– You're a singing drummer
you don't see that much. ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ You actually do see
it right a lot now. ♪ It's not warm
when she's away ♪ It has always been a
thing, but especially now. ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ ♪ And she's always
gone too long ♪ ♪ Anytime she goes away ♪ It's a serious thing, you
see it so much that it's almost like let's get past
it and focus on the music. (lively music) ♪ It's all on me ♪ ♪ She fell to me especially ♪ ♪ I'm a lucky man ♪ (synth music) ♪ Remember the Alamo ♪ ♪ When help was on the way ♪ ♪ It's better here and now ♪ ♪ I feel that good today ♪ ♪ I'd like to talk a walk ♪ ♪ And not around the town ♪ ♪ I've really got some news ♪ ♪ I met a man from Mars ♪ ♪ He picked up all my guitars
and played me a traveling song ♪ ♪ When we got off the ship ♪ ♪ He bought out
something for the trip ♪ ♪ He said it's old
but it's good ♪ ♪ Like many any other
primitive world ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,
nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah ♪ ♪ I'm gonna ride my llama ♪ ♪ From Peru to Texarkana ♪ ♪ I'm gonna ride 'em good ♪ ♪ In my old neighborhood ♪ ♪ I'm gonna ride 'em good ♪ ♪ In my old neighborhood ♪ ♪ When we got off the ship ♪ ♪ He brought out
something for the trip ♪ ♪ He said it's old
but it's good ♪ ♪ Like any other
primitive world ♪ ♪ Nah, nah ♪ (clapping) – Dude, dude, that was amazing! He plays the chill and
please introduce Josh Dion.
– Thank you!
How are you doing? – For having me, doing good. Maybe I should take these off. – Yeah, sure, take those off. – Intimacy! – Really cool lesson
plan for you guys, if you guys haven't
seen Josh Dion yet, you gotta check him out. He is what some people call
a jazz drummer gone wrong. Is that right. – That's what I call me. – That's what you call you. – Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah. – So if you guys
don't know who he is, he's a drummer from New York,
but more of a songwriter, singer, you're a musician. – I'm a musician. – And your band is
called, The Paris Monster. – It is in fact,
called that, yeah. – If you guys want to
follow them, check them out on Instagram
@theparismonster, on Instagram – On Instagram. – And then it's @joshdion
and then their website is www.parismonster.com,
be sure to go and check them out
and follow them. Huge thanks to the sponsors
too, Yamaha for helping bring him out here. Meinl Cymbals, Vic Firth
Sticks, Evans Drumheads, yeah, huge thanks.
– Great stuff – So we have a really
cool lesson in store. We have done obviously
tons of lessons just with drummers in here,
but this is different. This is singing and
drumming and just becoming a multi-instrumentalist,
I would say. – Yeah, I mean it's
interesting how many people still come up to me
at a bar and say, oh my god, you're
a singing drummer, you don't see that much and I
don't want to correct people too often, but you actually
do see it a lot now. It really is and it has
always been a thing, but especially now,
it's a serious thing.
You see it so much
that it's almost like. let's get past it and
focus on the music. I think there's so many
great artists out there who not only sing and
drum but also multitask. Even if you're not a singer,
the multitasking things that drummers do
now is impressive. You see keyboards, you
see pads, you see laptops, you see everything, so
we've really moved on to a new place now.
And this just happens to be my
version of whatever that is. – That's a very cool setup.
I know. – We've got a lot more
songs coming from Josh and tomorrow for all
you guys watching live, we're gonna do a
whole performance. No teaching, no nothing,
just him playing music. That's gonna be streamed as
well as posted on YouTube, so make sure you check that
out if you're watching this on YouTube it'll be
on there as well.
Drummers these days too,
you're a lot more hire-able if you can bring two
skills to the table, not just drumming,
but singing as well. – It depends on what you
want to do, but I will say that singing, especially
if you're looking to be a part of a band or if
you want to get involved musically in a different
sense, I think singing is a really, it's a great thing. I mean, I've always
thought to myself, people say, oh my
god, it's so hard. Well, if you think about
the first two instruments that must have existed,
I would say it was rhythm and singing, so it's kind
of like, it's something that's been in cultures forever.
I think that maybe rock music
makes it a special thing, but it really is a
natural progression just to sing along with
your rhythmic accompaniment. – Right, I guess that's
why you call the lesson, primal instruments. – Primal instruments,
yeah I think this exists in everybody in some sense,
which that excites me. I think that makes me
want to keep exploring it it's like years ago,
drummers were known as these musicians who didn't understand
harmony or something. Well, now drummers understand
the full range of the piano. And it's the kind of
thing where now it's time to move past the drummers
are just friend of the band. It's really not like that
anymore, and it's the same thing with learning something
like, if you're not a singer, but if you want to
expand your musicality and you're a drummer,
I would say sing. Even if it's background
vocals, learning how to blend with other singers and
you'd be surprised.
