Great Drums Quotes and words of wisdom

Ray Yslas -Drummer with Christina Aguilera

Do you find it difficult changing between the different styles of groove from Eastern Genie in a bottle to the newly latin styled Come on Over ?

"It's about studying every type of music and your own craft. Well, in essence, there's no "one" in a groove. This is only pulse and downbeat, That applies to any genre. It is evident in the clave.

People say its 2/3 Clave or 3/2 Clave, its not its just the clave! People have to find themselves rationalising things in bar formats and the essence of the pulse gets lost. I think you have to feel the music become one with the song and digest it so that comes out in your playing is the music, with your own style.

 

With respect to the next quote Ray's wife had just had her/their first child 

" What's life like on the road ?"

I will always love being out on the road, but now it seems like the place for me is with my family some things in life are bigger than music you know ?"

Can't say fairer than that!!!

JR Robinson

I've been playing for 40 years now and seen just about everything. 

I've seen the 'flavor of the month' drummers come and go but to sustain a long term and permanent career in drumming is a commitment and a gift. 

Some of these young guys think they can get by in a "rock band"--let's put a chart in front of them. Let's measure their time with a click.

Let's measure their time without a click. Let's see that the reason that they play fast is because nobody ever listened to them speak so they insisted about making their point by playing fast.

Let's see them play a groove. Let's see them play a groove at 56 BPM. Let's see them play mezzo piano. Let's see them play with space, feel, confidence, taste, dynamics, swing and most importantly, groove.

Other Motivational Quotes I like:

Tiger Woods - The Greatest Golfer in the World at present. He has one ten "majors" till Dec 2005 when he turned 30. This is an extract from an interview.

Woods does not doubt for a moment that he is still going forward. "People" he said "keep asking me if I can improve any more...are you kidding?

"You never get there and any time you think you've arrived in a a sport it's time to quit. That's what so excites me about 2006. I know I can be better that I am today."

From a golfing point of view that is scary because he is the best golfer in the world now but to me it just shows why "great" people are great they never think they are the best, they just continue to work on how to get better.

This applies to us all in a drumming sense too.

So consider something that you are not good at and go and practice it, just in the same way a "great" would do, then you will get better and then maybe become a "great" in the process.