drumstinytranscriptions

drumstinytranscriptions

drum play reviews with transcriptions


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Very well, then Final Fantasy V - Battle With Gilgamesh in exchange!

What made me frantic though this time, let me explain a drum part in a game music! Let's introduce it with a view to playing it with a drum kit instead of computer sequencing.

When I was a child, I did not feel good or bad at all listening to music, no matter how much I was getting into a game. Meanwhile, I remember that the music in Final Fantasy V made me feel that was cool and good as a child. It might have been the timing when I grew little by little and began listening carefully to the music in games. Among the sound tracks of Final Fantasy V, "Battle With Gilgamesh" is living as a very popular and great song over time. At that time, I was already starting playing drums. I remember that I tried to play this on a drum kit, but I gave it up because it was too difficult. 

The drum part of the song is sequenced like this! 

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It starts with a machine digital phrase which somehow has a sense of elegance due to the sound like a pipe organ. In the tom beat from the 5th bar, cymbals overlap with toms and snare drums and no bass drums here. The pattern is not impossible to do this on your drum kit, but the quick movement of the left hand of tom and snare drum is needed and quite hard. As a workaround, play double bass on your feet and hit tom+cymbal and snare+cymbal with both hands then you can produce a sound like that.

The fill in 19th bar appears many times during the song. The fill has 4 snare hits on all the 4 quarter notes. Drummers might not create fills like that. Meanwhile the fill is a bit attractive with toms going from higher to lower. The cymbal in the 2nd/4th beat makes it considerably harder to play on a drum kit. A realistic solution is to replace those toms with bass drums.

Through the 21st bar the song moves from the intro to the next phase. The hi-hat's ticks express a sense of tension and the big move of the song. 

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The open hi-hat drum pattern starts from the 22nd bar. At that time when I was a kid, I thought that it was entirely impossible for humans to play this part. In order to play that at this tempo, I strongly believed that I had to hit the third closed hi-hat in the left hand. But now I see it is not correct. The left foot makes the second hi-hat note to stop the open hi-hat ring, I can save one hand's hit here. I need only the first and the third hi-hats by the right hand. Because the tempo is quite fast, a stable coordination of limbs like Tony Williams is needed. In the songs "Fred" and "Mr. Spock" of Tony Williams LIFETIME he plays a very similar pattern which proves that humans can play that. 

Lifetime: The Collection

Lifetime: The Collection

 

The part from the 22nd bar to the Dal Segno is repeated forever. The intro part till the 21st bar is only one time after you entered the Big Bridge (I'm talking about the game). If I remember correctly, it is a scene that the heroes' party goes scrolling upward and encounters some monsters, and finally faces Gilgamesh at the end of the event. Although Gilgamesh is supposed to be an enemy, he speaks a lot and you don't even need to defeat him. I think that such an event was epochal considering RPGs at that time. When I met him for the first time he seemed a big enemy so I attacked him with all my party's might without even hesitating Samurai's "Gil Toss" (Zeninage), but he only runs away after some turns. We only got slack jawed.

I have not played the Final Fantasy series newer than VIII and I don't know anything after that, but the song Battle With Gilgamesh appears a lot of times in the subsequent series arranged in many ways. Although I listened to a few on YouTube, no arranged version changed my best version. The best version would be the one when you played the game with enthusiasms. Tell me which version is your best!

Thanks,

My lads! I love Hiromi Uehara - Kung-Fu World Champion

Hiromi Uehara comes on stage! She has gotten numerous praise around the world, having world class music. I really love it. Let's introduce "Kung-Fu World Champion" from her album "Brain". The name itself "Kung-Fu World Champion" sets our expectations before listening to the song. And the song really meets the expectations.

The drummer is Martin Valihora. He was probably her former schoolfellow at that time when they were at Berklee College of Music. I recommend to check out a lot of videos of his performance uploaded to YouTube. You will get caught up in his performance combining the speed and the groove, and cannot take your eyes off for several hours. I'd like to suggest that you start watching only when you have much time! 

