Yesterday evening, I became perhaps that last drummer in the world to sit down and play the video game, Rock Band. Some friends invited us over to their house for dinner and a "concert," and I was keen to give this a try after reading an excellent article in this month's Modern Drummer by Andy Ziker about his students improving their technique by playing Rock Band at home.

My daughters were very excited for me to join them in this, which is interesting: I've tried multiple times to teach them the basics of the percussive arts to no avail. So, I had two primary objectives going into last evening's "tour":

1. To see how well my daughters we able to play "the kit" in Rock Band
2. To see how well I could play

The Non-Drummers Drum
I started by hanging back and letting the kids play a couple songs so I could get the hang of how everything worked. My eldest daughter sat down at "the kit" first and they were going to play "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer.

All in all, she did a really great job. The first thing I noticed is that Rock Band represents a new way to help build solid time-keeping skills. Anybody my age remembers sitting down at the kit, headphones squarely fixed over our ears, connected to a metronome pumping that incessant clack-click-click-click-clack-click-click-click while we are trying to play something musical to it. It was difficult, but it was the way we learned to develop our sense of time and, eventually, play to a click track in a recording studio.

Rock Band actually enforces the same kind of rigid time-keeping as the metronome, but makes it fun and musical at the same time. As my daughter plowed through "Say It Ain't So," I watched her carefully (this particular song in the game has a lot of eighth notes on the "hi-hat" and snare hits on 2 & 4, more closely mimicking the actual groove of the song) and she was keeping good solid time and, consequently, racking up a huge score in the game. We've worked the metronome at home many times and not enjoyed the same success.

The other interesting technique-builder in Rock Band is independence. Several of the songs, especially when you get into the higher skill levels, require you to work the hands and the "kick drum" simultaneously. And again, because it's a game, the real song is playing in the background and there is a bonus score to consider, I watched my daughter nail that Weezer song in a way that she probably would not have been able to do studying with me in my studio.

I certainly don't think that Harmonix Music Systems (the production company for Rock Band) intended to create an educational game for drummers but, in a way, that's exactly what they've done. I didn't observe the same level of rudimentary skill building Mr. Ziker writes about in his MD article, but Rock Band definitely can help new drummers learn time-keeping and independence in a way that is fun and appeals to this new generation in a way that the "old school" methods simply won't.

Old School Meets New School
Then it was my turn to sit down and try the kit. Expectations were high. Most of the people in the room had heard me play live with a band before, so it was expected that I would crush any song that was selected. I mean, after all, it's just a game, right?

My wife grabbed the guitar and we selected "We Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. One of my very favorite drummers of all time, Keith Moon, and a tune that I've play a hundred time on stage. I was going to kill at this game...

Long story short, it was a debacle. Being fair and self-critical, this was the wrong song to start with. As free as Moon was with the groove on that tune, it didn't translate well to little colored bars streaming toward me on the screen. In effect, I was lost and thrashing around "the kit" like a newbie. It was embarrassing, but I got a nice round of applause when me managed to make it all the way through the song and not get booed off the stage.

I decided it was time to try something a little more straight ahead, so I picked "Foreplay/Longtime" by Boston. I made it through that tune pretty well (and kudos to our friend and the host of the party, Carol Garrett, on laying down the beautiful vocal line on a tough song). However, it was not without troubles.

Let's step back to the time-keeping aspect of the game. I can play very well to a click when need be. That being said, I'm definitely more of a "feel" player. Steady time is important, but so is letting the music "breathe" to achieve the right emotional connection with the listener. Rock Band will have none of that. If you get even a little bit off those eighth notes on the "ride cymbal," the drum track in the song stops and your start losing points and street cred very quickly.

The other thing I struggled with is not playing the "kick drum." I've been playing for so long, playing with only the right and left hands felt strange to me. I have a reputation for a heavy right foot, ala Chad Smith of the RHCP. It was everything I had to keep my right foot still. However, my left foot, pedal-free, was happily bouncing up and down on the off beats, creating a very funky groove for which I received no bonus points in the game.

Good For You, Good For Me
Overall, I think there are worse video games for kids to play than Rock Band for sure. I don't think anyone is going to be the Joe Satriani from playing the guitar in the game, but the role of the drummer is well represented and does teach some of the basics of the instrument to non-drummers and new students.

Though I didn't perform very well, it was an interesting challenge for me to play the game. When you've been playing for as long as I have, you get set in your ways and I think it's healthy for something like this to come along and kick you in the butt.

As I've told every student I've ever taught: "You get better by doing three things: Practice, practice and more practice."

Looks like I'm off to Best Buy this weekend.

My name is Denny Boynton, and I'm a life-long percussionist.

That being said, I've not always been an active percussionist. Much the way people adhere to a certain religion and don't attend their respective house of worship, so I have always been an avid percussionist, but have not always been able to sit down behind the kit and perform. Like many of you, I've always dreamt of playing for a living, but things in life happen and we have to make choices and sometimes being a full-time musician just isn't in the cards.

