| Greetings
to everyone who enjoys reggaemusic.
To introduce myself: my name is
Imro Fedor. In music I stand for 15
years, it drives me. I like it so much
that my mind is nearly always tuned
into it.
Reggaemusic is for every day:
"It's a good vibe for the ire
days and strength in hard times".
A while ago I had an idea in my
mind, so I phoned up the Dubroom with
the idea to start a section called the
Drummer's Corner.
A place where reggae drummers can
exchange information, come with
questions or answers, news, try-out's,
interviews, hand drums, drum kits,
percussion talk.
I think it would be nice to create
a place where reggae drum information
is written up with anyone who's
interested, so the sound will stay
alive. When I started as a reggae
drummer, the first rhythm I learned
was a stepper (straight eight) shown
by Messian Dread.
I lived in a flat at that moment
where I could practice every day (and
I did). After some time I started to
practice even more seriously and
played for 6 to 8 hours every day, for
one and a half year.
Music became a part of life.
Many days of listening and
practicing music followed. And after
about 8 years I took a few lessons at
Music School to check out where I was.
I searched for books (Reggae Drum
Notation, the use of computers wasn't
that popular as it is now).
I found "The Art Of Reggae
Drumming" from Desi Jones, and
also few drum lines and rolls from
Mr.. Sly Dunbar in a lesson-book from
the English Rock School-series.
I also learned a lot from all the
cracky old drum sets that I've had.
You know.... The type when you'll Cut
the rope in middle halve, one side
falls down the right, the other to the
left. Cymbals tighten up with a rope
nailed to the ceiling. Making one tom
out of two, with the tuning blocks
taken from a third one.
Nowadays, I'm happy to be the owner
of a Yamaha studio-kit, with heavy
hardware. You can check it out right
here in the drummer's corner.
I also like the use of a high
pitched drum. I've made one from an
old Roto Tom I had, and put a piece of
tube in between the two parts. I used
to have an old snaredrum to create the
same sort of effect. You'll take the
underskin and the snares off, then
tune the snaredrum high up. I've
experienced this in feeling, it's
"the thing" to have when you
play, but to get there is another.
Mostly when I start to play, I
begin with a warming up:
Hold a drumstick with to hands,
each to an end. Arms stretched, palms
of the hands pointed upwards.
Bend your left hand over towards
you, while holding the stick not to
too tight.
Then press it out as far as you
can, and turn in your right hand and
press it out too. Now, turn over
again, just as you've started, and
start with the other hand.
This is for the wrists.
If this all sounds too difficult:
there is also an illustrated page of
this practice which you can find here
in the Drummers corner.
After this practice, I listen what
sound there is in the drumkit if it
needs some tuning.
While I listen I play some strokes
and mostly I tune a bit to create my
sound.
Also very handy is the use of tape,
the type they use on stages. What I
like about taping a drumskin is that
you'll get a thicker sound, and the
sound is more tight as well.
If you tune a drumkit without tape,
the sound starts singing around, which
is a matter of taste: it can be nice
too.
But for me? A bit of tapin'
and tunin'!
Then I listen to the bassplayer and
try to find out where he's up to. I
play a steady underlay, the sound of
the keyboardplayer has to become a
feeling in my Hi Hat foot.
It gives me a hold on to, when I
play accents on the Hi Hat or play
riffs or rolls.
The music rolls forward!
After a long time playing jams with
Jah Roots we decided to work on
recording a few of our songs.
What we do now is when we play a
jam, Messian Dread mixes it and we
sort of make live Dub.
So what will you get out of a
studio mix? You can hear that in the
first halve of 2001, that's what we
all planned. I think then there's also
much more to say and talk about our
music then.
NUFF RESPECT!
IMRO |