A lot of the great
background singer drummers actually have really
have really high voices that cut and it's awesome. It's an awesome feature. – Well, this lesson,
we're gonna break down how you can even
start with this skill of drumming and singing
at the same time. You've got some cool examples
for us, some exercises, some tips, and all that. So hopefully you enjoy it
and if you guys are watching on YouTube, we also filmed a
bunch of other extra lessons inside Drumeo Edge on focusing
on groove, songwriting and some more goodies like
that, so make sure you head on over to Drumeo.com
and check that out.
But that being said, I'm
gonna leave it to you. Take it away Josh, how
to play drums and sing. Why should we even do that? – Why should we do it? Well, you wanna learn about
melody, so therefore if you've got a great groove and
you got a great melody, that's kind of the basic element
of music sans the harmony, but I mean I think that
having those two things, that's the deal,
that's what you want. That's one reason to do it. The reason I do it is
just because I discovered I could sing and I was
surrounded by people who were just really
coming into their own, in terms of their
musical growth. And this happened to
be one of the things that helped me do that. Do you know what I mean?
– Right – And I think that that
was I was meant to be. So it's kind of like, and it
wasn't always a strong feature. When I first started singing, I used to let the band vamp
for god knows how long, because I was afraid
to take that step.
And that was back when my voice
was all up here and up here and as time goes, you learn
how to sing notes forcefully and with, well in
tune, hopefully. We're gonna attempt for that. But it's not entirely that,
but that was my pathway, when I discovered
that I could do that and it turned me
into a songwriter in this whole new path of music. And has informed all the
other aspects of my music too.
So it has to be something
someone is interested in. Let alone, just rhythmically,
it can be the kind of thing that helps your
independence, a lot. Just trying to sing something and play something
underneath it. But then there's the
whole thing of do you want to deliver a message, or
are you delivering a song, because that's what
you're there to do. But if you're gonna sing,
or blend with the band, you could be a background singer and be a part of the texture. These are reasons why to do it. – So walk us through the
steps, like where do you start? I guess even how
you set up your kit and your posture, right? – Posture, yeah, I mean you're
sitting down for one thing. I've got this kind of
chesty, belting voice, so I can blow out my voice
really easy if I'm not careful especially from
behind the drums.
You're bashing most of the time. I would say that keeping your
center is really important, to just make sure you've
got that filled up, to make sure you can
sing and get a nice, you know, just your
posture is important, although I probably
don't think about it as much as I should, but
I would say you'll blow out your voice pretty
easy if you shout from behind the drums
on a nightly basis. And I still do sometimes,
if my monitor mix is off or something, I'll overshoot. It's a thing you have
to be careful of. You can set up your
drums however you want. I tend to just like even
this cymbal right here, I could miss it or I
could hit this stand.
I'm sure there's a lot of
things that can go wrong. And that's how it
goes when you've got a microphone in front of you. With my band, I actually
have a straight mic in the center, which
is just ridiculous, but I really got into this
thing of grabbing the vocal mic and it's just hilarious,
but it worked for that band because the grooves
I write for that band are mostly just for the
left side of my body.
So that's literally the
band that I do that in. But yeah, it matters,
thinking about these things. I have a really
traditional setup. I don't know if this helps
or not, but over the years, my snare drum has moved
up and somehow my knee is kind of in this odd place
that this is just what I, I think that this with
the keyboard more, but I will say with
setup, just get creative and just wherever it takes you, go for it as long
as it's working. But you've just gotta
think about your air and your sound and stuff
and do whatever you want, but it's just another
thing to add to the mix. And you definitely have to
be on top of sound people, 'cause nobody wants the mic
to bleed in all the drums and stuff so you really
have to learn about sound and things and get
the right monitor mix, get some In-Ears, do
whatever it takes to help yourself in that respect,
so you're not raspy all the time, which I am anyway.
– But you want that. – Yeah, well see, it's a
thing, it's really a thing. 'Cause you are playing drums. – So how do you practice this? How did you start? Like what are some
tips you can give us? – I mean I just started
by singing songs, so it's hard for me
to go back to that, but I will say, tips, well
take your favorite songs and start singing
them, for one thing. I know for me it was classic
R&B that I used to sing and I still sing. I hired a band and got my
friends together, basically. And just started to
attempt to sing them.