Biography
I started playing drums when I was eight-years-old. My elementary school was holding an open house for kids interested in joining the third grade orchestra. As I didn't show much inclination toward sports, my mother brought me to the event. I was convinced that I wanted to play the sax. Unfortunately, I had a hellacious overbite and working the reed and the mouth piece on that particular instrument weren't going to work out for me too well. The music teacher at my school suggested trying the percussion section. Being a somewhat timid child, I complied.

Fortunately, I fell in love with it right away. There was a primal power that came from striking that shiny, steel Ludwig concert snare drum (man, do I wish I still had that drum!). I beat on that thing night and day. The only thing I disliked was carrying it to and from school -- I weighed 85 pounds soaking wet, so it was a bit of struggle, even though we only lived a few blocks from my school.

Eventually, my parents bought me a used Ludwig five-piece kit. I dutifully carried it down to the basement and quickly discovered why I would need a rug to put it on. Once the kit was setup, I grabbed my tape of AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and began the "Phil Rudd School of Rock Drumming."

When I grew tired of playing four-on-the-floor rock beats, I started taking lessons at a nearby music shop called Village Music in West Dundee, Illinois (I'm not even sure if it still exists). I studied with several teachers there and, when I was a senior in high school looking to study in college, my mom found Robert Chappell, an Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University.

I was primarily an orchestral percussion and set player when I started to study with Robert.I really credit him with opening my eyes to the vastness of our art. He taught me to read charts effectively, how to play the marimba and tune timpani correctly. Robert also taught me the nuances of playing jazz on the kit and significantly widened my listening habits.

After being accepted by NIU, I studied there for a couple of years with Rich Holly with the intent of going on to play for a living. And then, for some reason I can't even remember now, I changed majors and decided to play the drums as a hobby and seek ways to more easily make a living in the world. I don't wholly regret the decision. Had I not made it, I never would have met my soul mate in graduate school, married her and had my three beautiful daughters or ended up with my successful career at Microsoft.

But, in the back of my mind, I've always wondered, "What if..."

The Phoenix
A couple of years ago, my best friend and monster bass player, Jeff Laird, called me and asked for some help. He was starting a contemporary Christian rock band at his church, had their first performance lined-up and was lacking a drummer. Jeff and I had screwed around with some punk rock stuff in my basement over the years, but this was the first serious offer I'd had to play in front of an audience in about twelve years. Even thought that genre of music really isn't my thing, I said I'd help him out.

I quickly learned the set list and the day of the performance came: Easter Sunday, 2006. We got up and really played well. I wasn't overly pleased with the way I played, but it kept the group together and we finished with a really nicely written pop tune. When we finished, I looked up from my kit and the whole congregation was on their feet, applauding and cheering. It was in that moment that I remembered the sheer exhilaration of playing in front of a live audience. And, needless to say, I was hooked.

A couple of weeks later, I was wandering through a Guitar Center near my office and happened on a six-piece set of Gretsch Catalina Birch drums. They were beautiful, and I'd wanted a set of Gretsch drums for as long as I could remember, but had never been able to afford them. I was getting back into drumming on a regular basis and really wanted that kit. Instead, I left the store and started to drive back to my office.

On the way, I called my wife and our conversation went something like this:

Me: "You're going to regret encouraging me to get back into playing."
Her: "Why, I love that you're playing again."
Me: "Well, I was just saw the drum kit I've always wanted at the Guitar Center."
Her: "Well, you did buy them, didn't you?"
Me: "Well, no."
Her: "Well, why the hell not?!?"

Needless to say, that's a damn fine woman I married. After work that day, I went back and bought the kit, along with some new cymbals and hardware. And I've been looking for opportunities to play ever since.

The Present
Today I play in two local St. Louis-based bands: Meteor Pilots and Lake 32.

I've been playing with the Meteor Pilots for about two years now. I started out playing with the afore mentioned Jeff Laird and Gary Brittan, the groups guitar player and primary song writer and, when an opening for a bass player and drummer opened in the band, Jeff and I signed on. We're a very straight-ahead pop influenced band who does all original music. We're just finishing up our first CD which should be available soon. Also, we just added Mike Mora on lead guitar, which has brought a whole new dynamic to the band's music.

Lake 32 is a relatively new project, started in March of this year. Jeff and I were looking for opportunities to play some more modern rock and he mentioned that his friend, Rich Houke, was collaborating with a local singer named Chris Sebastian. We starting trading some emails and decided to get together and jam. Well, it just worked from the first moment we started playing. The chemistry was there and we've been working together every since. We're currently writing and rehearsing, getting ready for our first gigs, starting up in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll find some time to start recording this fall or winter.

Why DrummBlog.com?
This site coalesces my two professional passions: technology and drumming.

I will be posting on a myriad of topics related to the art of percussion, talking about hardware, technique and musicianship. I may even include some video now again on things I learn. I'll also be posting where I'll be playing on this site as well. A little self-promotion never hurt anybody, right?

Lastly, I want to have a conversation with you if you're reading this. I don't propose to know everything there is to know -- not by a long shot. I'll tell you what I think and what I've seen work, and I welcome your comments and ideas, whether you agree with me or not. Let's use this as a way to learn from one another and be better drummers at the end of the day.

That's enough about me and the site. Let's get started...