"The Ultimate Solution for Internet Drum Lessons" The art and science of groove with Benny Greb Oh man! It was amazing! -Thanks! Ladies and gentlemen Benny Greb! Officially welcome to Drumeo. It's great to have you here! For those unfamiliar with Benny Greb he comes from Hamburg, Germany. And he came to Canada on purpose to give this lesson for all of you. We are very grateful to have you here with us. Your new DVD called "The art and science of groove" just came out. Maybe we can get a better picture of it with that camera. -OK, here it is! The art and science of groove is available on BennyGreb.com, you can download it or order the DVD to have it shipped to you. I personally downloaded it, it's great! -Thank you 1000! Downloading is quick and easy, don't worry! You are also doing your Master Sessions, which take place in Germany, New York and other locations throughout the United States.
I came to the one in New York, they are very large: you talk a little about everything. You talk about things like today, about the language of drums. Internships in Germany are more in-depth, on a specific topic. In Germany I call them "Focus Camps" (in-depth stage), while the "Round Camps" (general stage) I do them around the world. You play with many bands, but among your personal projects are Moving Parts, of which a record has just been released and you have played in many Jazz festivals, and with the material of those festivals you are making a live record.
Yes, we recorded the last tour and we hope it will come out at the end of the year (2015). Then you have the Brass Band that included the song you played at the beginning, "Next Question", from 2006 or 2007? I do not remember! -I think 2006. – Maybe! Or maybe I get confused with "Grebfriut" which is next and then you have the Two Day Trio. If you haven't listened to these records yet, I highly recommend them! I have them fixed in my I-tunes library. Thanks 100, very kind! Hey man, you are one of my favorite drummers, do you understand that or not? You sucked my brain for years! I'm doing my best to focus and not stagger! But I often feel like a total jerk! You just have a weird accent like mine, so take it easy, breathe! So, let's say I usually prepare the material together with the artists who come but this time I did n't do anything because you thought of everything.
You can also follow him on facebook.com/bennygrebofficial, twitter @ bennygreb, instagram @ bennygreb and youtube.com/bennygrebofficial. He's doing a lot of cool stuff with the Master Sessions , the DVD promotion The Art and Science of Groove and all the bands you play with, you're a busy guy! Yes, I like to keep busy. You're here today to talk about some concepts from The Art and Science DVD. Yes exactly! And by the way, thanks for hosting me! I'm happy to be here too, beautiful thing, great location, great staff! So thank you! For those unfamiliar with Drumeo, we do these things every day, we broadcast a live lesson, if you register you can interact, you can ask questions, you can talk to the community.
If you want to give it a try, well Benny Greb isn't here every day, although we'd love to! Me too, the food was great! We have a great team of teachers so if you want to try it, go to drumeo.com/trial, it's free for 30 days see if you like it! I'm sure you will love the community! In addition, Benny has delightfully allowed us to give away a copy of his DVD. When this video is on Youtube all you have to do to win it is to leave a comment below the video and we will select the winner by the end of June by posting a video. Would you mind signing it? Without problems! We can also give away 3, can it be done? As you wish! You know what? Give it 3! So 3 of you, you just have to leave a comment below the video and you will be competing to win one of the 3 copies of Benny Greb's The Art and Science of Groove , which I have seen, it's fantastic! -Thanks! It is also fun, because you present the material in a very intelligent way, in a way that is easy for us to understand, and easy to memorize.
It's fun, it's varied, it's educational, it's very very cool! It was the main purpose of the DVD: "How can I do this topic justice?" In the first place. Then "what is the right format to be pleasant to watch?", Although sometimes it is very thorough and very intense but it makes sense and you want to watch it. There are 5 different elements in the art and science of groove, at least as you have classified them. So today we're going to briefly talk about these 5, right? -Yes! The first will be "Time". -Exactly! So first, the start of the DVD , which I want to give you a compressed lesson today as I have the chance, thanks again for that! I want to give you a quick course, an explanation of what the DVD contains because there are still dogmas going around.
