₦airaland Forum

A drummer's job interview

Director: So what do you do?

Me: I am a Professional Drummer

Director: What's the job of a drummer?

Me: My job a drummer is to musically give you the best of creative Arts full of Rhythms and Dynamics.



PS: I have been a freelance drummer for a while, now i think i'm ready for a full time job as a drummer


Churches, bands, musicians, etc in need of musical instrumentalist holla at me, i'd be honored to hook you up with the very best.

The 48 Laws of Power happens to be one of my favorite books, a book full of mind blowing historical stories, power, risk and influence but today i am going to share with you some of the laws and also a drummer's version or interpretation of the laws.

NB: DV--- Drummers Version
So here we go:

1)Never Outshine your Master
DV: If you still want to have gigs to play, if you still want to get connected to the big names in the industry never outshine your drums master.


2)Never put too much Trust in Friends, learn how to use Enemies
DV: Never put too much trust in your regular drum kit, learn to use the electronic drum kit.

3)Always say Less than Necessary
DV: We tired of hearing how good you are. Lets see what you can do on the kit.

4)So much depend on reputation - Guard it with your life
DV: If you are a pro drummer, be a better pro. If you are an amateur strive to be a better drummer.

5)Get other People to do the Work for you, but always take the credit
DV: Get the metronome to do the work for you, but always take the credit.

6)Infection: Avoid the unhappy and unlucky
DV: Avoid the unhappy band mates and the unhappy drum kit, they make you look bad.

7)Learn to keep people dependent on you
DV: learn to keep the band/lead singers dependent on you, if not you are gonna be kicked out.

Crush your Enemy totally
DV: Crush every Gig totally but in a good way.

9)Know Who you are Dealing with - Do not offend the wrong person
DV: Do not offend the music director or the lead singer, i repeat do not offend.

10)Recreate yourself
DV: Recreate yourself by reinventing yourself. Be a better person/drummer.

11)Enter Action with Boldness
DV: Enter every Gig with Boldness.

12)Make Your Accomplishment Seem Effortless
DV: Let people see the amazing things you can do on the drum kit. Conceal your tricks and routines.

13)Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like King to be treated like One
DV: Act like a pro drummer to be treated like one. Be the boss in the Game.

14)Avoiding Stepping into a Great Man's Shoes
DV: As much as you can, avoid stepping into the shoes of the guys that got you the big Gigs and connections.

15)Never appear too Perfect
DV: Sit down and be humble.

The main whatsapp doesn't work on my BB Passport. I am using GB whatsapp for the main time, works perfectly fine.

Watching a girl jam crazily on the drums its like watching lionel messi do his thing with the ball, its a feeling i truly can't explain .

I happen to be a huge fan of the football genius. The way he plays is amazing. The skills, the assist, the dribbles, the goals and the awards/trophies shows how good he is but this post is not about him but about the beautiful girl drummers all around the world.

All my life i grew up making music with mostly guys and i am sure most guys did too, so watching a girl jam crazily to a song for the first time was new to me and at the same time pretty cool.

Its kinda hard to see girl drummers or instrumentalist, especially here in Nigeria but with the few i have seen, i can proudly say its been an honor watching them do their thing.

Today is not a girl drummers day but a day i had choose to appreciate the girls, ladies and women who choose to play the instrument and make beautiful music. Be it the drums, keyboard, saxophone, bass guitar etc, it doesn't matter, what matters is that they are beautiful and amazingly good at what they do.

#Amazing-Girl-Drummers
#Amazing-Girl-Instrumentalist
#Love
#Peace

This is what I call S-B-E (Simple But Expensive).

4) Loud Play..., Scattered Rolls

3) Loud Play..., Clean Rolls

2) Simple Play..., Scattered Rolls

Some love it cool, others love it loud. Some love playing for a long time, others short time. Some can keep it simple without applying roll and fills around the drum kit, others can't.

We are all different and can't play and groove the same way, lol we can't, so It's our work as drummers to know who we are and what works for us.

So ladies and gentlemen I present to you the  four different style of play used by drummers (My version Lol):

1) Simple Play..., Clean Rolls

*We started as friends, watched you go on tour with other Guys(drummers). I kept my calm and then

*We became friends with benefits. I played you in exchange for anything you had to offer like free gigs, food, connections etc and then

*I became your side Guy(drummer). For what its worth, it was kinda a good place to be. Lol, at least i took the place of the main guy sometimes and finally

*I became the main Guy(drummer).

