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Who Else Plays Percussion/Drums?


KuruPrionz

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I know Winston does, we spoke of this thread in another one.

I decided to put it here since guitar is classified as a percussion instrument in Orchestral World (so is piano).

 

I'm good enough at finding where the kick and snare should go to lay down simple beats for looping, recording, etc. Since I am more or less into Rock, Country, Blues, Folk etc. at this point I can more or less keep up.

I don't have fancy chops or amazing timing but I do feel a backbeat and can groove pretty OK.

 

Just in the last week I found an LP cajon in good shape at Value Village for $12 and a Remo dumbek (pre-tuned, sounds great) at Goodwill for $16. I like the tone of certain plastic water bottles for kick, have 3 small kids snares, a real and fairly large double headed tom with legs and a box full of fun percussion goodies and widgets.

 

Plus a Korg Wavedrum Global (my all time favorite percussion instrument), a Roland Handsonic, a couple of 25 key MIDI controllers with touch sensitivity and a guitar with Fishman Triple Play so MIDI drums can be played as well.

 

That's just stuff though, who plays?

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Maybe 20 years ago I studied Middle Eastern percussion for a while. Darbukka or dumbek, frame drums, & riqq, which is a small frame drum with zils in the frame like a tambourine. I got slightly proficient, enough to know that timekeeping is a pretty weak area for me. But I did learn a lot about playing in 5, 7, 9, 10, & 13, which is pretty cool.
Scott Fraser
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Nice, I grew up in Fresno CA, back in the early 1900's it was one of the places people came to from Armenia to escape the Turkish genocide. The famous author William Saroyan was of Armenian descent, wrote "My Name Is Aram" about growing up in Fresno. That was a best seller at one point long ago.

 

Later, Fresno State College - which became Cal State Uni Fresno - was a world destination if one wanted to study Agriculture and Ag Business. People came from all over the world, and some stayed. For a relatively small and unexciting city, there was a great diversity in the arts, music, theater, etc. LOTS of Middle Eastern music was played at celebrations, the notable one being an Armenian wedding. I had friends who learned to play the Middle Eastern styles and songs and they had good paying gigs all the time. It also meant there were lots of instruments. I stuck with guitar but I got to mess about with oud, saz, some of the drums, etc.

 

And I heard lots of the music. The beats are awesome! Thanks for posting, it will be interesting to see who else posts.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I studied Middle Eastern Percussion with a Western Sufi, studied various African Percussion traditions with another friend, even got good at re-heading drums. Back in the early 90's, one of my housemates was slightly horrified to discover a bunch of goatskins softening in a 5-gallon bucket of water, saying it made him think of Silence of the Lambs.

 

A friend had given me a Yamaha Drum Machine, can't recall which now? I realized that I could easily chain together the pre-arranged Beats into what the machine loosely called "Songs", but to my mind, that was like a Paint-By-Numbers approach. I wasn't learning how to drum by doing that, so I put the Drum Machine aside, got a nice metal Dumbek, and approached my Sufi friend, who taught and led Drum Jams.

 

At this point, I have around 160 Percussion Instruments, but bear in mind, every little Rattle and Shaker is also a Percussion Instrument; if I had 160 Toms or Congas, there'd be no room for me anymore.

 

Here's a recording of me playing a Tongue Drum, a tuned Kalimba, a couple of different Wood Blocks and a Sistrum. The only signal processing was a little bit of Reverb, to make it sound like everything was in the same space. The tuned Percussion Instruments sound somewhat like Tabla Drums, which I tried and abandoned, rather than disrespect them by playing them badly. Some Instruments deserve to be played well, or not at all.

 

Winston Psmith Project- Knock On Wood

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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wraub is on board, welcome! Sounds like you are a busy guy!!

 

Winston, that's a beautiful piece and well played. I am not at that level yet and probably don't practice enough to get there.

For the same reason you parted with your Tablas, last year I traded a beautiful long necked baglama saz for a couple of microphones. For me it was a thrift store find, too beautiful (and stupid cheap) to pass up but I knew I could never do it justice. I posted it for sale or trade on up here in the northern end of Washington state, after a few months I was contacted by a gentleman who lived at the southern end. I called him, he played and owned a similar instrument but mine was a higher grade of build quality with premium woods and gorgeous inlay work. He had been playing for a few years and took lessons. My sense of our phone conversation what that I could trust him so I chose 2 mics he had in his trade offering and did something I've never done before or since - shipped the saz down to Vancouver WA. I sent him the tracking # and the mics arrived soon thereafter.

