Tales of Tower of Power - Oakland Stroke...

After I exhibited a paranoid obsession with paradiddle in the song Scatterbrain of Jeff Beck on the previous article, let me introduce a paradiddle guru! He is David Garibaldi from Tower of Power who is often cited as a notable player deserving special mention!

The first track "Oakland Stroke ..." from their album "Back To Oakland" made him famous not to mention. Just to make sure, do not miss out the 3 periods at the end of the title. Also, the 11th track "Oakland Stroke" of the album has the same vamp. 

Back to Oakland

This album was named "one of the most important recordings for drummers to listen to" in the vote of Modern Drummer Magazine! Although genres of music and classification of music groups are really varied, some people call them "Oakland funk". The cause of calling so instead of just "funk", is the performance of David Garibaldi, who creates such subtle differences, isn't it? If your answer is yes, you've come to the right place. The drum part of this song for you:

(00:00-) 

The light and crispy snare fill rustles at the beginning. Mark the subsequent drum pattern. This is not an improvisation nor his autopilot pattern. He carefully considered and combined paradiddles to make mechanical combinations so that snare accents correspond to the horn riff. If I remember right, he commented like that. For that reason, it is hard to trace the play without transcribing it and only by listening. We have to write it on a score and to understand how it flows.

We may think that each musicians perform randomly in the song. We firstly hear that the open hi-hat phrase lying between the 2nd and 3rd bars is corresponding to the slide guitar phrase like "swap swap". Meanwhile the organ also plays the very similar "swap swap" phrase at another timing. That is very much confusing, so it took a lot of hours to transcribe it! However, after hearing the song several times, we find it is not random but played in fixed position. Immediately after the above is:

(00:16-) 

The fixed form in four bars with a fill is repeated. In the above part, only the snare hits highlighted in red are different from the fixed form. That is a fine performance to give variety to the routine. In the meantime, the song having only 52 seconds faded out. It is amazing that the song comes up in conversation in a long time and is handed down though it is such a short song.

My band mate attended a live performance of Tower of Power a couple of months ago. He said that the solid technique of David Garibaldi showed no sign of declining and that David was awesome brilliant. Looking for Wikipedia I found David is more than 70 years old now! I think I can continue being a drummer no matter how old I get. Even though my strength declines somewhat, I could attract people who listen. I who soon grow old am relieved a little!

Thanks,

Interviewer: Tell me about your skills in Jeff Beck - Scatterbrain?

From Jeff Beck's album "Blow by Blow" released in 1975 (the Japanese release is titled as "the revival of the guitar murderer". That's weird), I'm going to analyze the song in detail you know what!

Blow By Blow

The drummer is the maestro Richard Bailey of course that I took up several times in this blog. See the articles describing the master's performance: 

In this album, you can hear his performance being rough around the edges but the most powerful. He had the dignity of the master at a young age already. Among songs in the album, we are all curious about the drums on "Scatterbrain". This is the drums part with a bit unusual time signature 9/8 that fascinates those who listen:

(0:00-) 

He starts playing in Tempo rubato. When we are thinking that it a free style solo without tempo, 9/8 comes In Tempo from the 3rd bar before we are aware. While it wobbles a bit in the second half of the 3rd bar, the basic pattern appeares from the 4th bar. From the 7th bar, a sort of sinister guitar melody like a guitar fingering practice begins and the drums repeat that pattern.

The hi-hat open accents are on 16th notes offbeat and ghost note-like triplet notes are at the end of the bars. Listening to this basic pattern, you may think at first: it is performed in combinations of paradiddle (RLRRLRLL etc.) and must be something like paradiddlediddleparaparadiddleparaparapara..... However once I transcribe it, I found that except for the last triplet RLL, surprisingly it goes in alternate (RLRLRLRL). The magic trick wrapped in mystery for many years is revealed now.

