How are people doing drum patterns?

[nradisch]

A lot of the examples people have posted, and those in the JABB jazz arranging tutorial, have great sounding drums. Does JABB provide a collection of drum patterns and loops to use as starting points? What are people out there using to get a good drum groove?

--Neil

[Haydn]

I do not use any patterns. All notes are played in to get a good variety so it doesn't sound programmed.

Jim

[nradisch]

I've tried doing it that way and it just sounds kinda lame. I'm not a drummer and I'm used to just writing slashes with brass cues. Now I can enter in a text book "swing" pattern, but it's never really convincing, and I don't understand how one could make a decent drum part for even a 3 minute song without having to spend days and days on the drum track, at which point it makes more sense to just hire a drummer for an hour or two.

--Neil

[snorlax]

I am a brass player with zero keyboard skills, not a drummer, so I can't play stuff in, AND I work in notation...but I first map out where I want kicks that support the band and fills in the empty spaces or turnarounds where I have written "fill" in the drum part.
Then--I confess--I use Band in a Box or Jammer to generate a basic track, around which I then construct the desired kicks and fills.

I also take great care to make sure I have not created a drummer with six arms and five feet, especially where the fills and kicks occur.

I bought a copy of Jamstix a long time ago, which I really ought to learn how to use.

And, BTW, I write a drum part in my Finale score exactly as I would write it for the drummer and mute the staff. I place the "constructed" drum track in a staff that I eventually hide on the score but enable for playback.

Jim W.

[G-Sun]

I'm not a drummer myself, but:
You have to play it (midi-keyboard or something)
You need to now the instrument (so, basically, go rehearse some real drums, and listen to pro drummers)

[BVstudios]

I use notation and HP, plus a LOT of trial and error. Basic beats are fairly simple (create the basic 2 or 4 bar beat, then copy/paste throughout the appropriate portions of the score), rolls a little less so, and some of the more complex fills take more than a dozen attempts...

BTW- I played drums as a teen, but nowadays, haven't touched a set for well over a decade. But that was all by ear and instinct, so I am constantly refining my "mouse drumming" technique...