Give Your Left Foot a Chance!

It's been a couple months now since I decided I wanted to change the tension on my hi-hat pedal. It's been the exact same amout of time since I realized my hi-hat stand was probably the worst piece of gear I owned. My tension adjustment seemed to have 3 settings: Sluggish, too weak to do much of anything, and completely locked up. I wandered into Fork's a couple days later and put my foot on a few of the pedals. I was astonished at how far these things had come since the last time I shopped for one. I had been left behind and I suspect I'm not alone. After all, hardware is easily the least exciting part of a drumset. I had the hi-hat stand lumped into the 'hardware' category in my head and neglected the device that controls everything that one of my 4 limbs does on the kit.

A little bit of attention to what the market has to offer now was enough to convince me to upgrade. I liked what Yamaha had out, but DW and Pearl stood out to me, much like they do in the realm of kick pedals. They're both really responsive and the DW had a slightly lighter feel. Pearl had a few more customization options and felt a little heavier, which I like so I ended up with the H2000. This thing has really improved my playing and my options with my left foot. I'm not suggesting that everyone run out and buy a new pedal, I'm saying that the Hi-Hat stand is easy to neglect and forget. Take a stroll through your local shop and put your feet on a few of them and see if you notice any major differences from what your foot is used to.

For me, it wasn't just the hardware either, it was great inspiration to put some real work into the precision and independence of my left foot (which also tends to get neglected). Coincidently, I saw John 'JR' Robinson do a clinic in Nashville last week which was a fantastic display of the kind of precision I'm talking about. Take a listen to JR on the chorus of 'Ain't Nobody' by Rufus and Chaka Kahn and you'll hear what I'm talking about in the Hi-Hat department (You can look it up and hear the whole song free on Grooveshark). Now that's some clean left foot-work!

Know your Late Show Drummers: Anton Fig

Anton is the guy that I hear the most late at night, because Letterman is my go-to late show. That said, I didn't know as much about him as I should have and I've found out some pretty cool things in researching him. What I do know is that he's an ultra-precise rock drummer and has the touch of a jazz drummer when he needs to, and that's what I've always enjoyed about him. I learned that he has a signature snare drum which I haven't heard, but the specs sure look good. He was born in South Africa and has been playing with Paul Schaffer for David Letterman since 1986, which makes me think that late night drumming really is as cool a gig as I suspected. Not only that, Anton put out a "Late Night Drumming" video in 1996 for any of you who aspire to be a late show drummer and still have a VHS player. More recently, he put out a record that he put more than 3 years of work into, cleverly titled 'Figments' which, upon previewing it in itunes, sounds pretty good! I bring up these things, not just to make Anton's work accessible, but also to say that he is prolific; A drummers drummer who's serious about his craft, education, and playing every chance he gets.

And then there's the video on Fig's Vic Firth Artist Page. Kurt and I are working to give you some insight into the drummers of late night, but nothing we can say will come close to the information in this video. Anton talks about moving to New York, subbing for Steve Jordan (more on him later) on Letterman, getting the gig, and working for Paul Shaffer. He says the band has a backlog of 100s of songs and that they practice for 15 or 20 minutes a day to learn theme music for the show's guests for that night. Other than that they rarely have an outside practice but occasionally get together to learn a group of new songs. One of the cooler parts of the gig and the interview is that they often back up the show's guests, such as Bon Jovi, James Taylor, and Miles Davis just to name a few. Anton talks about backing these great artists and the musicianship involved in making it sound like they're the band that's been on the road backing the artists for months. Quite a challenge if you ask me. Most of these things are found in chapter 3 of the video (all 4 are about 20 or 30 minutes total). The whole thing is a really insightful look at the life of a drummer with one of the most coveted gigs in the industry. I highly recommend checking it out!

At the very end of the video Anton gives some simple yet insightful advice on practicing. He mentions that a large part of practice is finding confidence. If you know you can practice and sound good and you get your own energy feeling good behind the drums, you can transfer that to the stage. He also mentions that improvements in your playing happen in very small increments during practice. This can be frustrating for me at times and it's good to hear those words from somebody like Anton. One small coincidental side note on the guy: I noticed him playing red drums the other night, and they've been green for years. Looks like he got a new kit. If new gear is as inspiring to him as it is to me, it seems like a great time to tune in and check out his playing.

Choosing a Bass Drum Head: EMAD vs Powerstroke 3

Choosing drum heads has always been a trying issue for me. You can walk into a drum shop and play a bunch of different drums and cymbals, pick up different sticks, and put your feet on different pedals. Choosing heads is different because you can't hear how they'll sound on your drums until you pay for them and get home. Bass drum heads are no exception and you'll spend almost $50 just to try out a new one. I recently switched heads and took time to listen to the differences between 2 of today's most popular models: The Remo Powerstroke 3 and the Evans Emad. Here's what I found.
Keep in mind that these 2 heads were made to do different things and this is more than just a brand comparison. The Evans Emad has an external dampening system and the Remo PS3 has a thin second ply around the outside of the head. Evans makes a comparable head to the PS3 (the EQ4) and Remo makes a head with external dampening (the Powersonic) but these two are the real deal in my book.

