Goodbye guys - it's drums for me from now on

[bassybill]

Well, okay. Maybe not ALL the time.

The reason for posting this is that my Dad, who is 78, quit playing his drums a while ago, as those of you who saw my lobby thread about this may remember. He just isn't up to going out gigging anymore (I suppose 77 is a respectable age to play your last gig ). And he never really gets his drum kit out at home nowadays as he can't be hassling with setting it all up and putting it all away again. So rather than leaving these to me in his will, he's handing them down now!

The good thing about this is that I have a room where I can leave the kit set up all the time, which means that when he comes round to visit (he only lives a mile or so away and is here two or three times a week) he gets to play his drums. And so do I!

We're talking a 5 shell classic white pearl Slingerland kit here, with A. Zildjians and quality hardware collected over a looooong time (he's been playing since about 1945). Yeah, I know - no pics, no drums - I'll post some in this thread in the next few days.

I'm not much of a drummer right now, hence my love of Jamstix . But I'm really looking forward to getting better. If nothing else, it's great exercise. And I've always enjoyed listening to and watching the really class act drummers.

So, any TBers out there into drumming? If so, any recommendations for practice (exercises/websites/videos et cetera)? In particular, I'd appreciate any suggestions for drum forums along the lines of TB, where I could go and learn from folks who would be keen on helping a noob such as myself.

[steve66]

I still play the drums after 27 yrs. I am teaching my 11 yr son and a few of his friends.

The old Slingerland kits are awesome.

A few good books:

Syncopation by Ted Reed and The New Breed by Gary Chester.(this book will kill you, but if you can get into it, you will kick @$$)

Listen to Drummers like Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, John Bonham, Lenny White, David Garibaldi, Steve Smith, Simon Phillips.. (some of my influences) many more)

Learn to play Latin beats, listen to Conga patterns..

[bassybill]

You just listed some of my favourite drummers, especially Gadd, Rich, Peart (listening to him right now), Bonham and White (saw him in July with RTF, just superb). I confess that David Garibaldi is a new name to me. Just looked him up - Tower Of Power, right? I've heard some of their stuff, I need to check out more. I've found Drummerworld is a great site for finding out more about these guys and they have a forum there that maybe I should join.

I also really like Billy Cobham, Ian Paice, also the late Robbie McIntosh of the Average White Band.

Thanks very much for the suggestions, I'll check them out. The Gary Chester book sounds really interesting.

[bongomania]

I'm a drummer too. IMO practicing polyrhythms is a very valuable exercise- I try to keep one limb on a rock-steady quarter-note repetition while switching between the other limbs on other meters. The classic snare rudiments are always worth repeating. Also a famous drum koan is one time when somebody asked Buddy Rich what exercises he practices, he said "single strokes".

[steve66]

I left out Billy Cobham, Omar Harkim and Dave Weckl also.. There are so many good drummers. David Garibaldi is a monster drummer. He has a instructional book called Future Sounds that I have my son working on. I studied his style back in the 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d60DJ3URgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymi0O...eature=related

[Jeff K]

That's really cool, Bill. Since your dad lives so close, he won't have to experience the normal "withdrawals". Encourage him to use them when he gets the urge. He might feel like, "Well, I gave them to Bill, so they're not mine anymore." Let him know that he can play them anytime (which I'm sure you've probably already done anyway!).

It's nice that you have the space to leave them set up all the time. My dad (who died 12 years ago) used to enjoy playing piano, ukelele, and harmonica. And he was an awesome barbershop quartet singer. He could sing any of the four voices. I wish I would have inherited his talent! I can sing a little bit of backgrounds, but only if I'm playing a pretty simple bassline!

[bassybill]

Thanks for the comments, folks - and thanks for the kind words, Jeff. It's really good to hear that your own old fella left you with such fond memories and, of course, a musical legacy. My dad will certainly get to play his drums, don't worry about that!

Anyway, just for the heck of it, here's a big band recording from back in 1988; Dad on the drums (and getting the arranger's credit), yours truly on the bass and my sister singing. Let me know what you think!

http://www.billygreen.pwp.blueyonder...Big%20Band.mp3

Here also is a link to my original lobby thread, which shows what a great place TB really is.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...26#post3873426

[kesslari]

That is really, really cool. Have fun, you guys.

