Paul Mabury on Church Drumming

Paul Mabury is the MAN in worship drumming circles.

He's played for Tomlin, Hillsong and One Sonic Society among many others and produced countless more. 

Josh Ward is a versatile drummer of 18 years and heavily involved with the worship team at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. He is a husband to Rosie, dad to Amos and drum instructor for WorshipArtistry.com

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Words of wisdom.

This great advice applies to all of us musicians. Acoustic drums have the potential to be one of the most obnoxious instruments in a small church setting, since the sound man has little control of our dynamics. (Enter the Midi Drums, bleh.)

I love that Paul only has a single rack tom and floor tom paired with only his hat, crash and ride. I always keep that advice of minimal kits, which I received here on Worship Artistry in mind. Too easy to get carried away with G.A.S.

Awesome!!

You're spot on man! So glad you enjoyed the video. Paul is such an inspiring drummer and you're so right about acoustic drums having the potential of being obnoxious haha.. Paul's advice should help solve this problem.
Rock on man!!

volume

Are drum heads useful for controlling volume?

eg Evans EMAD2; EC2; genera dry?

Absolutely!!

Any coated head is going to give you a much more "warm" tone and will help with dampening itself just due to it being a thicker head. You'll be able to control these heads more. I actually play the genera dry, G2 coated and the EMAD. You're always going to have to play to smaller rooms, but yes, the coated heads will help tremendously!

Listening!!!!

I use a rule I learned in high school band to live by. If I can't hear the musician next to me then I am TOO LOUD!!!! LOL

Cymbals

Paul talks about warm, dark cymbals...any suggestions on what to look for when purchasing cymbals for playing in small church with no mics? Just curious. Thank you!

I love my K's

Hey man! I love my K light ride's. They're darker so they don't cut through the mix and blend more and the wash doesn't sustain too much either. The thinner and brighter cymbals are going to cut through and be a bit louder usually. If you haven't checked out HeartBeat cymbals you definitely should. They have some great sounding cymbals. Just think a bit heavier, darker and bigger sizes. The bigger sizes will help as well. Hope this helped.