Grey Street - A tad bit of Viol-Voc-Sax smoothness

Dave Matthews Band.. Who doesn't know them. They are an awesome band specially due to their fusion-istic  style with that awesome drummer at the back filling the song with so much depth, background and a solid back beat. The drummer is no other than the world renowned Cater Beauford. 

So the reason for this post is because I stumbled upon this song quite randomly while I was rummaging through my music folders for some distraction from work. Yes, once I found it I did get distracted from work but a bit too much. Just blew my head away with the resurfaced fascination of Cater's unique drumming style. His ambidextrous style is quite hard to mimic yet I'm trying real hard to get the syncopated hi-hat style he uses to his great advantage in almost all his songs and specially in Grey Street; the song this article's dedicated to.

Grey Street is from the Lillywhite Session album the alleged "leaked" album. Man, I just love this song so much! You have no idea how much I just want to be dirty with this drum track in the song :). For instance take the period between 00:56 and 1:10. Here it seems to be a pre-chorus where Cater plays this syncopated 3-hit pattern on the Ride (the bell) on the "and" beats. That beat though seems quite simple it's not. He's not just playing the ride, he's playing the hi-hat at the same time with his right. Remember he's playing his hi-hat with his left and the ride is on his immediate left.

He's just an awesome drummer to follow if you want to improve your ambidexterity as his songs require the switching of your lead hands constantly to play his rolls and the basic backbeat patterns of the song though they alone are quite complex. But if you keep at it I guarantee this guy's influence will improve your skills quite a bit. 

Just listen to some DMB songs starting with Satellite, moving to crush and finally to Grey Street. All those songs are simple comparatively and give you a good base to start on your practicing. Please note that when I say practice with these songs I actually mean a few implied, sub-steps that you need to follow. They would be to figure out what exactly Cater is playing. Listen to each and every point of the song and try figure out what he's doing with your own musical ear. Don't go to Google and type in "Grey Street Drum tab"!! You're a looser if you do this :) Nah, you're not, just make sure you do that after you've got more than 100 songs figured out by your ear. 

There's nothing like figuring out a beat for yourself. Listen to it, once, twice, ........, a hundred times if you have to and get it. I'm still trying to figure out simple beats (not that I'm a good drummer). What I'm trying to say is that it's normal to have bad days and have bad period and bad years. Let go of that tension and just play that drumset as hard as you can. Play till your sticks break, till your drum skin gives in under your tension induced strokes. Just let go and feel free to do whatever you want with YOUR drumset. It's yours and no one can control your strokes even if your teacher's right next to you. It's you who's moving that stick and you play just the way you want to. 

As you might have notice I've drifted quite a bit away from my main topic and this is exactly what I was afraid of. When I get into my zone I get distracted and I won't figure out that I've drifted till it's too late :) But I hope I've given some insight as to my principles when it comes to drumming. I'm hoping to do a article on starting requirements for a drummer specially late starters like me. I started when I was 17 or 18 and I've played for around 7 or 8 years I think. So I'll be your saviour; all those guys and girls who think it's too late to start. I'll guarantee if you give me a year of your life 1 hr a day I'll make you a drummer and a good one at it and a way better one than me... :)