Jonathan Brown

There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What I mean is allowing myself to be the guy who knows what he's doing back there. The guy that knows how to best play his parts. The guy who practiced with the band. The guy who knows where the song is going before it goes there. What is that? It's confidence and authority. I like to call it "being the drummer." So back to what I'm trying to say. There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." I say "permission" because only I have the power to grant that permission to myself. Well why wouldn't I grant myself that permission? Isn't that an obvious thing to do? Well, I'll tell you why that doesn't happen sometimes. If I didn't learn my parts, I don't have my own permission to play like I confidently know them. If I don't know...

Why on earth are there so many sticks to choose from? And what makes them all different? You want to know? - me too. This is a topic I have been hardcore exploring lately. Here is what I've learned. I think it's important to define different parts of the drumstick (as nerdy as that is) so that you will understand what I'm talking about when I reference it. So take a good look at this diagram of a drumstick. Yeah. That says butt. There are two main reasons why people buy certain types of sticks: 1. how it sounds 2. how it feels Let's dive into the factors that affect sound . Diameter/Thickness - Generally, the thicker the stick, the more power and projection it has. Length - Longer sticks have more torque or leverage (I'm not sure what the right science term is here) but think about it. The tip of a longer stick will travel faster with the same wrist motion of a shorter stick, thus, giving a louder sound (and a different rebound). Tip Shape - This is a big deal. I...

I have this theory that a terrible drummer will sound sorta good if he plays with confidence and intentionality . So, imagine a what those traits would do for a good drummer! I believe s ome drummers, commonly newer ones, sound better than they actually are because they play like they mean it. I also believe that what separates good drummers from great drummers is the level of confidence and intentionality with which they play. So let's talk about it! I do think there's a difference between confidence and intentionality. When you think,  "Yeah, I meant to hit my snare there," that's intentionality . When you add, "Take it or leave it," to that statement, that's confidence . It's obviously hard to distinguish them because they go hand in hand. My definition of intentionality is planning what you're going to play or having the knowledge of what you're going to do before you do it. Whereas, confidence is more of an attitude that ...

Just like first impressions, you only get one first note. As a drummer, "feel" is kind of part of your job description. Your bandmates are very likely using your feel to determine how they approach and play their own instruments. If you've practiced with your band, then they know when you're about to come in, and they're listening for it. A common problem that occurs is that it can take us drummers a few notes or a few measures to get settled into what we're actually doing. However, professionals start with the energy and feel they want from their first note. What is feel? What are you even talking about? It's complicated; that's for sure. It can be described as an emotional connection. It's what makes you bob your head.  It's made up of important and unimportant notes with an awareness of where the pulse is.  When you start playing, if you haven't locked into your tempo from the first note, your feel is going to feel funny ...

My favorite dinosaur is the stegosaurus, but regardless of whatever your favorite dinosaur is, I hope to make you at least conscious of the dynamics of any song.  If you’re going to learn a song that doesn’t have sheet music, you have to listen to it. But what exactly are you supposed to listen for? What's the most important thing to learn in the song as a drummer? I believe that it's the overall song's dynamics. To illustrate this, let’s look at a song - an imaginary song.  It goes like this:   intro - verse 1 - chorus  - intro - verse 2 - chorus - bridge - bridge - chorus Wait. There was no music in that! There were no drum parts! That’s just a bunch of words! Just hang with me. As a drummer, you need to know where you are and where you're going next in the song.  And it's your job to lead others into the next part of the song. So, you have to know the form of the song. The song’s “form” is just a fancy way of referring to the section...

Have you ever thought about your process of learning a song? If you had to learn a song by next week, do you know what you would do to "learn" it? I ask, because I'm supposed to learn a lot of songs for a youth camp that's quickly approaching, and I thought I would just share with you what I'm doing to learn them in a creative way. If you're a professional, (or trying to be) you will lose your job very quickly if you show up not knowing the songs you're playing. They won't ask you to play again. That's the professional world. So I would like to encourage you (and myself) to have some professionalism and at least learn the songs before you show up on Sunday. So here's what I do to learn a song. To learn anything, you have to spend time with it. You shouldn't expect to play a song like you've been playing it your whole life when in reality, you've only spent an hour learning the song.  Personally, I see the song le...

You've got the job. You're the drummer. Now what? What do you do? What is the role of a drummer? You might be a drummer, you might work with a drummer, or you might just know a drummer. Whatever the case is, the question remains: What is the role of a drummer? and w hy are drummers so cool? Well, I can't answer that last one, but together we can examine what I believe the role of a drummer is in church. If you see yourself as the drummer of a worship band, I have some news for you. You have a greater role that's more important than being just a drummer. Y ou're role is to lead others to worship a holy God . There is a lot of mental energy, including coordination of numerous limbs, involved in playing drums, so it can be very easy to forget why you are playing them in the first place. So how do you lead others to worship? If your role is to lead others to worship God, playing the coolest, flashiest fill you know how to play every 8 bars is probably not ...

Photo by  Reynier Carl Here’s what normally happens to me. Maybe you’ve experienced this too: You’ve got a couple days before Sunday, and your worship leader sends out the songs for the weekend. What should any good musician do? Listen to the recording. The recording is always right. We’re trying to sound like recording because the recording sounds good. If everyone just learned their instrument’s part on the recording, we’d sound awesome. You show up to rehearsal with your part learned to a “T” and what do you know? It doesn’t really sound like the recording. You think, “if only so and so learned their part we’d sound amazing (like the recording)” or maybe “if only we had another person to play this one part, then we’d sound legit (like the recording).” What if that wasn’t the solution? What if you’re the one to blame? What if “the recording” is wrong? Whoah. How can the recording be wrong? I mean, it sounds great after all! Well, here are 3 reasons why I think it’...