An unusual playing surface

by Luis Ricardo Méndez

Through the years drummers have used every available sound source to
add color and interest to their grooves. Besides drums and cymbals, the early
drummers had different percussion instruments at their disposal, such as
cowbells, woodblocks, gongs, triangles and temple blocks.
Nevertheless, whether out of necessity or the product of musical
experimentation, those drummers found a useful sound when they first hit a
piece of drum hardware, namely, the rim, and turned it into another percussive
voice.
In this article, we will explore the musical possibilities that have been
developed with this particular sound by reviewing some recordings whose drum
grooves feature this "unusual" playing surface1.
Listen to the songs and practice the examples long enough until you feel
comfortable with each one. To get a consistent rim sound, simply hit the nearest
section of the rim’s circumference with the shoulder area of the drumstick.

‘Rock Around The Clock’, Bill Haley and His Comets

This shuffle groove has to be played with an alternate sticking on the rim
of the snare drum.

‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’, Lou Rawls

1
These selections can be listened to in Youtube.

1 An unusual playing surface. Luis Ricardo Méndez. Copyright 2014.

 This beat can be heard on the verse section of this R&B hit from 1976.
Notice the unison accented and unaccented strokes played on the rims of the
toms and the light hi-hat backbeat with the foot.

‘Finish What Ya Started’, Van Halen

On the introduction of this song and its reprise, we can hear Alex Van
Halen playing bare quarter notes on a drum rim, along with syncopated figures
between the snare and the bass drum. The sound of this groove suits perfectly
the bluesy vibe of the guitar part.

‘Banana Mango II’, Joe Satriani

On the verse section of this song, Simon Phillips played this cascara-type
groove on a rim, a hi-hat and a secondary snare drum. The timbale effect is
obtained by playing rimshots towards the edge of the snare drum with the
snares off.
‘Caribe’, Michel Camilo

2 An unusual playing surface. Luis Ricardo Méndez. Copyright 2014.

 The tasteful and resourceful songo-style groove of this track, out of
Michel Camilo’s 1988 self-titled album release, was performed by drummer Joel
Rosenblatt. When the piano solo begins at around 2:13, Rosenblatt brings the
dynamics down with a rim/cross-stick combination, and from there on he
gradually builds up the intensity. Also, notice the dynamic contrast applied to
the cross-stick sound.

‘Mushanga’, Toto

The late great Jeff Porcaro laid out this colorful and busy groove for the
entire length of this Toto song. He orchestrated the sticking on different voices
of the drum set - rims, hi-hat, toms and snare - supported by a four-on-the-floor
bass drum. This is the spiced up version mister Porcaro showed on his Starlicks
drum video.

‘Temperamental’, Mr. Big

Drummer Pat Torpey performed this linear and syncopated beat on the
intro and ending section of the song. He used his left hand to play both the rim
of a rack tom and a closed hi-hat, while his right hand played a cowbell. There

3 An unusual playing surface. Luis Ricardo Méndez. Copyright 2014.

is a disguised funk pattern that occurs on the hi-hat between the foot chick
sound and the left hand "backbeat", which turns this pattern into a great hi-hat
workout.
As we can see, the sound of the rims blends well with the different voices
of the drumset, which makes it possible for drummers to get interesting textures
out of the instrument. In closing, experiment with these examples, create some
patterns of your own, and apply them to real musical situations.

4 An unusual playing surface. Luis Ricardo Méndez. Copyright 2014.