When you get a whole lot of drummers in a room, you’re asking for trouble! Lots and lots of rhythms all over the place! Most of the time it can sound pretty good if you have enough ‘experienced’ drummers. What about drummers and percussionists? “Is there a difference?” I hear you say. Well, I believe there is. I have seen percussionists play their instruments and I have seen drummers on their kits. It’s very different. I have seen drummers playing percussion too and they play like…well…drummers! [I will elaborate that point of view later in this article] Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying percussionists and drummers cannot play each other’s instruments, because they can. It’s HOW they play those instruments that differentiate them from each other.This article is about playing percussion alongside a drummer in a worship team. What can you do? How do you do it? What things should you consider and some practical tips will be provided.

Let’s start at the very beginning…
First things first, let’s look at the instruments you have. For the sake of this article, I can only really reference what I play with as I don’t know what you have! Your mission is NOT to compete with the drummer. You are to compliment, not conflict. Separate your instruments according to their timbre.

For example:

{ Tambourine; Cabasa; Shakers; Triangle. }

{ Guiro wood block; Wood tick-tock thingy; Claves }

{ Rain stick; shakers - light ones }

{ Cowbell }

{ Congas; Bodhran, Frame drums; Djembe }

Now, let’s look at the basic drum kit and it’s different areas:

{ tom-toms; bass drum }

{ hi-hats }

{ cymbals; hi-hats }

The trick is to sometimes match but more to contrast with each other, the different timbres, so as to avoid “tacky timbre” (my newest-coined phrase!). It is good to know which instrument combinations compliment each other and which others have the potential to clash. And I’m not just talking timbres here, I also mean rhythms. Certain rhythms can fight each other too if they’re not played in harmony with each other. That’s a task for drummer and percussionist to take on.

You are there to compliment and play alongside the drummer as part of the the rhythm section of the worship team.

Playing alongside a drummer presents some challenges. The drummer will have a certain style of playing and you will need to be able to pick up on that. You are there to compliment and play alongside the drummer as part of the the rhythm section of the worship team. What you play and when you choose to play it will have a great impact on the song you’re playing and on what the drummer is playing. Some instrument combinations work well together (in my ever so humble opinion!) and others are just a recipe for disaster (in the wrong hands!). Let’s take a look.

Good combinations

• Shakers and Ride cymbal
  Shakers doing 4/4 or 16/4 while drummer plays ride cymbal instead of hi-hats. If drummer is playing 4/4 then you can play 16/4 or vice versa and, of course, depending on the song.
• Tambourine on snare
  If drummer is playing mellow song (even a fast one), the tambourine sounds great with the snare. Play it only the snare i.e. if snare is on 2 and 4, then tambourine is single shots on 2 and 4.
• 16-beat tambourine
  Great in a lot of upbeat songs, really adds a lot to the beat and sound of the kit. Also sounds cool when the drummer is doing a lot of tom-tom work. The tambourine gives the rest of the team a timing/temp signature to follow. Nice when you can accent the 2nd or 4th beats of the song or even play offbeats like 1-e-AND-a-2e-AND-a-3-e-AND-a-4-e-AND-a.
  This also sounds good with egg shakers!

(Potential) Bad combinations

• Congas and Toms (Or : My boom-boom is louder than yours!)
  If the drummer is doing a lot of tom-tom work, it may not help if you’re bashing away at your congas because you have drums competing with drums. It’s too much. It’s good if what you’re playing is syncopated and alternating with the rhythm/beat the drummer is playing. But this requires that you listen carefully to the drummer and what is being played.
• Cabasa/Shakers and Hi-hats (Or : Shake it baby like there’s no tomorrow!)
  The drummer is doing a mean 16-beat pattern on the hi-hats. Don’t you go do the same! You’re competing (instrumentally speaking, that is). Maybe shake on the onbeat or do a cabasa twist on 2 and 4 or something, or even the offbeat. Try not to play what the drummer is already playing.
• Tambourine and cymbals/hi-hats (Or : Can you say clang-clang?)
  The tambourine has the potential to clash with other metallic-like sounding objects that ping a lot, like cymbals and hi-hats. Being a very sharp and cutting sound, the tambourine can conflict with the drummer when the drummer is playing hi-hats or doing a lot of cymbal work. Again, it depends on the type of rhythms/beats being played.

Some tips then!

• LISTEN! This is the most important skill any rhythm master can develop! Listen to what is going on around you, especially what the drummer is doing!
• Keep eye contact with the drummer. It may help if the drummer wants you to do something.
• Keep eye contact with the worship leader.
• Don’t play all the time. You don’t have to.
• If you get to practice beforehand with the drummer, discuss parts of the song where you can play set pieces or arrangements and practice those with the drummer.
• Don’t play when the drummer is not playing, unless the piece requires you to play or it’s the ‘right moment’.
• Don’t try show off.
• Think about what other people may be hearing. Is it distracting the congregants or enhancing the music and ‘vibe’?
• Stop playing if told to stop by the worship leader or the drummer. The drummer may be distracted by your playing and this can affect the rest of the team too. Obedience is important.
• Worship! No matter what you’re playing. Worship God!

the temptation (and natural tendency) is to play strong on the onbeat which the drummer is already doing

About the congas
Because the congas are drums in their own right and can really make a song sound good, and because I like them, here are some tips for playing congas alongside a drummer:

Congas and tom-toms can clash if both are playing together and playing the same sort of rhythm/beat. I would suggest learning some basic conga patterns that can be applied to most songs. Have a rhythm or two that can be used with more uptempo songs and then another rhythm or two that can be used with more slower songs.

I often listen to the snare drum and it’s placement of notes and then work around that with my congas. I aim to get my quinto conga (the higher-pitched conga) to play a note before or after the snare makes its hit. That way you’re playing around the beat of the drummer and being drowned out or competing with the sounds.

Learn a bit about syncopation, that will help a lot with playing rhythms with the drummer that will enhance the beat.

It’s always tricky with congas because the temptation (and natural tendency) is to play strong on the onbeat which the drummer is already doing. So, try not think like a drummer when you’re playing congas! As the good ol’ Apple slogan says : Think Different!

Think different!
Along the lines of the previously-mentioned ‘Think Different’ Apple campaign: I show a couple of ideas that I use when playing congas and other percussive stuff in The Christian Drummer video (available soon on this site). The key is to remain creative and flexible and constantly challenge yourself to try new things and don’t be put off if they don’t quite work. For example, I used two toy castanets for a piece in a song that had a bit of Spanish flavour in it. To be honest, it sounded good when we practiced…but it didn’t quite quite work on the day! (Sorry Joe and Schmoe!)

So, if you’re playing percussion alongside a drummer, remember that you’re not the drummer and you’re there to make it all sound ‘nice’! Enjoy it and have fun!

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