 

I still have and use one of those mics, the other was nice but I have better so I sold it for about what I paid for the saz and shipping. Win-win, I hope he plays that saz for the rest of his life.

I love the idea of all the extra frets for those beautiful notes that exist outside our European Tempered Scale but I can get everything and anything on a scalloped fretboard with 10-46 so I am happy right where I am. Plus, I have a fretless bass guitar tuned to BEAD, and...

 

My "concession" to the heritage of both African and Middle Eastern instruments is a replica of the fretless Boucher banjo (pronounced Booshay) that I built from a kit sold by Bell Banjos on eBay. Photo attached. The original instruments were pre-Civil War, the first factory made banjo in the United States.

I have fun trying this one, saw Bill Evans play one in his presentation The Banjo in America. If he ever comes to your area on tour, go see him, an amazing performer and historian.

 

Well, the photo does not want to load for some reason. I'll try again...

 

Seems to be a forum software glitch, I've seen it in other posts on different fora. I'll post in the appropriate place and wait for a fix.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Drums were my first love. I remember banging on pot and pans with butter knives, and Dad's 5-gallon buckets (before they were plastic). Although my parents could never afford to buy me a real set of drums, I did get a couple of "toy" sets, to include a rather decent one from Sears. But, they did not last long at all. As most kids who were into drums, my favorite song to hear played live at a wedding was "Wipe Out." I did play percussion in band... 6th grade through 10th, then I quit band. Then in 1983, a rock band came to our school. Maybe they came to yours too? They were known as "Free Fare" or "Freedom Jam." (They both came, but I don't recall which was first.) When I heard the opening riffs of "Metal Health" played live, I was hooked. That was the moment I became interested in guitar. :rawk:

 

While searching the web for info about these bands, I found this post by one of the former members:

 

It's funny to hear of all those that actually saw Freefare, Freedom Jam, and The Edge. I was actually a member of both Freedom Jam and The Edge in 1989. These bands were all a part of an organization called Young American Showcase. YAS was a Christian based ministry that every year would pick a theme or message to spread, and then send eight rock groups out to tour the US and Canada doing high school and middle school assemblies and night concerts. Here's the fun part. All 8 bands were identical. We all had the same message, the same set list, and our members were even interchangeable. 8 guitarists, 8 singers, and so on................and any one of us could leave our paticular group and jump right in with one of the others and not miss a thing because all eight groups were doing the same thing in different parts of the country! The first year that I auditioned, I was selected as a 2nd reserve, which meant I was basically number 10 of eight singers. But anything from getting burned out, to family emergencies could open up a spot, so we alternatives had to learn the whole show, the whole 'talk' part and the set list and be ready to perform at a phone calls notice. The year that I spent as al alternative, I actually got the call two months into the school year, but was already in college. The following year, I made the 'first' team. Reported to St. Petersburg Florida for "trainning camp" and hit the road with a group called The Edge. One month into my tour, I damaged my voice and had to give up my position, go home and stand by as a reserve. Once again, when I got the call to come back, I had other things going on. But I have to say, the one month I had on the road living like a true rock star was one of the best times of my life!!

 

Read more at: http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=282209

Copyright © ProTeacher (proteacher.net)

 

Peace :thu:

"Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7

 

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Very different sound here. I took a far more aggressive approach with this one, using an Electronic Controller with a "Drum Kit" I'd assembled from within the Controller's various voices.

 

Funny thing, I was playing with headphones on, but I was still playing hard enough to make the house shake. My SIL was over visiting with my wife, and asked, "What in hell is he doing up there?"

 

This one sounds best at ear-splitting volumes, but use your discretion . . .

 

Winston Psmith - I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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Indeed, different! Nicely done Sir Winston.

 

I have many sides myself. Pretty and ugly need each other in my world. They feed off of each other's energy. Plinky pluck, BASH BASH BASH!!!!

