Avi Granite 6

Hello all, just posting a reminder that a great band I have a lot of fun with, the Avi Granite 6, is playing the Rex on Friday Nov. 9th.

                                                         And here's some video of us playing a  great graphic piece of Avi's , "Musically

 Your, Bob Barker" at Silence in Guelph.

2 brush patterns and....

....Yes, you guessed it, another rant.

Low volume cymbals? I don't get it. If you want the cymbal to be quieter, play it quieter! Develop your touch. In fact, it seems to me some of the newer Ks, and even some I have from a little before that, tend to "top out" at high volumes. In other words, they don't seem to give me all that I'm putting into them, and I'm not really into that. BTW, I'm not including flat rides in the category of low volume. Flat rides have specific sonic qualities that are very unique ( and hard to blend with other cymbals sometimes.

Okay, rant over. Two brush patterns, probably both mainly for ballads.

The first is Vibrato brush pattern, so called because each hand does a trill at the beginning of every downbeat while still making a circle.

Next is Orbits, both hands are circling the same direction, but either hand could go any direction. People who have heard me talk about brushes before have heard me mention that I think it's useful to be able to make circles with either hand clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Now play some ballads and let the dancers get romantic! 

Charlie Watts' Hi-Hat story

Short post today. Here's a roundtable discussion regarding the entomology of Charlie Watts' "hi-hatless " approach to the backbeat.




Looks like a great series. I'll have to purchase it.

Here's a blog entry I did a few years ago on the same subject. There's an article I did on it in the March 2016 issue of Percussive Notes as well.

Thanks. :)