Sure.
The lesson was at his studio in Burbank (or North Hollywood, somewhere in the valley near LA). It was more of a hang really. I had just finished the first Altered disc and played him a couple tunes. I think he was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I could actually play because I don't think he charged me afterwards (or barely charged me, I forget). That was nice.
We didn't talk about playing that much so it wasn't a normal drum lesson where you sit and examine technique and what not. We spoke mostly about his timeline of gigs, and how they came about. I asked him about him using Sonor for a while. He said he did a Chick Corea gig and the Yamaha rental kit fell through and he had to use a Sonor kit that night. After the gig Chick told Gary that the Sonors complemented his sound better and he agreed so he switched. Sonor being overseas getting gear was a hassle I guess so he went to DW (who is driving distance from LA). With the exception of Frank Briggs I have yet to hear a set of DW's that don't sound like a cup of ass.
He spoke about playing with Alanis and had some interesting things to say, nothing I would feel comfortable posting on the internet though. [img]redface.gif[/img]
I think the only drum thing we spoke about was his singles, and I honestly don't remember him saying anything terribly different from what other guys say. He *may* have mentioned pillows (ala Dennis) but I don't remember.
Which brings me to something I've been thinking about a lot lately: how ones anatomy limits their abilities on the kit. It makes sense I think, it totally applies to athletes. The fastest runners are that way due to hard work, and an anatomy that accommodates that activity (the alternative is we could all be the fastest runners in the world if we tried hard enough). Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying guys like Gary and Dennis cab blaze singles because they're born that way. They obviously practiced. I just think that one persons body may have better strong/weak points physically than anothers, and that includes drumming, athletics, whatever. I mean look at Buddy. He's an extreme freakish example. Guys like Steve Smith and Virgil HAVE worked long and hard enough to where if they could get the blazing Buddy singles from his prime, they would have by now.
I see this in myself as well. I work on different things for the same amount of time, but they're not all at the same level. My singles suck, my double bass sucks, my doubles are in a good place. I'm just talking about physical things here. I'm not going to use this as an excuse to stop practicing, but I do believe that my body has limitations like anyone elses, and I sometimes wonder if I hit a "ceiling" in my physical ability at times in regards to things I'm not good at doing but have practiced a lot. Granted I may not be practicing them the right way I guess. That would be good news.
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<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 04, 2005 02:29 PM: Message edited by: Steve Holmes ]</font>
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