Things got really deep when
I started to do it by myself, too, when there's
nowhere to hide. ♪ Ain't no sunshine ♪ Let me get it, let me
get that right key. I was close. – You gotta film it. ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ ♪ It's not warm
when she's away ♪ ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ ♪ And she's always
gone too long ♪ ♪ Any time she goes away ♪ You know that was one that
I used to do all the time, and that's a pretty
simple beat, but I would cobble out a Bill Withers
and stuff with like 16th note, slinky hi-hat
and I would work on it. You wanna work on getting
a good tone in your voice. Try to get that whole
tone, maybe even, one, ♪ I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know ♪ ♪ I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know ♪ ♪ I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know ♪ you know and just like work on, that's just something that
just popped into my head.
I used to do that one all
the time and it really helped me I think kinda
feel my whole body. It's the full body experience,
especially with drums you're keeping something
oftentimes keeping something constant underneath you
and you can move about. ♪ I know, I know, I
know, I know, I know, ♪ ♪ I know, I know,
I know, I know, ♪ ♪ Hey, you wanna leave
young thing alone ♪ ♪ 'Cause there ain't no
sunshine when she's gone ♪ ♪ No, no, nah ♪ ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ You know, I would
experiment with holding (drum beats) just, and sing some stuff (drum beats) that you make up over top.
Challenge yourself,
displace the rhythm. Record yourself singing,
try to keep it in tune, keep it rhythmically and
then also the whole thing of rushing and dragging. A lot of times, cats
will try to do something and they won't quite make it and I would practice
with a metronome. I started bringing the
metronome to gigs too. I got really into it for
awhile where I would, I don't know if
that hurt or helped, sometimes I was a little
neurotic about it. But it helped me on
big stages and stuff, especially when I was
singing to just be aware of song to song, tempo changes.
You're committing to something, you're committing to a tempo. Recording yourself
and listening back, there's just nothing better
in terms of learning. I would say that's the
thing, but take a song that you really like
and a lot of times, something really simple. I'm not a jazz singer
or something per se, but if you wanted to, you
could try to sing a standard, try to keep time for yourself. You're accompanying yourself. It's cool because you're
in control of you know, ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ ♪ It's not warm
when she's away ♪ ♪ Ain't no sunshine
when she's gone ♪ ♪ And she's always
gone too long ♪ ♪ Anytime she goes away ♪ you know what I mean, I
could just kind of play underneath it and
you get the song. So you have a pivot, underneath
you're doing something, and then you've
got what's on top. Or, keep what's on top
the same and you can do something underneath
to feel your body. It's like those Gary
Chaffee books or something or syncopation where you're
just trying to do that.
But you're just trying
to add the fifth limb, your voice on top
of it to try to, you know it's all rhythm,
it's all space that's being filled in and you
are just hiding. – You're like an
extra element to fill. – You're an extra element,
so yeah, I think that that's how I would practice
those kinds of things sometimes. Make it even be
anywhere, you know, I was thinking of that
Babylon Sister, Steely Dan. There's that cool, I think
it's like a grouping of five or something and I was
thinking you could do, ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ something like that. You can try to compose
some exercises like that, to challenge yourself,
something along the lines of like take a
hook, sing it over.
♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby. ♪ Try to feel what it feels, what does it feel
like to do this. Come up with your own
exercises or try these. – Give us one for like
an absolute beginning, whose just starting out.
– Absolute beginner.
– Man I would say keep a
4/4 beat and sing a song. Like what's a song
that everybody knows? ♪ Here come old flat-top,
he come grooving up slowly ♪ ♪ He got juju eyeballs,
he one holy roller ♪ ♪ He got hair down
to his knees ♪ ♪ Got to be a joker, he
just do what he please ♪ I like that 'cause
the drums don't get difficult until
you're not singing. That's a good
example right there. That's a simple beat and I
think you just have to do it. It's hard to imagine,
you can have a book full of exercises too, to do
those kind of things, but the way I learned is
just by singing songs. So, that's the best
advice I can give, to at least get here. Yeah, I just thought of that
one and that's a good example. Stuff where the drums
are relatively simple, that's the way to do it,
hold down that groove and just try to feel and then
go back and listen to it.
You get a metronome in your
ear, maybe like a click or something to
check your tempo. I don't know, I love doing
that, that's a fun practice. – Do you find there's a
certain skill that you need to be at as a drummer
before you can start introducing your voice
or is it something you can dive into right away? Did you find you had
struggles when you started? – Oh, man, I don't think
there's any right way to do it. I mean, yeah, I struggled,
I probably didn't even know I was struggling
because I've just grown so much as a singer,
I'm a drummer first, so the singing came
later, so I've just come such a long way in the past
decade that it's hard to even go back and listen to
what I was back then.
