Drums...anyone?

[Artyczar]

Well, I'll probably be alone in this thread, for a while at least, but I swear, I was taking a nap and woke up from a dream about playing in the studio with Beck. I've never played with Beck, but I knew him. Not well, but I did, and knew his musicians. I'd played and recorded with a couple of them. I actually knew Beck's older brother well, who is Channing Hansen, a now successful visual artist.

Anyway, the point was drums, and mjp made mention of selling one of his guitars, but not knowing why he ever did. I almost sold my drums in recent months, but I don't know why. I mean, I needed the money, that's mostly why. But I don't know if I really want to sell them. I can't play them anymore, so I don't know why I hang onto them, but I don't know how I can part with them.

They are a small custom-made Porkpie kit handmade by Bill Detemore when he first opened the company out of his garage. They're signed inside the bass drum by him, and indicated that they were made for me.

 

[musket]

DON'T SELL THEM!

 

[Artyczar]

Thanks. I will definitely try not to. Maybe I can play them at some point again.

 

[musket]

Way too cool to sell.

 

[Artyczar]

I was reluctant to do this, but I'm going to anyway.

Here are a few samples of my playing. The first few are off my band's album. My band was called The Extinct. This one was written by the lead singer.

Need

The next is a song written by the guitar player.

Do You Think of Me

This is one I wrote. The second singer is singing lead:

Timeless

This is off the Rickie Lee Jones album, Ghostyhead. I played with both loops and live playing:

Matters

Same with this one:

Firewalker

This was a hop-hop band I was in called Circle of Power. This is both with loops and live playing (I guess I should give a warning that the language is really lewd):

Unseen Offspring

This one is long and includes a bunch of LA rappers of the time in the 90s. It's live playing all the way through and freestyle rap (major profanity here too):

Live From the Treehouse

I have a bit more, but that's the gist.

 

[snoball]

You were good Arty! Better hang on to the drums, maybe you will play again.

 

[Artyczar]

Thank you Sno. I tried.

 

[musket]

Well Arty, you're right... you were a groove drummer. Some people may think that's pejorative, but they should talk to Earl Palmer's ghost. Don't sell the kit.

 

[musket]

You gotta love a girl who can really crack that snare... the singer in the first tune reminds me of Joan Be Still My Heart Jett.

 

[Artyczar]

That's a piccolo snare. And yeah, I had to be able to hit hard or no one would take me seriously.

 

[musket]

Same with guys, though. Gotta crack that snare.

The best thing on earth for a guitar player is a good drummer who knows when to push you and when to pull you back. Makes it a walk in the park. My favorite drummer around here appeared to be psychic. He knew exactly what to do to help me to get the most out of my playing. Bob was a Berklee grad who later studied for many years with Tony Williams. He's only around five foot four but solid muscle and I am telling you, he hit hard. He preferred to play funk but he was a demon on a shuffle. Kept me right in the pocket.

Walk into any of the remaining brick and mortar mom and pop music stores and usually the first thing you see is a bulletin board with a bunch of "musician wanted for band" cards stuck on it. "Drummer wanted" is always number one. After that it's "Singer Wanted." Followed by "Bass Player Wanted." And in last place, a loser by miles and miles, guess who?

 

[Artyczar]

Ha.

That's because Guitar players are the ones that start bands in the first place.

Shuffles are the hardest beats to play, especially ones that swing with an deep R&B groove. Toto had a song that everyone knew, Africa, and Jeff Pacaro played on that. He was considered the master of that beat, but he still didn't lay it back far enough in my opinion. His father taught me that beat, as he did his son, but I also learned with other musicians that weren't as, what I would say, on the dot. Those guys are studio jazz musicians, which aren't bad or anything, quite the contrary, but I grew up with the guys from earth Wind and Fire and got to jam with them when I was like 12 and 13 years old. I already had a bit of a funky vibe to my playing from the get-go I guess. I also studied with Billy Cobham, Rayford Griffin, as well as Sonny Emery (who later joined EW&F).

 

[musket]

No, that's because guitar players are dime a dozen. We're a glut on the market. How many magazines are devoted to drums? There must be more than just Modern Drummer now, but I'll bet there aren't many compared to guitar. Used the be there was just Guitar Player. Then there was Guitar World, followed by Acoustic Guitar. Now it's probably Guitar Galaxy, Guitar Universe, Classical Guitar, Flamenco Guitar, Jazz Guitar, Bluegrass Guitar and the ever popular Girls of Guitarland...

 

[Dave Woody]

Just to join in, I am a guitarist by trade but my first love was drums, did my
first gig at 13 on drums.
I have an Olympic kit (1970's?) in my music room and play for fun.
My good mate, neighbour, across the road is a retired sound engineer and he
worked with Gadd, Powell, Ward in his days .....
He once told me that Cozy was a big fan of his engineering because he always
got him a great sound. He laughingly told me that the reason he got Cozy
such a good sound was because he hit them so hard!

 

[Artyczar]

Gadd is one of my very favorite players in the world. Too bad he was such a hard user and didn't play as much as he could have.

 

[Dave Woody]

Kofi Baker is an old buddy of mine, Gingers son.
Way back early 1990's we jammed together a lot and got to
jam with Kofi and Malcolm Bruce ( Jack's son) one night, because they knew each other.

Kofi then moved to CA and became Pro.

 

[musket]

Just to join in, I am a guitarist by trade but my first love was drums, did my
first gig at 13 on drums.
I have an Olympic kit (1970's?) in my music room and play for fun.
My good mate, neighbour, across the road is a retired sound engineer and he
worked with Gadd, Powell, Ward in his days .....
He once told me that Cozy was a big fan of his engineering because he always
got him a great sound. He laughingly told me that the reason he got Cozy
such a good sound was because he hit them so hard!

What kinda gittar music?

 

[Dave Woody]

What kinda gittar music?

Me? Rock, Reggae, Pop, Funk guitarist.
Claims to fame as a guitarist are touring the UK with Julianne Reagan 1996/1997 and a 15 year residency
playing Callaghans Bar, London Piccadilly, with my band The Copycats.

Ahh just clicked...what type of guitar music did I play as a drummer?
Rock!

 

[Artyczar]

Nine years old:

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[Dave Woody]

I bought myself a Yamaha kit for Christmas. I play nearly every day, even if only
for 10 minutes or so. There is something about having a set of drums to play that
I love. What I have noted is that no matter how big the hangover, or feeling tired
or bothered by paying bills or fed up with stuff, it all disappears from my head
when I get behind the kit.