Drums are a musical instrument.
I like to play melodies and themes on mine.
I practise not rushing and just listening to smooth it all out.
I strive for relaxed and smooth feeling.
BUT I CAN"T always GET it.
So I keep at it.
Speed is great if you are Buddy Rich, who played thematically and melodiously during his solos.
Some speed stuff is just not pleasing to my ears.
But hey..........that's just me.
Billy Cobham, "One Word" Mahavishnu.
THAT was SOME good Speed.
scott
My son is really drawn to this style of music and as such, I listen to it quite a bit and he and I play together doing a lot of this kind of thing. It is not my "thing" but I have a lot of respect for the guys that can do it. Derek Roddy does just fine with playing in bands by the way.
All of the speed metal, metal core, whatever you want to call it is just the logical (or maybe not so logical) extension of what earlier progressive bands were doing. My son listens to a ton of Dream Theater stuff and I find it interesting to hear the occasional Rush chord progression, the Return to Forever melodic riff, the Kansas melody, etc. A lot of their stuff is really quite interesting and very challenging. The speed metal bands do generally play at one dynamic level which wears me out. I have often joked to my son that a metal band was sitting around watching TV one day and "Space Balls" came on. At some point, Rick Moranis as the Darth Vader-like character ordered his crew to "LUDICROUS SPEED" and all of a sudden light bulbs went off over the heads of the musicians. The band members looked at each other and said "we could totally do that!" And now we have speed metal and blast beats. It is really where sport and music collide.
As I said, it is not really my thing, but it would be really boring if there was only one kind of music out there. On top of that, interest in this kind of music just breeds chops for days. My son, who has only been playing for about 18 months does some mind blowing things with his feet. Jumping between 16th notes and 16th note triplets at ridiculous tempos, just all kinds of things that I would have never even imagined (or anyone else for that matter) when I was his age. I make him work on more groove oriented stuff and he struggles with it, but it will come with time. Appreciate this stuff for what it is and then move on. I will say that trying to play this stuff for an old man that does not play double bass is extremely challenging and may eventually lead to a heart attack. Mind Blowi But it is really cool to play together father and son.
One other thing: there is a really interesting video series on YouTube about Dream Theater's audition sessions for new drummers to replace Mike Portnoy. Regardless of whether or not you like DT or this style of music in general, it is a very interesting and inside look at what auditions at that level look like. Guys like Derek Roddy, Mike Mangini, Virgil Donati and Thomas Lang fly in from all over the world and go through a pretty detailed audition process. You might be surprised.
My son is really drawn to this style of music and as such, I listen to it quite a bit and he and I play together doing a lot of this kind of thing. It is not my "thing" but I have a lot of respect for the guys that can do it. Derek Roddy does just fine with playing in bands by the way. All of the speed metal, metal core, whatever you want to call it is just the logical (or maybe not so logical) extension of what earlier progressive bands were doing. My son listens to a ton of Dream Theater stuff and I find it interesting to hear the occasional Rush chord progression, the Return to Forever melodic riff, the Kansas melody, etc. A lot of their stuff is really quite interesting and very challenging. The speed metal bands do generally play at one dynamic level which wears me out. I have often joked to my son that a metal band was sitting around watching TV one day and "Space Balls" came on. At some point, Rick Moranis as the Darth Vader-like character ordered his crew to "LUDICROUS SPEED" and all of a sudden light bulbs went off over the heads of the musicians. The band members looked at each other and said "we could totally do that!" And now we have speed metal and blast beats. It is really where sport and music collide. As I said, it is not really my thing, but it would be really boring if there was only one kind of music out there. On top of that, interest in this kind of music just breeds chops for days. My son, who has only been playing for about 18 months does some mind blowing things with his feet. Jumping between 16th notes and 16th note triplets at ridiculous tempos, just all kinds of things that I would have never even imagined (or anyone else for that matter) when I was his age. I make him work on more groove oriented stuff and he struggles with it, but it will come with time. Appreciate this stuff for what it is and then move on. I will say that trying to play this stuff for an old man that does not play double bass is extremely challenging and may eventually lead to a heart attack. Mind Blowi But it is really cool to play together father and son.One other thing: there is a really interesting video series on YouTube about Dream Theater's audition sessions for new drummers to replace Mike Portnoy. Regardless of whether or not you like DT or this style of music in general, it is a very interesting and inside look at what auditions at that level look like. Guys like Derek Roddy, Mike Mangini, Virgil Donati and Thomas Lang fly in from all over the world and go through a pretty detailed audition process. You might be surprised.