 

Such fun!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I have played around on the drums (with the permission of my drummers) in all my bands which included rock, country rock and Ventures. The only time I was a serious drummer was back in my 7th and 8th grade summer music camps. In addition to playing clarinet in the marching band, I signed up for the drum corps. It was great fun and I had a great experience performing in the auditorium for a live audience and marching down main street...

 

I have played a little bass and a lot of keyboard as well. But my 1st love has always been the guitar and so I sold my bass and have neglected my keyboards for at least 10 years or more. I still have my 88 key Kurzweil up in my storage room. I may have to break it out as I still love running a boogie bass while doing some blues runs! The keys are my 2nd love and I grew up with an upright piano in the living room. I agree that piano and guitar can be considered percussive instruments but they are really put on the back burner as far as orchestras are concerned. I love playing rhythm guitar keeping the beat and backing up my vocals over playing lead. I think the real strength for piano and guitar are in their ability to get rid of the orchestra as chord instruments.

 

May as well finish my thoughts on percussion and drum instruments etc., with this thought LOL! I think the 1st time I really appreciated percussion was back in the 60's and 70's when Carlos Santana made the scene. They are still one of my favorite bands to listen to and I love one of their more recent hits Smooth...

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=carlos+santana&docid=608016534659530944&mid=9AEAAB79338FF5ABC6F59AEAAB79338FF5ABC6F5&view=detail&FORM=VIRE :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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I think the real strength for piano and guitar are in their ability to get rid of the orchestra as chord instruments.

 

The Electric Guitar killed off the Horn Section and the Sax solo in Rock bands, that's for sure! Early R'n'R is packed with Horns, and by the time of the British Invasion, they're really fading away fast.

 

Have to agree about Santana! Santana (the band and the man) brought Latin Percussion into the Rock mainstream.

 

When I worked in Music Retail, I used to warn the parents who were buying full Drum Kits for their kids - "You do realize that band practice is going to be at your house from now on?" You'd be surprised how few of them had thought of that . . .

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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When I worked in Music Retail, I used to warn the parents who were buying full Drum Kits for their kids - "You do realize that band practice is going to be at your house from now on?" You'd be surprised how few of them had thought of that . . .

 

You may have blown a few drum kit sales WPS, but it was very good advice to those loving parents LOL! Thank heaven for electronic drums and headphones!!! :thu:

Take care, Larryz
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When I worked in Music Retail, I used to warn the parents who were buying full Drum Kits for their kids - "You do realize that band practice is going to be at your house from now on?" You'd be surprised how few of them had thought of that . . .

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

We made the drummers move their stuff!

Except at one point the whole band lived in one house and practiced in the garage.

That didn't last long, even crazy people go insane exposed to that environment.

Wsa fun while it lasted.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I try, when no one"s around...but I can almost always find someone better than me to do it.

 

I have a Roland HandSonic with kick and hi hat pedals that I"m using a decent amount these days.

 

dB

 

It's fun and it makes you better at everything else!!! You'll be tracking your own stuff soon. So much easier sometimes to just play instead of trying to get somebody else to do what you want.

 

I found a dumbek cheap at thrift store. It sounds great,fun to just finger twiddle up some grooves.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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When I worked in Music Retail, I used to warn the parents who were buying full Drum Kits for their kids - "You do realize that band practice is going to be at your house from now on?" You'd be surprised how few of them had thought of that . . .

 

You may have blown a few drum kit sales WPS, but it very good advice to those loving parents LOL! Thank heaven for electronic drums and headphones!!! :thu:

 

@Larryz - I never had a parent suddenly panic and switch their kid to Guitar, or Bass, but a few of them immediately thought of soundproofing or insulation for the garage.

 

@Dave Bryce - Nice one! That's a great Controller, and has some nice Sound Banks, IIRC.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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Nice, I grew up in Fresno CA, back in the early 1900's it was one of the places people came to from Armenia to escape the Turkish genocide. The famous author William Saroyan was of Armenian descent, wrote "My Name Is Aram" about growing up in Fresno. That was a best seller at one point long ago.