I've been using the Remo PS3 for years now. As you can see in the picture, I use the big Remo Falam patch to dampen it a little. This has always been a great head but I've often wanted a little more punch and a little less slap. Recently I heard that punch come out of a few very different drums and the common variable was the Emad, so I decided to give it a try. I put it on and noticed a few things. First and foremost, I heard the punch I was looking for. It almost sounded lower than it did with the PS3 and there was that little added 'kick you in the chest' thump to it. So far so good. I played around for a little bit and it sounded great but strangely quiet. Once I put my in ears in and ran my ipod it was noticeably quieter than the PS3. It does make sense that to have a dampening system on the batter side head will make the drum sound quieter to the drummer, and this is indeed the case. I lost some of that attack that I relied on hearing straight from the drums while I play and I'm sure it's lost on the audience as well. The next step was to play out with it, which I did this past weekend. We were on a big stage with a great sound system and The Emad was at its best in this setting and really thumped through the monitors. I was thrilled.

I'm playing a little club in Nashville without the big sound system next week and I already know I'm going to miss the PS3 and the volume I could hear straight off the drum. I also play in a more mellow indie rock Radiohead/Flaming lips type of band (the Golden Sounds) where I want my kick drum to sound more open, and I don't think the Emad will do that particularly well. The extra underlay around the PS3 sounds great, leaves the drum sounding open, and mutes out the weird undertones of a 1 ply head without the ring. The Emad head is really made to have that foam ring in it and you can take it out to open the drum sound, but it just doesn't sound nearly as good as the PS3. One more positive thing about the Emad is that it can make a cheap drum sound good. It mutes quite a bit of the drums natural tone and sometimes that can be a good thing. If you're rocking a budget kit, the Emad will make it punch harder than you ever thought it could.

In conclusion, I'll say that these are both great drum heads and the deciding factor should really be what type of gear you're using, what type of gig you're playing, and what sound you're going for. If you want the attack and a warm but more open sound, the PS3 is the clear choice. If you want that thumpy low-end sub-kick sound, the Emad is waiting for you. As for me, I'm thrilled to finally have 2 great options and will be keeping both of them around for the future.

Late Night TV Drummers - Ed Shaughnessy

It is so cool to see ?uest Love joining the ranks of the late show drummers. I think back to when I was a teenager in the 70's playing drums and trying to clone guys like Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. I had a serious love for big band drumming and the Tonight Show band was always a staple. Watching Ed Shaughnessy drive that band was always a treat. I would scan the TV Guide every Sunday to see if Carson had any guest musicians being featured. No cable guide to que up back then. If a jazz artist like Dizzy Gillespie was going to appear I would make sure to catch it. Every once in a while they would feature the band and it was always cool. It was frustrating to just hear a few seconds of the tunes they were playing in and out of commercial breaks. It wasn't until I was a working player that I realized that he had the greatest gig in the world. Playing with great players every night, backing up other famous musicians, playing the gig around 6pm and home at a decent hour and living a normal life.

When I was 14 I saved every bit of my lawn cutting $$ and attended the Ludwig Drum Symposium at East Carolina University. It was a week of immersing oneself in the drums. I attended classes taught by rock great Carmine Appice to drum corps legend Dennis Delucia. Max Roach was slated to teach but bailed out due to a gig in Europe. I remember meeting William F. Ludwig Jr. while I was there and watching him go off about Roach "blowing off the kids" for a gig. He spent the rest of the afternoon calling Max a "cockroach". Ed Shaughnessy was kind enough to fill in for the classes. He was a very gracious man and very matter of fact about how he developed his playing. Not much mystery, just a lot of listening and practicing. He was very much influenced by Gene Krupa and explained how he developed his chops by taking medium swing jazz standards and playing them in double time.

Unlike other late show drummers, Shaughnessy was defined by his gig. Unlike greats like Steve Jordan, Anton Figg, or Max Weinberg who had their own identity outside the show, Shaughnessy was the "Tonight Show Drummer". Kind of like an actor who gets pigeon holed into a certain genre by a part he played in one movie. You never really saw him on recording dates like other players that made their mark before taking a late night chair. Though I am sure he had other work, I don't recall seeing him in the credits of any album I owned.

All of that aside, Ed Shaughnessy is a great player and I always got the vibe that he knew how special it was that he had that gig. I bet he never took it for granted for a second.

