The Myth Of Timing « Make Drum Work . Com

20Jul/100

The Myth Of Timing

Timing. It's easy to get lost. Source: fdecomite

Everyone talks about the importance of having good timing. Or being able to play in time. Or good time-playing. It doesn't matter how you say it, it's the most important thing you need to develop. But also the most difficult. Because it doesn't exist.

The way most people (myself included) first go about working on timing is to put on a click and play a groove along with it. There's nothing wrong with that, it will work great for a beginner and if you've never done it before it'll really sort out a lot of problems. But there comes a point when pretty soon you stop getting a pay-off and you need to change your approach.

It's all in your mind

First off, you need to change how you think about timing. Separate the action from the outcome. Say you want to be punctual. You want to have good punctuality, you want to be able to punctualise well. It's a good thing to aim for.

I have a whole range of drummers that I teach. Some of them are punctual (I like that) some of them aren't (I dislike that). I've noticed that the punctual ones all have something in common. It's the most revealing trait that will determine whether or not someone is punctual. But it doesn't take an FBI profiler to figure out what it is.

They all turn up early.

Ok, maybe I'm being picky about semantics but punctuality is an outcome. Turning up early is the action that brings it about. If you make sure that you are early for wherever you are going then having good punctuality will take care of itself. A fuzzy idea becomes much easier to grasp and obtain by having a concrete easy action to perform.

So good timing, then, is an outcome. The action that brings it about is playing notes accurately. So rather than working on timing you need to be working on accuracy. How? For a start, you need to be playing lots and lots of different note types on a practice pad to a metrnome. You need to be switching between different note types so you don't fall into pre-established patterns. Understand that the "e" of a 1/16 note or the middle partial of a triple need to be play as accurately as the 1/4 note that you use to count in a song.

Priorities

I'm not suggesting that accuracy is all you'll need to bring about good timing. If only things really were that simple. You also need confidence to be able to keep going when you make mistakes. You need good co-ordination so that none of your limbs are feeling slow, heavy or "sticky". You need to have good feel to make sure that you fit the music you're playing etc.

The list goes on and on and, to be honest, I get terrified thinking about it. But there are no shortcuts and the work must be done. However, all these other qualities need a solid base to build from. To get caught up in these things without first developing your accuracy is like transporting oil without having safety measures in place to stop spills. Oh, wait...

Next time you're designing your practice schedule focus on accuracy, forget about timing.