Question about a specific drumming beat?

Question

I'm a drummer, and there is a particular drumming beat that I hear often in music. It's often done on the break of a song, or at the very end of a song. It sounds like a constant, deep rumble where maybe the bass drum and lower toms are involved. Sometimes the drummer will throw a snare into the mix every now and then. Can you explain to me exactly how to play this beat? What drums are involved and in what order? Thanks

Answer 1

i kno exactly wat you are talking about. do this, hit the bass drum once and then do a flam on the rack tom to floor tom (rack left hand, floor right hand, and then snare left floor right). do this in a rapid fill, and thats it

Answer 2

If you are talking about pop music, even rock & roll, then this deep rumble is the high-speed sequenced electronic kick drum roll, often done with increasing volume as the roll progresses.

This particular roll was used in anthem, house, hard trance and other electronica for years. Many electronic styles and flourishes become so commonly used in higher art form electronic styles that they are copied by many composers and writers so that they eventually are used often enough to become recognizable as natural to the average listener. Some hot beats that rockers or hard rockers use are actually derived from disco or dance music and when the fans find out, they are disgusted, but it all comes from tribal rhythms anyway, so I think most of the fuss is pretense, lol.

The progression usually proceeds as:
1/4 notes, building to
1/8 notes, building to
1/16 notes, and sometimes as far as
1/32 notes, which can sound muddy...

I'm guessing here -- since I only drum electronically, not acoustically -- but I think this progression would be really difficult for a solitary drummer, especially if any high-hats, toms or other syncopation were needed in the 4 to 8 bar progression. A well-synched double drumming setup would work; then a lot of flourishes and graces could be added. This is all based on how I understand drumming skill, and I might be wrong.

Either way, live drumming IS an art to be respected, and really good drumming is something to be celebrated and applauded, since many drummers are just the background time-keepers that many assume they are. Only a few really push themselves and try to create new sounds -- maybe you are one of them.

Hope this helped... :)

I have done some more reading on this. There are a few experts who use a heel-toe technique and Tom Waterson is one of the fastest drummers in the world, at 1100 or more beats in a minute, but I don't see him doing much else as far as syncopation with it - but it's still amazing to watch:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=916603460197958871

Have fun...