Maybe you've heard them say from teachers, from musicians or on forums, where people say, first, "You can learn technique by practicing but you can't learn groove." Or "Having a good sense of time is a gift." You know those "very modest" people who say: "Mbè I just have it! This means .. you don't!" At first I was very frustrated about it and I took it for granted, for me it was true but then I realized that I could work on these things because when I started playing I wasn't in time, I didn't have groove and so I thought: "If it's a gift ok, excellent, I don't have it ".
I was not born in a city throbbing with music. Been to Eichstetten? -Eichstetten? You can't even pronounce it! Yes I can, I almost vomit! Eishtetten is not .. anyway I love it , my parents still live there, bye! I love it! But I wasn't dealing with people like, "My mom was James Brown's backing vocalist." or "My father was a great guitarist who recorded with …" I didn't have this knowledge so I had to learn by myself and I didn't feel I had it in my genes, in my genetics. And I started working on the obvious things: like timing exercises, whatever people say, the 4/4 click is the cure for everything. If you practice the click in 4/4 you will learn to go time, to count. But then I noticed that some things got better and others didn't, not at all. And I had to find different exercises for those. Some I will share with you. But first let's see the others. There were other aspects too, I thought: "Ok it's not all about keeping time, having good subdivisions." It is a part.
But there is also the sensation of the flow that affects the sound. "How can I work on posture, body awareness?" Or even "what am I thinking about while I play?" I was crazy about this. I found that if I think about something else or if I concentrate or not concentrate on something, or on different parts of the drums, it changes the sound of the groove. And I experienced it with students in the Stages, and beyond. And I found that, Wow !, if you say to someone, "Focus on the subdivisions, sing this in mind, or breathe in the rolls." I said, "Now record your groove, now think about this, do that, do this and there, and try again!" And after 5 minutes the groove sounded completely different.
It could go on forever. Sometimes it takes time, I don't want to say: "In 5 minutes it's done!" You have to practice these things but there is nothing that cannot be changed and there is nothing to work on 30 years. You can do something for the groove! I remember your Master Session in New York, you made someone play and then you said, "Hey, change this and that." And in fact the sound was completely different when they played again, like 5 minutes later. Yes, I love it! I call them "How" exercises. You can do it with either a Blast beat or a Swing, it makes no difference, the principles are the same no matter what genre you play to how good you are. Matter is the "How", "How" you sound. The drum language was oriented more on vocabulary, "what" to play, phrases, vocabulary building, repetitions. Instead The Art and Science of Groove is about the quality of things. How to get grooves quality in whatever you play. Hence, Time. One thing I …
I love this exercise, and you can do it with me right now. Did you think you were sitting and watching? No, you have to do something now! But you look a little! Do you know the football club? Okay, so, the club is this: Oh you play classical music! You stop with: So, you know that sentence. Someone will be saying, "Too easy!" Good, you know how to play that phrase well. Now give me a click, with the mouth, it must be short, on the quatrains. Like c c c c, do it come on! Nobody hears you anyway! It does not matter! Out loud otherwise it won't work. Well, it was cool, well! Ok let's go: Great! Now continue with the "c" and when I give you the time add the club. I'm embarrassing! You can stand behind the screen so nobody notices. Otherwise, forget it, we will let them do it . So, ready : Out loud! Come on! How did it go? For most people two things happen, the first is: or the second is: They both demonstrate the following. Before even wasting a lot of time playing with the metronome and trying to synchronize with the click, first you have to feel the pulses, have the sensation of perceiving the pulsations of the quatrains in unison with what you play, parallel to what you play.
So only after you manage to do that can you quantize it and move it to the click. Mainly we focus on "what" we play and forget the "how", the pulsations. When we do a roll we don't even feel the pulsations. So then we ask ourselves why we waste time and subdivisions because we care about the notes we play and we no longer hear that c. So the exercise consists of saying c while playing grooves and rolls, even while improvising. Something like this has to come out: And get yourself something to drink. It is to be done without a metronome, you replace it with the "c" in practice. Yes, it is a different exercise.
If you do this with the metronome, you have an external source to wake you up, telling you, "Right, right, early, late." But you have to be able to do this without clicking on whatever plays. Very important exercise! The next step is to align with the click and I warn you that if you have done that "c" stuff it will be much better. It will make you more stable, you will be more planted on your backside. You will be more confident. You know when you pass and you have a feeling like: a bit like taking off.
