Saturday Night by Emma Sampson:
This is a song that I was asked to write a drum piece to on my course by my lovely friend Emma Sampson who is the vocalist ad guitarist in this song. I am playing along to her guitar in my earphones for this, and this was my first full attempt at getting through what I had decided to play for her song. I enjoyed playing it but there is definitely something missing and I will be asking a few peoples opinions and seeing how I can change it as I want to add a little more variation.
This is my second week and I am much more confident with the song! This is me rehearsing with Emma and Sean and we have all agreed it sounds good however we are still yet to ask anyone for a more professional opinion. The fills are slightly more interesting now as I am featuring more toms but its not too much considering it is a calm/more of a slow song. I still think there is a lot to be changed so I am going to be working on it a lot in the next week, but one thing I do like is the contrast of the sound between both crash cymbals that I use.
Although you can only hear the drums in this, I have changed the song so much and I am really confident with it now as I am happy at how I’ve decided to change it. We got an opinion from Jim at college and he gave me some great ideas on how I could change it. We have sorted out a completely different ending which involves 3 fills that I made up and am really happy with how they sound as they aren’t difficult but they do make the song sound good. I used improvisation for the fills throughout and at the end as it is benefitting me to practice that so I can widen my skills on it. The song is at a reasonable pace so I have enough time to try and plan ahead without panicking. We’ve also added a few variations to the groove to make it sound a bit more interesting. I’ve practiced this so many times with and without Emma and Sean and I have grown to be quite proud of my playing in thus which has of course improved my confidence and I can’t wait to perform this to people and show my skills.
Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys:
First of all, I am a huge fan of this song so I was very excited to put effort into this and learn it. This first attempt is decent considering I was in time, although it was boring and there wasn’t much feel to it as I was still concentrating on what I was actually playing. It will be improved a lot over the next week as I want to make this so much better. With improvisation on the spot, I could make this sound much more interesting so I will attempt to add something else next time I’m playing and just see what happens.
This is my second performance and my second week of playing the track ‘Mardy Bum’. I enjoyed it much more and feel like there is more groove to it, now that I am more comfortable with playing the song and I feel a little more freedom. I am relaxed and it’s allowed the song to have more feel and it doesn’t seem as ‘robotic’. The fills were kind of different but I sort of stuck to what I was taught and it sounded good. The timing isn’t amazing as the backing track is quite odd but I did my best. I will keep practicing until next week so I can be more comfortable with it. My aim is to let it feel more natural.
I improvised so much more on this and it feels so natural to play already. It’s second nature and I don’t even need to concentrate on the basic groove, leaving me space to improvise and play with much more confidence. I am happy with how this final performance has turned out as it has made me feel like I am a decent drummer and I would love to be able to perform this with my band as I think we would do a really good jib with it. The fills in this were slightly different due to me wanting to change it up a bit and experiment with what I can play off the top pf my head instead of something that is scripted. Overall, I am very happy with this piece and will definitely be rehearsing it more.
Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys:
I struggled a lot here as I was quite unsure of the timings, despite thinking I knew the song inside and out just from listening. I haven’t been able to improvise on this track yet as it’s early doors and this was my official first attempt without looking too much into it. All I can say for this is I definitely need to practice. The timing was off and I didn’t even do the bridge as it’s quick and I couldn’t keep up with it at all. I shall be working on this song over the next two weeks and seeing how I progress with it.
This attempt was around 4 days later (into the next week) and I would say it is better. It is definitely not good, but it is an improvement for sure. My timing was reasonably good and I grew more confident with the changes in the song compared to last time. I added a little hi-hat groove every now and again but will add it more next time as it sounded cool and was complete improvisation during playing. I enjoyed playing it more this time and didn’t feel as pressured but next time I am hoping I will like it even more.
This is my third and final performance of this song for the unit, however it won’t be the last for myself as I want to keep learning this song and maybe even perform it next year in workshop with my band as I do like this song a lot. I grew much more confidence in this song and I enjoyed playing it. I still struggled with the bridge but that was just because I simply lost the rhythm, but I improvised and also attempted to get it back. I added more of the mini hi-hat grooves and it made it sound cooler in my opinion, plus I love playing them. Although it’s not perfect, I am happy overall with the improvement I have made. My confidence is better, my improvising skills and adding fills is also coming along, however this isn’t much room to add any in this song apart from right at the end.
Fran Adams Drums 