Bill Bruford on how Drummers use Creativity
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 11 янв 2022
- Visit Bill’s online store for exclusive and signed items: www.shorturl.at/adnpq
I’m often asked why I stopped performing in public, and it was simply because I had nothing more to say - I couldn’t hear what came next. I don’t mean the next beat in the song, I mean what ideas came next in the bigger movie. It had been symphonic rock; it had been a fusion of jazz harmony and rock muscle; it had been electronics, melodies and odd meters; it had been improvisation with Michiel Borstlap. What came next? Turns out my next creative step was to examine creativity, my thoughts on which appeared in a book "Uncharted: Creativity and the Expert Drummer ". Cindy Blackman Santana, Peter Erskine, Martin France, Mark Guiliana, Dylan Howe, Ralph Salmins, Asaf Sirkis, Thomas Stronen and Chad Wackerman all contributed mightly to the book; I'm grateful to all.
burningshed.com/store/billbru... #billbrufordsearthworks
![J.P., NLE Choppa - Bad Bitty (Remix) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rBDa6BCvw10/mqdefault.jpg)
The world needs more of Bill Bruford jamming on his small kit in his room. That was amazing
Bill says he came to the point where he couldn't play a simple rock beat, but I think you could argue his entire career was built around this fact. I do not mean this as an insult. He turned a playing deficiency/aversion to doing the standard thing into a legendary record of bold alternatives in the art of drumming. He gave up the timekeeping gig to become a composer for the instrument. Creativity has a "pocket" and Billiam is coated in the lint.
Spot-on analysis.
wacky fact:
I only got my first drumkit 3 years ago, and began drumming in parking lots, or parks, or anywhere outdoors (!), cuz i had a Ludwig JR microkit (with almost everything attached to the tiny kick drum!).....I IMMEDIATELY could do complicated jazz rock and odd time sigs (cuz i grew up on Mahavishnu etc)........but what I could NOT do....was play straight rock beats to save my life! Hilarious. One minute I sounded like a genius, and the next I sounded like a total idiot! (My brain wanted to syncopate!)
@@jonbongjovi1869 where can I hear you play
@@Odthean nowhere! I only have a few YT videos up (and they're all sloppy but pretty inventive I think)....
ruclips.net/video/5OQ-q4vPj2M/видео.html (here i'm on toy bells with my micro ludwig jr kit!)
here's a messy jam with a guitarist, on the side of a major road! (cuz where else would you practice or jam??)
ruclips.net/video/N94odbjf-Sw/видео.html
here is some TRICKY HI-HAT practice
(listen closely. it's NOT random)
ruclips.net/video/QQ641_OlkwM/видео.html
here's my Weird Little Micro-Drumkit!
EVERY drummer should have a microkit.
(I call big kits "DUMB-KITS!" Too big. Too loud.)
there's a few other drum clips on that channel.
problem is, I can't find any art-rock musicians in NH to play with. ARGH!
@@jonbongjovi1869 A bit like Stewart Copeland then. He dreaded Every Breath You Take because how simple the beat is
If any kid in the 70’s could have a hero, Bill was it for me.
Bill’s one of rock and rolls premiere elder statesmen. I’m glad he’s found a way of imparting some of his wisdom to the public, particularly in a medium that isn’t subject to the same third-party interests that traditional newsprint and televised broadcasts are always bound by.
I’ve been drumming for 2/3rds of my life now, and as I’ve mastered various techniques in the never ending quest for new ones, I’ve come to the conclusion that what truly sets the legendary drummers apart from the rest is not what they are able to play, but *WHAT THEY ARE ABLE TO THINK UP.* It’s the difference between seeing/hearing a drummer and thinking “how did he play that?” And the much more refined skill of “HOW DID HE THINK OF THAT?”.
Knowing what to play and why is a much more important part of drumming as an art form than simply being physically/mentally able to play it. There are thousands of drummers, some even truly amazing drummers who play things I know I can both play and think up as the techniques added together have a kind of creative inertia that leads you to more obvious concepts, but the ones that set themselves apart are the ones where I know I could not THINK up something they played. Gavin Harrison comes to mind, he also happens to be King Crimsons touring drummer. Anytime I watch him play I am astounded more so by the choices he makes in what to play, than the physicality of the playing itself. Truly legendary drummers are not just drumming differently, they are thinking and creating differently. The best substitute I’ve found for this nature genius, is to try and learn the widest variety of musical rhythms and patterns and phrases as I can, and when those come together it’s occasionally something unique and worth while in itself. Like learning a language is the techniques, and the discrete creation is a kind of singular poem, a sentence no human has ever said or had the thoughts leading them to such a sentence.