Instead you will have more of the feeling of being inside the groove. It will no longer be that who knows what. You will no longer be insecure in the steps and because it will be like continuing the groove. Then you can do the same things with the metronome, on the quatrains. The metronome will be the beat itself. Then I have exercises for the Tempo, for the spaces between clicks. We can't do them now, but please do them because they are great. I do them often, they are very useful. Then check the space between the clicks. And they're great with the rudiments or whatever you practice. Because the click in 4/4 is an external source that replaces that feeling of being us guiding Time. But when you have a gap of clicks, that is, for a bar it is there, the next one is missing and then it comes back again. In the missing one you go back to driving, you keep the time. So that's cool! And the other aspect is the subdivisions.
There are people who sound good on the 4/4 click but still don't have another thing, the flow. So they target that quatrain almost like a sniper. But between one quatrain and another there are oscillations and this is why that feeling of: It's more like: All the concentration goes to peck that single quatrain, but the flow is in the homogeneity of everything stands in the middle of the quatrains. This is something that many people miss and it is a new exercise. So this DVD focuses on working on different aspects, one at a time, and then when you use them all together they really make a difference. I don't know .. Do we have time to make one? With the metronome? Yes, that would be great! The best exercise I have found for practicing subdivisions is "the click that moves". What I mean .. you can just do it with 4/4 click, no need for weird softwares. You can do this at home or in the car, not while driving! even if you are driving, but it is up to your sense of safety .. Let's start with click n.1 and hear the quatrains.
Ok, here are your quatrains. The first thing everyone normally does is this: Which is fine, but if you want to practice splitting and also … shut down! Playing on the downbeat takes you outside of having to mark the downbeat yourself. This translates into the fact that the beat becomes weak. It also happens when you work with a band as a producer and record the band and you have to line them up to a click, that's okay but the sound is a little weak because they're not keeping time alone but they're thinking, "Did I get it ? I got it?" It is as if they were asking permission from each quatrain unconsciously. "Was that right or not?" So you usually practice like this.
But it would be better to try, at least sometimes, to practice being you to play the downbeat, and to use the click only as a guide, as if it were a percussionist standing there. Then move the click out of the downbeat and again, quatrains. Try to listen to the click and think as if it were upbeat You will get something like this: Ok? So you have the click on the eighth upbeat in this case. And you can do it with the upbeat sixteenths. Let's give it a taste: In this case the clicks were on the fourth sixteenth. This is great because it takes you back to the driver's seat. You come back to your role where it is you who has to express a nice massive and solid pulse. But you still have that guide anyway and are aware of notes within the subdivision that you may not be so used to hearing. Because the fourth sixteenth or second sixteenth, mmm, we don't like them! So this helps a lot to have a great base, great flow , great subdivisions which make up a large chunk of knowing how to keep time.
And on the DVD you give some great advice on how to play these things with great examples, but let's move on for now. The next topic is "feeling" (sensation, feeling). So the feeling. A lot has been said about Tempo, like playing behind the click or playing slightly early, all of these things. Normally groove and time teaching ends there. Do stuff with the metronome and once you get it you should be fine! Quite right? Mbè I have found that much more can be done to change our feelings about how a groove really sounds and what impact it has on people.
I also want to clarify what groove is and where I found it comes from. There is a whole chapter on the DVD, which is not esoteric but it is kinda .. A lot of people say to me, "It's great that you embraced philosophy". I don't think it's very philosophical, I think it's just very thorough. Anyway, look at the chapter! To summarize here, I think an important thing in the groove, to get to that feeling, is a certain phrase.
Everything that is alive and vital follows a path like exhale-inhale, there is always an exchange between beat-up, in-out, we need this kind of thing to be alive and to relate to other creatures for which we feel. empathy. So we feel empathy for these creatures and that's where these connections come from . When something has groove it is like the birth of an empathy. Wow! It's something that: It's a vital thing that we connect to, we bond with that. So we need to understand what's important and what's not, to connect. If it has a click that makes: Nobody will move, or dance, nobody will understand where the beating is. Missing the essential things to feel, oh, this one has groove! Sounds good! For example when you have a click that makes: and then you remove the subdivisions and you have: And slowly you begin to understand how a sentence comes out and its feeling. You won't win a Grammy Award for it. But it's starting to be more musical, something you can relate to, that gets you moving.
