I've been working on a cover - but being me, there's a twist - want to transform the pop/rock 80's feel to a early 90's chuggy/shreddy feel. My goal was to put together a jam track I can send to my ol' drummer, so when we (finally) get to jam again, all the bits are worked out and practiced, and we can just have some fun together.
It's slightly tricky as the original had a lot of synth in it and the vocal is part of the groove. But I think I've kinda managed to keep the interesting bits and even add something a little different but fun/cool.
What I've been struggling with was the little fills to glue the verse/chorus/outro bits together - it has to be super tight - it doesn't sound or feel right unless it is.
I tried drum patterns, but eventually I cranked up Reaper and set up a metronome and have spent a week using it as a guide to work on those pesky little fills. It's been a serious PITA because the metronome has zero mercy. Drum loops/machines are (at least to me) a little more forgiving.
But last nite I cranked up a practice session and just played through the irritation. When I'd had enough, I guessed 10mins. It was actually 30mins - and I'd managed at times (albeit briefly) to get tight enough not to hear the click!
Having done a fair bit of meditation practice, I got to comparing the metronome practice to meditation practice and the process and outcomes seemed eerily similar. Time dilation and frustration leading to focus being the main two.
I used to fear the metronome and always went for a drum loop. But after my last practice session, I'm looking forward to the next one with the metronome.
