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In this day and age of super drumkits, double bass drums, double pedals and multiple toms, have you ever seen a drummer who gets by with just a snare, bass drum, single pedal and hi-hat and makes the band groove to its fullest?
I've seen guys like JoJo Mayer, Steve Smith do it and the result is amazing ! In a "live" setting, who have you seen that can back any size band with only this basic drumkit ?
And I know that many European drummers can excel with these kits !
Well their's guys like Erik Tribbett and Brian Frasier-Moore that use single pedals but stil have a decent amout of toms tho. They can lay down some hott stuff.
a friend of mine in Greenwich village plays with that kind of kit all the time,any gigs.and the guy has pocket.
BTW,his name's Guy.Guyocious for friends.
Guy Febbraio for those who hang out at the"bitter end","red lion" ,"zinc bar" and all the other great joints in this area.you probably saw that cat..
Drumaddix,
Is this the guy ?
Ferocious Guyocious, drums
Guy studied music @ the early age of 4 under the guidance of is dad, who was a professional musician. Guy played piano until switching to the drums @ the age of 11. But his real education came right after high school when he was introduced to the world of FUNK by the man who was the first to fuse ROCK + FUNK together. His name was SLY STONE ! Guy played in Sly's band in 19984 and the experience is still fresh in his mind. Before a show once, Guy vividly remembers Sly telling him in the dressing room, "I have one word for you: "DYNAMICS" ! Now with the recent surge of Rock+Funk music, Guy has been a busy man in the NYC scene, playing with acts such as: MILO Z, MUSCLE FUNK, DAY'S OF WILD, AND AF THE KING. Actually, it was at a Muscle Funk show @ the Bitter End in NYC that Jessie first saw Guy play, and after giving a rave review to Jimmy and Keith.......the rest is HISTORY!!
[img]eek.gif[/img]
THAT's HIM!!!
That's my man!!!
Groovissimo:where did you find that bio?
speaking of SLy Stone,a keyboardist friend of mine from France is now in Nyc and he plays with Guy'o in Days of wild.that friend was in France just a week ago and we played together with a great singer fro the"bleecker street crew":Tanya michelle.she's my sis' and now she lives in Paris [img]biggrin.gif[/img] .she plays with Guy when she's inNYC.
so my keyboardist friend showed me some nice pics from his last gig with days'o...guess what??
part of the original sly stone band was there.greg d'errico ,sly' sister on vocals,aaron neville on kbs.it was just unbelievable.Guy had a 10 year old kid look in his eyes the whole night through.
they got to jam altogether,greg d'errico sat in and Guy had like the best time of his life and turned into a real m.c that night.giving shout out to this historical band that has been his model for ever.
don't know if i told that story well.i'm getting excited myself thinking how amazing and incredible this must have been,being on stage with those heroes of modern music.
man,i wish i was there with my friend.i can't believe it has actually happened to him.
that's the way it goes in NYC!!!
got some other cool stories that have happened during my stay there 2 years ago.
but that's another story...
BTW Groovissimo,do you know ferocious Guyocious?
[img]eek.gif[/img]
Drumaddix,
No, I don't know him, but I heard about his drumming style with the band you can find on the following site:
http://webtunes.com/artist/c/corkyfreak.cfm
Groovissimo, Montreal, Canada
?uestlove from the Roots
Co-sign on ?uestlove. Very minimal amount of equipment, but the stuff he lays down is AMAZING. I adore what he plays. Anything by The Roots, D'Angelo, Philadelphia Experiment, all brilliant playing. Outstanding musician.
Anyone ever catch "Questlove" on the Dave Chappelle Show, Comedy Central? [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
yes, i saw ?uestlove on chapelles show. John Mayer was also on tha episode.
Another guy that burns with a small kit is a friend of mine from chicago, his name is Greg Sergo.
dave dicenso played with two ton shoe with only a bass drum, snare, hihat and a crash/ride cymbal. he sounded fuller than terry bozzio. he plays a MEAN solo with that kit too.
dave on his 2 piece.