There are many other things to do to create a beautiful sentence. And if you think about those, you will have fun because they are all connected. Sometimes a lot of minor problems can be solved, so you can attack them from many different angles. And it's all interconnected, if you change one thing, the others change too. You can do something new, while you play think about : a pendulum that goes from left to right. You should have similar views.
And coordinate inspiration and exhalation with downbeat and upbeat notes. Perceiving sentences that way. Do you feel this way when you play? Or you actually feel: Or you feel like: Even for a longer sentence: So there is more air and the groove is better. This I guess is related to the dynamics discourse. I think many people would like to understand if it depends on their technique that produces a sound that is too stiff or … Sometimes yes, the technique always reflects on the sound, and the sound is a very important aspect of the groove. So when you create a phrase you have to take care of the dynamics, you have to take care of the sound, like: That we always think ok, it's the 1, or at least it's the beginning, or the beat.
However, it may be that you use some techniques that do not allow you to express yourself at your best. But in my experience there are a lot of technical aspects to take care of but they don't necessarily affect what you produce. There are some technical things that give problems, especially in body posture, that you can work on. But you must always keep in mind the result you want to achieve. Exceptional! And now the "Sound". The "Sound" yes, therefore. I've come to this feeling thing, but I can get an even different feel when I play a groove in relation to the sounds I choose and how I use those sounds. And obviously because sound runs through all the topics we discussed in the chapter on Time, the one on Mind and the one on Feeling.
Everything converges in the chapter on Sound. A good example is this: you can communicate through different styles depending on how you play some grooves. Without changing the subdivisions, without changing the feeling you have but only changing the sound. An example is what I have called The Captain. There are different captains in different styles of music who are the ones who "steer the ship " so to speak.
Listen to the captain of Jazz for a moment: Ok, so the Ride has an important role, the other pieces are there just to collaborate with the Ride, they are not fundamental. The fact is that you can play Jazz, in a trio or even in a Big Band, by means of the Ride which if played well will create Jazz, not much else will be missing. Maybe just a nice steak 🙂 But to keep time and communicate in that style is good for everyone. If I only had the snare drum, for example, it would be very difficult. But this does not apply to all styles, let's take Funk for example, listen: Here the Captains are the hi-hat and the snare drum, if you remove the kick drum you realize that it is missing but it does not destroy the feeling of the groove, listen: You still have the same feeling .
In rock, for example, the captains are the kick drum and the snare drum, it's a kind of rule. This is a tool that allows you not to change what you play, or not to change the grooves but to get completely new grooves only through the sounds and the different volumes. However they are not new grooves because you don't play anything different. And that's a good thing because we drummers always think that if we play something in a song in a band or in the recording studio and someone says, "Mmm, I don't know, it's not the right groove." So let's change the "what" we play, almost always, not the "how" we play it. We put the snare drum on another sixteenth note, we look for a different figure for the hi-hat, many times it becomes something different then. Here's an example: So you can make that Funk rhythm feel like a Jazz rhythm. It's a great tool for getting hundreds of grooves out of the ones you already know how to play.
Make them sound different and with a new feeling. It is an exceptional tool! As I was telling you this morning when we drove here, I used to play a song with a band and they wanted a more beachy sound or more surf. And there, for example, I didn't change the "what" I was playing but I had to play the snare drum louder, the hi -hat more delicately. It 's really great yes! Do we want to see a song? You still haven't told me which song you will play! Oh yes! The reason is that I have never played it live yet, or in a clinic or in a situation like this. I always like to put myself under pressure! This is the world premiere! I fooled around on this once I had some studio time.
