Steve Houghton: metronome vs. play-along tracks

[mprimecoleman]

I absolutely love Steve Houghton. I think he has done so much for drum set education through his books and videos. However, a roboticized version of Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th is the worst play along track I can imagine. I hope Beethoven has words with Steve in the next life. I like to practice to songs that I am certain have a click, or I'm certain that the drummer is good.

[ofatheroartificer]

someone please tell me this is a joke because i am fucking cracking up. especially when the sweet tune comes in. so much for the art of drumset....

[spacitydrummer4JC]

Can anyone tell me anything about his dvd on chart reading?

[TiqueO6]

Johannes Brahms didn't want to put metronome markings on his scores because he felt that the machines weren't human. He relented when pressured.

Musicians should be feeling the beat and listening to each other to make music that's truly musical.

If you're playing to play-along tracks it would be great if they were created with humans providing their own internal metronome rather than the machine.

[IluvXbox360]

He played with my jazz band yesterday

[TBAKER279]

Man, that guy's cool as hell. I just went to a jazz festival down in columbus, ohio with my jazz band and i got to go to a clinic with him and i got to play drums with him. It was a helluva lotta fun

[ethievon]

Hello My friend

All the best from France

Eric

[alovelylatina]

yeah!!!!

this is my uncle steve!!! :)

i cant believe hes this popular!

this is awsome.....

[mgperc]

He's an amazing player. And a great teacher! Rare to find both. I have some of his books/transcriptions and his playing is so musical. Probably why he's played w/so many greats. Tell him I say hi.

[ibrandenetc]

liar! your name is a lovely latina, isnt this dude white! oOoOo

[redbutt222]

this is my uncle yo what are u talking about

[5uffy]

If you like Steve's work, check out his "Rhythm Section|Workshop" exercise book. I found it very helpful.

[ecirtap669]

(part 2 of my comment) I think what helped my timing a lot was just playing along to recorded songs. If you really concentrate while doing that, it is just like practicing. To at the same time study more about how your drums/cymbals sound, I used to have the song play on the headphones, panned to the right, and the left would be listening to my playing.

[ecirtap669]

I think a combination of both is best. Especially snare drum exercises can easily be played along to a metronome. (When only the metronome is going, you can also learn about getting different sounds out of a snare drum, some of which might be drowned out when a piece of music is played in the background.) When using the complete drumset, the metronome might at times be a little quiet.