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drumstinytranscriptions

drum play reviews with transcriptions


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YOU! Do the Reggae..!

 

Today we are going to check out some of the drumming concepts of Reggae..!

Legend (New Packaging)

Legend (New Packaging)

  • アーティスト:Marley, Bob
  • 発売日: 2002/05/21
  • メディア: CD
 

Reggae is a Jamaican popular music created through the influence of various forms of music and was registered as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2018. Wikipedia has a detailed description of its drum play style.

Reggae - Wikipedia

Reggae drumbeats fall into three main categories: One drop, Rockers, and Steppers.

I learned a lot from the Wikipedia article above because I didn't know very much about regage until I read that. Let's look into the 3 main categories.

One Drop

With the One drop, the emphasis is effectively on the backbeat (usually on the snare, or as a rim shot combined with bass drum). But one is empty except for a closed high only used, which is unused in popular music. There is some controversy about what other reggae should be counted so that this beat falls on two and four, or why it should be counted two as fast, so it falls on three. An example played by Barrett can be heard in the Bob Marley and the Wailers song "One Drop". Barrett often used an unused-triplet cross rhythm on the hi-h, which may be many years on records by Bob Marley and the Wailers, such as "Running Away" on the Kaya album.

If you want to play drums in Reggae style, would this be the first? This is a One drop pattern that Bob Marley and the Wailers performs in the song One Drop:

(00:00-)

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On the other hand, every reggae song has a bit of percussion, which is an important element of spatial expansion, liveliness, and rattling. So I don't think we can create a full-blown and authentic sound like Bob Marley and the Wailers without percussion. First of all, we have the small number of percussionists out there and it is not easy to introduce it, which sets a hurdle higher.

Rockers

An emphasis on the backbeat is found in all reggae drumbeats, but with the Rockers beat, the emphasis is on all four beats of the bar (usually on bass drum). This beat was pioneered by Sly and Robbie, who later helped create the "Rub-a-Dub" sound that greatly influenced dancehall. Sly has stated he was influenced to create this style by listening to American drummer Earl Young as well as other disco and R&B drummers in the early to mid-1970s, as stated in the book "Wailing Blues". The prototypical example of the style is found in Sly Dunbar's drumming on "Right Time" by the Mighty Diamonds. The Rockers beat is not always straightforward, and various syncopations are often included. An example of this is the Black Uhuru song "Sponji Reggae".

I understand by listening to I Need A Roof and Right Time of Mighty Diamonds that Rockers is like typical rock drums, with high-hats accented on quarter note. Mighty Diamonds' Right Time goes like this.

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Steppers

In Steppers, the bass drum plays every quarter beat of the bar, giving the beat an insistent drive. An example is "Exodus" by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Another common name for the Steppers beat is the "four on the floor". Burning Spear's 1975 song "Red, Gold, and Green" (with Leroy Wallace on drums) is one of the earliest examples. The Steppers beat was adopted (at a much higher tempo) by some 2 Tone ska revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

This is also a pattern that can effectively produce Reggae style. High-hat is polyrhythmically hit at a specific timing on top of four bass drum kicks in quarter note to make it go Stepers style. One drop style may also include this high-hat (for example: Running Away by Bob Marley and the Wailers), so it may not be a feature of Steppers alone. Bob Marley and the Wailers' Exodus steps like this:

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Reggae Drumming Tips

The Wikipedia article also has some tips for Reggae style drumming:

Reggae drummers often involved these three tips for other reggae performers:

(1) go for open, ringing tones when playing ska and rocksteady,

(2) use any available material to stuff the bass drum so that it tightens up the kick to a deep, punchy thud, and

(3) go without a ride cymbal, focusing on the hi-hat for timekeeping and thin crashes with fast decay for accents.

Once you know some of these classifications of styles, you will be able to play in a wider range of drumming styles. I think we can take a different approach from a plain One drop cliche when we try to make a song sound like Reggae. 

Young people's leaving Frank Zappa - Hands With A Hammer

 

Frank Zappa - Hands With A Hammer

This is Frank Zappa time again. Even though it has been proven that there is almost no demand from the trend of this blog so far, I'm going to pick a difficult life! From the album You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (ycdtosa) VOL.3, it is a Terry Bozzio's drum solo credited as one song track.