There was a piano and I overdub a couple of piano tracks, all you will hear is piano played by myself, with some effects I found on the internet. And if you want to ask Benny questions that we will answer at the end, there is the "Submit a question box" right below so whoever watches us live submit their question now. Good luck. You chose the song well! And luckily it's live! It was beautiful man! -Thanks! Can it be found somewhere? What if anyone wants to listen to the original recording? I'll do it shortly. Maybe when you watch this video on YouTube, I don't know, anyway soon. Bennygreb.com if anyone would like to follow him on his site. Ok, let's go ahead, now we need to talk about the "Body". Should I speak now? Let me breathe! I can tell a joke if you want.
No! I've heard a couple of your jokes already. No kidding, they were actually beautiful! Hence the Body. Now there is an exercise. It is important that you can see my foot. Can you see the right as I do this? OK well! Oh God, I have nothing to do here! A moment .. Ok, well, then, I still have something for you at home: position your foot so that the knee has an angle greater than 90 °. Well planted on the floor, if you don't have a stupid snare stand between the boxes! Do this: The heel stays attached to the floor. And put a lot of strength into it so you can listen well. Now accelerate, in triplets: Cool! Now move your foot back like this: Now when I give you the time, start with the triplets: This is a good example, a silly example but it works.
There are things you are able to do, at least you can do: ta ta ta. But if you have a weird posture, or if you do strange things with your body, it happens that you can no longer do things that you actually already knew how to do. So if you try to change your body position, for the better, you will allow yourself to do more things without even thinking about it. One of my favorite topics .. .. I have so many in reality, but what I choose now is that of breathing. What a lot of drummers do, look at my mouth as I do this demonstration, is this: They stop breathing, they hold their breath when they roll. It's very common and I get into it too, every now and then, but I'm getting better! I want to encourage you too to improve in this aspect, to be aware of it and to practice it. Why, think about it, what happens when you hold your breath? Have you ever thought about why you sometimes accelerate on the rolls? A problem that drummers have.
First of all it is due to stress and the like. We dig our own grave when we think, "Something very difficult comes along, so you know what I'm telling you? I play it even faster to simplify it." The worst of ideas! One reason may be that you are holding your breath. I have found that it is one of the main causes, the most common. If you hold your breath while playing a roll your body thinks, "Hey, we're holding your breath, what happened? Why? Why are we playing a roll? This is why? Okay, if we hold our breath too long we will die!" It is an emergency setting.
"So let's hurry up with this roll, quick!" It may sound silly but this happens, the body goes into an emergency every time you hold your breath. Accelerate everything else to get out of that situation as soon as possible. So while it may still sound silly, or maybe it's not silly at all, take your time to breathe while playing a groove, like: Maybe just a little slower than you would normally breathe. However it must decrease. First you will reach a state of absolute relaxation while doing it. You will hardly believe it! If you take a click, maybe a nice easy upbeat from the chapter of Time. You won't believe how much better it will flow , how relaxed you will be on that groove. Then you will think: "But why do I do so many rolls? Maybe it's better the way it is and it's fun!" But then when you do the rolls try to continue with the same rhythm for breathing.
So do this: You 'd be amazed if you saw how it would automatically put the roll in the same flow as the groove. It is a fantastic exercise! This happens because your body is your machine. You can think about Time, Feeling , Sound but the machine you use to put all these things into practice is your body. As in the foot example, it is the body that has to do everything. And by the way, a little theory, when we practice we sometimes feel stupid, because the brain is faster than the body and thinks, "I know this exercise. Right hand so left hand there. Alright!" But our body says, "Brake, brake! We have to do it physically! Give us time." But the brain replies: "Come on, it's not that hard! Why ca n't you do it?" Because it is not the intellect that has to play, he has already understood.
But it is the body that has to do it. So it needs to be repeated, the machine needs time. Muscle memory and coordination need repetitions over time. To use it well and avoid those moments of frustration, you need to know how your body works. So I took it to use, in this case, to create great grooves. There would be many other great exercises but I think we need to move on.
