Principle #2 - Reinforce and Complement

More than often we hear a band playing out-of-sync. The musicians are not playing together. The music is muddy and the band is not tight. What is wrong?

The rhythm section is out-of-sync. The bass-drum-guitar-organ is called the rhythm section.
Consider a song is like a empty piece of land.

The task of a drummer is to place the pillars called beats at the right intervals.That is to partition the song into smaller spaces. He creates spaces.

The task of a bass player is to reinforce the drummer's pillars with his bass notes and create smaller new pillars. That's why the bassist synchronizes his bass chops with the drummer's beats especially the bass drum's beat.

In example 1 , the bass reinforces the drums' 1st and the 3rd beat, while creating a new pillar at 2 1/2 beat.

The rhythm guitarist's job is to fill all those small spaces between the drum beats and bass chops. He syncs his guitar playing with the drummer's hi-hat.

In example 1, the guitarist plays 8th notes to fill in the spaces.

Likewise the percussionist fills in all those tiny gaps between the drum beats.

And perhaps we could use the organ or keyboard to cement the whole rhythm together with sustained or pulsating chords.

Each instrument reinforces and yet complements the others. So they are not play the same thing.

Each instrument should not play the same thing as another. Reinforce and Compliment not copy.

Finally what we get is a well cemented rhythm.

Note : Modern drums "Neutral Clef" notation is different from the traditional drums "Bass Clef" notation as found in General Midi.

Here is the Neutral Clef Notation

TT = Tom Tom

SD = Snare Drum

FT = Floor Tom

BD = Bass Drum or Kick Drum

CC = Crash Cymbal

RC = Ride Cymbal

HH = High Hat

 

 

and the General Midi Drums Mapping Notation ( which i will use in this blog )