weckl...Tower of inspiration

[sjj123]

Can one of you guys walk me through counting this tune. I don't read but have some basic knowledge of reading...have been playing a long time. I'm just having trouble nailing this tune...not quite getting the groove....steve j

[WecklsMechanic]

What tune are you talking about??

[sjj123]

Tower of Inspiration...first song off Master Plan....and number 9 for that matter...wicked!

[FuseU1]

What are your trouble spots - i.e., what particular parts are giving you the most trouble?

I start it w this count [16th-note subdivision]:

"1[e+a]2[e+a] - the intro lick starts on the 3, & the cym kick/downbeat at the end of the lick is on the 'a' of 4, right before the '1.'

*...[If you needed to give your bandmates a better/longer 'set-up' to establish the tempo, then count out in two half-notes first [before those 2 quarter-notes]:
"1 [e+a2e+a]...3 [e+a4e+a]...1 [e+a], 2 [e+a], [then start the lick on 3]. Some people tend to voice this as "1... 2... 1, 2, [3] -"
[the first '2' in this case actually being the '3,' or 3rd quarter/].

[The ride is an eighth-note pattern w accents on the quarters.]

The kick during the basic ['head' or 'chorus'] groove, [after the initial hit of kick/cym on the 'a' of 4, just before the 1], is on the '&' of 1, 'e' of 2, 'e' of 3 [or sometimes the '&' of 3 as well - he 'stirs it up' a little bit throughout, changing some accented notes of each kit item slightly to give it character, flavor, & spice], & then again on the 'a' of 4.

Snare accents on the '&' of 2, 'a' of 3, and '&' of 4 [there are ghosts in between ride & kicks]. [In the 2nd & 4th bars of the head, there are snare accs on the 4, with kick right before this on the 'a' of 4.]

This is basically the groove of the head of the tune. Later it gets slightly trickier [right after the 'head' & then chorus, which are basically the same].

This section immed aft the head & chorus - the 1st bar has the kick coming in on the '&' of 4 [in the last bar of the chorus], then the '&' of 1 [in the 1st bar of this section], another kick on 2, snare acc on 'e' of 2, & kick [or tom] on 'e' of 3.

I wish i had charting software. My advice is to chart this out on music notation [staff] paper rather than trying to read it & figure it by looking at this alone [img]confused.gif[/img] [img]wink.gif[/img]

Yes, most the tunes on there are quite wicked, with track 1, 3, & 9 exceedingly so; but #7 ["Softly..."] is just slap-you-silly contempo jazz-brutality [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] ...
For those who say DW never "settles," take note of tracks 4, 5, & 6 here...to me, he has at least 1 'settle-song' ;c) on practically every solo disc he's put out...

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 24, 2004 03:43 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>

[maxdis]

I have the entire tune transcribed, and I have a playalong CD too...(I found them some years ago on an italian drum magazine, along with Heads Up and Crazy Horse...) If anyone is interested I can scan them and put on my website

[Julius24]

maxdis! I?m REALLY interested... if is not a big problem it could be great to check the stuff you?re talking about...
THANKS!

[numeroUnoHODfan]

Excerpts of the tune (Tower) were xscribed in Modern Drummer some years ago, regretfully the exact month escapes me... but I was able to plug in the notes in my (then kewl) Gravis Ultrasound and hear it played by a drum machine for the first time.

Anyone remember the issue?

[maxdis]

Ok, I'll scan the charts and make an mp3 of the playalong!

[mja61]

Yeah, I'd love to see the charts and playalongs too!

I've got a complete transcription of "Tower" (the original "Masterplan" version) from an old outfit that used to sell drum transcriptions (something like "Star Drum Charts, Inc.")

I don't really have a way to scan the document at the moment...

[FuseU1]

Great, Maxdis!
Could you post an exact http/link to it here?
Thank a lot!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 27, 2004 12:34 AM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>