Which still seemed cool
to people, probably, but now, I'm just like dude,
so it's just a progression. You just gotta start. The most important
thing is that you are delivering a message, a
song, you're giving something to the audience and
you're a front man. That's the thing,
that's the difference. You're bringing the
drums into the front. You're singing that song
so I'm gonna think that that's an important thing,
are you that person? You have to be that
kind of person, unless you're gonna sing, if
we're talking about the band and being the blend,
that's also another thing, which I'm actually far worse at. I can do it, but, – Really? – Well, yeah, might
have voices like, I don't have a lot of
upper register and stuff. I'm better served
as a lead singer. I mean I can blend with
others and I like that too, but I'm much more of just a,
here we are and this is it.
That's why the Paris
Monster is so cool, because there's only two of us, so there's just so much
space for everything. And also improvisation, I
really enjoy improvisation. So if I want, I just go for
something and just go wherever. – Less feet to step on. – Less feet to step on, yeah,
more responsibility, but yeah I would say, just pick
some songs, get them together, go to jam sessions and
try 'em out, book gigs. I used to play gigs
with instrumental music and I'd sing a few songs,
that's how I started, you know just sing a few,
kinda like just ease into it. Don't go crazy if you're
first starting out. – Now before you did this
lesson, you were showing me or talking about some of the
things that you are doing. One of them is playing
like a long note overtop of a complex beat, do you want
to elaborate on that a bit? – I was just thinking
about energy and stuff, ♪ When I look into your eyes ♪ ♪ When I look into your eyes ♪ and then I was thinking like, ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ No ♪ how you could just, ♪ Oh, no ♪ I was taking like the energy
of when you peak on a note and you, yourself
are the person, ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ No ♪ and it's like I'm
holding on that note.
♪ Oh ♪ ♪ No ♪ It's all me right there. It's all this one person
that has that responsibility of that energy. ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ No ♪ And it's just that one
fill underneath it. You're transferring energy. And it's, you're literally,
you're doing all the work in that sense and it's cool. It's a cool feeling to have that kind of responsibility
in the music. Some of my favorite recordings
are when the drummer's singing and it, I don't don't
know if you're familiar, but there's Levon Helm of The
Band just the man for that.
On their live album, Rock
of Ages, they're playing Don't Do It, which is
actually an old Motown song, but The Band's version
is just amazing. And there's a part where, what does he do? (vocalizing)
(percussion music) Oh, yeah. ♪ Open up your heart ♪ ♪ Open up your heart, girl ♪ The way that he releases, ♪ Open up your heart ♪ (vocalizes percussion) and he just, and it's
like, I hear that recording and I'm like, I know
that must feel like, I mean it's such a
feeling of, it's a rush and you listen to that
moment where the band is building and then
he does that fill. And it's just a simple
fill, but there's something about the fact that it's
him doing those two things. Open up your heart, girl,
and he plays that fill into that and that's
the magic of this. That kind of stuff. – Transfer, transfer.
Or Buddy Miles, Buddy Miles on Band of Gypsys. Those kind of moments,
it's not the same thing if it's two people doing it. – So you do long notes
over lots of playing, physically, while you're
holding a long note.
Do you ever do the opposite
where you're practicing just playing something
simple and singing a lot? – Yeah, (percussion music)
(vocalizing) you know. – So cool, man.
That's just me practicing. – That's so cool, that's
just you practicing. – That's just me
practicing, trying to like, I'm hearing my pitch and
being like, (shrieks) or like, whatever, just
trying to get something, pick something,
like an ostinato. I was also thinking about
doing some things, you could sing something over and over
again on top of something. Like, for instance, this
is a weird one that I have to share this, 'cause
it's really cool. But for instance if you're
playing in five dotted quarters come around every
three measures, so let's say we're in like, (percussion music) (vocalizing) You know what I'm saying? So I was thinking
about, you could make your own exercises doing that. I should think about doing this. You could make some cool
exercises with whatever long rhythmic things will
go over a certain beat. You could take
that dotted quarter and you could incorporate
that into everything that can go underneath it. For instance, that's
my favorite one.
I play it when I play in an odd
time or something like that. I always think about the
wide beat, the longer feeling of that and you can do the
same thing with the voice. So I'm singing that
dotted quarter, (percussion music)
(vocalizing) there's three measures of five
and it's a dotted quarter. What I'm trying to
illustrate is that the voice is a rhythmic instrument too and you can go over the bar line and do all those kind of
lovely things with it as well. And you're the
one supporting it. You're literally the
one supporting it. It's cool concept. – Do mind playing
us another song? – Ah, that's cool, let's do it! – I'd love to hear another
tune and you've got a couple prepared so, yeah, let's do one. – Okay! I'm gonna play this
Vision Complete song because this is the thing that, (keyboard music) I like this one because
of the rhythmic component of the melody and how it
weaves and things like that.