Later, Fresno State College - which became Cal State Uni Fresno - was a world destination if one wanted to study Agriculture and Ag Business. People came from all over the world, and some stayed. For a relatively small and unexciting city, there was a great diversity in the arts, music, theater, etc. LOTS of Middle Eastern music was played at celebrations, the notable one being an Armenian wedding. I had friends who learned to play the Middle Eastern styles and songs and they had good paying gigs all the time. It also meant there were lots of instruments. I stuck with guitar but I got to mess about with oud, saz, some of the drums, etc.

And I heard lots of the music. The beats are awesome! Thanks for posting, it will be interesting to see who else posts.

 

Los Angeles is also a major center of the Armenian diaspora, in fact alleged to be the largest Armenian community outside of Yerevan (although one of my Armenian clients believes the community in Moscow is larger.) A lot of my clients are Armenian & there's sort of an Armenian mafia of musicians who all know each other, all play on each other's records & all are incredibly talented & very diverse players. During the recent war it became apparent how widespread the Armenian community is here, as I would see dozens of cars on the freeway with attached Armenian flags, & there were huge demonstrations downtown in support of those defending Artsakh (as Nagorno-Karabakh is known in the Armenian language.)

Anyway, one of my favorite non-Western asymmetrical rhythms is the Armenian 10, subdivided 3 - 2 - 2 - 3.

Scott Fraser
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And now for something different

Background, the Lummi Nation nearby were at one time the largest tribal fishing fleet in the world, they fished well up into Alaskan waters and as far south as Mexico.

 

For centuries, their boats were paddle powered. Somehow, I've befriended and been adopted into the family of a Lummi Elder, one of the last to know the language and the traditions. Dean also builds race canoes, the annual celebration/canoe race they hold is almost entirely fleeted by racing canoes that Dean built, and there are dozens of them. Dean and his family were regulars every Thursday at a gig the band used to play and they adopted all of us. They loved our music and us. And we all love them, wonderful to have family up here!

 

2 years ago, I was invited to observe a ceremony - the spring equinox is celebrated as the end of Winter. No "outsiders" can attend unless an Elder invites them. Recording and photography are not allowed, I shut my phone off and left it in the car.

Many songs have a drum beat, Lummi music is played on drums, rattles and voices.

 

The beat goes 123 123 1234567 - 123 123 1234567 - 123 123 12345689 then it repeats as the stories are sung. Using my brain as a recorded, I counted the beats until I'd memorized them. Sets of threes except for the 7 although 3 sets of the pattern may mean 7x3=21. I don't know that, just felt it.

 

A few days later, I asked Dean about that beat since he used to be a drummer at these ceremonies.

 

He said it is the pattern of the waves in Puget Sound. Spending a significant part of their lives on the water, rowing, with none of our convenient portable forms of entertainment, the Lummi observed and used that pattern to tell their stories since so much of their lives depended on the ocean and fishing.

 

Obviously I don't have a recording to share. If they hold the canoe race celebration this year, the public will be invited as it always is and i may be able to record with my cell phone in my shirt pocket. Not to exploit but to learn more about these people who call me Brother.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Piano is my first instrument followed by drums/percussion. I learned drums/percussion while in grade school orchestra. I already had hand independence from playing piano so playing percussion was an easy transition.

 

I'm a pretty good drummer on a drum kit, but I don't have the endurance to play a four hour gig on drums. Never owned a real drum kit, I have a hodge podge of drum pads for my MIDI drum kit for recording. I may use a MIDI keyboard for simple drum loops but there are times when drums parts are better played on a drum kit.

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I do. I started at age 10 with a great teacher.for 6 + years. I still have the same 60's Ludwig Super Classic set and Zildjian A' s.

 

Photo

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxbnLuUhY5p/?igshid=11u7vj6mainq

 

Every so often I review. Actually playing really set the foundation for programming. I even multi-sampled them a few years ago into the K2600 XS for midi use in scoring.

 

Ex : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lLKUTE8xQA7-aw2zDWgZS5f0fFZRbkpl/view?usp=drivesdk

 

Footnote : Learned in traditional grip. Only matched on Timpani and Mallets. Dropped Percussion major in early 70's for Music History and Composition because the Percussion professor insisted on Snare matched. It was ruining my technique. Rolls became horrid in matched, like I was back in Elementary School. We had quite a few arguments over it all because traditional was perfect for me, but it was "his way or the highway" so I changed majors. I detested him.

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