I could listen to Bill Bruford's drum explanations all day long. Such a natural artist.
It's the rare drummer that can articulate the "science" of creativity, playing and fitting into a construct - be it a band, a piece of music or more abstractly, a purpose. Well done Bill.
I think it's a similar argument that Mark Applebaum has made, insofar as "but is it music?" being the wrong question and rather "but is it interesting?"
Jojo Mayer is also quite the drums professor
Bill has forgotten more about drumming than the rest of us will ever learn. When I first heard the album Fragile from the Yes days.....my life changed forever.
Totally agree, one of the best examples of how not to play a normal rock beat - every note in the right place and plenty of empty space where needed.
That’s probably the truest thing I’ve ever heard on any subject.
Bravo 👏
Wonderful musician . Fell in love with his playing and music many years ago. “Feels good to me “ still resonates after all these years. Wonderful musicianship from Bruford and co.
He is one of maybe two or three musicians I truly
admire who I’d actually like to meet. Just a smart, engaging and intelligent man who has been there and done that.
Good to see you, Bill. Hopefully we see more.
Creative indeed. His treatment of a 7/8 bit in Three Of A Perfect Pair was genius. For months I was convinced it was done with overdubs until I finally worked it out. Months.
Good practice❗️☝️😁😆🤣
You've always remained grounded in a profession populated by lunatics. Your amazing style introduced me to such drummers as Blakey, Philly Joe, Max Roach and Kenny Clarke. I'm eternally grateful. Looking forward to learning from your accumulated wisdom.
Never stop drumming!
I’m so looking forward to these musical discussions, Bill! I always considered your contribution to the whole of the MUSIC in the bands you worked with was much more deep than just providing rhythm. To understand your thought process will be of great value to us ALL, no matter what instrument we play. Thanks! JB🪕🖖
You are my favourite Drummer of all time!
Long Live to Bill Bruford !!! Fantastic Musician !!!
Thank you, for putting into words, what I have felt about drumming during periods of my own playing all my life, that I have never been able to explain. I completely relate to what you said about not finding the musicality in doing a "rock beat", in many applications I've attempted over the years, and wondered why my brain wouldn't allow me to participate. I think it's common for drummers to think they must be loosing their "chops" or succumbing to the gravity of age limitations, when we feel this way. It probably has more to do with not being challenged by the music, and even worse, being limited by bandmates, who only want the bare minimum from drummers creatively. In a strange way, it is almost comforting to know, that if a drummer of your abilities can go through something like this, how can the rest of us, (average drummers), be expected to deliver the goods, under these conditions? Thanks again for your insight, and bringing this to light. You are a drumming treasure sir!
Making things matter instead of making things work! Love that! This goes for everything… making things work implies a certain adaptability, trying to fit in, Leaving the other instruments for what they are. In making things matter, you go far beyond this. It might even lead to other musicians changing their parts.
In an age where we have access to view and assimilate so much information, even face value stuff like watching gear videos, tour vlogs, how to play an inverted paradiddle fill, and over-the-shoulder GoPro shots of gigs (I'm equally guilty of watching all of it as well), we tend to forget sometimes why we're drummers and what drives us musically. Whenever I come across Bill speaking about drumming, I stop and watch every video. Glad you have a RUclips channel, Bill! Absolutely fabulous and deeply insightful.
Every so often in life you come across an undeniable master. Thanks Bill for releasing all this material. Wisdom obviously has no bounds. 🍻
So true Bill!
Love seeing the grin at the kit.
I’ve been reading some of this in Bruford’s book “Uncharted”
So much there to unpack. I know he is telling me something I need to understand, and I need to understand it!
Thank you Mr. Bruford for this and so much more.
Thank you, Dr. Bruford! 👏🎶
I love all kinds of music and that love started when I was a young boy in Korea. I love Bach, Faure, Ravel, The Beatles, Camel, Colosseum II, Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, Pat Methney, just to name a few, my favorite band being UK. Who is my FAVORITE, MOST RESPECTED Musician among them all? Yup, you guessed right. This video shows why. Amazing! Thanks loads Bill you have done so much for us.
Hi Mr. Bruford, I love your work!
Thank you. I love the idea of making it more of an adventure rather than just a job. 🥁🍾❤️
Make it matter, I think that applies in everything.
great to see this up now.
thank you ! for Music and your Book !!
Thank you for a wonderful career and new channel. Happy New Year and good luck.
Tanta salute x te ❤️
Squisiti della musica 🎸.... Gennaio 2023 Roma 👑
Fantastic thoughts...love the continuum idea!
Legend!!!! I love this man.