It's called, A Vision
Complete by Paris Monster. ♪ I'll spend all this
time on something ♪ ♪ Without breaking for
lunch for no other reason ♪ ♪ Than a vision drawn up right ♪ ♪ If not perfectly written
with care and precision ♪ ♪ Then it won't
take, off, flight ♪ ♪ Oh, a vision complete, but
nothing in the distance ♪ ♪ I've had my share,
but never a one ♪ ♪ That could anyone unlatch,
open, and bear to see ♪ ♪ What I've seen and
what it says of me ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ That I might be an ass ♪ ♪ That I'm selfish, getting
fat and deserve it ♪ ♪ At the end of the day,
over dinner in the face ♪ ♪ I was searching ♪ ♪ That it once had
been kind but ♪ ♪ That I'd never found
the time to preserve it ♪ ♪ I never found the time,
it's not the same, no, no ♪ ♪ It's all on me ♪ ♪ She fell to me especially ♪ ♪ I'm a lucky man with a
patient one beside me ♪ ♪ To lay her bare
is such a pity ♪ ♪ At least I hope
to make it witty ♪ ♪ You never know
what I might say ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to
please my family ♪ ♪ That the woman
would hold me still ♪ ♪ With, it's wittier
when we say ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to
feed my family." ♪ ♪ Though she might
have a point ♪ ♪ And I'll change it in
the morning, I know this ♪ ♪ She had slaved through
the day, and the dinner ♪ ♪ that she laid was
ambitious, no, no ♪ ♪ But the roast, to be clear,
wasn't witty either, dear ♪ ♪ And I'll be bold
enough to say ♪ ♪ You're not cooking
to please our family.
♪ ♪ And I might be an ass,
but I'm ass enough to act ♪ ♪ Like a wise one ♪ ♪ And I might lack a wit ♪ ♪ But I'm half enough
to finish the trifle ♪ ♪ But my words, to be fair,
are precise and though I care ♪ ♪ You never know
what I might say ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to
please my family ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to
please my family ♪ ♪ No, no, I'm not writing ♪ ♪ To please my family ♪ – Yeah, man. – Yeah. – Yeah. – So I'm working, so I
was trying to incorporate, – So cool! – a couple of the things I
was talking about actually, because you got me thinking, but transference of energy,
man, that's a big one. 'Cause it's you doing it
and you've got all this at your fingertips. I was being playful with that
one, but dynamics are big. That's a big part of
music, as we all know. – You play keys at the same
time, like you were doing three things at the
same time at once. – That's true,
that's true, I am. I'm just setting myself up
for disappointment really, but this song is cool
because it's so simple.
(keyboard music) And it's cool because
I've got this delay (synthesized funk music) Then you wanna bring in, you can do all kinds of
things, you can be like. I like the flange, that's
my friend, this is my man. I could just do that forever,
I just love funk music, it's simple stuff. There's a way you can
do more complex stuff, but for that song,
that's what that is. And the cool thing
about that one, to me, is the melody and the rhythmic
component of the melody carries it so this is almost,
it's not that essential. I can change it all
the time if I want to, which is great if
you forget something. But yeah, so, there we go! – You got something
special, that's for sure. – Well, thank you,
thank you very much. We're proud of it,
we're proud of it. – So, couple questions for you. Drummers who are trying
to get into singing, what happens when
you lose your breath and it's a fair physically
activity, drumming alone, and now you're
trying to sing too.
Is there any tips you
can give on how to focus that and plan your breathing? I don't know. – Breathing, I mean, especially
when you work in the studio, you'll actually have to think
about that kind of stuff I'm not completely
an untrained singer, but in many ways I am. There's things that I'm
still grasping that are basic aspects of it, but I do
know that when I actually find my center and I'm
coming from this region, where you fill up your air,
you're gonna have a better tone and you're gonna have more air.
It's no different than
this is a longer note, (fast percussion music) than this
(slower percussion music) you know what I'm saying? It's like your lengths
of notes are your music. And it's the same
thing with the voice. ♪ Oh, I'm not writing
to please my family ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to please ♪ ♪ I'm not writing to please ♪ You know, it's like
your length of notes can be staccato or legato.
It's literally the same thing, so that's how you
play in your air. I happen to really
be into short notes because I almost add
syllables to words sometimes, 'cause it makes me feel funky. ♪ I'm not a writing
to please my family ♪ ♪ I'm not a writing to
please a my family ♪ Something like that,
where I'm almost ghosting. Everything is ghost
notes, I'm a drummer. Everything I do
has a ghost note. ♪ I'm not a writing to
please a my family ♪ ♪ To understand uh huh,
to understand uh, huh ♪ I'm coming, if you want
to check out some artists that do those kind of things,
Al Jarreau, Michael Jackson, I mean that's where that
kind of stuff comes from. I'm sure there's plenty
of people out there. I'm taking that and figuring
out how it works with this and it makes it funky over top. – Is there anything you
do outside of the drums, practicing singing like
when you are singing, say you're on a walk
and you're singing, is it something you
do with your hands or is it something
you can practice not being behind a drum kit? – Oh yeah, I mean you're
on train or something, you could just, I
would try to do, you know, Mambo Number Four.
♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to mm ♪ (vocalizing) Just try some different (vocalizing) ♪ You've ♪ ♪ Gotta be ♪ ♪ Sincere ♪ ♪ You ♪ You know, just try some
different things over it. Challenge yourself in some
different rhythmic things over an ostinato that
you hold for yourself. I gotta get back into
Hindemith, that's a composer that had all these amazing
rhythmic exercises. And I would say that
you could just take any of those types of things,
or syncopation book.
I'm sure you could somehow
work the voice into it. Honestly, I think if
you just sing songs over different things, 'cause
the thing about drumming is what are we doing,
well, we're grooving, which is what? You protect the groove. You want it to be that
swampy thing that feels good. How can you maintain
that and sing, you just have to do it, so
I think that it's really, holding something while
delivering the song. It's a wild thing, but that's
really what you're doing. And you don't want
either one to suffer. – Do you have a focus,
one over the other, when you're playing
or is it all just one? Like is it one thing that,
if you're gonna mess up, let's least mess this up
or like how do you think about it when you're doing both? – Whew, it's hard because
I would say that I don't think about it and that when
I do, it probably is not good.
I do think that it can
become one organism. Your natural
instinct on the drums should know if
things are lagging. So you can't lose track of that. 'Cause sometimes you let it
sync and I'm all for moving the tempo, I'm not saying
you have to be perfect or anything, it's more
about being with the people that you're on stage with,
being present with them and listening, like grooving
with them as a whole. Get up on that mic. Don't be afraid, but relax. You want to force it 'cause
you're doing all this, but it's really like I'm
trying to tell myself, just chill out.
The best shows I play are
when my pulse is like nothing. And then I freak out
and it becomes a thing, sweat through an entire outfit. Now that's fun too, but I
think that relaxing is big. You'll get better
airflow that way. You're gonna get a
better tone that way, unless you're just shouting,
which is also cool. – I love it. – Yeah, there's a lot to it,
there's really a lot to it and it can't develop unless
you're just doing it. Get some songs together,
figure out what the tempo that feels good, that
feels good to sing. I mean you're the
one that knows. That's the thing that's
great because as a drummer, when you accompany
singers, you're gonna know. You're gonna know. If a singer is not
comfortable with the tempo, my radar, boom! These days I'm just like,
oh, they're unhappy. I can tell it's too fast or
it's too slow or whatever, so you're radar will
go up because you know what it feels like.
If this rhythm is too
fast at this tempo, we can't do this. So there's all these decisions
that have to be made. And your instinct
will start to develop with those kind of situations. – You mentioned one
thing that you wanted to talk about was
singing over a shuffle. Why's that so tough? You forgot about it.
– I thought about it. I thought about it, man, just
because it shouldn't be tough. But I was thinking about
ghost notes and stuff, so a shuffle seems like it's, I'm gonna do that, (jaunty percussion music) ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ That will stay
right by your side ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ That will stay
right by your side ♪ ♪ They will give you
all your spare time ♪ ♪ Love and treat you right ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ Just thinking about some
like that where it's all throw a wrench in it,
get it feeling good, I think that's a great, I
mean I need to do that more.
That was just, haven't done
that it awhile actually, and it's just kinda like,
'cause you're keeping, trying to swing, so you
have to sing over that. I mean that's a
pretty busy beat. I think singing over shuffle
is a really cool thing to do. ♪ You've got to shake it baby ♪ ♪ You've got to shake it ♪ You could keep doing that one. Choose anything,
really, choose anything. I love blues and I
grew up on blues. I discovered it when
I was really young, so I think that that groove.
A lot of ones that
I do at clinics are, ♪ Lucille ♪ ♪ Won't you do your
sisters will? ♪ ♪ Lucille ♪ ♪ Won't you do your
sisters will? ♪ ♪ And I been married, but
I still love Lucille ♪ So to me, it's like that swing. It's like man, you're really
in it, you're dancing. You're dancing. And you're kind of
shouting on top of it, so it's a thing, these
busier beats aside from the regular kind of
eighth note rock stuff.
It's always physical
though, but the reason I brought up the shuffle
is because of the ghosting element and the fact
that it's swinging and I guess singing
triplets and subdivisions over top of that
would be a challenge. I would think that would
be a good thing to work on. – Big time! What about something like,
Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover? – Right, we talked about that. – Yeah, we talked
about that one too. – (shrieks) Okay,
okay, let me try that. Oh, that's the wrong, well,
I'm not gonna play keyboard, that'd be stupid.
