Tony Williams Punk Rock Beat #1 (Broken Double in RH)

Couple of beats I cooked up using broken doubles. First in the RH with backbeats on snare, then the broken double is with the LH between HH & snare. HH on all 4 beats w/ LF in both.

I call them Tony Punk beats because they feel like they have a lot of attitude, just like Tony! :) 

Stewart Copeland – The Police Stories

Fantastic! Mr. Copeland explains the process in which a lot of those classic Police drum tracks were recorded! 

Back at it

 This past weekend I had 2 gigs booked (which turned into 3) They were all out of town. (Including a last minute replacement job in Toronto, which is still almost an hour from my place.)

Now, there are some issues with these performances that in the past  I would have complained about , including:

-the sound. First gig on Friday night was on a very boomy room, so it was challenging to not have the drums over balance everything. Ironically, the second gig was outside so the sound disappeared. :) 

-the driving. Within 2 days I probably spent at least 8 hours in the car.

-the shlep. I needed to bring my drums into 2 of the gigs and the load in on the first one was quite challenging….( The last minute replacement gig had house drums, but I had to bring my drums inside because I had no time to drop them off between gigs.) Speaking of which……….

-I got to the replacement gig w/ only about 30 minutes before we started. By my standards, that's cutting it pretty close.

-I got caught in a traffic jam at midnight on the way home because of construction.

But you know what? I have felt was GRATEFUL! Let me count the ways….

- I got to play with a bunch of great musicians (including vocalists) that are great at what they do, listen carefully, and are lovely souls to hang out with.

-The gigs paid between good, and very good. No complaints there either.

-The audiences were very warm and appreciative.

-The staff and organizers of all the gigs treated us with kindness and respect.

-my new (for me)  Premier snare drum sounds and feels killer! 

-I got to play drums with real live musicians again! 

So, what I'm trying to say is, from now on, I'm going to take nothing for granted.  Any day above ground is a good day. Any day above ground and playing drums is an excellent day! :) Let's all be grateful!

UPDATE: TODAY'S THE DAY!  COME CHECK OUT SWITCHEROO TOO ( Dave Restivo- Drums, Rob McBride-Bass, Ted Warren-Piano) on a livestream from Silence in Guelph. 8PM-EST Donations made via e-transfer or PayPal to twarren@gto.net

Switcheroo Too Livestream Thursday Aug. 19 @ 8PM via FACEBOOK.COM/JAZZINTORONTO

I'm afraid where ever one goes these days, one finds FAKE NEWS!!!! Now, it is true that  David Restivo, Rob McBride and I are playing trio in a streaming only concert from Silence in Guelph via the jazzintoronto page. What's FAKE NEWS IS THIS PIC BECAUSE DAVE is going to be PLAYING DRUMS and I'M PLAYING PIANO!!!! Come witness the fun, laughter, tears, and potential carnage this Thursday Aug. 19th at 8PM EST. Donations via paypal and e-transfer accepted via twarren@gto.net

 

4 stroke ideas

Just a few quick ideas on creative ways to use 4 strokes. So, either sticking it RLRL or LRLR, we can:

-Make the last note a dead stroke 

-Make the last note a buzz

-Make the last note a double

-Make the last note a flam

-same as the example above, but put an extra note after the flam and the it makes it a 5 beat idea

-voice these around the drums any way you wish

(Examples of all this in the video. My apologies for the low volume of the talking.)

Dexter Gordon Denmark 1967

DEXTER!!!!!

Got into him in high school and felt like I "got it" immediately. That big sound. His laconic way of walking, talking, AND playing!

Here he is with a fantastic band in Europe. Tootie Heath smokes the whole set, and it's interesting how he plays on a lot of tunes that were recorded with other drummers, and makes them his own!

Everything that's great about music, and nothing that isn't! Enjoy! 

Philly's trades on "Gnid" and transcribing verses lifting

Hey Folks, we often see a lot of transcribed drum solos, trades, and grooves online. By transcribed, I mean the performances are written down in musical notation. While transcribing can sometimes help us analyze material and help to remember it or show it to others, it's not without it's drawbacks. I have always had the most success with "lifting" drum material, meaning I learn it by ear, then put it on the drum set. There are many reasons I think this is superior. If we leave the written page out of the process, we tend to learn it in a deeper way, and it tends to stay in out memory a long time. Also, the more we develop the ability to hear something on a recording and transfer it to the drums with no intermediary steps, we start to be able to move from our ears to our hands and feet much quicker.

Here's a great example of something I recently lifted. It's Philly Joe Jones trading 2 bar phrases on the tune "Gnid" from Tadd Dameron's Mating Call. It's cool in so many ways. Philly starts the trading. It's short because they are short phrases and they only trade on the first 2 As of the tune. Best of all, none of what Philly plays is super fast or difficult, just wonderful examples of the great swinging vocabulary he had. :) 

So, it's  actually only 8 bars of material. Learn it by ear, and then put it on the drums, I guarantee you'll get a lot of good out of it.