STEVE SMITH aForeword In this video and bookiet, I'm presenting some of my concepts for playing, practicing and growth as an evolving Inui. ly rw as plaor comes am feng love nolan me wih ater muScars and en ot tho feedback get rom mpochs be otter players the aucioncer and tapes, fo guise what itis | need wo Werk od tlao gt inspiron and tases hom watching Videoe ten records ahaha, atoning concerts ard cia, Teading interviews eto. This type o! Input Is especially helpful when starting on the path of being a musician, but {fete evolved a player booms th nod fo lox infor ecion and spaton become ete fos to.develep an in ne of the ways | look to myset for koas isto listen to my owm playing as much as Listen to other drummers ( Se et cy age and pracice sees). tearanand to fr vapor, eve hau dual palo isten to yourself portant to be sory ouch with whet you sound ie. When work with too mater tis bootst and ideo Busi tape, Tepe ond ltsn to yoursel hen Ht pus te resporsiy ot erlang youset tncior pang yourself onthe beck on you! th prosorted rata gves you someting sow to tink bu and you can apply to your paying hon weve suceeded tris proj. ‘Musical transcriptions and text to accompany Steve Smith Part One, a video tape and audio tape, produced and distributed by DCI Music Video Written by Steve Smith DC! usc WOE ‘Copyright 1987 DCI Mase Video Products, ne. SPAR okthe areas: Naren 1008" (2}e24.0026 AX Fights Reserve. Any uve or unauthorized co Stine maton ea vaaton of hw copyright aw Reggae Feel Johnny Cat neo LG = tapi ie i rf mf. tf osaps moo [nl on ee ee ee ma xxTheme For Opening Drum Solo ‘a fmm Tl x Aue xne =e SS per ge pr re This drum solo is an example of a solo with a “theme”. | play a short intro, state the theme and then improvise, restating the theme as the solo develops. Counting To further explain this idea, | talk about internal and external. To me the internal is the mind and the heart or feel. | conceive of what I play and then | make it external. | found that the easiest way to make my feel external is by counting. When | started out, | had more control ‘over my voice to state the time evenly than | did over my playing. Therefore | would count out loud to firmly feel the pulse and then while continuing to count, I would play and feel the limbs fall into place. | still find this process to be useful Example #1: Developing MeterRRERRLRR, RLR f. What Lies Beyond vee TT Q aD)Basic Ride Cymbal Groove Variations | st z a PT = Rock Approach The basic idea here is to have the freedom to create drum parts that feel built from the bottom up, that are very supportive and settled. In doing this | feel it's important to have the freedom for the bass drum and the snare drum to play the rhythms you hear without having to keep hi-hat or cymbal time on top. When that independence is achieved you can be more creative in what type of cymbal or hi-hat parts you put on top. Example #2: Independence Exercise C Ride C Ride Bell £Basic idea during tenor soloB ‘steve with fist Example #3: Jazz Approach a.mpo i se ee i ae — ae oe foe ent © continued[im internally singing one chorus of “Rhythm Changes” (92 bars) and its not very basi. | got carried away. There is a lot of Elvinesque material here for people who want to try to read the transcription. Even if you just get part of it, that's OK. Example #4: Snare Drum Independence pele. 3 The idea is to read figures with the left hand while playing the ride cymbal pattern with the right hand, a light four on the bass drum, and 2 & 4 on the H.H. Suggested Material: Ted Reed SyncopationExample fe Snare Drum/Bass Drum Independence vf 5 = TYPYIPyIPpyy we 3 3 7 3 #6 refer to #5, it's the same concept only play notes longer than an 8th note on the H.H. Stove with Jo May, 1879 OU"®Y vourney Tour Pai 188 1982 Four Pass JourMey, 709Example #6: Snare Drum/Hi-hat Independence Under this: f Steve plays: agers ae Z 3 Swileft stick continued ° wfleft stick 3 3 3 =. 7 7 continued 10Weal nL 4! KL f wet ; “FOI ; =, — 7? i eel To further explain this idea, play all 8th notes on the snare - all notes longer than an 8th (e.g. quarters or tied 8ths) on the B.D. Here is a graphic illustration of how to approach Examples #5 and #6. For #6 use the same concept, only play notes longer than an 8th on the hi-hat. This would be interpreted: Basic Feel Blues To Bappe 1 aa 14 a 4 1 tor oF i, ; ~ CE 3 Latin Feel VariationEvolution Of Styles Through my experience at Berklee regarding playing “hip” implied-time | realized the importance of doing my homework and becoming knowledgeable on the evolution of the music itself. | needed to play good Bebop drums before | could imply the time because the drummers that implied the time had to know Bebop first themselves. To play good Bebop you have to study Big Band Swing drumming and on it goes. To relate that to the present | feel it's important to be grounded in rock and jazz to be a good fusion drummer, otherwise you're imitating other fusion drummers without going to the source of how the music got to that point. This second drum solo is a spontaneous improvisation based loosely on the idea of playing through some of the phases of the evolution of the drums in American music. Starting with marching drums, it moves into Dixieland, Swing, and a more modern approach to jazz drumming, into Rock, Fusion and Double Bass Drumming. e SER oae ers and rove with Tim Landers 2MF,. rot Steve mixing music for the vi seve yh yk Sars along wih Band and crows 12Practicing Practicing an instrument can be compared to an athlete training. Musicians and athletes need to put in daily practice to strengthen muscles, to develop control, for ideas to flow, etc. . . But the difference is, athletes usually have trainers to keep them disciplined, focused, and organized in their workouts. Musicians have to be their own trainers, which is usually the hardest part of practicing. Most musicians are not very organized or disciplined, so if you get that going for you, you're already heading in the right direction. 1. Be organized - know what you're going to practice, decide ahead of time what to work on and stick to it. If some new ideas develop from it, good. You're on your way to developing your own vocabulary, but don't get side tracked and unfocused. 2. Be disciplined - practice every day or as close to it as you can. Changes take place slowly ‘over a long period of time, so be . . . 3. Patient- let things happen slowly, don't hurry your development. There are no shortcuts! Creative Use Of Drum Patterns Example #7 Flin Gi Tiny ThA “ST rgntie? Loo Ti floiyfy TAA fi a ait Cfo | wrote the beat in this manner so it's easy to see what each limb is playing Example #8 Example #9 tly annie veges sieates 13Example #10 5 SaaS trey ees Fld x Ay fli “Sait pit One of the things that makes this beat flow is the way the parts overlap. Make sure the accents are strong and the ghost notes are very soft. Example #11 =] eae x xa 5 - E journey stage with Journey ‘On stage with J 14Example #12 IAAT (from: After The Fall - Journey “Frontiers") fli ffl Cirr Cour Example #13 Right Hand Variation continued 15Island Holiday Transcribed 7 ¥ (tickings) LR LL hy alsRL ete RRL RL ete = = Ror (Rere {Roe Lert RLELRRE| REL | LR RE x plat RULRRIRLRL RLER LREL RERE Ro eve 17RLERL RLERR LREL RLRE RERL RERR LRLL Closing No amount of practicing is going to teach you to play music. That process, taking your drumming ability and making music out of it, can only be learned by doing. So play as much as possible and realize that you are your own teacher. The ideas that | presented here were ones | discovered while playing with other musicians. | use my practice time to further develop the ideas | come up with while playing. It's very important for you to make your own discoveries while in the process of making music. I'd like to thank Rob Wallis and Paul Siege! for their hours of hard work, and also the staffs at NFL Films, DCI and Drummers Collective, and also my wife, Susan. She ol 18