I was going to say, we have to hurry! We have a lot of questions to answer. And we still have a topic on the line, the "Mind". Mind is one of my favorite things, I always focus my attention on this even during the Drums Stages because it is perhaps the most underrated thing. People think they have to practice some things forever but if you just change the way you think you will also change the way you play, completely. You will play different stuff. We drummers think that if we want to expand the repertoire, or if we want to play more interesting passages, we need to practice more so we expand the repertoire. I'm not saying you don't have to practice but also try to work on your mind, because the mind is the architect. We talked about the machine that follows , our physical means, but your mind is the architect who makes the musical choices, what drives what you actually do. Here is a simple example. I've been experiencing Drum Stages for a while now, and I love it.
But when you are faced with 25 people, like me, from 30 different countries. There is a lot of difference between a boy from New Zealand, a Norwegian one, and others here and there. But we are all drummers, it's beautiful! Then I ask anybody, and it's always the same story, "Come on, play me three bars of groove and one of roll." And it doesn't matter where in the world he comes from, or how old he is, or how good you think you are. It always happens the same thing, he plays three groove bars with snare drum in 2 and 4, the subdivisions on the hi-hat and with the kick on the 1 and 3. And when the roll comes, he always uses the Toms and ends up on the Crash. 99.9% of the time. I would say almost 100%. So you have to think. At first you think: "But I have no other ideas, I don't have enough repertoire". But they all have a sufficient repertoire. Here is an exercise or at least an example of what the mind can do.
I tell you, take a couple of sentences that you have in your mindset about the rolls and exchange the exclamation points, which are in your subconscious, with question marks. The first sentence might be: "There must be Toms in a roll!" "Must the Toms be in a roll?" And it's better if you have a beard and you do this: I couldn't do it. -It 'does not matter! You can always ask yourself the question. So I do this. -Okay all the same! So you can ask yourself that question and then, does it have to be toms? Play again. And that guy, right then, and it has happened a million times, is going to play a passage he has never played in his life. Simply saying, "I won't use Toms this time." A transition between the snare drum and the hi-hat is invented that is superb! And he says, "Wow!" He didn't practice it for a month, he didn't take a cue from a musical genre.
He just thought differently. This is a great example. I always make these stupid jokes, I make up that scientists are trying to figure out what this muscle behind the back is for because only drummers have it and they have discovered that it is the roll muscle. And its purpose is to turn your torso like this after three beats. Because in fact we all do this: Another question could be: "Does a passage have to be different from a groove?" A passage can also be another groove of a different style. "Does the passage have to have more notes than the groove that precedes it?" We play more and more notes in the passages. Or "Does a passage have to be louder than the groove?" So things like that.
I violated some of these rules in the song I played earlier. If you want to play new passages , sometimes the mindset gets great results. And the same goes for grooves. If you create mental images as we said earlier about the pendulum and other vilizations. You can do this and it really helps a lot. Let's stop here but in the DVD there are many concrete examples for the mindset.
Guys, those of you who want to know more about the topics covered, I've seen the DVD and it's great! The money you spend will change the way you approach drums. It will be the best purchase you have ever made! I highly recommend you to watch it. How about a drum solo? A drum solo? Great! And while he's playing the solo, if you haven't asked your question yet, there's a button below that says, "Ask a question". Write your question, then submit it and we will choose as many as possible after the solo. Thanks! I had to look at the questions and choose which ones to answer but I haven't done anything yet. It 'does not matter! Ok, I have one ready though. Ryan Turgous says: -Hello Ryan! "When did you decide to make a DVD entirely dedicated to groove?" What was the moment when you said to yourself "I need to do this?" In the beginning it was pure selfishness, I didn't want to make a DVD I just wanted to find exercises for myself.
Then, after I did the Drums Stages, I started sharing these ideas with other people. And I found that they were not only useful to me but to other people as well. And then in practice I tried to re-establish my teaching method. I looked for better ways of explaining, better exercises that would get there faster. I had the material long before I published "The Language of Drumming". Consider that I have been working on it for 7 years. Before two years ago I still did not feel ready to tackle these specific subjects. First I wanted to redefine my teaching method, I had to do experiments with my students used as laboratory rats. There were things that I considered minor but later became very important and I included them on the DVD. Or things that I first considered fundamental then I said: "Who cares about this": So I found a way to explain them better and really put my teaching to the test.