Great to see your new RUclips channel, subscribed !
this is awesome!!
So thoughtful, intelligent, and incisive.
The drummer is perhaps the single most important musician in a band.
Said no guitarist ever!!!
thank you Bill
Making it work v. making it matter. Excellent.
Amazing drum content!
Matching mug and drumkit! Nice touch :-)
The best is the coffee cup worry... it's hard to make me laugh 😂
I know I'm not alone in wishing you'd get back in the recording/performance game, but we have to respect your decision and wish you continued happiness and fulfillment. You were my main influence when things started falling into place for me as a drummer (Fragile was one of my first albums and I knew it backwards and forwards--I still love that snare sound)! We discussed your Simmons kit after a show on the Discipline tour and that inspired me to add electronic drums to my kit, greatly expanding my sonic quiver. Thanks for continuing to educate and inspire!
Bill has hecho todo lo que has querido. Muy inteligente de tu parte al retirarte de los escenarios, para impartir conocimiento.
Te faltó tocar con Carlos Gardel.
Saludos desde ciudad de Canelones, Uruguay.
Brilliant!!!
I found his book to be GOLD.. I could relate with so much in my ordinary non-drummer life and got a lot of laughter from it too.. Learned Tales of Topographical Oceans was Bill's joke on Yes.. "Here Jon - why don't you talk to Jamie while I get married over here.." But I should have been a drummer - I see the rhythms in everything.. tapping out new and interesting patterns all day. I imagine that relationship with others if only I could play..
Saw you with yes and king crimson, I am a drummer and still play at 67.
That was fun and informative!
This is one drummer who tells it like it is! The drummers drummer!!
Cannot get enough of Bill… Talking or drumming.
His little "woooh" at 2:16
Bill Bruford and Neil Peart were my gateway to jazz drumming. Could listen to both of them talk or play for hours.
Excellent
I've been reading the book, and have used the Functional-Creative Continuum in conversation with musicians. Glad to see you got past the block.
I think I recognize those cymbals as being the K Custom Dry Complex Ride, I have one of them!
Melhor baterista do mundo!!!!
The real “professor” if you ask me.
EPIC!
I always try to be creative..or different...i usually get compliment s
Dear Bill,
If, in examining creativity, you realised that there were openings where you wanted to say more in the performance setting, would you return to playing? I'm asking merely as a hypothetical situation, not a plea to simply get you back out on the road. It would be fascinating, given the formats in which you've worked, to see what might be the vehicle that would help you fill the hypothetical next creative step.
All the best with the archive process and thanks for opening this channel into your thoughts and your music.
Hes God! God of drumming, hes the greatest man and the most creative musician on this earth.
I cannot believe that I'm listening 50 years later to what Bill Bruford has to say. Someone who has not listened to him playing cannot understand what he's trying to say. So the name "rose" is not the actual🌹. And there he's but explaining to a single aspect of what he has done with his playing, at an age where he hadn't the time, or felt like explaining anything. I used to dislike Alan White when he took Bill Bruford's seat because I thought no one could fill the place he had left empty. But now I understand Alan White is a very fine musician ! 😄
Good night from Brazil. I love your work. Where do you live in England ? Do you still meets your friends from yes and king crimson ? I’ve watched them all in shows in Brazil BUT you. I saw YES with Alan white and King Crimson but you are the only one from my favorites musicians ever that I had never the pleasure to see in live show. When are you coming over here ? Brasil ? Please I don’t want to die without seeing you. Love and light
I was in a project recently where I broke out some tasty little beat and the other guy said "Wow, that was really different, I've never heard anything like that before." And I thought: All I did was try to do something tasty. It wasn't technically demanding or flashy, just playing with beat and timbre. This guy has some pretty low expectations of a drummer if this impresses him that much.
I'm not good at doing fast and flashy stuff and I got converted pretty early to a sense of duty to "serve the song" - because I realized it opened the door to doing things that were interesting, and they didn't have to involve showing off what kinds of fast complicated licks I could pull off. Some of my most rewarding performances have been playing really simply, but making every note count, including with the right timbre.
That mostly came from trying to follow your example.
I totally get you. I've gigged out on drums in a R&B/blues mostly-cover outfit and a mostly-classic-rock-cover outfit in the 2000s and 2010s and the attitude I took was, I get to bring my drumkit into this space where people will be and the overall flavor and impact of the band on the people in the room will depend much on how I "speak" on this drumkit. I can't say I ever did much that was especially flashy or technical (in fact, often the greatest drumming challenge of the night was a James Brown song like "Sex Machine" just in terms of locking into a feel unrelentingly - it was like self-hypnosis). Another thing that happened years ago was when I was in a music store in Atlanta and there was a later-model Simmons kit set up. A few guys went up to it and tried playing this or that - usually just messing around with the tom pads. I got up there and just started hammering out the first beat I felt like I wanted to hear on those things...and every head in the place whipped around at once. It was uncanny.
