Well, as it is pertinent, I must begin with a shameless plug for our new single, “Kiss You Inside Out.” It’s a great modern pop song and can be purchased on iTunes and requested at your local radio station across the U.S.

And this brings us to our topic today. How can modern drumming fit in with today’s very electronic sounds? Simple. I call it “hybrid drumming.” It’s really not the drumming per se, but the approach that can keep you in the loop.

In the field today, most, if not all, bands in our genre, in an attempt to recreate the album track in a live setting, play to a click and are accompanied by tracks to pad the soundscape and create an experience that people won’t forget and want to hear again and again. I can’t stress enough that it is not relied upon but used only to heighten the experience. Advertisement

Invariably, this approach might have you sitting quietly while a track plays, unless of course you can incorporate this hybrid approach. What I came up with to achieve this is a slave pedal leading to my DTXtreme kick, both positioned to the right of my main kick and pedal. With a simple step to the right I’m now playing a different sound source, a device with infinite possibilities. I change this sound from song to song, and am now in control and performing what are often the most difficult and gratifying sections. What a great feeling!

All that’s left now is to add an electronic snare to the left of my hi-hat, and I’m ready to recreate and elaborate, furthering my experience within an undiscovered world of sound, feel, texture, and performance.

After that it’s all candy and fun, so I recommend you start with just these two pads, set them up comfortably, and work on your foot sliding over to the slave pedal.

As you can tell, I’m a huge proponent of this approach because it’s so exciting and new. What can I say, I just love playing drums!

 

For more on Chris Crippin and Hedley, go to hedleyonline.com. Photo by Photo by Elizabeth Kaye.