I'm sure all these guys mentioned burn on the drums, but how much can you do on 2 drums?? You've got a low frequency and one kinda high frequency.
I was watching the DVD that had alot of the great Jazz drummers of yesteryear. Alot of Buddy on this DVD. All of the solos are phenominal, but there again, because of a limited amount of tom selection, it all sounded kinda the same. Tightly tuned Jazz toms kinda sound the same as the snare almost. I mean you could play all of the double stroke and single stroke rudiments on the snare, and they all sounded like a continuous single stroke rolls (except for the flams of course). But a trained drummer could hear/see the difference. But if those same licks would have been distributed on a few differently tuned, deeper sounding toms, it would have sounded much more complex, like there was more there it listen too?? Know whaddi mean??
All the power to these 2/3/4 piece kit players. I know these guys probably sound like 2 of me on a 5 piece, but I'll always stick to at least a 5 piece when I play.
ps..... I don't think I've ever seen Vinne play on anything less than a 5 piece?? Has anybody else??
?uestlove for sure (although I think he has a floor tom too). Peter Erskine and Ari Hoenig too.
Guys, I gotta say this...most if not all the guys we respect & talk about all the time in here could make music on that small of a kit...Weckl, Vinnie, Erskine, Novak, Kennedy, Omar, Gadd, on & on...
It's just that, adding the tonal colors of melodic toms just gives the ear more interesting things to latch onto, so that it doesn't all sound "the same" [or, limited to the lesser sound sources, really], as was said above...
I agree...drums would be boring w/out all the options available...if everyone played a Buddy or Beatles kit it would be ridiculous...BUT, we should all be able to do what we can w just hats, sn, kick, cym if we had to. Add a tom [or 2-6], some perc [a la Weckl, Horacio], &/or some "specialty cymbals" [can anyone say, "Bozzio?!"], & ya gots a little more of da 'sonic magic'... [img]wink.gif[/img]
I loves me my tom-toms...& my splashes, specialty crashes, chinas, cup-chimes / bells [& whistles]...;c)
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 29, 2004 02:12 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
Regarding WecklsMechanic's question, I did see Vinnie once play a 4 piece bebop kit at a local restaurant.
Hi Guys,
I like this Guy named Ramy Antoun, he's playing with Seal, he's a very talented pocketplayer.
He just need a kick, a snare and a hi-hat.
Philip "Fish" Fisher do it too, he use a 18" bass drum, (he using this kit with Timberlake's shows, Fishbone in the past and Weapon Of Choice), 10" rack tom and 14" floor tom.
Peace.
PS : Steve Smith and groove, I really don't think so...
In a post on a topic on Drum-offs just last week, HOD member cjbdrum had a great idea, even though the value of contests is up for grabs, this is what he said:
"I think a cool contest would be one where the drumset consisted of just a kick(single pedal only), snare, hi-hat, ride cymbal. That would force everyone to be more creative, I think."
... signed cjbdrum
Well, you can see what he is saying. Have contestants all play with this reduced set-up, and you will see what separates the real talent from the "know-it-alls !"
Anthony Cole who plays here in town with Sam Rivers continually blows my mind with what he plays on his minimal set-up. Every time I see him play I leave thinking "Why do I even bother with toms and cymbals?"
Both times I saw Vinnie with Randy Waldman he was on a four piece. There were also pics on the net of that gig he did in Germany? last year on his four piece with Aydin Esen.
Tony Albino from Montreal is a busy up and coming drummer who plays a very basic setup and makes it GROOVE!
Here's his bio from the Montreal Drumfest site at which he will play next month:
Tony Albino
The Groove: Lost & Found
In his workaday life, gracing the studios and stages of Quebec and the rest of the world, Tony Albino is arguably one of the more radical drummers out there. At this year’s Montreal Drum Fest, you’re going to discover why. A hint or two: For one thing, he plays it simple. How simple?
