Brushes?

[Lucius]

Gday guys,
I was just curious how many of you use brushes in your playing? I dont need any tips i was just wonderin how many people used them and how they utilised them into their playing.

[quitou]

I've been learning and playing a ton of jazz lately so I've been using them a bunch...every so often I just kinda fool around with them as well...I play with brushes what I would normally play with sticks...I got that piece of advice from a steve gadd video...he says you may be surprised with what you hear...I've lately also been kinda fooling around with them playing a samba...I use the brushes to play a pattern on the snare drum while I keep the smaba pulse goin underneath with my feet...that's about the extent of my brush playing thus far.

[alencore]

wow brushes!
i fool around brushes playing along classic jazz stuff but i can't bang away with them on my current grunge band, duh?!
may be some unplugged stuff.

[jonberg]

I have played brushes in many different settings...in jazz and bigband situations for example, but also in commercial stuff with a brushpattern instead of sticks.
Learning how to play brushes is very important I think because you get to know how to play soft, and it´s good for your versatility too.

[jimi]

Some say it's a lost art, i'm not aware of any good books on it but i still think they're is still enough of it in the drum world, i'm guessing Virg can brush like a master, actually i'll ask him when i see him!:D (hopefully)

[Lucius]

Let us know what he says! :D although, he would probably say he was terrible, then get out the brushes and blow people away! In my opinion, not only do they help you to play soft, but attemping to use them like sticks will assist your strength and power, doing double strokes that sound like they are coming from sticks with brushes for half and hour really works you out, then once you go back to sticks it feels lighter than air, in my opinion. And im really glad to see how many people use brushes, i feel it is a lost art, but as Jimi said theres enough of it to keep it alive. Also i really like some of the stuff Dave Weckl does with brushes on his "Back to Basics" video.

[timthedrummer]

i left my brushes behind at gig- they're so expensive now!!
but i used them rarely, just for quiet songs or when sumone in the band asks for em- mainly jazz stuff

[Lucius]

I agree, they are damn expensive now! im a bit annoyed because i do the whole doubles thing for an hour, but i use brushes for the first half hour, i dropped the brushes on the floor, little did i realise i had stuck my chair on one of them for half an hour :mad: and sure enough once i had realised, one of them had been ruined with bits sticking out every where, man there goes 50 bucks ay... :( though i just made 50 playing tonight, so i can put it to good use :D

[alencore]

well, once at church before the service the guys just wanted to have a quick round about to the worship songs but we had to play a lot softer so me pulled out the brushes and it work just fine.

[timthedrummer]

so ur a church goer aye alencore?
that where i grew up playing
i play in front of up to 1000 people weekly and i get crazy solo's- last one i got a standing ovation- its good fun
yeh brushes are good for worship stuff

[Lucius]

Tim, what church do you go to?

[Brobjer]

I rarely use brushes in my playing. This is a technique that has seemed to fade away from the 40's and 50's when practically every drummer was taught to play it. From what I have been taught, this technique is much more advanced and harder than it seems. As for all jazz drummers, coordination is an important ability, and I guess it is the same with brush playing. Jazz drummers listen a lot more to dynamics and the natural "swing" than mainstream drummers do. Jazz drummers also often have a more perfected technique than other styles of drumming.
I don't consider myself as a jazz drummer, but it is really fun to experience with and it has a lot more space for improvisation than the rock style of drums. Jazz depends on trust to eachother in the band and really listening to one another.
Oops, now I totally carried away from the subject.
Well, I have to catch up on brushes myself.

I'm a bad brushplayer :)

Andreas