Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about drummers who play the piano. Why do drummers love to play the piano? I want to hear from all of you drummers out there who tune in to this video. Tell us why you love to play the piano.
I have a lot of drummers in my life, and, almost categorically, they all love to play the piano!
My son is a drummer, and he loves to play the piano. And this video was inspired by my good friend Bob Friedman, the Steinway Hunter. If you haven’t checked out his book, by the way, it is absolutely the most enjoyable book to read if you love pianos. Bob said I should talk about why drummers love to play the piano, so here it is!
Drummers already have a really highly developed sense of rhythm.
Rhythm is one of the most intrinsically difficult aspects of playing the piano. Drummers are also used to playing with two hands as well as their feet, so they have a good sense of coordination. But what they don’t have is a pitched instrument. It’s all rhythm. Unless they happen to play mallet instruments, they don’t get melody. They play with other musicians, and they hear the melodies in their heads. They want to be able to enjoy that, so they go to the piano.
It’s interesting how drummers approach the keyboard.
Sometimes they’ll take solos in such an interesting fashion, playing like a drummer and coming up with patterns that you wouldn’t think of as a pianist because we’re used to using our fingers in a way that drummers are not. So they come up with interesting patterns and melodies that might not occur to other musicians. It also helps them understand the music they’re playing drums to by playing on the piano. Getting a sense of chord progressions and melodies helps them achieve a more sensitive rhythmic backdrop for the music they play. So there are many reasons why drummers love to play the piano.
The piano is a percussion instrument.
Instead of hitting drum heads with sticks, it’s hammers hitting strings. It’s activated with your fingers. But really, the piano is the ultimate percussion instrument. So, of course, drummers are going to love to play the piano because it’s a percussion instrument and arguably the quintessential percussion instrument. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube.Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource
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7 thoughts on “Why Drummers Love to Play the Piano”
It is true what you say Robert. As a child, I could not get piano lessons, so I picked up drums on my own later on as a young man. Funny how I keep my drums tuned in a toned scale to compliment each other to be more musical. As an older adult now, I’m learning the piano playing intermediate sheet music.
Piano is such a great instrument to incorporate in your life since you can play by yourself and be complete!
If a piano student asked my opinion of what instrument to take up (after the piano of course) I would recommend the drums.
Guitar is also good since you can play by yourself or with other people.
You have single handedly given the most conclusive explanations of why drummers love to play the piano.
I’m getting out my sticks as I type to go play my favorite pieces on the piano now!
Bless your smiling musical heart!
BF
Next time I’m over you have to let me play the drums. Pianists like to play drums too!
Bring it on Bobbythoven!