BrianStephens.com Blog

A few years ago, I heard a Madonna track called "This Used To Be My Playground" on the radio.  Within 15 seconds, I said to myself, "That's Vinnie Colaiuta playing the drums."  Now, Vinnie didn't do anything out of the ordinary for this type of ballad and, in fact, he didn't play anything that would call attention to himself at all.  But, something about what he DID play, how he played it, and the sound he got on the drums let me know, without a doubt, that Vinnie was there.

That stuck with me and I have tried to use this example as a template for many tracks on which I've played drums. So, a few weeks ago, I went into a studio here in Atlanta to play drums on this song called "Hope Hears My Cry" and upon hearing the track (which had most of the instrumentation already recorded), I got the same tug in my musical soul that I got when I heard Vinnie play on that Madonna song.

So, here's me trying to be like Vinnie: Playing nothing while saying everything.  I will admit that I did rip off one actual 'lick' from Vinnie on this track although very subtlety.  Vinnie does this thing where he steps a hi-hat note on the subdivision just prior to the backbeat.  When I move to the ride cymbal, you'll hear me doing this in different sections of the track.

I also added a little tip of the hat to my other favorite session drummer, Jeff Porcaro, with the swagger of this feel and how laid back those '2 & 4' backbeats are.  Instead of actually playing all the notes in the shuffle on the drum kit, I laid that stuff in with the shakers/tambourine.  It gives the song that locomotive forward motion without being obviously busy.

I'm right in the middle of putting together this very cool music-minus-drums play-along package and I have found it very difficult to find the time to follow one of my New Year resolutions to "Blog everyday".  This difficulty is compounded by the fact that I like to write long blog posts that really help to empty my mind of what I'm thinking about any given topic (as evidenced by this intro).  Here's a short blog for you to get me back on the blogging wagon.  

A few months ago, a friend gave me a DVD-R and simply said "Enjoy." He didn't tell me what was on the disk, didn't instruct me as to what I should do with this disk, and (I believe) he enjoyed the idea of the great suprise he had just given me.  Upon getting it home, I threw it into my computer and found the disk title to simply read "Motown".

With a little more digging, I found numerous folders containing multi-track files for several Motown classics from Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.  Talk about a surprise!  I raced down to my studio to load these files into my Nuendo DAW .  Hours later, I emerged from the studio with the biggest Cheshire Cat grin on my face.  You'd have thought that someone had handed me a winning lottery ticket because I what I found in those Motown multi-tracks was complete gold!

I am constantly on the journey of self-improvement and, like you, I make those all important New Year’s resolutions every single year.  Now, I will be honest and tell you that many of my resolutions fall by the wayside after a month or two.  As hard as I try, many of the things I outline for improvement don’t get the radical makeover I always plan for.  In many cases, the stuff that I pick out to drastically improve only gets a minor touch up.  So, this year I decided to approach things in a completely different way.

I recently took stock of the greatest lasting improvements in my life and looked for the common thread they all had that made them permanent.  Now, considering the fact that my best improvements are incredibly wide and varied, this was no easy task.  After filling a huge white board with all the possible qualifiers, I simply couldn’t find the one thing that all these improvements had in common.  Then, one day, while watching a friend’s toddler who had only recently taken his first steps, it hit me like a bolt of lightning:

Every one of my lasting improvements, both personally and professionally, came about in small increments.

As I have been working on my own drum play-along package, I've been checking out and practicing with the play-along packs of many other popular drummers like Tommy Igoe, Steve Houghton, and David Garibaldi.  Well, I have come across a free track on the Hudson Music site that they're using to promote Jeff Salem's new play-along book called "Messing Wid Da Bull".

Jeff's book pays homage to the great horn bands of the 70's like Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, and Tower Of Power.  So, swing over to the following link and pick up the free track along with the accompanying chart. I'm going downstairs to my practice room to jam along right now!

Hudson Music / Jeff Salem Free Drum Play-Along Song

Today starts the first of my New Year’s resolutions: “Blog everyday.” Now, I am not counting the micro-blogging that goes on numerous times daily from my Ping.fm hook-up.  (You usually see those updates on my Twitter, Facebook, and other social network profiles) As many of you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged or written articles on much of anything this year.  Between my Music Pro Show podcast and the BrianStephens.com blog you’re reading now, I think there are less than 3 or 4 dozen posts total for the year of 2008. On top of that, I have really disappeared from the public eye and taken a lowered profile for much of 2008.

There are lots of reasons for this absence, but going into most of them would only bore you all.  Let me just say that 2008 was a very different year for me.  In fact, this past year has been one of the most difficult years of my life, both professionally and personally.  Professionally, I saw more change and uncertainty than ever before.  That being said, I think that I have made some of the greatest strides and improvements in my career over the course of 2008. Hindsight being what it is and after looking at the position that I am in right this moment, I can honestly say I am happy with how everything has turned out.