drumstinytranscriptions

drumstinytranscriptions

drum play reviews with transcriptions


> Latest articles in Japanese

I want to go out with a girl who likes Limp Bizkit - My Generation

Do you think we can fly... so this time Limp Bizkit doesn't need explanation.

Here comes the drum performance in the song My Generation from the album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

Chocolate Starfish & The Hot Dog Flavored Water

Chocolate Starfish & The Hot Dog Flavored Water

 

Chocolate Starfish indicates a part of female and Hot Dog Flavored Water is a thing male produces. I find it creepy around here in combination with the kind of disappointing illustration of the jacket. Don't worry, however, the recorded music is very good.

Here's the drum solo from the beginning of the song. Hi-hat is open all the time, but "o" mark supposed to be placed on the hi-hat notes are omitted from the score to make it more visible.

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He strikes cymbals with both hands at the 1st beat and similar of all bars. 2 cymbal notes are written on the score where he strikes 2 cymbals. Check out the video of this song on YouTube to see how he moves. Meanwhile, if you want to enjoy and listen to the music itself, please listen to it recorded on CD or mp3 instead of YouTube. As lyrics of not only this song but most of their songs have a lot of F words and SH words, YouTube videos are censored to cut off songs frequently at good spots killing the power of songs.

It seems like just another heavy drum pattern, but the red highlighted notes in the score above cause a bit of a problem. If you look closely, you can see that he gives 3 successive kicks. Once you try it you may find; Oh, it is even harder than it looks! You could not play like that if you consciously kick the 3 notes. You can play it smoothly if you, how should I say, pretend that the 1st kick at the end of the last bar never happened, and the next 2 kicks just happened to be there. That is a bit curious kick pattern where how you recognize determines your success or failure.

If only we could flyyyyy, Limp Bizkit style. John Otto, take 'em to the Matthew's bridge!! John Otto, who is encouraged in the opening statement is the drummer. I thought that he has to be a stiff and proper drummer with a solid skill and that he is just pretending to be a bad guy whose songs are censored terribly. Then I checked him on Wikipedia. It was as I suspected. He studied jazz drums and he is skilled in Brazilian music, Afro-Cuban, Bebop, funk, and various other genres. There seems to be a lot of death metal musicians or like who have such a substantial background because their music is so technically difficult that they may have to practice hard and to dedicate themselves to their music.

Learn in 2 hours Whiplash - Caravan walk-through guide

Let's see a film music this time. There aren't many films that focus on the drums. But 4 or 5 years ago Whiplash (Japanese release title: Session) moved squarely into the spotlight.

I watched it of course. Drummers would not be very much comfortable looking at it carefully, which will be discussed later, but I was moved a lot. Instead of a movie critique, focus on its music that definitely moves you!

WHIPLASH

WHIPLASH

 

Mercy! He starts playing without a cue

In the song Caravan from the last scene, this drum performance is awesome groovy. A big band arrangement that is exhilarating and has no muddy. This is very much a moment of high drama. While the conductor who easily gets mad at a little thing is saluting, the crazy boy starts to play without a formal cue! 

The passion behind this stylish performance! This is probably the best arrangement of various Caravan recordings. Really cool. See what is happening: 

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Basically the pattern in the 1st or 2nd bar is repeated. Sometimes toms are added and notes in the middle of triplets flavor the beat. The 1st or 2nd bar is really beautiful and the core of this drum performance.

The essence of the pattern is shown below. It is important to kick exactly on those positions and put the snare drum accent on the 2nd beat to create this wonderful beat.

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Three patterns with different high-hats

It sounds like the basic pattern is repeated equally, but there are actually three ways to step on the high-hat. First, onbeat quarter notes like in the intro. Second, offbeat notes like jazz four beat drums (Figure A). Third, 8th notes all over (Figure B). The top cymbal strongly leads the four beat feel in the 3 patterns as well, but it is interesting to find subtle differences in the grooves. The pattern of Figure B is the most powerful, isn't it?

(Figure A)

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(Figure B)

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I think I worry too much about little things!

We don't know why, but notice how the film runs in reverse around 0:51. One who has an acute observation skill pointed that out in YouTube comments. I can't tell, but someone commented that the drummer shouts a 4 letter word at the conductor at 0:46. In addition, the bass player appears he is playing at 0:21, but this obviously contradicts the scenario. How did they discover those.

Now that you mention it, I remember the film titled Sweet and Lowdown that made me nervous because what we see and what we hear did not synchronize. I couldn't get the storyline into my head because I noticed big gaps between the sound and the fingering of the guitar, and the style of Django Reinhardt may not be considered. It amazed even me that I worry too much about little things. As a drummer, I also found such gaps in Whiplash, but it didn't affect the storyline at all. I highly recommend to watch it if you haven't yet.

The only reason you should choose Boz Scaggs - Lowdown

Oiiissu! At the beginning of an educational program for young children, cast members greet like Oiiissu! But I think it's a little rude and I wonder how this greeting is allowed to repeat every time on the educational show. 

みいつけた!うたってあそんで★オイース! ([バラエティ])

みいつけた!うたってあそんで★オイース! ([バラエティ])

 

But I digress, back on topic. This time we are going to see Boz Scaggs probably is best known for We're all alone, but in order to get into the spirit of the drummer Jeff Porcaro, check out the performance in Lowdown. Lowdown was first released on the album Silk Degrees and later was also recorded on this album HITS! which some refer to as the Magician album due to his bright pink jacket appearance.

Hits (Gate) (Ltd) (Ogv) [12 inch Analog]

Hits (Gate) (Ltd) (Ogv) [12 inch Analog]

 

Now then, throughout the entire song, two separate drum tracks are recorded and are nicely separated right and left. You can see it by panning right & left, or just by hearing only one side of your earphones and switching to the other. Here's how the intro part goes:

(0:00-) 

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It is not surprising that he was awarded as "Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 greatest drummers of history". Although 2 tracks are two separate recordings, the 2 are almost completely aligned in time not only in the intro but throughout the end of the song. It's amazing that the 2 separate tracks give this superb groove and very few listeners would find the 2 separate tracks.

To be more specific, ghost notes on the snare drum right after the back beat recorded on the right side is pretty amazing. He shots a back beat on the left hand and instantly reduces the volume to tap a ghost note right after the back beat, and in addition all those notes firmly stick to 16th note beats. Proficient dynamics control indeed. All the notes, including 16th note kicks are abnormally stable in his precision machine control. As you drummers know, how hard is it to be in perfect synchronization with a separately recorded track! When you try to overdub two tracks, you would record snare back beats on one track and would avoid back beats on the other. Jeff Porcaro recorded both 2 tracks with back beats and went through with it.

Come to think of it, Japanese people easily make a mistake to write Boz Scaggs (ボズ・スキャッグス) in Japanese character because of the Japanese language character system. For example, Boz Sgaggs (ボズ・スギャッグス), Boz Scackz (ボズ・スキャックズ), Bos Zcaggs (ボス・ズキャッグス), and so forth. The following examples always happen: Sandback (Sandbag), Drackstore (Drugstore), Avogado (Avocado), Biggs (Higgs boson), David Card (Debit card), and iPot (iPod). Believe it or not.