Even for a television gig on camera, Tony brings but a bass drum, snare drum, floor tom, and a couple of cymbals. Why? Well, as it turns out, a few years ago in his pursuit of chops, Tony was losing his way. As he puts it, “I was reaching the point where the clarity, the focus, wasn’t there. So I started taking things away until I could feel the groove.” Although he calls himself “lucky” to be playing in the upper echelons, it’s undeniably the groove that keeps Albino working with big Quebec names such as Arianne Moffat (a rising star on Audiogram), Alain Caron, Yannick Rieu, Kid Koala, Sky, Mitsou, Alain Vinet, and the television show, Belle et Bum.
A major influence on Tony’s thinking and playing was the late Carlos Vega, who turned in exquisite tracks for James Taylor—and hundreds of others. Says Tony, “I always try to get some
of Carlos in there.”
When Tony appears with a band comprised of musical friends at the Montreal Drum Fest, it’s going to groove big time. But we’re not talking about basic backbeats. For Tony Albino, a lot more goes into creating groove. “You can’t play groove without technique,” emphasizes Tony. “Otherwise, you get lost.” We’re lucky we’ve found Tony to provide the pulse for the Montreal Drum Fest 2004.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've never seen Vinnie play on anything but the 2 rack/ 2 floor config, except some really old Zappa footage. Would love to see those pics. Have a link Derek? Thanks.Quote:
Originally posted by Derek DeFields:
Both times I saw Vinnie with Randy Waldman he was on a four piece. There were also pics on the net of that gig he did in Germany? last year on his four piece with Aydin Esen.
I wanna bring it back to Guyocious. I grew up with Guy in the late 70's. I knew about his dad's Music School...highly respected in Westchester County. I even knew that he was a drummer, but never had the opportunity to here him play.
Well!
I saw him and his group, Yazmin at a private party on Saturday. Bass, Snare, Hi-Hat, Crash, Cow-Bell & 2 Stix!! What an awsome sound he created with just those pieces.
Bass Guitar, Lead Acoustic, back-up guitar, Keyboard, Drums(tempted to say DRUM - singular), Trombone & Vocals.
They rocked the house all night long, 5+hours, No rest, jumpin the entire time. And the range of music from gypsy fusion to funk to old rock .... you name it, they played it. Literally!!! I know, cause I had to feed them music for "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison and "The Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)" by Green Day. They learned it in two weeks and played it impeccably.
Hats off to Guy and his Gang...Whatta Ride!!!!!!!
I used to play with a band doing blues/rock stuff and I used to use a small kit with them and it was a LOT of fun. I had a bass drum (single pedal) with a ride cymbal mounted right in the tom-tom holder, snare, hi-hat, and floor tom.
Yeah I quite often use just kick and snare for gigs and i love it! When you think about it, even on a full kit, it's kick and snare you're using the vast majority of the time.
Last week I did a jazz gig with a singer and the stage just wasn't big enough to fit my BD, so I ditched it!
The reuslt was a really pleasant gig. My comping instantly changed and it forces you to think about things in a different way - being creative and adapting.
Having said that, I'm glad it wasn't a pop gig! [img]wink.gif[/img]
Posted before, take a look at Montreal's Tony Albino soloing on a small kit, no toms, etc ! Just click on:
http://www.alaincaron.com/eng/leclub.htm
And then on drum solo.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, he's got a floor tom that you can't see, but you definitely see him playing it. Regardless, he's playing some really great stuff.Quote:
Originally posted by Groovissimo:
Posted before, take a look at Montreal's Tony Albino soloing on a small kit, no toms, etc!
There is a cat in Chicago, anyone from the area will know him...Steve Gillis
He plays quite often on a three piece and the guy is an absolute monster! He did Filter's last album and tour, but his best stuff is with the jazz/funk/fusion groups in Chi-Town...
