A Drum Lesson From Carole King, by Jacob Slichter

Eric’s Intro:

 

Among the themes that recur in my articles is idea that the decisions we make as musicians about both what to play and how to play are formed by far more than what we learn in our typical practices.  This is to say, as vital as our traditional technical exercises are to our musical growth, they’re only one piece of what makes us the players we are.

 

Many of the powerful influences on our playing are unconscious or innate – things like our basic personality and temperament, our natural sense of time, our body-type, our affection or distain for tidiness, our confidence, our fears.  Among the influences that are conscious, the most common are fellow drummers, players we love so much that we try hard to sound like them.   This month, the great drummer and author, Jake Slichter, shows us that when we extend our consciousness beyond our tried-and-true sources of inspiration, we find a rich and inexhaustible source of learning.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A Drum Lesson From Carole King

 

I often describe drummers as the musical equivalent of hockey goalies: we’re hidden behind a bunch of equipment, we’re somewhat removed from the rest of the players, and our task is, in certain regards, qualitatively different from those of all the other musicians.   Our isolated existence on stage may explain why drummers are prone to zero in on the drums at the expense of everything else when listening to recordings.  In part, this is justified because a smart player will study the drumming on great recordings, and such listening requires a bit of tunnel vision, or perhaps tunnel hearing.  I have found, however, that many of my best insights into drumming have come from listening to non-drummers.  The brilliant counterpoint in the bass playing of Motown session man James Jamerson, the effervescent flow of Bob Dylan’s acoustic guitar, the hypnotic funky riffs of Prince’s electric, the groove-popping vocalizations of James Brown—all of these can offer drummers an abundance of insight.

 

In this article, I’ll focus on the piano playing of Carole King and explore how her touch on the keys can inform what we do on the drums.  Her songs and voice have influenced a generation of singer/songwriters, but her gifts as a piano player are equally supreme.   Any drummer would do well to listen to her playing and apply those lessons to the drum set.

 

Sibling Instruments

 

First, let’s note some important similarities between the piano and the drums.  The piano is a percussion instrument and therefore more like the drums than any other instrument in a standard pop music setting.  Like drummers, piano players can and frequently do make use of limb independence (and both instruments are typically played while seated, which enables the use of hands and feet).  Thus, on the piano, a bass note pattern played by the left hand can interact with chords played by the right to create something akin to a drum beat.  Both the piano and the drums have a wider range than most other instruments.  The piano spans over seven octaves, while the drum set’s frequency range extends from the deep thud of the kick on up through the tom-toms, the snare, and finally to the cymbals.  With such wide sonic spectrums, the piano and drums can exert an especially large influence on the shape and color of an arrangement, creating sudden changes in mood.    

 

Air Piano

 

The similarities between the drums and piano will become more evident as you play air piano along with a track.  Doing so will help you translate the insights of great piano playing to the drums.   To follow along with the rest of this article, find a recording of Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move,” which is on her landmark album Tapestry and is available for download online.

 

As you listen, sit in a chair, and mimic (as best you can) the two hands of the piano part—low notes on the left, high notes on the right.  Since you can ignore the question of playing precisely the right notes, you can focus instead on the timing of the hand movements; the striking, sustaining, and release of the notes; the dynamics; and the general shape of the left-right movement of your arms.  Hold your hands down for longer notes, lift them quickly for shorter ones, mime the sharpness or gentleness of the attack, and so forth.  Build, as completely and accurately as you can, a physical image of what it would be like to play the piano part you’re hearing.  This will allow you to form a more vivid mental image of what the pianist is doing.  Thus, whenever you hear a piano part, you’ll have a greater physical awareness of what it would be like to play it yourself.  You can then bring that physical awareness to your drumming.  

 

A First Example

 

Let’s work our way through Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”  First, consider the piano riff that drives the intro and verses.  Notice the interplay between the alternating bass-note octaves in her left hand and the chordal stabs she makes with her right on “Two” and “Four.”  This is, in effect, a drum beat played on the piano with the low notes playing the part of the kick drum and the chords playing the part of the snare.  Hear how convincingly it grooves.  This is a function of not only an excellent sense of timing but also a masterful balance of dynamics and accents and a keen intuition for how long to hold onto each note before releasing it.  

 

Consider, for instance, the chord stabs on “Two” and “Four” of the intro.  Take note of how long they last.  Drummers are prone to ignore note length because we don’t think in terms of sustaining a note.  Each time you strike with your sticks, however, you’re making a decision about note length, because each element of the drum kit has a wide range of possible note lengths depending on where and how you strike it.  A hi-hat, for instance can tick, chick, chook, sizzle, or slosh depending on how hard you press on the pedal, where you strike (the top, the cup, the side), and what part of the stick you use (the tip, the neck, the shoulder).  Each of these sounds has a different length and thereby sets a different musical mood.  So, listening to Carole King play the opening riff of “I Feel the Earth Move,” you’ll notice that her left hand punches out the bass notes while her right hand sustains the chords.  Now listen more closely.  The punches are not the shortest of staccatos; neither are the chords sustained as long as they could be.  These subtle shadings of note length are of huge consequence to the feel of the track. 

 

During the B-sections (“Ooh baby, when I see your face . . .”), her dynamic level drops and the chords ring out, creating (along with the key change) a wonderful change of scenery.  You can think of the contrast between the biting chord stabs of the verse and the lighter, ringing chords of the B-sections as something like the change a drummer makes when moving from a closed hi-hat to a shimmering ride.  And, just like a drummer, she builds back into the verse with repeating eighth-note chords that resemble eighth notes building on a pair of tom-toms.  The way she shapes the mood and creates drama with her piano playing is a drum lesson in itself.  The ultimate lesson, however, lies in the utter infectiousness of her groove.  It’s worth playing air piano along with any Carole King track and transferring what you learn to the drum set.  Her music overflows with an amazing rhythmic feel, and the consequences are spectacular.

 

Moving On

 

Using this technique, you can learn from something as simple as Sly Stone’s piano part on “Everyday People” or something as complex as Stevie Wonder’s overdubbed clavinet parts on “Superstition.”  Eventually, you’ll be feeling the parts as you listen.  The lessons are endless, but I’ll conclude with what I think is the most important lesson of all:  The great masters of pop music, no matter what instrument they play, are all masters of feel.  For drummers, no other lesson is half as valuable.

 

 

 

Jacob Slichter is the drummer for Semisonic and the author of So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, a critically acclaimed behind-the-scenes look at the music business.  E-mail him at semijake@aol.com.