[jomahu]

listen to tony allen. IMO, one of the greatest drummers of all time.

and hal blaine.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by jomahu

listen to tony allen. IMO, one of the greatest drummers of all time.

and hal blaine.

Yup. Both are great "play for the tune" drummers in very different ways.

And I was thinking - it's a crime to have any thread about drumming that doesn't mention Tony Williams.

[stingray5dude]

Hey i also think practicing polyrhythms is an awesome excerize.

Also many great drummers have studied Jim Chapins drum book. I think the main one is called Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer. It is easily the best book i ever studied for drums, it really whips you into shape

[Deacon_Blues]

Nobody mentioned the late Jeff Porcaro yet. Once you can play "Rosanna" or "These Chains" by Toto, you've learned all you need about shuffle. Another cool Toto song played by Porcaro is "Gypsy Train", there's some really great drumming going on.

Jeff Porcaro pretty much copied his shuffle from Bernard Purdie. Check out "Babylon Sisters" by Steely Dan and you'll see some similarities there. That whole album is great from a drummer's perpective - Jeff also played on that album, and so did Steve Gadd and Rick Marotta.

Analyze Ringo Starr's playing on various Beatles songs as well. There's some great drumming going on. He's not supertight like most modern drummers, but he knows how to groove. His playing with The Beatles was always inventive, it never got boring and always fitted the music perfectly.

I've heard the Pearl forum is a great one for drummers. It would fit you nicely I think, although I don't haven't checked it out myself more than once or twice.

If you're new to drumming, some classes by a local master would be useful. He'll tell you what to practice.

[bassybill]

Porcaro - agreed, I have the albums Toto, Hydra, IV and Isolation, great drumming on many tracks. I actually like his stuff with Toto better than Simon Phillips, although Phillips is a class drummer by anyone's standards.

One band I play with does a version of Rosanna and our drummer absolutely nails that Porcaro shuffle (likewise on our version of Randy Crawford's "You Might Need Somebody", very similar beat to it). Nobody shuffles quite like Bonham, though, imho.

Funny you should mention Babylon Sisters - that was about the first Steely Dan album I got into when it was released. In fact the only albums I have of theirs are Gaucho and the Best Of album.

Thnaks for the suggestion about the Pearl forum, I'll take a look. As far as lessons go, I daresay my dad will help me out.

BTW, Steve - I looked up that Gary Chester book and ordered it, it seems to be exactly the sort of thing I need to be looking at, even though it's obviously very challenging. As you may have worked out from what I said, I'm not a TOTAL noob on the kit, although I'm not far past that stage either. I'm only doing this for myself and don't expect to be a gigging drummer, but I still like to learn how to "do things properly" when I can. I can read notation pretty well and can find my way around a kit (funnily enough, using good drum software, like Jamstix, teaches you a lot about matching what you hear drummers doing to what's actually being played) so the book seems ideal based on the reviews I read - thanks very much for pointing it out to me. And also to everyone who's taken the trouble to post. I didn't expect so much interest in a drumming thread on a bass forum!

[fenderhutz]

Sounds like you are truly a musical family after hearing that clip.

I own a Tama Made in Japan kit and a Sonor kit before that. I had a digital kit for while but I just love the acoustc kit so much better.

I could play a rock gig if I had to on drums, but I am not a jazz or progressive player by any means. I kinda play like Dave Grohl in the Nirvana days, hit hard and solid without a ton of fluff.

[steve66]

I am glad you decided to get the Chester book. It took me 4 yrs to work through it. It was a slow process, but well worth the effort.

[bassybill]

4 years! Wow. Good value for money then.

[Josh Ryan]

I like the song, must be cool to have an entire musical family, a talented one too!

[fenderhutz]

My old drummer had a pearl Slingerland snare from the Chicago era (early 60's I think), one of the best snare sounds I have EVER heard. Very much like a Yamaha Maple Custom with character.

[Jeff K]

Bill, I really enjoyed that clip! Your sister has a good voice for big band music; your dad was clearly enjoying himself on those drums, tasteful all the while; and you were SMOKIN' on that bass! I had a smile on my face while listening. Good work!

[McHaven]

Your dad can groove, man. Great clip.

I love playing my drummer's kit and try to spend as much time practicing on it as I can. I'd love to get my own kit some day.