*LOL

I grew up attending a church with 1 keyboardist, 1 bass player, 1 lead guitarist, 2 saxophonist and 7 drummers. This is how a Sunday service is shared between the drummers. The earlier you get to church the better the number you get. Lets call the drummers D.

D1: Opening prayers......(depends on who is taking the prayer. If he likes to sing good, if he doesn't am sorry for you.

D2: Praise and worship.........(lucky champ. Its your day man. Enjoy)

D3: Choir's ministration........(5-10 minute of play is not that bad nah.)

D4: Hymn.......(1-3 minute of play ain't that bad too)

D5: Pastor's ministration.........(like the first drummer, it depends on the kind of pastor you gat. If he likes to sing, happy for you, if he doesn't, I'm sorry .)

D6: Tithe and offering......(its something lol. You should be thankful.)

D7: Closing prayer........(Lol, am sorry man but If it happens to be a thanksgiving Sunday, consider yourself a lucky man.)

Lol. In cases like this, knowing the probability of me failing is 1, i'd give myself a pep talk like "I will not let any fucking exam or its result decide my fate" and i'm good to go.

LOL. There is a quote that says man plans, God laughs but in this case we would say drummer plans, drum pedal laughs. At a point in our life as drummers we've come across situations like this and i can tell from several experience that its not something you'd wish on yourself or a fellow drummer. Having the pedal fail at the middle of a song would be the worst break up of all time, no girl can beat that lol. 

This is how you solve the problems of the pedals when playing on a gig:

(1)Floor tom: With immediate effect the floor tom becomes the substitute for the bass drum(thanks to the pedal). Since you can't bounce on the song and your band mates like that, you have no other option than to substitute and wait till the pedal get fixed.

(2)Extra: If you have an extra, which doesn't happen often, consider yourself a lucky child, because no pedal can take your shine lol.

(3)Beg: You stylishly beg the singer(with your eyes) to reduce the minutes. If it was a 10 minutes song, the moment the drum pedal fails, it becomes a 3 minutes song.

(4)Fix it: At this point you don't care if the song is still on or not just stand up, look for a corner and deal with the pedals lol.

(5)Sound check: To avoid using the first 4 solutions, make sure you do a proper sound check of all the parts of the drum kit before playing, to avoid stories that touch.

#Peace.

Lol. We all make mistakes but as drummers we ain't allowed to make one, especially when on a Gig coz every stroke, rolls and fills must follow a certain beat/tempo.

Going too fast or slow on a song can affect us as drummers, making us look like amateur players even if you are a pro drummer, changing the director's/singers mind on calling you back for a Gig and also making people second guess your true worth as a drummer.

And that is why it's important to master our craft, practice alone and with the band regularly and also try to keep things as simple as possible when on a Gig.

We are all humans not machines lol, mistakes are bound to happen and when it does, as pro drummers that we all are lol, we get back into the game like nothing ever happened.

#Mistakes-Are-Allowed
#Peace

A LETTER TO ALL THE LEAD SINGERS

Dear Lead Singers,

Hope you all doing well. I write this letter from the depth of my heart as a drummer to tell you how angry i am for leaving a pro-drummer like myself frustrated on the drums, i mean a "pro-drummer" not just any kind. You are a fine singer with a beautiful voice, fine but what's the point of coming up with the best of songs if you ain't going to follow the beautiful beats laid down by my humble self.

Drummers are the the pulse of the band, we serve you with the best of beats, we determine the pace of the songs and all you could do is go off key not once but five times in a row. WOW. To show how tired i am of you going off key, i am going to give you reasons why i get frustrated when you go off key.
(1)It makes me look bad. What if i can't come back or decide not to come back to that beat you pushed me off. What If?
(2)It kinda kills the fun.
(3)I am the one making the beats and you are busy doing the job of the drummer by setting the pace of the songs, going off key at the time it suits you the most.
(4)It affects at my style of play, making me loose focus/interest on the songs
(5)It weakens me.

I know you going to say i am a pro-drummer and i am able and capable of turning this situations(going off key) of yours into heaven, not today. I hope this rant, oh sorry, letter of mine meets you well and i pray you change your ways and learn to accept and follow the beats offered to you by a pro-drummer.


