If your are new to drumming, or just less experienced as a regular "gig" player, this may seem a little weird. Indeed, it requires a little more context, and no, this doesn't get a drummer out of learning the specific beat used in any specific song. Rather when i say learn the song, not the beat - I mean to show accurately which is more important as a drummer.
Let me explain:
If you know the beat because you learned to play the bass drum here, the snare drum there, then the high hat on the 1 and 4; But you don't know when the verse changes to the hook, or when to expect the bridge, or when the guitar solo starts... You essentially aren't playing music. You are actually just performing a pre-designated physical task, that happens to involve the drums. You will be fired, honestly.
On the other hand, if you were to learn the song to such an extent that you knew every change, every feel incidental, every orchestrated hit or accent and chord change, and you know the LYRICS to the song - Well, you don't have to play the exact beat played by the original artist, or written for you by the band leader. Just in learning the changes, groove, and lyrics, you will be able to play a "beat" that conforms to it. More importantly, you will know where you are in the song when things go south. When the guitarist messes up, you will know how to get him back on track. When you hear the lyrics that signal the chorus coming up, you wont be worried that it came in 7 bars, instead of the 8 bars you were supposed to count in your head. If you hit every hit with the band, and do a great fill that brings the bridge in because it actually follows the melody of whats coming next, You will never have to learn the "beat' in order to make the music great. At that point you are making music, not "beats". You will not get fired, even if you don't play the beat exactly.
The point is, yes, you should always have enough integrity to want to learn the actual beat that is being asked of you, but that is just the physical movement you learn that happens to involve a drum set. In order to be playing actual music, you must know and play the actual song... the whole song... not the beat.
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