The Last Bass Outpost

Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: drummer5359 on December 16, 2013, 07:53:44 PM

Title: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 16, 2013, 07:53:44 PM
Hi folks!

Drums are my primary instrument, and  I play hand percussion, but more and more as of late I've been playing bass. I have a few cool basses, take lessons and am now getting so that I am not exceptionally awful on this instrument.

I think that there can be a lot learned on forums, thank you for accepting me into this community.

I do have a question. If I see a thread that fits what I want to discuss, is it acceptable to open an older thread? Some forums prefer that you start a new thread, others prefer you to reactivate an older thread.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: OldManC on December 16, 2013, 08:25:02 PM
Welcome aboard! I think we're pretty laid back around here. If it works to bring up an old thread, feel free, or start a new one. Nobody here is going to hassle you for doing either one. Just know we have a habit of veering wildly off course on some threads, though we usually get back to the matter at hand (sooner or later).  :mrgreen: It's nice to have you here.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: gweimer on December 16, 2013, 08:34:02 PM
Welcome aboard! I think we're pretty laid back around here. If it works to bring up an old thread, feel free, or start a new one. Nobody here is going to hassle you for doing either one. Just know we have a habit of veering wildly off course on some threads, though we usually get back to the matter at hand (sooner or later).  :mrgreen: It's nice to have you here.

Nicely....understated.  LOL.

Yes, we spend hours on WWII aircraft, deviant lifestyles, etc.

And a little on those pesky basses.   Welcome!
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Dave W on December 16, 2013, 09:19:06 PM
Welcome. There's no hard and fast rule about older threads. We may lock an older one if someone is asking questions of someone who hasn't posted here in several years, but if we do, it's nothing to take personally, just start a new thread.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Nocturnal on December 16, 2013, 09:56:29 PM
Welcome aboard!!
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: TBird1958 on December 16, 2013, 10:01:02 PM


 Welcome Friend!

I recognize you from TB, thanks for finding our happy little home - Hope you like Gibson basses and some silliness  ;)
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Pilgrim on December 16, 2013, 10:14:07 PM
We veer?

Why, I.......

SQUIRREL!!!!!!

What was the question?
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 16, 2013, 11:38:43 PM
Thanks guys, I've been lurking for a bit. When I noticed T-Bird on board I knew this place had to be cool.

As for Gibson basses, I'll eventually join the T-Bird camp. Out of the Gibsons that I've played, I've liked them the best, the Midtown also floats my boat. I've yet to run across one of the new EBs in person, I'm very curious about them.

I read more than post for the most part, but I'm not shy. I'll raise my head from time to time and speak up. I'm a moderator of a small drum forum and have over 20,000 posts there.  (Okay, I can run my digital mouth on occasion.)

Anyway, thanks again for having me here.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: uwe on December 17, 2013, 06:26:43 AM
Will he be writing in paradiddles?  :mrgreen: Willkommen!


And now of course the initiation rite question: Between John Bonham and Ian Paice, who do you prefer?

(http://www.bodylovewellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bela_lugosi_dracula-staring.jpg)
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 17, 2013, 06:57:30 AM
Hey, we can have a drum thread that isn't a lonely suicidal mess for me now!

Welcome. I doubt the drummer jokes will stop though.

Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: amptech on December 17, 2013, 08:15:21 AM
I doubt the drummer jokes will stop though.



They are not jokes, just hard facts that might be funny for other people than drummers :)
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 17, 2013, 08:37:35 AM
Will he be writing in paradiddles?  :mrgreen: Willkommen!


And now of course the initiation rite question: Between John Bonham and Ian Paice, who do you prefer?

(http://www.bodylovewellness.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bela_lugosi_dracula-staring.jpg)

Um...

Mitch Mitchell.

I'm a drummer, you don't expect me to follow directions... do you?

Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 17, 2013, 08:41:44 AM
Hey, we can have a drum thread that isn't a lonely suicidal mess for me now!

Welcome. I doubt the drummer jokes will stop though.






Cool, another drummer!

I was going to start a thread asking if there were any others on here...



Drummer jokes?

This seems like a cool forum, but of course no one is perfect.

Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 17, 2013, 08:53:12 AM
Just don't engage, because the bassist inferiority complex kicks in and everybody piles on.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 17, 2013, 09:01:10 AM
Just don't engage, because the bassist inferiority complex kicks in and everybody piles on.

It's harmless.

I just took a gig where a drummer flaked out two weeks before a string of shows. I need to be up to speed on 48 songs in time for the first show December 20th. Those guys aren't making fun of drummers at all... except maybe the one that flaked out.