Taking out only the snare and the hi-hat, the sticking sequence is like this:

Left hand hits the open hi-hat notes. If you fix right hand on hi-hat and left hand on snare trying to do it with paradiddle, you find you cannot hit three snare notes of the 4th beat and that is an apparent contradiction. I found that hi-hat does not tick at the same time as the snare of the 2nd beat. That was a clue.

Here is the part turning into a pattern using ride cymbal instead of hi-hat:

(0:34-) 

The right hand is on ride cymbal from the 4th bar of the score where it returned to 9/8. You hold the right hand over the ride cymbal and the left hand does not reach the ride cymbal hence it can not be alternate. Unlike the basic pattern of the previous hi-hat part, here he handles with right hand on ride cymbal, left hand on snare, and paradiddles as it sounds. Taking out only the snare and the ride cymbal, the sticking sequence is like this:

In the drum play around here, we should not miss listening to the hi-hat that keeps stepping by left foot. That is the master's specialty which is also discussed in the previous article:

The left foot hi-hat starts from the 3rd bar's 12/8. The volume is small but this makes us feel that the groove is effectively kept. That is the same idea as ghost notes on snare. And the play requires stamina so we have to start with a fitness training first. He always plays the left foot hi-hat during ride cymbal part so surely it is simply his autopilot. That is one of the autopilot systems we want to acquire in order to get closer to the master.

Thanks,

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stone Cold Bush is a level that can be arrested in US

Let's take up a song of Red Hot Chili Peppers we all love!! From the album "Mother's Milk" in 1989 which is the first hit in RHCP's history, "Stone Cold Bush"!

Mother's Milk [Explicit]

The sound pressure level of the recorded sound in this album is somewhat low. We have to turn up the volume a little when we listen. However, be cautious when you listen to it for a long time in a closed room turning up the volume. Because you might trip to a trance state since quite uneasy and ominous sounds intensely come one after another, back and forth, and up and down. Turn the sound down a little and moderately ventilate your room!

Now, the beginning of the song goes like this:

(00:00-)

In seconds after the song begins, we find ourselves in the first verse already because the tempo is fast and Intro has only 4 bars. It's a quick turnning. The drum responds with "Ta, chii, chii" to the freewheeling shouts of the 2nd bar, and changes to the smooth open hi-hat pattern to the tenuto riff at the 4th and 8th bars. You play there enjoying an ensemble every member in your band together.

The 3rd and 4th beats of the 6th bar are 16 notes offbeat chop by drums and bass. That is the usual line of RHCP - no, of the bassist Flea (real name Michael Balzary). We are impressed with its groove, technique and authentic ensemble by the two. Oh yeah, it would sell a lot for sure if you have such a bass and drums! To keep grooving just right like them even in this fast tempo, a bass and drum players have to be compatible with each other.

Go on to the chorus with the lyrics "She's Stone Cold Bush!":

(00:35-)

The drummer Chad Smith kicks like below on the first beat of almost all the bars. He seems to play automatically when he plays a funky pattern.

On the other hand, only in the chorus part he intentionally changes the pattern of the kick using 8th notes. That makes the chorus bring about a kind of stable feeling. At the 1st and 2nd bars, two kicks in 8th notes. On the 3rd and 4th bar, it changes a bit and the 16 notes offbeat chop comes again. What an elaborated section.

I thought that I had heard a similar song to the chorus, and found that it was a song of nostalgia Tokyo incidents. That is, 00:35- of Stone Cold Bush is similar to 0:52-0:55 and 1:05-1:08 of the song below. I'm not sure I can convey to you what I hear. 

Let's go back to Stone Cold Bush. I put the ending as a bonus.

(02:54-)

This song has only 3 minutes, but is a very attractive one packed with good phrases and well-composed sections. I just want to play it in a band exactly the same as RHCP. Only one spot in the sun is that the tempo becomes slightly slow and as a result the driving force of the song gets weaker, around the guitar solo (1:32-) where he switches to the ride cymbal.... No, don't be distracted by small details. I have to put perfectionism aside. Do nothing but just listen at full volume to go off into a trance!

Thanks,