When I was a young adult and living in the big city, I was fortunate to be able to see some great drummers on a regular basis. One night, while sitting at a club not far from where I lived, one of my favourite local players came off the stage and made his way to my table. He was not his usual smiling self, and as he sat down he said, “Some people just got nothin’ to say.” It was a life-altering moment. Up until then, drumming for me consisted of learning things off of records and practicing technique out of a book. You mean you can actually ‘say stuff’ with your instrument?
This principle came to mind recently when I heard three prominent ‘shredders’ on the radio. All three guitarists were known for their inhuman speed. Two of them seemed to be able to integrate speed nicely into the music… but the third? Well, I thought he sounded like he had some sort of quota to fill.
Much of player three’s soloing was merely fast. The speedy bits tended to dominate and often came across as not much more than filler. In general, the solo lacked contrast, dynamics, musical expression , and forward motion … i.e. nothin’ to say (at least, on that recording).
Player number two used speed as a contrast to a more melodic style of playing. Most of the solo was energetic and musical. And when there was an occasional blistering riff, it could be a bit of a jolt. But it always seemed appropriate. This type of contrast introduces instability -- an important quality in music -- which is then be resolved into something moderate.
Player number one (Alan Holdsworth, actually) used speed liberally. And when he did toss off a flurry, it always seemed to have a purpose, it always seemed to be going somewhere.
I find in my own playing that, when I try to be clever and show off a bit of speed, I’m more concerned about my playing than the music. And it shows. But when I try to put, for lack of a better word, expression into my playing, it usually goes more slowly and a lot better. And it feels a lot better too.
Speed is useful, speed is important, and used in moderation it can add a lot of colour and energy to our music. Speed itself is exciting and can be used to great effect, but when it’s continuous it becomes less interesting and can even be tiring for the listeners and others.
Photo credit: 912982 Erikreis, Dreamstime.com