thus far playing brushes in this band i've just kinda felt it out, and it's completely fine and most people don't notice anything wrong. but playing it freestyle leads to some problems: (a) inconsistent snare tone from hitting the snare on top of the other brush is, and (b) inconsistent brush sound from not having consistent rhythm. so i've been trying to do it the right way, and i wanted to give an example of the shit that i'm dealing with.
above is the notation for the snare patterns i'm drilling, which comprise maybe three verses of the set, each with the two fills each i want to have on lock. i play lefty, so my left hand is hitting out the pulse on the rim of the drum, except for the accented notes on the center of the drum (i.e. the snare hit). meanwhile my right hand is dragging counterclockwise around the snare's edge through the positions marked with numbers below the notes (like clock positions). the * denotes a crossover point, where i cross my left hand over to allow my right hand pass under.
i've played drums for 15 years, i've played drums in lots of punk and indie bands, and this shit is breaking my brain. these are easy patterns. i should also, in addition to all this, be pressing down harder with my right hand on the accented beats, and i have to keep my footwork lock-step consistent. if i think about it at all while i'm playing i immediately lose it. and this is just for like 80 seconds total of music across the eight songs we're recording. the other brushwork is trivial, but this shit is driving me nuts. like depending on the time signature i have to remember start at either 12 or 6 on the drum, and i have to correctly resume drawing the brushes after these two different fills in different positions.
none of this is strictly necessary, this is for an alt-country band and there's no genre expectation, but it's gonna make the drums on the recording sound good, as opposed to okay, so i'm gonna try to make it muscle memory by sunday. pray for me.
in better news: i have successfully walmart rented a drum throne with a backrest. i'm not gonna keep but, it's like $250 for a stool, but if you're a drummer and you've never tried one i really can't recommend it highly enough, go into a music store and see how it feels to sit at a kit with it. it's got a motorcycle seat for my thick juicy thighs and i can actually relax my back while playing.
