one drop

I know the drum techniques column is the dusty cupboard of the forum but I'll give it a go.

We have a couple of songs on the set where the rhythm is, I think, a one drop. Can't post youtube at the moment but an example would be 54-46 by Toots and the Maytalls.

These used to be fine but we changed drummer a while ago. Our new drummer is quite experienced and learns stuff quickly.However, the one drop songs now don't work at all. Quite hard to explain but they just don't feel right anymore. That sort of shufling skank where you can't help but move to it has gone and everything just feels dead.

I'm not going to try to tell him how to suck eggs/ play a one drop but I'd be interested in any thoughts on how you get the right feel on these so that I can be part of the conversation with him ( which at the moment is largely our bass player saying 'no, no, no , that's not right').

Ta

It is one of those prerequisite drum styles that drummers need to be able to play.
If he can't do it then he needs to go away and study reggae.
It isn't hard to get started (but it is to master) but there is not much you can do to suggest it in a rehearsal situation.

To play the basic beat is pretty simple- displace the kick on 1 & 3 to beats 2 & 4.
Simply doing this though will sound pretty boring after more than a few bars.
There are a lot of variations within the genre and he needs to knuckle down and do it to be able to play authentically in that style.

I can suggest a bunch of songs to transcribe if that will help.

I'm not sure what a 1-drop is but what you're describing could be that you want him to play it with swing but he's playing it straight?

This is a one drop beat.



It doesn't have to swing, but it can.
It is more about putting the kick in the right place and keeping the hats and snare animated so it doesn't drag.

technically it seems easy enough and in terms of technique he is better than the drummer he replaced. However, these now seem to drag so a lack of swing might be the issue. I learned a couple of Bob Marley songs a while back for my own amusement and they had a swing element to the rhythm part, had forgotten that.

I'm talking about what are pretty simple songs ( 54-46 is basically a 2 chord vamp) so if they don't make you want to dance a bit then they just become deadly dull.

I'll have to have a look at the clip Octatonic posted later.

Many thanks