“Steve Gadd is renowned as one of the best drummers in the world. An inspiration to many drummers, professional and aspiring alike, Gadd’s style has been about keeping it simple. He focuses on the music rather than just his instrument. Caleb writes about how Gadd’s principle has taught him about enjoying his craft and understanding how to use his skill to create good music for an audience"
by Caleb Devanesar
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. What does that statement mean anyway?
As I grew up as a drummer, I used to think technique was everything and that we rated a drummer by how technical they are, how fast they can play and how fast they can perform solos.
I used to think if a drummer was technical, then that was it! That was the goal, to play as fast and technical as possible!
Well, this mentality changed when I came across my favourite drummer Steve Gadd after I was introduced through another drummer friend.
"Steve Gadd is known for “setting new standards in the music industry and is one of the most sought-after drummers out there. His incredible drumming skills and style of play has landed him many gigs and features in over 600 albums with famous artists like Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Chick Corea, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, George Benson, Steely Dan, BB King among many more. Many tracks that we listen to today, Steve Gadd has probably played on it."
What intrigued me so much as a drummer is the secret to his success, like all of the best art, is a seemingly simple approach which resulted in something so profound.
One of the main reasons that Steve Gadd inspires me is that he is a musician first before he is a drummer.
To quote him, “Fills bring the thrills but groove pays the bills”. In other words, keeping it simple, playing in time and grooving to the music gets you more gigs as a drummer, than emphasising on playing technically.
As a musician you need to find the balance between keeping the groove tight and playing with some technic. Technic is like flavour you add to your playing, it should not overshadow your groove!
In one of the recent interviews with Steve Gadd, Vic Firth, the leading company for drumsticks and drum hardware, said there was one instance when Gadd was playing for a concert. When he came in for rehearsal, he kept the beat simple and continued doing that for other rehearsals as well.
The concert coordinator was quite disappointed and wondered if they had made a mistake hiring him. However, during the concert, Steve played brilliantly and every musical note fit perfectly.
Gadd didn’t focus on impressing anyone with his drumming chops during rehearsal, but was more intent on listening to the music and finding out where there was space for him to play and where there wasn’t.
The thing to note is that in order to do this, the drummer has to have a wide musical vocabulary from which he can draw it from.
"Steve Gadd’s approach of simplicity shows that he is a team player. He was getting hired because of that and because he was easy to work with. His main approach was always to listen to the music and play something that fits while complementing the other musicians."
If a drummer were to hog the spotlight by showing off his drumming chops or being too technical, the drummer would be drowning out the other instruments and the vocals.
The beauty about playing with a band is delivering a message through music. When one musician steals the show, the message gets diverted and lost..
A great example of a great back beat is Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean.
Some important traits a drummer needs to have is to play in time, keep a strong backbeat and to keep the groove. When you do this, it allows you to bring another dimension to the music you play in while keeping a strong foundation to the band.
This approach helped me as I started as a drummer in church.
One of the reasons I can play for corporate shows is because of the foundation laid when I played in church. Steve Gadd’s approach of never to overplay helped me grow as a drummer in church.
When you play for worship in a church service, you must never overplay.
When you overplay, it becomes about you and attention is drawn to you but that is not the goal, the goal is for the attention to be drawn to God.
From a drummer’s perspective, if you start smaller in a song then you have somewhere to build on, you create air and space, you free the music to reach people.
"When it feels good, sounds good and when it is not all about the drums, the focus is on the message and musicality that the song was meant to deliver to the people listening. This is where you know you have played your instrument effectively."
To sum up, Steve Gadd also inspired me to have a positive attitude and an open mind. It was what Gadd said in an interview in 1983 about always having a positive attitude and being open to ideas even if someone would suggest something stupid.
If someone would ask him to try something, he would try it.
This positive attitude and open mindedness brought him so much success because it makes him an easy person to work with. This trait really blew my mind and has helped me improve myself to become a better musician.
To all the readers of this article, rest assured that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
I believe that simplicity is one of the greatest things in this world and though underrated, it has brought about lots of success to all kinds of art in the world.
I feel that simplicity is the process of breaking down complex ideas to its simplest form.
"If you can explain or play a complex groove in its simplest of forms, to me, that’s a mark of a master at his or her craft!"
It shows me that a person has practiced, truly understood and felt the groove in his or her soul.
The great Bruce Lee would say “Simplicity is the Key to Brilliance”.
by Caleb Devanesar
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