developing your own style and sound

I agree 100% with mrchattr on this one.

The way I feel about it is this: The more I learn, the more I imitate my heros - listen to their stuff, transcribe their stuff, play it back as accurate as possible.... The more I feel I start to sound like myself.

To me it seems that the best way of finding my own voice is imitating the voices of people that I love. I think this is because your own voice/style is not the stuff you play. It's how you play the stuff that you play.

So when I'm working on Steve Gadd stuff, I play the same notes, the same phrasing... But ultimately, it ends up becoming my own stuff and I find my own ways of playing it. And if I should ever start sounding like my heroes.... well: There are worse things than that

Sickrick & mrchattr make complete sense, & heres my take on it.

Developing your own style and sound is a life long quest. It doesnt stop in my opinion.

And the way to do it is as they say, is to imbibe what already exists. What you are imbibing, ( since Gadd has been used as an example ) is not just his chops & his paradiddle grooves et all, but also his concepts , his thinking, his ideas.

As this rich base of existing knowledge & information collects & grows inside of you, across many many drummers over time, and heck why just drummers, other musicians as well.., you find that what you have absorbed has fermented inside & what comes out of you is unique. These are the beginnings of your own style & voice.

aydee said:

As this rich base of existing knowledge & information collects & grows inside of you, across many many drummers over time, and heck why just drummers, other musicians as well.., you find that what you have absorbed has fermented inside & what comes out of you is unique. These are the beginnings of your own style & voice.

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This is a great point about other musicians. I would say that Miles Davis and John Coltrane both had a huge impact on my phrasing around the kit.

When it comes to any art form, you shouldn't force your style into any shape, unique or no, because it will sound forced and obvious to a good listener.

Instead, you should just mix and match things you think sound good on you and go great together. Your style will develop on its own. And will always develop continually.

All a style really is is a set of likes and habits.

My own style and sound, It's generated from the "cross-over and fusion" of my favourite drummers (inspirations & influences), and their different styles.

SickRick said:

I agree 100% with mrchattr on this one.

The way I feel about it is this: The more I learn, the more I imitate my heros - listen to their stuff, transcribe their stuff, play it back as accurate as possible.... The more I feel I start to sound like myself.

To me it seems that the best way of finding my own voice is imitating the voices of people that I love. I think this is because your own voice/style is not the stuff you play. It's how you play the stuff that you play.

So when I'm working on Steve Gadd stuff, I play the same notes, the same phrasing... But ultimately, it ends up becoming my own stuff and I find my own ways of playing it. And if I should ever start sounding like my heroes.... well: There are worse things than that

Click to expand...

As you might expect, it's the exact opposite for me. When I play what other people play, I sound like them. Sometimes, that's a good thing, as when I'm trying to learn and understand some of the great things other drummers have done. I might even try to nail what they do precisely, but then I move on. You're right, there could be much worse things than sounding like Steve Gadd.

But even if I never have as much talent as Gadd has in his pinky, I would rather have my own unique style than sound like someone else. Everything about what I do - what I listen to, the types of instruments I play, how I arrange them - is different than what ANYONE else does, and I think that helps set me apart, at least in terms that satisfy me. Even my way of finding uniqueness is different! Maybe the OP will find this of help.

I am picky about what I listen to because that influences me as well. To the OP, I advise listening to a wide variety of music, and I'm not talking about "everything from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin." Get completely outside of Western traditions for a while and explore some music that's being made in the other 95 percent of the world.

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No matter how hard I try and sound like Gadd, I suspect I never quite will. I'll get there in terms for technical execution, but to feel his pocket the way he does, and to replicate it, I doubt it.

But in the pursuit of trying to nail down his style, I'll discover myself. I think thats the point.

DMC brings up a great point too, which is that existing drum set knowledge, vast and varied as it may be, is also within defined boundaries, and there might be a world beyond that waiting to be explored on the kit.

Latin, Cuban, Brazilian,West Indian, West African, Central African, East Indian influences have been creeping into the instrument for a long time, in varying degrees.

Paco Sery, Roger Biwandu are awesome drumset players, playing with a distinctly West African feel.
Trilok Gurtu is an a incredibly Indian drumset player ( well, was... now what he plays would be a stretch to call it a conventional drumset)

Though the Cuban influence is very old and well integrated, players like Dafnis Prieto are taking it beyond what has already been played ( He's got a frying pan rigged up on a top mount as part of his kit ! )

Our very own SickRick plays some killer 'neo-reggae' himself.

My point here is that even imbibing from the 'non-western' world is also drawing from an existing bank of knowledge and applying your own spin on it. This evolution has taken a bit longer since access to it was not as readily available.

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I've got to agree with the majority here. Style isn't something you force on yourself, you just have to let it happen.

Your own style is way more than a reflection of your favourite music and drummers, your technical abilities, what you practice and everything your drum teachers have taught you. Although these things are most relevant to the subject at hand and all have a major impact on your playing, there's so much more that contributes to the drummer you have become.

It's who you are, how you feel, the people you love, your confidence in yourself, what you eat -- blah blah you get the picture. I guess it all comes down to your personality, at least that's the best way I can descirbe it.

I'm not sure who here has played drums before, those who have can all agree that there's more to it than just throwin' time. You're overcome by a very special feeling, a certain energy. It's then up to you to transfer this energy from in and around you through the kit and to whoever may be listening. It's expression, it's art.

So instead of working on your style, just practice drums. Your style has always been with you and is constantly evolving. 'Be yourself' may very well be the best advice you get as you grow up. You are all beautiful and unique snowflakes.... Nahmean?

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Sorry about the rant. I'm feeling strangely philosophical this afternoon and I havn't written anything in some time. I've got to go back to school.

Listen to as much music as you can. You never know where you'll find inspiration- for me, I love thrash and death metal, but I also love old school funk and hip hop. I end up expressing these varied genres unconsciously in my playing.

For instance, my band has a song called "It Might Be A Chicken" that opens with some very heavy thrash guitar work (its somewhere around 160- 170 bpm) that I follow with 16th notes double bass. The mood of the song changes about a minute into it and I play a Stewart Copeland beat in this part. I never wouldve placed that beat there if I never listened to Oysterhead. This is an example of how different influences will come together to form your own voice.