Brain (Hybr)

Brain (Hybr)

 

It was probably the session at an open air stage of FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL in 2005, when I heard Hiromi Uehara for the first time. I remember it was a radically hot performance. I luckily happened to be close to the stage. In addition to smooth piano jazz music, songs full of tricks generated my hot excitement. Also, I was impressed by the sound of the drum, especially of the snare drum which was remarkably light and crispy. When I listened to their CD later, I found almost the same sound was recorded, so I think that this is the sound he wants to produce by his tuninng drums properly. How can I tune a snare drum to make this sound? Only his own snare drum can do that? I would like to know how!

From 3:10 of the song, it goes Accelerando (gradually gets faster) and reaches to a fairly exciting tempo. The keyboard solo like a guitar solo from 3:44 is very exciting as well. Then a quite technical drum solo comes and after that here is the high-speed ensemble part:

(5:16-)

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The 1st and 2nd bars are the end of the drum solo. From the 3rd bar the entire band plays along with that rhythm format. I like this kind of formatted section full of tense feeling. The bass and the keyboard are harder than the drums because they should not mistake the melody as well as the rhythm! I'd like to show my respect for players who control definite pitch and melody. As for drums, swapping toms and snares do not instantly mean a mistake. My hat is off to you.

At the end of this section, in 15th/16th bar, I find a metric modulation that reads a quarter-note triplet as 3 quarter notes. And immediately after the above, it returns to the original tempo all at once!

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When the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL's live performance, I remember that the biggest cries of joy from the audience erupted in the 17th bar showing this intense "slowdown". I was just fascinated. Also, although it is a small detail, there are bongo-like taps in the 18th/19th bars. Do not miss listening to it since that boosts this relaxing groove.

The 15th/16th bars make me think "It is an extremely sophisticated musical composition that makes use of metric modulation to change the tempo". Whereas, It is also likely that they synchronize each other with only their eye contact. What is the real truth!

The album "Spiral" released after "Brain" contains the song "Return Of Kung-Fu World Champion" which is also filled with exciting gimmicks. I highly recommend it for you too. Uehara-san, please name the 3rd song of the suite as "Return of the Son of Kung-Fu World Champion" by all means.

Thanks,

Our age lost sight of Jimi Hendrix - Fire

Let me stand next to your fire! So, this time it's old as well, Jimi Hendrix's Fireeeeeeee! Let's take a look at the legendary performance that drummers must try! 

Are You Experienced?

Are You Experienced?

 

Mitch Mitchell's performance lives in the legend. You might think he does not play with much variety of phrasing somehow, but his unique and rather enigmatic performance seems to have influenced a lot of drummers. His big influence on future generations is still great now.

Well, let's go from the intro. The guitar and bass initiate the very simple phrase. The drums fill the space with the snare and toms. Since the song starts with Auftakt, you initially cannot see whether you are on or off beat.

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Next, just after the intro, the vocal comes in and the drum pattern starts. The guitar and bass repeat the simple phrase again giving a room for drums and Jimi's soulful vocal. This section is like a conversation between vocal and drums.

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What is great is the red highlighted snare notes in the score. This drum pattern with displaced accents like that is the most important play that characterizes this song. You cannot talk about Fire without this part. After the song came up, there has been hundreds of cover versions and countless numbers of non-recorded performances. Certainly that pattern or something similar may be played in all versions and performances. No doubt it is not Fire without it.

Also the play immediately after that is characteristic. It is a phrase that fills spaces with a left hand snare in 16th notes. It does not seem very important, but the phrase is also a must when you play the song.

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Just after above:

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Speaking of Mitch Mitchell, the quick triplet phrase (highlighted in red above) is occasionally inserted here and there. It is also necessary when you play identifying with him. It's also possible to play it with a sequence that includes 2 left hand strokes, in order to finish the 4th accent with the right hand and to balance your sticking (describing in right handed). No, do not balance yourself with such a weak-hearted sticking. Do not try to be stable! Play it with alternate single stroke wildly by instinct.

When I listen to Jimi's songs once again, it would be a cliche, but I cannot believe that only three musicians really performed those. The former bassist of The Animals, Chas Chandler once said, "I thought that three guitarists were playing at the same time, but in fact I was surprised to know that only one guitarist there." So Jimi's contribution to the band may be the largest. However, a cliche again, I think a 3 piece band has unlimited potential even though it is a minimum level form. At the same time, I also flash back to our unlimited potential that I felt when I was forming a 3 piece band in my young days.

Thanks,