@@hubbsllc Yep.
I remember reading an interview with ?estlove years ago where he said he would test drummers: Can you play this pattern straight for 48 bars, no fills?
Isn’t it wonderful when a musical icon doesn’t destroy his or her brain with drugs
I’ve been a drummer for 55 years, since I was 4, and I rarely think too hard about drumming, or creativity in general. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be cerebral about creativity, especially when you’re trying to be compositional, or playing difficult time signatures with a band, because that’s what the band demands of you. But, I find I play my best when I’m letting go of thought and simply flowing, disconnecting my brain from my limbs. I think those are always my best creative moments. Definitely not when I’m consciously trying to be creative. I’ve always felt the best rappers are freestyle rappers who go with a stream of subconsciousness. I was once skiing and I had seen a 7 year-old flying down a hill better and faster than any of the adults on that hill at that given money. And, I stood there and thought that’s because they have confidence and no fear. They’ve never been hurt, so they don’t know the price of medical bills, nor the pain of a torn ligament. But as adults, we lose that confidence. We think too much. We compare. We evaluate. We judge ourselves too harshly. I’ll be 60 next year and I don’t want to lose that courage and confidence. I try to build that exercise into my day every day not just in music, but in life. It really helps me build self-worth, and, I rule out the harsh and often unrealistic comparisons to my former self, when I thought I was at my best. The best is always ahead of us.
The part towards the end where he talks about very little being expected of drummers rings too true... So many people who call themselves musicians don't have any idea about drumming. What I see a lot as the drummer when I'm trying to create something to drive the song to the next level without being in your face about it, it goes unnoticed by everyone. Seems like only the mistakes get noticed and immediately pointed out...
They notice, but they don't understand it. They just don't know how to put it into words. It's easy to say that sounds wrong, but hard to describe a feeling when everything is just right.
I'd say its all a matter of chosing the right pair of shoes.
But then again: “to make it work” can be a very creative force and a good palette to draw from. Depending on which musical landscape you try to paint of course. But some really insightful thoughts nevertheless. And when I track your tunes it’s quite obvious that my landscape is based in rock. Still really enjoy the creative process of reinterpreting and making rhythms “mine”. And I do think that’s an essential part (and I’d like to think you would agree), not to recreate, but to create.
And if you (or anybody else) is interested what I’m on about, here’s a couple of reinterpreted tracks from King Crimson 😅🤩
ruclips.net/p/PLgbNYrZECAo1RoCjSGHMnadNd2bG4a2EX
deep stuff
Good to see he still has a Starclassic somewhere for practice!
It was interesting to see Zildjian Ks on his home set up.
@@goesjem Yeah, especially given he was endorsing with Paiste halfway into his career until he retired.
One of the most creative pieces you've done as well as beautiful is Rain on the Spice of life Too W/ Kazumi. Still evokes emotion! Was that a hardwood cutting board you used on that or was it just the snare rim?
Hey Bill, thanks for all your contributions to the drumming world! I’m at a similar point in my musical career that you describe. Been playing since a child creating effortlessly and now in my mid 30s I’m having trouble connecting with my instrument (drums) and finding inspiration. If and how were you able to get past this and love music and creating again?
He didn't. He retired and stopped performing. This happened to him much later in life than where you are today.
Great point! The secret is to keep learning and unlearning, creating new kits and destroying them until it does not matter what you play or how you play. Just follow a simple formula of Unified Drum Theory: L = R
Check my page - you might see some answers for yourself.
Checkout his stuff with Brand X.Between him and Collins in that band, maybe it will shed some light on things that were going on before all the rock stardom....Happy Listening!
i haven't heard a full discography, but i imagine that multitrack recording, plenty of different tuned percussions, with a kit, could be interesting territory. any time i hear tuned percussions, bells, timpani, celeste and the like, with or without the conventional trap kit sounds, i get interested. multitrack percussion compositions by one performer: like. the only bruford album i do have is a cassette of masterstrokes, which i can no longer play (when will tape players come back?!). i heard an earthworks cd once. digital audio workstation tech these days is at the stage where anyone can do solo recordings, mixing instruments w/synths etc., and let the whole thing be the product of one mind, hopefully a creative one.
Bill plays more like a composer who happens to play drums.
