Is country drumming boring?

[Houndog]

I just had to put the album version up to correct things …

 

[Frank Godiva]

Cocaine Cocaine



Geez that sounds terrible that fast …

“Riding that train, high on cocaine; Casey Jones you better watch your speed.”

 

[varatrodder]

Yukk to both ….take this !!!!

John Denver is the Kenny G of country music.

 

[blueshadow]

My version from a few years back

 

[CherryClassic]

Folsom Prison is not a train beat on the record is it ?

No, and it's too slow for a train beat. I play something similar and faster. Just after he sings " I Shot a Man, I play "BANG" simulating a gun shot. LOL During the words, I Hear the Train a Comn' I try my train beat. It can be a fun song. But it doesn't work well at normal tempo.

sherm

 

[CherryClassic]

Pretty much.
Lol
We play it VERY wrong!

Now that's more like it. I like it fast, maybe not that fast. I play 1/16th noted with a stroke bounce effect and accent on the down beat. Right hand on closed Hi-Hat and left hand on snare. The down beats are on the Hi-hat. I don't play it throughout the full song. I like to break it up so as not to get boring. I switch of to a Boom Chick, Boom Chick, etc., then back to the train when it's appropriate. And don't forget to simulate the gun shot with a rim shot.

LOL

sherm

 

[richardh253]

I have not read all seven pages here and maybe someone has named him, but Kenny Buttrey -- is he "country" per this thread? In any event, w/ Dylan, Neil Young, never boring!

 

[Stephen.DeBoard]

No.

 

[Scott K Fish]

Ask Kenny Buttrey:

 

[mtarrani]

... then there is one of my country heroes, Buddy Harman. Nashville studio legend who had some great jazz chops too. He performed at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival behind Hank Garland (a Nashville studio guitarist who sat in with Brubeck and also played with Gary Burton, Joe Morello and Joe Benjamin). Very versatile drummer!

 

[TheBeachBoy]

We play Folsom similarly to notINtheband, though not quite as fast:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/163Ij_dSS4wNHhZSSOfGFJPKJQKm3bnAe/view?usp=sharing

 

[shuffle]

I've played many country music shows and blues bands.
Ive had drummers say that's simple music,boring and uninteresting for the drummer.
I tell them if it's so simple,play a shuffle straight thru for 4 minutes no embellishments just with an intro and outro but a 4 minute shuffle or 3/4 time tune.
Alot can't or won't try.
Ya gotta love that groove!
It's always fun!

 

[BennyK]

easy to put the reggae on Folsom Prison . slow er down an let Jah take over . no apples n orange mon, grapefruit an orange yeah .

 

[shuffle]

... then there is one of my country heroes, Buddy Harman. Nashville studio legend who had some great jazz chops too. He performed at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival behind Hank Garland (a Nashville studio guitarist who sat in with Brubeck and also played with Gary Burton, Joe Morello and Joe Benjamin). Very versatile drummer!

Harman was the ground breaker for country drumming in my eyes

 

[Rick Jones1]

That’s a fast one IMO.
I played a few train beats in a past life but remember them being slower. Do they ever get faster than this?

Here is a super fast version of Orange Blossom Special by Fiddle Player Mark O'Conner.

 

[langmick]

There are quite a few really good country players, and to nail those tempos and keep it in the country groove, that is super challenging. I had to play some Garth shows over the summer. While it's more rock, there are shuffles and some more traditional tunes. Lots of fun to play. If you learn a train beat you got it made.

Jim Christie
Greg Morrow
Milton Sledge
Bobby Jarzombek

To name a few.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

The train beat in and of itself can seem quite boring from the outside looking in, but there are a whole world of variants once you start digging. I've had to house band a country-heavy show recently and 5 of the tunes were train beats but none were exactly like the others, and I don't mean just tempo-wise. Each one had its intricacies and a different feel that is not always easy to reproduce with a good degree of legit-ness (snare accents on different beats, different kick patterns vs. 4-on-the-floor and so on and so forth).

Also: not everybody is gifted with an accurately adjustable swing-o-meter... So I get that for some, not putting in the required work and/or heart to make them groove and feel right, they may all meld together and end up all sounding the same

I have a personal "No train beat" policy for any first draft of original tunes in my band though.

If we're writing stuff and somebody says "I'd hear a train beat under this" I'm definitely going to first propose something else. IMO, in any genres falling under the vast "Americana" umbrella (I'd lump Country in there) a train beat could probably work OK like 75% of the time you play in 4/4, but I make it a point of pride to try and circumvent it and come up with other groove ideas.

I can and will get back to the Train if all else fails and it turns out that's REALLY what the song needs and nothing else. It hasn't happened yet for the tracks I play on.

 

[Rick Jones1]

... then there is one of my country heroes, Buddy Harman. Nashville studio legend who had some great jazz chops too. He performed at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival behind Hank Garland (a Nashville studio guitarist who sat in with Brubeck and also played with Gary Burton, Joe Morello and Joe Benjamin). Very versatile drummer!

He is one of my country heroes also. I didn't know he had those jazz chops.

Here is his discography on Wikipedia that shows his versatility : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Harman

 

[Rick Jones1]

There are quite a few really good country players, and to nail those tempos and keep it in the country groove, that is super challenging. I had to play some Garth shows over the summer. While it's more rock, there are shuffles and some more traditional tunes. Lots of fun to play. If you learn a train beat you got it made.

Jim Christie
Greg Morrow
Milton Sledge
Bobby Jarzombek

To name a few.

Also adding Eddie Bayers and Paul Leim to the list.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

Western swing is born of Country players expanding to incorporate swing/jazz elements into their genre. Almost ALL Nashville cats had/have way more vocabulary than what they paid their rent with.

Thanks for that album suggestion. Will look into Harman..