The “less is more” approach.

I’ve been a drummer off and on for over 30 years. I don’t consider myself a particularly advanced drummer. There is a lot of stuff I can’t do. But what I CAN do is hold down a beat and provide embellishments as needed. While my lack of advanced chops is most certainly due in part to laziness, it’s also been a bit of a deliberate choice for me as a drummer.

Having said that, I have mad respect for players with advanced chops. I see the videos people post and I’m envious, mostly because of how goddamned easy they make it look. I wish I had the focus and commitment to put in the hours and hours it takes to not just play complex rhythms and perform jaw-dropping fills, but to pull those out like it’s nothing.

The thing is that because those kinds of players draw the most attention, it can feel like if you aren’t doing all sorts of crazy shit, you aren’t a “good” drummer. No one is posting drum covers of Levon Helm or Charlie Watts because, quite frankly, they’d be kind of boring. Others I can think of are Mick Fleetwood, Nick Mason (mostly), and about half of Stewart Copeland’s work with The Police (though the other half is anything but).

There is beauty to be found in playing as little as possible. Not as little as humanly possible. But as little as is needed to support the song. A fill that consists of two tom hits can just ad effective as one with 20. Beats don’t always need to filled with ghost notes and fancy hi hat flourishes.

I think the major exception to this is metal, a lot of which involves very complex and fast percussive melodies, which rely of the drums to provide a complex and fast outline. Jazz drumming is another one where a song may demand something more advanced. But otherwise I would argue that for most songs, the best thing the drummer can do is mostly get out of the way and pick your spots to add a little something extra.

I would be interested to hear other thoughts on this, but I think I mostly wrote this for other drummers like me.