Well, yeah, that's not a shocking statement saying Moon and Bonham can't swing, because they were rock drummers. I've heard Neil Peart try to swing in a big band context and he can't do it either. One of the greatest rock drummers of all time, but he can't swing.
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Just finished reading Jack Bruce's autobiography.
- Thread starter thebeerleader
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Well, yeah, that's not a shocking statement saying Moon and Bonham can't swing, because they were rock drummers. I've heard Neil Peart try to swing in a big band context and he can't do it either. One of the greatest rock drummers of all time, but he can't swing.
Seriously, he's so underrated and often overlooked. One of my favorite drummers of all time.
...it's like his approach was to play one(1) long bar per tune.
A similar approach in a Jazz-Rock-Funk vibe-
Cornell Rochester with the Blood Ulmer/Music Revelation Ensemble.
Check out stuff from In The Name Of...
Bombastic drumming.
It was beautiful the way Mitchell could follow Hendrix everywhere he went, second by second, complementing him all the way. His chops were impressive, but his ear and flexibility impressed me even more. A very musical drummer.
Jack Bruce actually had a short-lived band in the post-Cream period with Mitchell on drums, plus Carla Bley on keyboards and Larry Coryell on guitar.
To be fair I think Martin Carthy taught Paul Simon 'Scarborough Fair' quite willingly, although Carthy does it in his own very different and individual style. Carthy seems happy enough with his modest life in the beautiful Robin Hood Bay in Yorkshire, England, and waking up there each morning has got to be worth a lot.
I think Peart has admitted as much, from what I remember reading. That swinging is something he would love to do, but that it is difficult for him, and even with classes he took on it.
I've listened to plenty of the Beatles, and Starr isn't a flash drummer, but he got the job done perfectly well and with good timing. And a great Thomas the Tank Engine narrator too.
For all the talk of Bonham being good, sometimes his timing slipped out and it seemed he was being dragged back by JPJ.
The most annoying thing was his occasionally squeaky bass pedal...
Ringo is fascinating, because he's got a great back beat and can really swing, plus he has rock solid time, and wonderful imagination and taste... but there are plenty of Beatles recordings where he trips over himself playing a roll.
It's fun to think about all of these different musical personalities.
Bruford is my favorite drummer, simply because he's so creative and unique.
Terry Bozzio said it best about Bruford. He said there's a lot of guitarists out there that you know who they are from just a few bars but drummers are usually indistinguishable. He said that Bruford is like that, you just hear a couple bars of him playing and it could only be him.
Well Ringo was a left handed drummer playing on a right handed kit. He's even said himself that he can't fill to his right very easily because he starts everything with his left hand.
It's not shocking because that was Ginger Baker talking. The facts are Moon and Bonham grew up with jazz and both cite famous jazz drummers as their primary influences. I think it is highly likely that they both could swing quite capably.
But Ginger actually played in jazz groups. Moon and Bonham didn't. They may have had jazz drummers as their influence but that doesn't mean that they could swing. We all take influence in different forms. For the record I feel like Bonham had an element of swing to his playing, especially in his solos. Did he swing like Ginger? No, but it was there in some amount.
So, a rock and roll drummer needs to also know how to play jazz to be a good drummer. Got it.
(And many of are fans of the Bohnam squeak since we first laid ears on it!
(And many of are fans of the Bohnam squeak since we first laid ears on it!
Well I suppose jazz is where the modern drum kit was born, so it might be natural. Plus jazz has plenty of rhythmic interest. But then there's lots of interesting stuff in 'world' music heritages, with all manner of meters not common in Western music, or polyrhythms. But then in Europe things were more diverse 500 years ago before things became more codified.
Everyone's interested in rhythm, though, as everyone loves to dance and most of the really rhythmic stuff in folk traditions is music to dance to (as opposed to the more free meters of the various troubadour traditions).
Everyone's interested in rhythm, though, as everyone loves to dance and most of the really rhythmic stuff in folk traditions is music to dance to (as opposed to the more free meters of the various troubadour traditions).
