo mode). You can always retry the song if you want to, but the fans you lost are still lost.  Plus you can lose more if you botch the song again.  There is nothing worse than playing a song and failing when there is literally only seconds left in the song. When you  try again you start from the beginning, so those long songs can be brutal!

What happens when you play well?  Well you get a higher "score" at the end which is based on how many notes you hit.  If you hit enough notes in a row, a multiplier begins to add to your points and you can rack up to 8 times the points on each note.  Playing well will also cause you to build up energy.  This energy allows you to start improvising fills in sections of the song (not anywhere you want but where the game allows you to).  When you land correctly on the last note of the fill you use your energy to boost your rating on the crowd meter. You don't have to use this energy when you are doing well however, a good strategy is to build up energy in the beginning of a song and save it for a hard section and potentially "save yourself" from getting booed off stage.  Yes you can save yourself by using your energy(which equals in my mind putting on more of a show/showing off) so the crowd will forgive some sloppiness - much like real life!. Oh and let's not forget the thousands of fans you get upon completion of each song and yes money the money you are paid as well. You don't make much money, but the amount of fans you receive  seems to be really out of whack with reality. I guess we don't want to burst a fledgling rocker's bubble?

Overall impressions from the drumystic.

Drumming in Rock-band/Rock-band 2 is easily the closest thing to experiencing the fun of playing a kit live on stage as I have encountered to date. Not so much the feel of the kit, but the game experience is a lot of fun. You do care about, losing fans, getting roadies, band transportation, making money and of course "not sucking"  live. You will have fun using  the cash you get on gigs to buy new clothes, hairstyles, tattoos and even new drum kits.

This game was  designed mainly with a casual "gamer" in mind, which includes people who have never even seen a kit before - let alone had to keep a beat. With this in mind I am impressed that it can appeal to real drummers at all (especially those that do already play video games).If you can get past some of the limitations then you should have a blast as a virtual drummer in Rock-Band.  Oh and you can finally jam with your buddies who can't actually play an instrument!

 

 copyright 2008 www.drumystic.com Virtual Rock-band still p#sses off the neighbors!

 

Drums,drumsetsDrumystic

Hello, welcome to Drumystic.

You will find info on all things drum related here. It could be life experiences drumming, or product opinions on gear such as drum sets, cymbals, snare drums, bass drums etc.

Everything you read here is based on my opinion and personal experiences. For those of you just beginning, I hope I can be the good reference I found so hard to find (way back before the days of the internet).

This is a site that celebrates drumming, and gives the drummer "some"! Welcome fellow drummers. Pull up a seat, there is lots of room for everyone.

2008 copyright www.drumystic.com drums, drumsetsDrumystic

You know you are a drummer if.....(pt1)

So you think you are a drummer? Most non-musicians believe that simply owning a drum kit, and playing a couple of beats qualifies you as a drummer. Well I’m here to tell you that they are wrong! Here are a few of the reasons that I have come up with that show there is a lot more to it than that. These views are based upon my life and experiences. See how many sound familliar to you.

Rule # 1: A drummer, must drum.

If he(or she) does not have a drum kit, then he is planning to get one and is patiently drumming on anything he can find until he gets his own. He may not know where to put the kit when he gets it, he might not know where he is getting the money to BUY the kit. All that he knows he needs a kit and he will have a kit. That is all that matters.

My real life example: I slowly awakened to drummer status in my early teens. I did not have a kit, I did not own a drum. In the beginning I was lucky to have a pair of sticks. Still I was driven to become a drummer. I read magazines, drooled over catalogs, visited all the music stores I could, and spent weekends at my best friend’s house because the lucky bastard had a kit in his basement. I slowly acquired hardware, cymbals and gear bit by bit, but I never wavered from my goal. I learned songs with headphones, a cd player, and a pair of sticks drumming on my bed! At those early gigs I performed on a kit provided or my friend’s kit. In the end it took me close to four years before I actually owned my own drumkit, but I never gave up.

Rule # 2: A drummer never stops drumming.

You do not “quit” drums, ever. A drummer like an alcoholic is a drummer for life (just don’t be an alcoholic AND a drummer). You may need to sell the drums if times become hard -and I mean really hard, but you are still a drummer (simply return to rule number one and start over again). Anyone can buy a kit and even learn to drum, but that alone does not make you a drummer. I’ll even venture that there are “drummers” in bands that are making a living at it. However, if you know anyone who has done it all, but in the end sold his kit and quit drumming, I maintain he was never REALLY a drummer in the first place. Don’t be fooled! There are far too many, of these fake drummers out there in the world today.

My real life example: Anyone you meet who says “I used to play drums in high school but….”.

More rules to follow……

2007 copyright www.drumystic.com you know you are a drummer if...