Yours Sincerely
Pro-drummer

Lol i can so relate with this meme. This is what i call the moment of truth. At this point nothing else matters, not the band, the audience, the girl i'm trying to impress with my crazy skills or the music itself or maybe they do matter too . At this point i just wanna play. I just want to smoothly and amazingly apply all the rudiments, rolls and fills i'd practiced for weeks. I just want to create an art full of rhythms and dynamics. This is not an opportunity to show off but to see how far i have come as a drummer and to impress myself and maybe the fine girl sitting in the front roll.
This is just me being grateful for the opportunities and praying for moment of truth like this.

Check out more crazy/almost boring drum tales on https://ejamer..com

Every musical instrumentalist has a unique nickname. A name that makes them stand out from everyone else. A name that shows they are musical instrumentalist without you asking. A name that makes them feel like a pro. A name that makes them feel proud about being a musical instrumentalist.

I don't personally have one(not all instrumentalist have nicknames) but I have come across instrumentalist with crazy and funny nicknames and I realised there is a certain pattern to giving yourself a nickname as an instrumentalist.

There is a golden rule that must be followed : To have a unique nickname, the instrument you play must come before or after your name( Lol I guess you all know that).

Here is an example or an idea on different instruments and their unique nicknames:

Check out more crazy/almost boring stories on https://ejamer..com

First i am going to ask, WHAT'S THE POINT?

Yeah.....what's the point of:
*Having an idea if you not going to execute
*Watching drum videos(lessons) if you not going to practice and apply what you learnt
*Practicing all 40 rudiments perfectly and not applying a single one on the drum kit.

Nobody is going to know how good you rolls are, how amazing your fills are or how crazy your dynamics are if we don't see you apply them on the drum kit.

You get better by playing i.e putting every rudiments, rolls and fills into use.

It feels good to be able to practice those rudiments perfectly, you also feel better knowing you can apply those rudiments on the drum kit but the best feeling is actually applying them on kit not just to yourself or friends but on a big Gig, show or studio sessions etc.

You don't have to apply all the badass rolling and rudiments lol, with the little you know and the ones you are comfortable with, just put them into good use.

#Apply-The-Rudiments
#Words-For-You-And-I

#Peace.

LOL. To avoid stories that touch, this are CRAZY PEP TALK you don't say to a drummer.

1) Break A Leg: Just like the meme below, you don't tell a drummer to break a leg. I know you only wishing us good luck but if break the leg is destroyed what can the drummer do? Lol NOTHING.

2) I Know You Going To Nail It: Lol did you just say nail it, like "NAIL" it. I reserve my comment or do you see drummers go around with nails? I guess not. Lol.

3) You Can Do It: With enough practice YES I CAN. With no practice PROBABLY NOT(its gonna be bad)

4) You The Best In The World: I know, i know, i know. Nobody can take that from me. I have been the best since when i was a kid.

5) Play Like Its Your Last: Lol excuse me, its not my last, i still have a big Gig this night. God bless.

#Just-Kidding
#Pep-Talk-Matters
#We-need-The-Pep-Talk

We do all have imaginations and as drummers we've all imagined things. Things that could help boost our careers as drummer, things that could make life easier for us as drummer, things that could make us feel good and proud about being a drummer.

So today we are just going to put our imagination to use and imagine the good, bad and ugly things that could come from being a drummer.

It's just a crazy imagination, don't take it too serious and I want to know yours too. Lol.

Here's mine:

5)LOlzzz. Most of us don't. Its not about the sticks tho but about who is handling the sticks.

4)Lmao. Seriously!!!! so i'm just gonna wait while others play. Smh

3)Lol. This is the excuse i'd give if i can't handle a 4-6 drum kit.

2)We all need this kind of director in our lives. Lolz

1)Lol. I would be worried if i wasn't a drummer.

If drumming was a sport i bet you its sure going to be crazy and different. Imagine sitting in a stadium full of drums fanatic waiting to see two drummer play against each other. Drummers call it shed but since we imagining it being a sport we going to call it a drum match. So lets grab a drink, sit and listen to what the commentators have to say about the match of the season. �

Commentator 1: its a beautiful day here in dynamics stadium and we are here to witness the match of all time between two successful club DW drums and YAMAHA drums.