I organized everything better. So to answer the question, it was a long time ago. This is from Thais, he says: "Hi Benny, I'm thinking of attending one of your Stages in Germany" -You are welcome! "I would like to know how much experience I should have before I can participate." They always ask me this because maybe I was wrong to call them "The Master Sessions" (Advanced Stages). I know several translations of "Master". I mean in the sense that anyone is a "master" and is able to learn to "manage" things. I'll make it quick: Don't worry and come and see me! We'll have fun! It is true. When I went there were people who had been playing for 6 or 9 months and then there were others like me and Dave who have been playing for over 15 years.
For me it was useful and I think it was also useful for beginners. It's always the same story: everyone is super anxious for the first 2 seconds but then they know the others, there is no competition. Then we all eat together, stay together and have a lot of fun! So if you are worried and anxious you are not the only one, you will see that it will be beautiful! I can not wait to meet you! This is Fred's, he's a great friend of Drumeo's, Fred says, "Benny, thank you for being here! Question: When I practice a groove or a passage I get to a point where it sounds great, Tempo, Feeling.
But then playing live I can't do it anymore, it seems that I'm wearing boxing gloves and I no longer have any refinement. Any suggestions to bring the feeling of the exercise also live? " Great question! The reason is this. It's like when we exercise and feel stupid because it doesn't work. Or when you do something in the rehearsal room and you are satisfied, first you have to check that it is really well done or if it is just an illusion. Probably everything is an illusion, let's put it that way. Make sure you record your exercises. Because very often the sensations we have are very different from the sound we produce. It happened to me several times to think, "Wow, last night's concert was great!" Then I listen to the recordings and say, "No, it was bad instead!" I just assumed it was good.
So this is the first of a series of things you need to work on: "Is it really cool what I do in the rehearsal room?" Then we get to the next step, if it's good in the rehearsal room but it's not working live, same thing, check, record. Do you have a registration? Or does it just seem to sound bad live? Sometimes this also happens, it seems horrible while you play but then you listen to the recordings and you say: "You know what? It wasn't that bad, I was ridding myself!" So if you have these sentences in your head first make sure they are correct. So after you have checked it is in fact like this: Well in the rehearsal room. Horrible live. It is probably because you don't have enough "mental space" in the exercises. By this I mean that we need a psychological, mental space when we exercise.
Sometimes when we practice we are undemanding, meaning we practice until we can play things. And maybe you think, "Why isn't it okay?" You have to practice things until they give you an excellent feeling. This is very important because when you manage to play them you may still need all your concentration to perform them. You need to give it your all to play them right. But guess what .. ?? Live on stage there is the bassist who looks at you, the water falls and the headphone cable pulls you because it has not been fixed well with the tape.
It's normal. Things happen that are not like in your rehearsal room and take away a part of your attention, of your concentration. So you have less mental space than you had while exercising. So what can you do in the rehearsal room? For example, you can sing the bass line. You can hear more about the tracks to play. Try to make the situation in the room as similar as possible to the live situation. For example me, this is a good topic I could go on forever, but it's really cool. Just a hint: Try to practice to be 140% confident and be able to focus on other things at the same time. This is the summary of my answer. This is an interesting question, it had never happened to us before, it is from Fits. Okay, is this offensive? -Very offensive! Fits says, "Hi Benny, I just finished watching the Art and Science." Thanks Sir! – "I liked it a lot. I'd be curious to know what your definition of" a good drummer "is." That I like! Next question? But it's the truth, in the past I had a more articulate opinion about it, but then I discovered that a drummer doesn't have to be very good technically or does nothing if he doesn't go perfectly in time.
These are all things that I value myself and which I try to improve on. There is always someone who has a strange combination of strange weaknesses and strange strengths that perhaps I don't expect or have never seen or heard of before. There is simply something that attracts me. Then certainly we could analyze it and I could tell you what they are. But to answer in general, it is very different among all the numerous drummers I like. I just love drums and I love a lot of different drummers. This is from BielsPaul, I probably misspelled the name, he says, "Thank you for bringing Benny to Drumeo. I wanted to ask Benny for advice on what a beginner who wants to develop and understand groove needs to focus on." I wanted to ask too. For relatively inexperienced drummers who are approaching this discourse. They are still studying the basics to get started. What should they focus on in your opinion? I would look for a teacher who does not have guardians (blocks) in his mind. I mean we sometimes think of teaching as, "There are things you have to learn first." Like the bouncers in front of the doors of the clubs.