 ;)
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Dave W on December 17, 2013, 09:04:27 AM
Flakiness is so common in band situations. It's certainly not limited to bassists and drummers.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 17, 2013, 09:11:08 AM
Oh tell me about it.  Our Singer/guitard just up and moved to Edmonton on us a month ago (luckily we just finished all the shows we'd booked, and she was only the frontperson for half the songs - there's another singer/guitard). The good news - we'll be doing more of my songs.  We're gonna carry on as a 3 piece for a while and see how it goes (lookin good so far... so much more space for everyone, literally and aurally.... actually considering busting out the EB3 again).

Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: westen44 on December 17, 2013, 09:29:07 AM
Um...

Mitch Mitchell.

I'm a drummer, you don't expect me to follow directions... do you?




Mitch Mitchell
 ;D
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: uwe on December 17, 2013, 11:05:34 AM
Um...

Mitch Mitchell.

I'm a drummer, you don't expect me to follow directions... do you?



Mitchell is closer to Paice than to Bonham, you qualified! I was concerned you might be another one who relishes being behind the beat.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 17, 2013, 12:43:17 PM
Ah Germans and their meticulousness; confusing being in the pocket for laziness and sloppiness since the Prussians handed them that torch.

We're here, we're behind the beat; get used to it!  Hell, especially if it's OK for everyone else to do it, from Richards to Simonon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u7J4NpMkuI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtgxe_ientE

... just as long as we don't all do it at the same time; we don't wanna be jazz players now do we.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: 4stringer77 on December 17, 2013, 01:27:17 PM
Best behind the beat drummer ever would have to be Zigaboo Modeliste of the Meters. Feels good to me.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Highlander on December 17, 2013, 03:25:30 PM
[Prog] Neil Peart...? [/Prog]

Now Uwe, if you'd written "Between Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice, which guitarist do you prefer? I'd have found that more in keeping with your somewhat zealot attitude, not that I consider you obsessive in any way, shape, or form, I'm sure you understand... ;D

We veer?
Why, I.......
SQUIRREL!!!!!!
What was the question?

I believe there may be a TM infringement here... :rimshot:
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: TBird1958 on December 17, 2013, 03:27:15 PM


 Silly Englander.......

 I'm the Queen of this locker room  ;D
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Highlander on December 17, 2013, 03:29:03 PM
Seattle muscle of love, Ja...?
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: TBird1958 on December 17, 2013, 03:46:29 PM

  ;)  My boss has had nothing but "Hair Metal" on the in store music today - Puts me in a really good mood, Girls,Girls,Girls  by the Crue anyone?  ;)
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Highlander on December 17, 2013, 03:51:11 PM
www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_865534&feature=iv&src_vid=-4ehGN-nTkw&v=2LBwaZ1CanM
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: drummer5359 on December 17, 2013, 10:35:50 PM
I seriously considered answering Mick Waller... :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: FrankieTbird on December 18, 2013, 03:31:57 PM
Best behind the beat drummer ever would have to be Zigaboo Modeliste of the Meters. Feels good to me.


Ziggy is a great drummer for sure.  I think their newer guy may be even more impressive though.
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: uwe on December 19, 2013, 08:48:25 AM
Ah Germans and their meticulousness; confusing being in the pocket for laziness and sloppiness since the Prussians handed them that torch.

We're here, we're behind the beat; get used to it!  Hell, especially if it's OK for everyone else to do it, from Richards to Simonon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u7J4NpMkuI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtgxe_ientE

... just as long as we don't all do it at the same time; we don't wanna be jazz players now do we.

I fail to hear the appeal, he drags and is sparse and ponderous, so what's so great about that? The good thing about the reunion concert was how his son didn't drag as much. This whole Bonham-infatuation is beyond me. And I don't think he could have drummed either of those two tracks, frankly, I think both would have been beyond his capabilities as a drummer, Bonham can't swing with the music, he can only ground it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18YYfOchO1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4zJ5MU8hE

And while we're at it: I find Bonham's drumming style a lot more rigid and teutonic than Paice's!
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: Granny Gremlin on December 19, 2013, 10:13:49 AM
Typical white guy - can't feel the groove?  :P

He has to be 'rigid' (especially in something like Levee) otherwise it becomes a sloppy mess.  It's called being locked in.  He is a very good drummer in that he can be wild and crazy (lets say Moonish) but has the tact to not do that all the time. ... though that tact was often tossed out the window when it came to the length of his drum solos ... and not that I'm knocking Moon, he's a big influence; different things work in different situations and Zep was definitely sludgier, so a free(er)-form Moonishness wouldn't have worked as well.