♪ The problem is all inside ♪ So, I think it's like, I
don't play the beat correct, but it's, (drum and percussion beats) ♪ The problem is all inside
your head she said to me ♪ ♪ The answer is easy, if
you take it logically ♪ ♪ I'd like to help you in
your struggle to be free ♪ ♪ There must be 50 ways
to leave your lover ♪ So, I'm thinking I remember
I was on cover gigs and I would call
that song, be like, how am I gonna pull this off? I don't know the exact
way that Gadd did it, I'm just kind of doing
whatever it sounds like to me. But it's, I got, (drum and percussion beats) so it's like I'm doing (drum and percussion beats) with the foot. you know, don't
learn it this way. Don't learn it this way. But I'm just saying take
a song, if you really want to challenge
yourself, I found singing that song was really difficult.
Just like some of those famous,
some famous drum pieces, could I even do it? (drum and percussion beats) ♪ Soul vaccination ♪ You know, something like that. ♪ Soul vaccination ♪ ♪ Soul vaccination ♪ That's a bad example, or ♪ All I wanna do when I
wake up in the morning ♪ ♪ Is see your eyes ♪ ♪ All I wanna do when I
wake up in the morning ♪ ♪ Is see your eyes ♪ ♪ Rosanna, Rosanna ♪ Like that, exactly, man! ♪ All I wanna do when I
wake up in the morning ♪ ♪ Is see your eyes ♪ ♪ Rosanna, Rosanna ♪ You can try doing some
like that, it'll really throw yourself, like
that's tricky, man.
– You've gotta be able
to play the beat first, before you can even add
the element of singing in. – I'm gonna work on
Soul Vaccination. That's a cool one. I'm just saying like anything
that's rhythmic like that, that's like a hook, you
gotta play that drum groove at least close enough where
it sounds like it, in my book. I'm not super studied
with the different ways that people played things,
but I know 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover was a
real challenge for me. And I also love that
one because the beat is so, it's just like Gadd's
one of my favorite drummers. I mean it's just so much
touch and the singing is just, ♪ The problem isn't all inside
your head she said to me ♪ It's so light. I'm like, that's a great one! That's a great one
'cause it doesn't always have to be bombastic,
you know, so, it's like that's
some beautiful stuff. But I really learned a lot
from singing and drumming by doing cover
gigs, I really did.
I was, like we had
talked earlier, I made more money sometimes,
I mean, I'm just saying, it is a thing people, for
certain kinds of music, they're gonna want you
because you have that ability and find different
ways to be creative, aside from just
being a great drummer and developing your
sound on drums, or being a singer and
developing your sound as a singer, I know I
really supported myself, over the years, being a lead
singer who played drums. And that was my little
thing I carved out. I think it's a thing, man. – Well you definitely
got something unique going for you now, I
mean you're blowing up online, hopefully.
I wish you all the best
with the Paris Monster and all that but–
– Thank you. – Thanks, we've got a new
album coming out next year. Things are starting to take off and we're really excited, we've
been really working on it. – Yeah, very cool. – So to recap and we're
running out of time, we'll get you to play
one more song for us, but to recap, what kind
of tips would you give for the members watching,
beginner drummers all up to advanced, how
you can better yourself and start getting into
singing and drumming.
– How we can just get into
it, how we can get into it. Well, I mean, I would
just say, start a band. You know what I mean,
get some songs together and make some choices. I would say play
along to records, make yourself sit
down at the piano, figure out the
melodies of the songs, you know what I mean, like
kind of do a little homework as to what's actually happening. If the melody is like
beyond a bluesy melody, like try to figure out
what chord tones the melody hits and try to sing that by yourself, without
the piano, afterwards, try to challenge
yourself to get better with your ear training
and things like that. And then see if you can
sing it without the piano. Sing it with just the drums. I will say this, if
you can, sing a song and play it by yourself. When you get with a band,
you'll really know that song. You'll really know it. And learn the songs, learn
the harmony of the songs. Like, learn them completely
and you will thank yourself, you know what I mean
and so understand, you gotta know the changes
because now if somebody doesn't know it,
you've got to be able to yell at them, you
know, the four chord! Or whatever you know.
You have to know
that kind of stuff, so these are all
things to think about if you're gonna get
serious about it. You know what I'm saying? – I know a lot of drummers,
they focus so much of their time on
technique and rhythm and note values and stuff,
but now you gotta get into the more melodic stuff, like you just said,
the four chord. How many drummers even
know what that is? Right?
– Right. So you gotta learn a little
bit of that, you said, practice with the
metronome, obviously. – Metronome is your friend, man. – Long notes on your voice
while playing complex stuff underneath it, then
complex stuff underneath while doing short notes
on top, or did I say that the wrong way? – Yeah, both of those,
or you could sing scales. You could sing scales over. (vocalizing) (drum and percussion beats) you know, a beat maybe,
pick a beat like that. Beat is a beat I
play all the time, so like I'm gonna
naturally play it well because I'm just gonna kind
of you know, autopilot.