Well said tnsquint-there is nothing like young people`s minds, talents and idea`s to keep us up to date with everything and esp. in the world of drumming.I have tried to teach my students DT stuff to the best of my ability,but Mike Portnoy-WOW! big set of shoes to fill in that audition.I find that my students push me to keep up with the times and i thank them for it because if it wasn`t for them...i`d be thinking the latest band is the Beatles,lol. You are the most lucky dad in the world to be able to share this wonderful world of drumming with your son,not many have that chance.I`ve taught several father/son combinations,but very rare so enjoy every minute of it.
Wayne
Thank you Wayne. With teenagers, it can be tough a kit of the time, but the one thing my son always pays attention to when I am talking is music. Those are some great moments indeed.
If anyone is interested in watching these auditions, the first episode can be found here:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L609JsPFmmI"]Dream Theater - The Spirit Carries On Episode 1 - YouTube[/ame]
Again, regardless of whether or not you like this kind of music, these videos are a very intriguing look into what it takes to audition at that level. It's pretty humbling. You might find yourself far more impressed with these players than you would have originally thought.
WOW,WOW and WOW!!!-thanks for posting this as these guys are the best in the world until the next batch comes up and that will be never ending thank God.Saw Mike Mangini do a clinic and talk about physical fitness.Amazing to watch what it takes at this level to get the job done.If it were a long running old fashioned sope opera, i`d call it "The Young and the Powerful" .Thanks for this great post!
Wayne
Dream Theater is in a class all by itself and the drummers in the video are all top young professionals, at the top of their game. What you saw in the videos was the creme de la creme of drummers from all around the world. They scoured the planet to assemble those seven guys. If all speed metal was up to DT standards we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
Man, I could feel the pressure on those guys to perform come through the screen from just watching them go through that grueling audition process. I would have needed to change my Pampers from just walking in the door. That tune with all the meter changes... made my head swim just listening. Great, talented drummers.
John
I would have needed to change my Pampers from just walking in the door.
John, In your case there called "Depends".LoLoLoLo
Watching that guy made my shins ache.
At that level, yeah, it's really more of an athletic achievement with limited real-world applicability. Same as Olympic ice-dancing or being really really good at hula-hooping. Probably fun as hell to be able to do it.
Reminds me of watching Thomas Lang
Well then you should watch that audition video. :-)
While DT is in a class by themselves, I was surprised at how good a lot of this speed metal, metal core, or whatever you call the, bands are. I was also surprised at how many youg kids can do this stuff. Kind of like when you buy a car you suddenly notice dozens just like it everywhere, once my son started listening to some of this stuff, I started paying attention to what a lot of really young players were actually capable of doing. Wow! Again, a lot of this is one trick pony kind of fare, but it is a pretty jaw dropping trick.
What I do with my son on a regular basis is to help him figure out how to play the stuff he likes; the "math" behind it, how to better facilitate by improving technique, that sort of thing. Then I'll turn around and have him listen to something much more mainstream with a killer drummer and explain why it is that a particular track feels so good. We talk about dynamics, replicating the sound if the back beat consistently, learning how to lay back, etc. The other thing I'll do is pull out old tracks from the 70's and show him where the inspiration for some of his current favorites may be derived. That is actually a lot of fun. That and fishing. :-)