"You have to do these things first. If you don't, I won't let you in." We have been doing the same thing with teaching for many many years. Like: "Wait, do you want to play music? If you don't learn to read notes and scores, I'm sorry, you can't!" Or: "If you don't want to practice Stick Control for at least a decade, sorry but you can't get in, you can't play music." I think this is ridiculous and harmful. I have nothing against the Stick Control Book, it's a great book, it has given me a lot. But, especially if you want to go groove, I'd start without the drums. If I happen to be a not too experienced student, I no longer do individual lessons, but first I would play a song and let them clap on the beat, to see what they could do then I would make them beat the eighths or simple coordination things. But always with a certain movement, with a certain beat and a certain time. To see if they were having fun, if they were still in it.
I wasn't starting somewhere else, like, "I should check the technique first." You can do a lot for tempo and groove even if you hold the stick like that. I'm not saying you have to hold your wand like this, I'm just saying you can separate a lot of tempo and groove exercises from other things we think we should do first. Basically, I think that tempo and groove are not super advanced subjects. In fact, it should be the first of the basic things at the beginning. Ok another question and then let's move on. For those still listening, Benny will play another song, which is very, very cool! Anyone wishing to listen to it stays with us. This is from Simon and he says, "Can you talk about the " drunk drum "concept?" You play all these different styles, especially in the new Moving Parts group, there are a lot of things mixed in. He mentions the parts where you play the grooves on the hi-hat and snare drum early or late. So, one part is based on subdivisions and another on substitutions and displacements, perhaps even displacements. I am working on two things in particular.
The first is .. oops! We always practice in unison, so on the pad we try to get perfectly matching hits. So, try another thing. Look for a Flam-like feeling between the Ride and the left hand. And keep them well separated from each other. But at the same time try to keep the timing of the hi-hat subdivisions well. Like something like that: At first I play them in unison and then I do the "displacement". I exaggerated a little in the end! But this is one thing. Another could be… especially when you do it both on the downbeat and the upbeat almost blows you away. Another example would be like: So instead of: Do this instead: And then I also studied the subdivisions. I changed the subdivisions. There is an exercise in The Art and Science of Groove called "Handbrake".
At first you count in triplets: Then you go from 1-tri-plet2-tri-plet3-tri-plet4-tri-plet to 1-e-and-a2-e-and-a3-e-and-a4-e- and-a And that gives that kind of feeling of shifting gears or something. The final subdivision exercise is to play a middle ground between triplets and straight quatrains, a New Orleans style thing. Instead of like this: and like this: This here: It is neither a Shuffle nor a straight tempo. These elements! Ok, thanks 1000 man! Great lesson! Thanks to you! Are we done yet? Oh nooo! Yes, we have also overstepped! For those who want to know more about Drumeo I would love it if you try it out, if you go to drumeo.com/trial you will have a free trial for 30 days.
Tomorrow we will be filming more material with Benny which will be available to members only and will be released within the next couple of months. I warmly invite you to try! Also visit bennygreb.com and you will have access to everything he is currently doing. There is the DVD of The Art and Science of Groove, you can also download it. Also the dates of the Master Sessions Camps and all the other projects he already has. I also want to mention Sonor, Meinl, Promark and Remo who helped us with the instruments.
It took a long time to organize this lesson. We have done a lot together! And then the DVD up for grabs, if you are watching us on YouTube post a comment and you will be enabled to win one of the three copies, signed by Benny Greb of The Art and Science of Groove. What else can I say .. Thanks! Thanks to you, thanks to you listening! It was a pleasure to be here! Do you play Grebfruit now? -Exactly! You can also find the version without the battery on its website if you are interested. I have it, and I'll make a video of it shortly, I'm promising it, so wait for it! It is a spectacular song! It is one of the first I did, it is sung A Cappella, maybe someone knows it. Let's go! The ultimate solution for online drum lessons!.