DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... I'm Too Lazy to Find The Drummer's Thread

...so I'll just drop this here.

First observation: for true playaz, nothing impresses more than strict adherence to the pulse. Nothing annoys us more than hearing a drum solo devolve into incoherent flailing with no association to the music that surrounded it. Listen to this dude's ability to stay 'locked in the pocket,' no matter how extravagant his embellishments become. You never lose the beat. A human metronome. With sickazz chops. I make this claim all the time: "NFL players are athletes of large muscle groups. Professional musicians are athletes of small muscle groups." Anyone who wants to debate me needs to watch this video before they try to start some mess with me. Seriously, look what he does.

Those breaks of his.... when he stops dead in his tracks? They come around at the exact same time, as the piece's form gets played through repeatedly. Each time, it sets up another chorus where he expands his soloistic chops. And the piece just grows.

Enjoy his kit setup. Take note of how tight and compact it is. There are clearly 4 different strata of surfaces, but they are all no more than 4-6" apart. Also, take note of how close-in his skins are. This is key to speed and accuracy. The shorter the distance you must move to do the job, the quicker and more precise your motions can be. The very best make it look effortless because of all the effort they placed into refining their motions. This guy never has to move more than 18" to strike every tool in his box.

Key in on his grip: traditional. Right hand over, left hand under. You'd think that matched grip (both hands over stick) would be more efficient, but you'd be wrong. Wait until the camera zooms in on his left had. Look what he does with his fingers/wrist, and how those incredible cross-rhythms just pop off the drum head.

This is world-class kitwork, folks. Accept no substitutes.
If you think you can find equal/better, dare to post it here, anew. Please keep in mind, if you post some formless flailing, I'm gonna torch your vid to ash. Pros don't play.


DrummerThread/The Rebirth begins now:

Based on Bernstein's "Cool" from West Side Story.
Great arrangement!

I was thinking about some Bernard Purdie or Billy Cobham stuff. (Krupa probably didn't fit the criteria in your post). Then I thought about Steve Gadd - no formless flailing here:

Your description and the skilled video production really made watching/listening to that an enjoyable experience!

Loved Bernard Purdie on Steely Dan's "Green Earrings". Big fan of Neil Peart's even though Rush isn't a favorite band of mine, outside of a couple songs like "Limelight" and "Subdivisions". My favorite drummer has to be Jeff Porcaro of Toto, Steely Dan, Boz Scagg, Warren Zevon, and a hundred other artists he played for in sessions.

Cool stories about Buddy Rich. It’s weird, but my guitar playing gets much better when I have a percussionist I can lock in with. That’s not uncommon, but with me it’s more obvious - to me at least.

When someone starts talking about the great drummers, I immediately think of Neil Peart and Bonzo. Bonham for his power and Peart with his work ethic and precision, and his vision really. He worked hard at his craft.

Peart’s short drum solo in the middle of Tom Sawyer is bomb-tastic. I mean, I can’t even air-drum the damn thing.

Just as I type this Ramble On comes on the radio. No one can remember if bonham used his hands on a drum stool or a suitcase for part of this song.

Any thread title that includes the phrase I'm Too Lazy to Find, is worth thumbs-up and a smile.

Out in L, T, ain't nobody feelin' no pain. ...

Very nice, but I have to admit I kept waiting for J.K. Simmons to come out and start screaming and berating the guy.

Bruh, his playing on Steely Dan's title track to Aja is stunning.

Now that was a darn good band and a darn good album.

Pretty sure I posted this before, but worth another bump for those that have never seen this...

Back in the day, I was plugged in to "the very next thing."

Always grabbing the newest from the best before any of my friends even knew what's up. I'd been waiting for Aja to drop, after reading the trades hyping it from here to eternity. Had a bombazz stereo, and was steady up in Camelot Music, Schoolkids' Records and Mind Dust Music. 8-tracks were to be scoffed at. Vinyl for the home, high end cassettes (TDK, Maxell and BASF) for the road. My car was an instant classic: a 1977 Triumph Spitfire so I didn't want to mess with the original AM/FM radio, so I mounted my Blaupunkt cassette player under the driver's seat, the Alpine power amp under the passenger's seat, and hooked them up to a pair of 6" Jensens in the front footwells, and Pioneer TSX-9 wedges in the small storage area behind the seats. Thunderous, but with clarity.

The day I left on my first 2-week vacation at the refinery, I drove to Mind Dust. Picked up Aja, Weather Report's Heavy Weather, Some Chick Corea and a bunch of Soul, r&b and funk. These cassettes were the soundtrack of that summer road trip.

If you enjoyed that album, here's a treat for you.
You get to see how it was all put together.
You can thank me later.

The Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie interviews in that documentary were really good (among others). Becker and Fagen were pretty funny.

Not sensational, but check this for how it fits perfectly w/everything else. Give it a minute.

Just how hard is it to play drums and sing something like this? I would think it damn near impossible.