Josh Freese: Drummer gone mad

Josh Freese must be one of the most prolific studio and live rock drummers around today. He's toured with NIN for the past 3 years (but recently resigned) and is a member of The Vandals, Devo, Ween, and A Perfect Circle. I saw him play with APC several years back and he was recovering from a broken right ankle. He played many of his bass drum parts with his left foot and I honestly couldn't hear the difference. If that didn't get you excited, he's also toured with Guns N' Roses and Sting. His studio work is too vast to get into, but he's played on everything from Kelly Clarkson to Rob Zombie records. Suffice to say, the man gets work.

Somehow he has managed to find time to record a second solo record (Titled "Since 1972") and his promotion techniques are quite a ways out of the box. $7 gets you a digital download and a few bonus videos and $15 will fetch a cd/dvd double disc digital download set. No big deal so far, but this is where it gets interesting. $50 adds a T shirt and a 5 minute phone call from Josh and $250 adds a signed drumhead or sticks and a lunch date with him (limited edition of 25...naturally). Things just get crazier from there all the way up to a $75,000 (limited edition of 1) package that includes Freese writing and releasing a 5 song EP about your life story, you taking home one of his drum sets of your choosing, Josh joining your band for a month, something crazy about Tijuana that I probably don't want to have anything to do with, and a flying trapeze lesson. I did the math on this thing and he's selling off 61 dinner or lunch dates. I guess he's taking a bit of a break from all the touring and recording to get this thing out there.

The record comes out March 24th and you can get a free download of one of the tracks from his site right now. I grabbed it and took a listen. It's definitely nowhere near as experimental as his marketing scheme, but it sounds good none the less and he's always a solid player. We'll get right back to our Late Night Drummers series and more importantly, some more practical posts on playing drums (which is really the point), but I couldn't pass up a post about this.

Check out the full 'Price Menu' at joshfreese.com
Josh Freese, phenomenal a player as he is, is truly a drummer gone mad!

Know your Late Show Drummers: ?uestlove

Late show bands have always struck me as being the best gig a musician (an old musician?) could possibly have. Think through the gig with me; Steady and presumably great pay, no travel, no set up/tear down, learning a wide variety of musical styles, playing with some of the very best musicians out there, and the nightly TV exposure couldn't be bad for business as far as getting studio work is concerned. Am I missing anything? It's no small wonder that the late show stage is graced by some of the best drummers alive right now, and we get to see and hear them every night (albeit for all of 15 seconds at a time). These guys are worth paying attention to and with the Conan/Leno/Jimmy Fallon switch-up, there is a new drummer on the late night scene that is no exception. It is with no farther ado that I introduce the Music City Drummers' first blog series: Know your Late Show Drummers!

I'll get the series started off with the newest addition, and one that I'm very much excited about : Amhir '?uestlove' Thompson. That's right, The legendary Roots crew is the new house band for late night with Jimmy Fallon. I've been a fan of The Roots since I was in High School when the song 'You Got Me' came out and blew me away. There are very few bands that I've followed as long as I've followed The Roots and few drummers that play like ?uesto. If you have any interest in hip hop he's the one name that you have to know, however fans of The Roots may be surprised to know of the the breadth of his playing ability. I have a good friend that used to tell me that ?uestlove's playing on D'angelo's record 'Voodoo' changed his life. The soulful feel on that record strays a bit from the Roots studio record drum machine feel and the drumming is so right! Jay-Z's 'MTV Unplugged' is required listening for anyone who is even remotely interested in soul-hip hop drumming. The John Mayer track 'Clarity' is a fun rock/soul version of ?uest, but for a slice of pure inspiration, go to itunes and download 'Not About Love' by Fiona Apple! Any of The Roots albums will do the trick, but there's nothing quite like hearing them live and 'The Roots Come Alive' is probably my top pick for hearing him play. I've seen The Roots live no fewer than 4 times, and the night they played City Hall in Nashville still stands out in my mind as one of the best displays of drumming I've ever seen. They did a tune where every 8 bars or so the whole band slowed to a stop, and then BAM nailed the next downbeat with the crack of the snare and were right back on it. It sounds odd but it was one of the most musical things I believe I've ever heard. I've never been able to find a recording of that tune. ?uestlove combines power, groove, speed, and an unbelievable feel for rhythm that is uncomprably funky. He truly is the band leader for The Roots and is a prolific DJ and producer just to top it off.

Tonight marks The Roots debut as a late night band. Longtime Roots fans, have no fear; they are working on another album and planning to tour when the show is not recording. Tune in tonight and catch them at the start, and if you miss it just tune in the night after, or the next....

Our Deep Roots v2.0

Just a couple pictures of Centurio and I and a few of his other students from the week. Check out the full story in the last blog post if you missed it. We'll be back with something new shortly!