To be fair - isn't this the same Stubhead who was crusading against 'The Tyranny of the Drum Set' where the downbeat is ALWAYS kick drum, and the backbeat is ALWAYS snare, and subdivision is ALWAYS the hats? Maybe we're just funkier than you know.
Nahh, we're just a bunch of honkeys.
I tend to clap in one of the following manners: 1) contrary to what other people are doing (I figured I might get your support on that one Stub), 2) on the more INTERESTING beats. Sometimes it is the downbeat. 2&) if there's a cool baDUM prebeat, sometimes I'll pick that up- but that's almost always feet, seldom hands, and never clapping.
There are a number of songs, where you can immediately identify it on the radio by just drums before any pitched instruments kick in. On first blush this is a 'Well duh!', but give it some thought and recall how many times you've heard | I vi | ii V | I vi | ii V ? Enough times that the progression is named after the song. The verse to "You Shook Me" is really carried by the kick/snare. There's not a lot harmonically or melodically going on in it. But right off the top of my head, I can't think of many other drum beats that you would instantly recognize if you heard it recorded (well) by someone else.
Anyway - you know where 2 and 4 are. They'll be there when you're done. They have been for decades. They stand on their own without my help. Where most players get REALLY lost though, is in 3, 6 or 9. I've actually had quite a bit of fun rocking 3/4 and even 6/8. It lends itself to a whole nother world of phrasing and opens a can of brand spankin new vintage cliche's nobody has every heard before, because they're not inundated with them constantly. In the car, in the elevator, on their ipod. on the radio. Think about it - Jazz & Classical musicians aside - when's the last time you even HEARD something in 3/4 time? Weeks? Months? Christmas?
