Static Live Magazine February 2019

Play What You CAN Play
By Rob Jenkins
I had the opportunity to speak to a legendary
drummer recently, Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers fame. Of course I wanted to pick his
brain on what it’s like to be in a successful rock band.
Although in some circles my beloved rock ‘n’ roll
seems to be dead or dying, the principles he shared
with me in our brief conversation are applicable to
any group of musicians playing together no matter
the genre. One thing that really impacted me with
his statement that we should play what we can play,
not what we wish we could play. This statement is
true and seems obvious, but how many of us have
gotten bogged down in this business of trying to
play above our paygrade? Admittedly, when I was a
younger man in garage bands I almost thought of
it as a personal challenge to write parts that others
would find difficult to play. It was almost as if I
wanted to prove I was good. The only problem with
this mentality is that if it’s difficult for others to play
it’s sometimes difficult for you to play. As I thought
about this, I realized that we are not at our best
every day. Some days we don’t feel 100%, we may be
fatigued. In a touring band, we may be road weary.
This got me thinking.
During shows where I was particularly stressed or
tired, I always appreciated when a song was on the
set list where I could excel even if I wasn’t at my best.
What if we could plan this going in? If our ability as a
player was at and eight, what if we purposely wrote
our parts to be at a six?
What if we set ourselves up for success during the
writing process? Stan’s philosophy is to come up
with the right part that serves the song, but is also
achievable so that you can hit it out of the park every
time. Sure, you may not be showing off as much, but
I would argue that consistency is better than being
impressive. What can you do to simplify your part
of the song for the benefit of the band and for your
own ability? I heard a musician say one time “I’ve
never been able to play the song perfectly since I
wrote it“. While that may seem impressive and transparent
to some, perhaps we should write parts and
songs that we can always execute well. I think in the
end this is the more impressive feat. Thank you, Stan,
for being willing to give some great advice to a genuine
fan. Moving forward this will no doubt affect
the way I play. Hopefully, it will impact you as well.
Now get out there and make some great music!
Photo By Moderndrummer.com 1984
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