It's a taste thing also for sure - I am very old school (like caveman) in that I have no issue with repetitive parts throughout a song (this comes through in my bass playing as well) as long as it is a good groove that a lead part can dance around nicely.  It's kind of a primal trance meditative thing.

I like Bonham for many of the same reasons I like other drummers - Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing) for example.  Other fave drummers include Moon as mentioned, Topper Headon (more up your alley... except when he wasn't; Crooked Beat and jazzy moments etc) and Fuzz Townshend.... note specifically the distinct lack of Neil Pert; busy in a bad way IMHO - technically very skilled, but he's a chronic on the beat over-player; mathematical/geometric vs organic. I would consider that sort of thing undesirable even when it comes to guitar playing (with Keif being a prime example of how awesome sloppy guitar parts can be).  I guess, as a drummer, I am very in tune with where the beat is, and 50 years of pop music has really hammered home 4/4 and I am not interested in anything that is too on the nose about it, as if we couldn't figure it out otherwise. Also his kit (Pert's 30 piece monstrosity) makes me want to puke (though his Signature line of cymbals by Sabian is very good, especially the hihats).  

I don't mind the Deep Purple dude, but his style is not particularly distinct; pretty straight up drumming.  I suppose from the perspective of other band members this is a good thing (I myself have been asked by guitards to play more on the beat occasionally - they're so easy to confuse - this song is one example where the guitarist had a hard time but understood that the drum part was a big part of the song and didn't ask me to change it, so much as to help him work through it and figure it out:  http://grannygremlin.com/PTV/LonelyBoyMotel/PTV-2-BirdsNest.mp3 ... not particularly behind the beat, but the accents/stress are not always on 1 and 3).  

Paice, post Purple, has more style (even jazzy in some bits, and not on the beat), but he's still too  rigidly mathematical for my tastes, and just playing a very boring straight up 4/4 for much of that song.  ... then again, so is his lead guitarist there, that's the sort of thing it is; you can't just do what you want, it was to work as a whole. To me, messing with the accents, playing behind the beat etc, is a way of making the drums more interesting (contributing to the song more; becoming almost a melodic element) vs just keeping time (which frankly, each musician in the band should not need the drummer to do for them.... but I have played with many a guitard that needed this human metronome).  I also like cut or double time vs the rest of the song as another way of contributing musically (Ministry did this a lot, it's kind of a typical way to get that hypnotic feeling).

... so yeah, sometimes I like to drag, it's not a sign of error, but an artistic decision and it's fair to like or not like it as such.  Despite my ragging on being overly mathematical, I can appreciate that sort of thing as well, but again, mostly when it's taken to the next level (no offense, but the 70s was a long time ago, and that stuff no longer really excites me; bacjk then it was  new and refreshing if a drummer broke out of the 4/4 and did a fill that lasted longer than half a bar) - a prime example is Mathrock monsters Battles (but that gets in to odd time signatures, atonality and other things generally relegated to jazz, but it's the only kind of acute beatiness I actually like):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LLAN29W-4w




Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: chromium on December 19, 2013, 01:47:04 PM
Hey - Battles!  I remember them...  Some other groups I dug in that vein (well, sorta) are Maps and Atlases, Pterodactyl, and Parts & Labor.

Speaking of "toying with the beat" and drums as a melodic instrument, it made me think of some polyrhythmic stuff I saw Chris Dave doing in a trio here with Foley (ex Miles piccolo bassist, and pretty accomplished drummer in his own right).  This is a sonic mashup of a Thelonious Monk song, and bass ostinato was from some rap song (Jurassic 5 was the band, but I forget the song name...):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T39ZaFT1kA0


I've also been into Dave King lately.  He's done some cool stuff with The Bad Plus too- jazz covers of Aphex Twin, Pixies, etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBXDKISTntk


Drums are actually my favorite instrument.  Maybe comes from so many years of being glued to a drummer in bands?  My ears always go straight to the drums.  (...oh and I do like Ian/DP for the record, just to remain in good standing here  ;D)


Oh- and welcome aboard, drummer5359!
Title: Re: Yup, another newbie...
Post by: uwe on December 20, 2013, 08:37:50 AM
For the avoidance of doubt: I don't mind dragging behind the beat once in a while, that can sound good. But was Bonzo ever ahead of the beat except where he rushed a roll? His drumming never seemed fluid to me. At the same time I always liked the way Bill Ward "swung" with Sabbath while the other two, Toni and Geezer, didn't. That was idiosyncratic with the Sabs.