I've recently started doing some gigs with a Celtic/Blues fiddle player where it's just the two of us and a guitarist. The big kit just isn't practical given the small spaces we have to play in so I've been going in with K, S, HH, Ride, Crash and one splash. After the first gig I realized that someexpansion of the kit was required as the bottom will tend to drop out during guitar solos, so the double pedal was a necessity. The 6/8 and 9/8 Celtic things were also screaming for some variety so one night I dragged in my bongos and Compact Conga along with some cowbells and melded some different cultural things together. It can be a very challenging gig having three guitar players alternating nights, each bringing a completely different sylistic thing to the table, as well as the occasional night where there's room for a bass player. So, I end up adapting not only my playing but my kit as well to the situation I will face on a given night.
I agree with Weckl's Mechanic though, as far as having choices available to me. I like having the big kit around so that when I hear a sound in a particular place I have it at my disposal. This doesn't mean I hit everything in sight on every tune though. Even with the arsenal in front of me there are times when the music dictates that I only play Kick, Snare Hi-Hat throughout the entire tune. I will often orchestrate a part around limited voices on the kit to fit the song. I might, say, only play a four-piece drums and select crash cymbal with the conga. Or, I might use a shaker in my right hand, the bongos and conga in the left with kick and a blast block on the Gajate pedal. And, yes there are those times when hitting everything in sight is the only appropriate choice. What does the music dictate? That is the determining factor.
It can be healthy for your creativity to take out a minimal kit from time to time. What do we all do after the first couple tunes? We try to extract different sounds from the few things we have available to us. We start to use brushes, rods mallets, hands, play on rims, throw off the snares, put chains on cymbals, use sticks on the bass drum, play the hi-hat stand; anything to stretch the sonic palet. When you get back on the expanded kit you'll have even more possibilities. In college we would challenge each other to find as many sounds from one instrument as we could in a given amount of time. We would use these sounds in avant garde compositions and improvisations (it was amazing to hear all the different sounds one can make with a cymbal).
There was yet one more guy in Chicago who always played a minimal kit. His name escapes me at the moment, but he used to play with a jazz group called "Ears; Music of All Eras." He could tear it up on all kinds of styles with that little kit. He was born with a deformity of his left hand that he overcame to develop an incredible technique that was the envy of the town back in the 70's and 80's. Any Chicago HODers remember him? I think he still plays around town although I haven't seen him in a few years.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah...you'd be hard-pressed to do a pop [or rock!] gig w/out a BD! [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]Quote:
Originally posted by Dazzler:
Last week I did a jazz gig with a singer and the stage just wasn't big enough to fit my BD, so I ditched it!
The reuslt was a really pleasant gig. My comping instantly changed and it forces you to think about things in a different way - being creative and adapting.
Having said that, I'm glad it wasn't a pop gig! [img]wink.gif[/img]
I rem having to do a couple of gigs like that...so, I built a little mount stand out of wood & carpet for my 14x14" FT so that I could lay it on it's side for use as a small BD if necessary...& also had only sn, HH, & 1 smaller cym for crashes/ride. No toms. You do have to think a little differently & adapt accordingly, no doubt.
But I've never had to play w/o a BD! It can be done, I'm sure. Different thinking & adapting for sure.
You did it!
I'll bet it was very complimentary. Lots of softer jazz vocal ballads, then? [img]wink.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 30, 2005 01:48 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>
Anyone considered using a Cajon for the small gigs? They're pretty versatile and prooves to have many nuances that you can incoorperate into some tasty grooves.
When i'm doing Cafe-Gigs, i usually end up playing mostly on the Cajon even though i also have the set with me.
But if you're gonna do some Jazz'ish, nothing is better than stick out and show'em your Brushwork [img]smile.gif[/img]
At a church I was playing at (contemporary/pop styles) they were replacing their electronic drums with acoustic drums, so while they were in between kits I used just a snare drum. It was really fun and makes you think a lot more. It turned out to be some of the best music we played.
Nice.
& oh yes, I'll bet Dazzer did indeed predominantly "bust a brush or two" on their hapless arses... /;cP
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 30, 2005 02:36 PM: Message edited by: fuseU1 ]</font>
i Saw Franz Ferdinand play the other day and their drummer just played with Bass and Snare.....sounded good too.