Band mates say I'm not hitting hard enough!

[perfectgroover]

Ugh,

Now my band mates are complaining they can't hear my snare well enough. They want me to hit it harder!

I'm playing a DW 5 1/4 x 14" Maple with Evans G1 heads using Hickory 5A's.

I really don't want to play louder. It's not my style and it HURTS!!

Should I play harder, use bigger sticks, MIC my snare, or tell them to lower their volume!!!!!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 25, 2005 10:41 AM: Message edited by: pgroover ]</font>

[Klemme]

Are you playing with Rimshots?

[Derek DeFields]

1. If you can use bigger sticks on a metal drum, I'd try that.

2. Mic your snare and run it through the PA.

3. Find another band.

It's funny, I was just thinking about this. (playing loud enough or too loud) I saw a local Los Angeles band called Powder last week (killer band btw) and the drummer was not hitting harder than average. He just let the PA do the work and it sounded great. He was playing solid, but not slamming.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 25, 2005 11:05 AM: Message edited by: Derek DeFields ]</font>

[Blue Tav]

What type of music are you playing? Rim shots usually cut through in a lot of those type of situations. Is this in a live' situation?
BTW Derek did you get my PM ??

[perfectgroover]

Since I'm in a Wedding/Dance Band, the variety of the covers we play range from Hella Good to the Chicken Dance to At Last, etc!!! Gulp!?#@

I don't play rimshots except for certain accents. Are you suggesting I play rimshots ALL THE TIME?

As far as a metal snare, I used to own a Chad Smith Pearl Metal and I hated the sound of it. It just didn't do anything for me.

The other alternative which I thought about doing is going to a more OPEN STYLE rather than CROSS STICKING which would let me use my stronger right arm/wrist to bang the snare. This admittedly would require a lot of retraining on certain beats. I already play this way on Disco and Funk beats.

[cjbdrm]

We can't possibly know EXACTLY what you need. We can only make suggestions. YOU have to decide what's appropriate.

Welcome to the world of being a professional musician. Sink or swim. But have fun doing it.

[XNavyDrummer]

Interesting comment about playing cross-handed and the volume of the left hand on the snare. In addition to the many good suggestions here, you may want to try raising your bottom high hat cymbal to give you more room to move your snare hand on the back beat.

Along these lines, when playing the backbeat you may want to use the Weckl approach where you're doing a form of the initial Moeller stroke for both hands. This will definitly increase the stick height and loudness of the snare hits.

(Don't forget to wear your earplugs!!)

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 25, 2005 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Andy Vermiglio ]</font>

[ntbCreative]

if your use to certain sticks..dont change em.....just flip em over to but ends and adjust the snare or yourself so you can play a good rimshot without using too much force.

[benrand]

Watch Liberty DeVitto play. He's got a huge backbeat and it doesn't seem to have hurt him. He uses a bit of the Moeller technique.

Using the MT allows you to get voulme and looks and also not beat yourself up as much.

[Willy Brown]

With respect to PJGroover's supplementary question, which seemed to get hidden in the barrage of responses, "Do you mean I should play rimshots all the time?", the answer is emphatically YES. All your gear is good, including your sticks, and it has nothing to do with the Moeller stroke or any of the other stuff (with the greatest respect to the other respondents). If you want your snare drum to be heard, especially unmiked, but also miked so that it sounds authoritative, use rimshots on all backbeats, every single last one. I guarantee that you will: (1) Discover new sounds from your existing drums, (2) learn how to quell extraneous overtones by varying your touch and the spot where you come down on the rim (see * below) and (3) be heard down the block. Don't want such projection? Just lighten up on the rimshot....but still hit one for backbeats.

(*)Incidentally, for backbeats (as opp. to gracenotes and the like) ensure your place on the snare drum rim does not vary. Usually when bands talk about a drummer being too quiet, it's the snare drum that's the culprit....all these unsure, glancing blows, or dead-center-of-the-head strokes. Rimshots are the heart and soul of backbeat drumming? Heard the Bonham outtakes going around? Rimshots.

This suggestion will help you but it will take a week or so of practice to get your rimshot in order, and a lifetime to perfect it. At first, you're going to be faced with a lot of weird overtones. Don't let them discourage you.
WB