A Weckl story...

[XNavyDrummer]

Tim,

Basically, Weckl took me through a lot of stuff on his latter videos and that Natural Evolution book. But, of course the most valuable part was getting his instant feedback on my attempts at his Moeller/Gruber/Weckl technique and his foundation exercises.

He heard me play and said that I sounded good but that over all my sound was "tight, precise and small". (I had posted stuff about this on HOD some time ago). I didn't think that my playing was bad, but when I saw him during the Synergy tour his flow and creativity made me re-evaluate what I was doing. And it made me think that there's got to be a better way to approach the instrument.

Dave's not only a master musician but he's a master teacher. He always had a positive attitude during the lessons. He was very generous with his knowledge of the craft. And the stuff I learned from him, I would never have stumbled on by myself, even if I had put in 40 practice hours a week.

[got_a_matchgrip]

TW, I'll have to see if I can find it again. It's on [analog] cassette tape. [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/sure.gif[/img] [img]redface.gif[/img] [img]wink.gif[/img]

Great post, mat.

The really scary thing is, Some of the stuff I've heard Weckl play in clinics are more frightful than his recorded stuff...then again, since much of the rec'd stuff is frightful in & of itself ;c), let me just say that I've heard uncanny stuff out of him at clinics that didn't strike me as the "usual" Weckl "thing" or "bag" that pervades the recordings...like really scaawwy b*lls-out off-the-cuff fusion rock stuff. No, REALLY. More so than all his recordings, you say? Dare I say, "yes"...& that's not an easy thing to do... ;c) The guy is just a ridic muso - SO musical it isn't even funny, even when he's performing his drumtastic aerobatics...a connsumate pro, & the "Master of his Domain"... ;cp

Virg also. You can tell he was a bad-arse back on some of the late 80s/early 90s stuff that I've heard him on, but you can also hear a significantly bad-a** improvement in the yrs since then...hard to believe. The Practice Regimen Specimen, for shore.

And once again, fuhgitabowd Vinnie AW. He's just always long been a sick, sick individual.

I know that it's "only drumming," & that there's more import things in life to consider, but...I sometimes find that these are but a handful of the guys who help me get out of bed in the morning... [img]cool.gif[/img] ;c)

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 17, 2005 01:15 PM: Message edited by: got_a_matchgrip? ]</font>

[Rhythmatist]

Seems like there's two kinds out there that amaze the masses. 1- the "born sick and will only get sicker with age." Ya got yer Vincenzos, Anthony's and Buddy's in that category. 2- the "born with extreme talent but continue to find new ways to play." The reinventers I call them; like DW, Ersko and S. Smith.

I know I'll never play like any of these guys no matter how much 'shedding I did, but I have a lot of fun taking what I can from all of them and making it a part of me and what I do. Their inspiration is what keeps me doing this when others my age have long given up.

[Vdrummer]

Nothing about what Weckl said surprises me. I mean no one is born great. It's nice to hear that they had to struggle and work hard to get better, because we need to know we're not alone in that and are not just struggling against our innate inadequacies.

I think most people who believe they could never attain a similar level as someone else, that that belief is unrealistic and is unattainable - will never get there primarily because of their attitude - which is essentially fatalistic, lazy, isn't goal-oriented, or geared toward problem solving. If you can identify what you like about your favorite drummers, you can do what Vinnie did, transcribe them, study them, absorb them, respect them, respect your own ideas, and the great ideas of your teachers, find your weaknesses and fix them until they are strengths, work your rudiments, interdependence, learn a hundred great grooves, master reading skills, seek new challenges, etc. It ain't rocket science, it's skill development, musicality, the courage to honestly assess your abilities, incredible dedication, long hours and the maturity to restrain yourself from displaying your new skills when its not appropriate along with a healthy love of music. That's why it's great to hear Weckl, Vinnie, etc admit to the incredible hard work they put in. Some are naturals Tony, Buddy, and are awesome when very young, others (like Virgil) took years and years of work to develop into great players.

So I suppose the moral here is that there's always the opportunity for growth for those who wish to take it.

[XNavyDrummer]

Yeah, but the writer for Tony's last interview discussed how hard he worked studying with Alan Dawson as a kid. Also, he quoted Miles as saying that Tony told Miles that he (Miles) should be practicing more. Natural...yeah...but with a lot of work!

[Suspiria]

Originally posted by Vdrummer:
If you can identify what you like about your favorite drummers, you can do what Vinnie did, transcribe them, study them, absorb them, respect them, respect your own ideas, and the great ideas of your teachers, find your weaknesses and fix them until they are strengths, work your rudiments, interdependence, learn a hundred great grooves, master reading skills, seek new challenges, etc. It ain't rocket science, it's skill development, musicality, the courage to honestly assess your abilities, incredible dedication, long hours and the maturity to restrain yourself from displaying your new skills when its not appropriate along with a healthy love of music. That's why it's great to hear Weckl, Vinnie, etc admit to the incredible hard work they put in.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Those are some very true words, couldn't have said it better myself [img]wink.gif[/img] Truly inspiring.

[ashio nz]

Indeed, talent is like a diamond in the rough. You need to polish/work at it for it to be meaningful.

Being 'born' with an ability to do something is great but it's up to the individual to develop it!

[cjbdrm]

Great post VDrummer!

[Vdrummer]

Thanks cjbdrm. I've always been an optimist!

I truly admire a ton of drummers, and as goofy as this sounds, try to learn something new everyday. That's probably why I've written over two thousand Finale files!

Here's something I figured out on my drive to work today while listening to the previous Porcupine Tree release. It's from the tune "The Sound of Muzak" off of In Absentia. I played it about 10 times until I figured it out (if only my car CD play had a half-speed setting!) Gavin Harrison plays a killer Weckl-ish fill going into the last chorus. I'll leave this up for a few days. Enjoy!

http://homepage.mac.com/polyostinato/ [img]smile.gif[/img]

If you guys don't have In Absentia or the new one, Deadwing - pick them up. There is some stellar groove playing on them, as well as some killer odd time and double-bass stuff, and a bunch of good songs. Check out the upcoming issue of Drum! for my transcriptions of Deadwing.