Producers "expecting very little from drummers" is exactly why we ended up with so many songs with really dreary drum machines in the background, and providing a beat but not adding very much to make the songs interesting. IMO.
Where are the Paistes
My thoughts as well.
I thought bill said he earned a PhD and quit playing. Glad he still is
I had to pick up the guitar in order to get song ideas understood. It's extremely helpful if you can do it. Still if I record something with a polyrhythm it gets scoffed at.
"It doesn't connect" they say.
One, trust me. It will
Two, THAT'S THE POINT!
I could write an essay…but I won’t (yet). Despite some of the hyperbole I felt from listening to this, one thing remains constant: Bill Bruford was (is) one of the great drummers of all/(time).. One only needs listen to 2 songs to verify this claim. “Close to the Edge” and “Fracture”. Two (no so) very different bands, but a drummer with a small jazz kit, (Max Roach size) and some “percussives”…. The sign of a great drummer is one who “keeps the beat, moves the beat, doesn’t lose sight of the beat”…. For these two pieces, listen carefully and you witness how he propels the music; the open segment on “CTTE”, with those blistering drum rolls, hard hitting snare shots, and deliberately lacking endless “cymbal smashing”; the same can be said for “Fracture”; witness the finale, when the quartet kicks into high gear, and the drum kit is all so subtly pushing the tempo microscopically faster. I have listened for “too many” years, but these moments never seem to amaze…and bring joy to these ears…..Just as Max Roach, Barry Altschul, and Budgie have done….. More to come….(?)
Hello Mr.Bill
Mariusz ~ _''OOOoooooooooohhh''_ ~ :O
You can really see how much this man inspired Danny Carey
I'm going to see Beat in October in DC.
WHATTTTT!!!!???? Zildjian cymbals???!!!!!!
I thought the same. Why not though. They are the perfect cymbals for jazz and this is Bill's home kit.
When I get a drummer to play on my song. I don't want them to just play the backbeat. To hold time, to play the drum equivalent of the bass root notes. That isn't creative, and it isn't interesting to me. They might ask, "What are you looking for?"
And I will give them a little idea of what I feel for it. But they are the drummer, and I asked them to play on it, because I am not good enough at drums to do what I am looking for. But I am also open to them taking it to a place that I didn't first imagine.
Because they are the drummer, they can imagine more efficiently, because they know the instrument.
I have been doing some fusion lately, which to me includes what people label experimental. But I realized recently, experimental music, is often not really experimental. As in trying something they are unfamiliar with, what they are doing is improvisational.
Experimental is of a new invention or product, based on untested ideas or techniques and not yet established or finalized.
The closest I came recently to actual experimental was taking a midi file, which I had never worked with midi files or understood them, and I manipulated it with VST until it became a type of song. Completely unrecognizable from the original file.
I think soon as the drummer plays on it it becomes our song
Bill, you even haven't tried the gig with those '3 mongolian flutes' !
Bill Bruford acts like he is the head of the board for drummers inc 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We'd probably never have heard "Heart Of The Sunrise" or "Close To The Edge" if YES had a mediocre/normal drummer
As for so-called 'standard rock music' - it was declared dead so long ago - by some critics and even by some notable rock musicians. And for so long we've heard about so-called 'jazz-rock fusion' - so long in fact that Doors drummer John Densmore made a comment about it long ago - (when Jim Morrison was still alive) - saying something to the effect that "if it exists - the Doors are it" - which never made much sense to me.
I feel that drumming and drumming ideas are much harder to convey to the general public. If you think about it, non drummers only recognize musical ideas for drumming as making beats. If you deviate too much from what they recognize as music whatever idea you're trying to convey can just sound like a bunch of noise. Melodic instruments are easier for the audience to connect with and any new or creative ideas.
He is a mix of Gandalf the Grey and Mick Jagger
Bill Bruford is in a better shape than the current Mick Jagger
Out of all these comments, not one mention of some of your best stuff with Brand X.Same with Phil.Nobody talks about his stuff with Brand X as John Goodsall would say "before he joined that disco band!".lol
This guy loves to hear himself talk and talk and talk..
Im not a drummer. But I’ve played with many. I equate a drummer to being a jockey and the rest of the band is the limbs of a race horse. He has to crack the whip at the right time to make us run and win the race. Drummers matter to me for a good performance more than anything
Exactly. I controlled my band like that.
HOW ? TAKE A LESSON FROM BILL!
making something MATTER........
Odd to see him playing a 'standard' layout kit after all the years of pioneering his symmetrical kits - which, by the way, are an infinitely better and more ergonomic idea than standard kits. Why would he revert after all this time?....
Yo bill rush needs a drummer.can you help out.