Sing, practice your
scales over that. And then, of course, the
energy of holding the note, which is more of a nuance,
it's more of an extra thing. I think the most
important thing is to remember that you are
in charge of the energy. So if you wanna have a
moment where the music flourishes and you're the
singer, well, that's up to you. And the drums can accompany
that, you know what I mean. So, I think that that's
a real cool aspect of it. – Very cool, man, yeah, love it. Tons of little
tips in there guys. Josh, you're obviously
a very artistic guy, you've been doing
this for a long time. – I have, yeah. – And you can see it,
you're experience is there. Even down to sitting
properly, having good posture, you know getting a
good breath in there, like some of the simple
things that you wouldn't even think of, where are
you gonna put your mic.
– Yeah, it all matters
and I can't stress enough, just learning, drummers
learning the full aspect of music, the textures
of section to section and what the chords
are in the stuff. That really changed
my whole thing, man, once I started to be able
to hear those things. And we're talking
about simple stuff. I'm not talking about crazy
jazz or anything like that. That's another thing too. I'm just saying like starting
to understand the color between one, four and
five and the two chord and the six chord and
knowing where things go. It's gonna be so easy,
not only to direct a band, but to learn other people's
music if you want to gig. You could listen to a
song one time, be like, oh it sounds like
it's around 80 bpm, because you know what that is. And it's in this key
and these are the chords and blah, blah, blah. I mean these are real
fundamental things that we overlook
sometimes, you know. – Dude, thank you so much. – Thanks, thank you, this
has been an awesome day. – Yeah, it's very cool. It's something unique.
I'm so glad we got you on here. Me and Jared had both
seen you on YouTube, I don't know how long
ago and we've just been wanting to get you
on for so long. – Thank you. – Glad it finally happened. – Thank you guys. – Next time you come out,
you're gonna have to show us how to play drums and
keyboard at the same time. I wanted to do both, we didn't
have enough time for both.
– Well, it'll give me a little
time to work on it then, that's good. – No, you sound great. So for everyone watching live, tomorrow we're gonna be live
again for just a performance. We'll also get to some
questions that we might have missed in here, I know
some of the Edge members have asked about the keyboard. We'll talk about the
keyboard tomorrow and if you guys are
watching this on YouTube, it's gonna be on
YouTube as well. But we do have a
lot of cool things that we're filming with
Josh inside of Drumeo, so make sure you check that out.
And again, huge thanks
Yamaha, Meinl, Vic Firth, and Evans.
– Yeah, good sounds! Yes, and check Josh out at the, – Paris Monster, the
Instagram is, @theparismonster – But the website is
just Paris Monster. – www.parismonster.com It's really easy to find and
there's lots of video up there. That is my band with
the great Geoff Kraly.
I want to let you know
that all of this exists because of that man. This is not something
that I just thought. This is a concept for a
sound, not just to do it. So it's to do it for that. And now to do it for
everything, apparently. – Are we missing anything,
are we missing anything? – I'm trying to think,
I don't think so. – Alright so, hope
you guys enjoyed this. Again, follow Josh. I will see you guys all later. We're gonna let you
play us something. I'm gonna get out of here and you can just have fun. Take your time,
play something cool. You are so groovy, I could
just listen to you all day. Bye everyone.
– Thank you. – Alright, what are
we gonna do here. (synth music) ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ That will stay
right by your side ♪ ♪ When you've got
a good friend ♪ ♪ That will stay
right by your side ♪ ♪ Give you all your spare time ♪ ♪ Love and treat you right ♪ ♪ I mistreated my baby ♪ ♪ And I can't see
no reason why ♪ ♪ I mistreated my babe ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ And I can't see
no reason why ♪ ♪ No, no, no ♪ ♪ Every time I think about it ♪ ♪ I just hang my head and cry ♪ ♪ Cry ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Dare I apologize ♪ ♪ Will she sympathize with me ♪ ♪ Dare I apologize ♪ ♪ Will she sympathize with me ♪ ♪ She remembers someone ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ No, no, no ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ No, no, no ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Sweetness ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Sweetness ♪ ♪ Oh, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Sweetness ♪ ♪ Oh, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Sweet as a girl can be ♪ ♪ Oh, no ♪ ♪ I'll spend all this
time on something ♪ ♪ Without breaking for
lunch, for no other reason ♪ ♪ Than a vision drawn up right ♪ ♪ If not perfectly written
with care and precision ♪ ♪ Then it won't take off ♪ ♪ Flight ♪ ♪ Oh, a vision complete ♪
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