Drumming diary: Joining the Delegation

Apologies for the long break on my drumming diary, but many things have been afoot. I appear to have joined a blues band, Get Down Jones and the Delegation. It's a long-running band fronted by a guy named Barney who's well-respected in the Portland blues scene.

You can listen to some tracks on the site there. I didn't play on any of them, but I'm currently learning them all in order to start playing gigs with the band ASAP.

The first gig being this weekend. Yikes. Pardon me while I return to frantically scribbling down cheat beat sheets, heh.

Fortunately their style of blues is fairly easy to play and groove-heavy. Once you get the groove down, you can settle into it and let your body swing and twist to the beat. It's like dancing, with little stutter-steps and dips on the break measures. 3 and a break. 3 and a break.

I'm working on "Built For Comfort" right now and twisting around some of the breaks to be more imaginative. One of them I've replaced with a bit of Panic! At the Disco's Northern Downpour; another, I've thrown in a quick skip of Led Zeppelin. Unabashed thievery is the musician's friend.