Commentator 2: Yes i agree with you, this is the greatest match of all time and lets also not forget the star players in each club. They have really done well for their club, breaking both club records and individual records.

Commentator 1: Yes. Yes and talking about star players i think jay has really done well for his club DW. Last time he played did a lot of riding and crashing on the cymbals non-stop for more than 10 minutes. That's huge.

Commentator 2: Yeah i agree with you but i also feel dave have been phenomenal this season for his club YAMAHA. Setting a record of standing all through the Gig � i'm talking about a two hour drum Gig. Now i think that's more than huge.

LOL.


More crazy/almost boring stories/ideas on http://ejamer..com

Growing up i watched a lot of drum videos, i still do. I watched videos of drummers who are amazingly good at what they do, drummers like Aaron spears, Tony royster jr, Chris Coleman, Gerald heyward. All of this guys are professionals with lots of Gigs and clinics to their names but one thing that differentiate one from the other is their unique style of play.

They are confident and happy with their own style of play and no matter how good the other guy is, they stick to the style that suits them the most, improving, reverse engineering, practicing and not forgetting to be themselves when on the drums.

Same goes for you and i. Learning from other drummers is cool but trying to imitate every move and style they use doesn't make you original. Just because he starts a roll with a triplet doesn't mean you have too. If the only roll you know is the double stroke roll, keep doing it until you learn something new. Just relax and enjoy your unique style of play. No matter how good or bad you are, you can  never play like the other guy. Even if you jamming to the same groove, something is sure going to be different.

Just do you.

Today i'm going to combine two ideas (football & drums) and see what i can make of it. I'm a huge football fan and it has always been one of my fascinations (No 3 on my fascination list). Drums is still remains my No 1 fascination.

Football: Its a great sport that consist of 10 players and a goal keeper reaching a total of 11 players. Their job is to kick the ball from one half of the field to the other with the aim of netting a goal and also going home with a win.

Band: Its a great music group that consist of singers and instrumentalist.
Their job is the create good music with the aim of entertaining its audience.

Football teams has always been known for their use of formations to help the team achieve a win. Formations that includes 4-4-2, 5-4-1, 4-3-3. 3-4-3 etc but today i'll be using 3-4-3 i.e 3-defenders, 4-midfielders and 3-forwards.

Bands don't use formations but i'll be using the 3-4-3 formation, for the bands, substituting the defenders, midfielders and forwards for singers and instrumentalist.

This is what we get:

Not just drumming alone but being innovative in every aspect of our lives. Starting from the way we do the small things to doing the big ones. Doing crazy stuff, doing things differently, doing things that might probably not work.

Like adding a little drop of super to make it super fantastic, adding a little drop of really to make your work or art really cool or adding a little drop of wow to get peopled wooooooowed at your work.

Just being a little innovative and creative makes you and i stand out.

#Be-Innovative
#Be-Creative


More crazy/almost boring stories on https://ejamer..com

As far as i can remember, drums has always been my number one fascination and with that drive and zeal, i started playing the drums at a young age (year 1 to be precise, lol) and it has been a crazy journey, full of ups and downs, gigs and no gigs, call backs and no call backs, free gigs and paid gigs, bad days and good days, bad drum kit and good drum kit, good band mates and the annoying ones but what kept me and i'm sure kept you going is the passion you have for the thing(s) you do.

You may have the same fascination you've always had as a kid or a new one, it doesn't matter. As long as you are able to DO, to put those fascination into action, to try new things, to reverse engineer you passion, good things are sure coming way (looking for the perfect motivational words to put there lol).

What fascinates you? and are you willing to DO.

Game of thrones is one of the best tv show to have graced the world of television. A series full of passion, twist, intrigues, love and hate. A series about kings and queens from the seven kingdoms fighting to sit on the iron throne. You can tell from this little hyping i did that i am a big fan of the tv show but as much as i love this show, as a drummer there is only one throne that matters to me and other drummers(maybe). A throne worth fighting for,  a throne that makes me the ruler over 7 kingdoms: Hi-hat, snare, cymbals, toms, floor toms, bass drum and the sticks.  The throne that blesses its people with beats full of rhythms and dynamics, the throne that when sat on by a great ruler can make its people dance with joy. Ladies and Gentlemen i present to you the only throne worth fighting for.


NB: For those who ain't drummers, a drum sit is called a Throne.