Hands With A Hammer (Live)

Hands With A Hammer (Live)

  • 発売日: 2012/08/20
  • メディア: MP3 ダウンロード
 

See my previous coverage of another song on the album here:

All right, for a limited number of the fanatics, I wish this touches a string in your heart. Hands With A Hammer!!

(0:00-)

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Wide range of dynamics

He basically plays only high-hat, snare, and kick having wide range of dynamics from almost zero volume to full volume at certain parts. He emphasizes certain kicks so obviously that I even put accent marks on the kick notes.

As it looks, he hits high-hat in the right hand and snare in the left hand, combining paradidles. Note that "let ring" means to keep opened high-hat ringing.

Motif development and fill-in with too much bonus

At 10th, 17th, and 19th bars, a phrase with hi-hat open & close such as "chi-chi-chichi-chichi-" appears. And this phrase, correction, the motif, continues at the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd bars. Then in the 24th bar finally it gets to a sublime! You can see a beautiful motif development by him who indeed has a classical music background.

The 28th and 32nd bars are old-school yet simple and powerful fill-ins. Right after that, the 35th bar is cool and flexible. The fill-in is supposed to end with a simple toms phrase, but after reaching the floor tom, he keeps adding a lot of extra floor toms. The 35th bar got an odd meter as a result. After that, as the solo lost its tempo, that is the end of my drum score.

Pledge to revive the Japanese economy

This song seems to be a live recording from a Frank Zappa band's tour to Japan. I'm not very sure but the live stage was at Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan (Welfare Pension Hall) in Japan. It's kind of unbecoming to have Zappa in a place like Welfare Pension Hall. In the era of Japan as Number One, Japan might be a must-have country for tours in the music business. There were a lot of special CD release versions for Japan that have bonus tracks for Japan. Sadly, Japan passing has continued for some decades. It is an urgent task to revive the Japanese economy and demonstrate its importance in Asia so that a lot of artists overseas will come to Japan. 

Japan as Number One

Japan as Number One

 

Queues of people form in front of Murata Yohichi Solid Brass - Some Skunk Funk

Murata Yohichi Solid Brass - Some Skunk Funk

This time, it was not the group Ponta Box with Murakami "Ponta" Shuichi, but this song Some Skunk Funk from the album Double Edge by Yohichi Murata Solid Brass.

Double Edge

Double Edge

 

Some Skunk Funk is the song from The Brecker Brothers as you may know.

HEAVY METAL BE-BOP

HEAVY METAL BE-BOP

 

Terry Bozzio's explosive performance in the original release is awesome of course, but in this cover version, we can fully enjoy colorful and sometimes sharp-edged performance of the drummer Ponta.

Entertains with a variety of phrases

This is how it begins:

(00:00-)

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You can enjoy various phrases along with passages of the song. He kicks without much regard, even if toms and snare are there in phrases. I was reminded a little bit of my stereotype that a kick must be always simultaneous with cymbal or high-hat.

Very unique phrases that no other drummers play

Then, just before the third theme of the song:

(00:59-)

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The ensemble phrase of the 1st and 2nd bars comes up several times in the song, and it is cool that the 3rd beat of the 2nd bar has that sextuplet. It's a phrase that's not in the original song but a pretty fine idea.

The third theme comes from the 3rd bar. Slipped snare's backbeats (the 4th 16th note of the 1st beat) forms a sharp-edged funk style. Note the red colored notes in the 6th bar. This is a very unique phrase that no other drummers play. Perform with a big emphasis in order to make it stand out as a fill-in.

The 8th bar also has his own famous phrase. I remember a Japanese drummers' project featuring this phrase. Lots of drummers all together orally express this phrase instead of playing on drum kits.

Then, the last part of the song.

(04:04-)

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On the 2nd bar, you can see that he is doing locally a double bass with twin pedals. This is actually unusual for him. In the 3rd bar, he also throws the above mentioned unique phrase (red notes in the score). This time the phrase ends with a flam accent.

Quite hard horn part

It is challenging to play Some Skunk Funk only with wind instruments and drums. If you listen to the original song, you don't think it is possible. However, they realized the heavy-metal-bebop feel of the original song in a new way, adding a fresh dimension, and it becomes the best cover version among many others. It is overwhelming that the band plays Michael Brecker's solo in the middle of the original song perfectly with horn ensemble. I remember that I tried to play this song with members of my jazz band and we simply gave up. The horns part is extremely difficult because the 12 tones from C to B turn up in the song and this and that. Is there anyone out there who can play it? Please let me know since I want to try it, too.