ive mixed issues with this
i must agree if your learning to play drums or any instrument (keyboard or guitar) a good time reference is essential. specially if you want to pick up notation and concepts of half time, double time. counting..1&2&3&4, 1-e-&-a, 2-e-&-a, etc
it develops feel din overtime.
this is most essential like what sir mod said in playing with sequencers (ill try to post a different topic on this)
A hardware sequencer roland mc50 or those built in keyboards, or with recent technology laptops runing reason, cakewalk, FL are tools which assist the band play songs which is pre-arranged, though played along by the band live. this is a difficult technique and an art in itself (worthy of another thread topic) since so many things are going on at the same time and as a drummer u have a responsibility to to hit the beat DEAD on for the whole duration of the song without sounding mechanical meaning you have to maintain a good feel for the groove... if you skip even half a beat..and mawala ka sa sequence...this may lead to a disastrous performance
matagal na ako di nakakapasok sa professional studio pero most techs when they record, they want a click track for the drummer ( para di sila mahirapan )
though w recent technology quantizing recorded beats and grooves is possible even in home do-it yourself recording (then again another topic someday). if you notice drummers in recording are becoming an extinct species. with the advent of sampling in the late 80s, drummers are a rarity in the studio. producers just load up a sample or get loops, modify it, assign different samples on grooves, eq it then yun na..they can make it sound like a real human drummer...with feel, dynamics and sometimes mistakes inputed in..
this is evident in the album of Joe Satriani ..surfing with the alien. the drummer.. Jonathan Mover actually didnt play live drums on some tracks like "satch boogie"...well now na alam ko na, nahahalata ko na peke sa totoo
point is. i was with a band (actually one man band sya hehehe) DNDI, fronted by pinoy bass legend dondi ledesma. dondi is highly against click tracks and metronomes. nawawala daw kasi yung feel ng drummer. and in this day and age of loops and samples. id rather go with feel n slightly sloppy time than a non grooving dynamically linear robot
though im guilty before of bringing a click just to give me bpm (beats per minute) reference, which brings me to my next question ...HOW DOES ONE DRUMMER REMEMBER TIME? (next thread nalang ito hehehe) in the context na ..galing kang ballad (105bpm) ...then suddenly mabilis (140bpm)..this is a killer lalo na pag nasa show ka na may medley..patay ka sa diva na vocalist at sa musical director..bwahahahaha
