Table of contents for Issue 296 in Rhythm

‘Stargazer’ Rainbow – Rising (1976) Drummer: Cozy Powell “It blew my mind. I actually borrowed my next-door neighbour’s record, he lent it to me. First of all, you look at the front cover with the big rainbow and fist, wow, it just catches you. Then I flip it around and see this guy with this big Ludwig kit. This guy looks cool, man. Cozy had the look. Once that track kicked in, that drum intro just blew my mind. It’s so powerful and explosive, it’s like a freight train coming through and everything he does in that song is so tasty. Every fill, every lick, it’s a perfect song to me. “When I was in school I actually did an essay on the song ‘Stargazer’ for my class assignment, about…

So you know you want to be a professional drummer, but what skills do you need to get there? Here are my three essential skills, that will make your foundations strong coming into the professional world of drumming. 1. Know your ‘language’ This is applicable for all instrumentalists because, at the end of the day, it’s how we express ourselves. This means getting your rudiments nailed, as well as exploring lots of different grooves and styles of playing. Hone it by… Getting into a daily practice routine of playing different rudiments to a click around the kit, with different accents, feels, and at different tempos. You’ll know you’re in a good place… When you can hear something in your head and play it, without thinking about the sticking, voicing, or…

So, you want to get good? Really good? Great even? It’s a new decade and what better way to start than with a firm commitment to being the best you can be and five vital steps from one of the country’s leading drum tutors, Adam Bushell. So, next question: where to start? It may at first seem blindingly obvious that to get good at drumming, extra hours practising is the way to do it. However, there’s so much more to being a great musician than the pursuit of technical proficiency and for we drummers, the butt of musician-based jokes, there is an even greater need to look beyond hours spent in the practice room... 1 LISTEN TO THE MUSIC As the Doobie Brothers famously once said, “(Woah) listen to the…

“When I was a kid I used to listen to a lot of my brother’s music – from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to Motown. The first music I discovered that I really felt was my own though, was the mid-’70s Stevie Wonder records – and they are still my favourites now. I felt like I learned so much about life from them and, for me, it has always been more about being moved by the music I’m listening to, rarely just the drums. Music is subjective but be open to growing as a musician by exposing yourself to as many different styles as possible, and really immerse yourself in them. Listening forms you as a musician, and all the music I’ve listened to over the years hopefully allows…

“It was like sitting on an atom bomb,” said tenor sax player Johnny Griffin when jazz drummer Arthur Taylor asked him what it was like playing with Art Blakey for his book Notes And Tones. “That was a fantastic experience because Bu [Blakey’s nickname] is so strong with his thing. Oh, man, explosions!” It’s hard to overstate Blakey’s importance to drumming and jazz. Leading the Jazz Messengers, he defined what became known as hard bop. “His drive and his sound, his command of the music, his innovation, the way that he played the time, the way he played with the time and juxtaposed the time, the way he pushed the soloists, the way he swung so incredibly and made the music have such an amazing feel, and yet at the…

“WELL, THAT 20" BASS DRUM IS A MERE SIX INCHES FRONT TO BACK, YEP, THAT’S SHALLOWER THAN MANY PEOPLES’ MAIN SNARE DRUM.” PRICE: Kit £695 Snare £395 As many regular gigs become smaller, so the appetite for agile, compact set-ups has grown over the last few years. There’s definitely no shortage of mini-kits available on the market, with every major brand presenting what they believe to be the solution for drummers who want a setup that is quick to load in and won’t take over on a cramped stage. We’ve looked at many different propositions in this area, from Ludwig’s hugely successful Questlove Breakbeats to PDP’s New Yorker, Yamaha’s Manu Katché Hip Gig Jr, and many others. These all have one thing in common, though – they aim to reduce…

PRICES: Snare stand £99 Boom stand £89 Hi-hat stand £109 Single pedal £99 Double pedal £235 Since launching its first drum kit lines in 2010, Natal has forged a solid reputation as purveyors of well-built and equally well-priced drum gear. Alongside a wealth of products including the popular Originals and Cafe Racer series, the UK based company (part of the legendary Marshall Amplification brand) has also produced its own hardware for a number of years. The flagship Pro-Series is Natal’s top-end offering. The range includes a boom cymbal stand, snare stand, hi-hat stand and single or double bass drum pedals. All stands are double braced and decidedly heavy-duty. In a smattering of upgrades across the board, the cymbal stand has been treated to a new smoother tilter which is a…

PRICE: €299 (£254) Many of us are used to using smartphone apps with in-ears for this purpose, so is there a place for the Soundbrenner to occupy a niche of the market? The Soundbrenner Core’s USP is the wearable nature of receiving this vibrating metronomic sensation. It can be worn around the wrist, arm or even chest. Build quality is rugged and finished to a high standard, looking sleek and modern – a step up from the first generation Soundbrenner Pulse. The aesthetic is still no rival for high-end smartwatch brands however, having more of a sports watch look than office wear. In use, it emits a powerful short burst of vibration which is distinctly more noticeable than your phone vibration alert going off. Functions are easy to use and…

Welcome to another Getting Started lesson, this month we’re looking at an introduction to playing Latin rhythms. There is a huge variation of wonderful rhythms in this genre, and it can get pretty difficult, so it’s important to find a good place to get in. I think that the idea of the clave rhythm is a great place to start. Most Latin rhythms have this clave rhythm as a basis, so it’s very important to understand how this works. Example 1 In Example 1, I am using the ‘cross-stick’ effect on the snare to play a two-bar figure with three notes in the first bar and two notes in the second bar. This is known as ‘3/2’. Example 1 also shows the common variation on this rhythm, by swapping the…

Utilising just the snare, kick and hi-hat this month, I am going to show you neat ways to texturise your grooves with some groove-type fills. The common thread throughout the three examples is that the backbeat will be retained through the fill so as not to neglect the groove. Example 1, for instance, starts with one bar of groove with a syncopated hi-hat feel then the fill in bar two is unleashed with a storm of 32nd notes played between the hi-hat and cross-stick/snare with fast doubles played on the kick. Example 2 keeps the feel and tempo the same but the fill is simply an inverted paradiddle played in 32nd notes and between the hi-hat and snare. You’ll notice that the backbeats are played on the snare with the…

Most funk drumming is based around the three voices of kick, snare and hats. ‘Cissy Strut’ is no exception. However, it also features a broken 16th note hi-hat pattern, in so much as it’s neither playing eighth or 16th notes. And upon listening to the track one might assume that the right hand is playing the hi-hat and the left the snare. But drummer Zigaboo Modeliste actually plays it open-handed, so breaking up the broken 16th notes between the hands resulting in quite a different feel. Another aspect of the track’s sound is the degree of swing. In other words, where the feel falls between being completely straight or swung. And ‘Cissy Strut’ lies in the funky, swampy area lying somewhere between the two, a feel that’s clearly a fundamental…

David West “I still remember my first assignment for Rhythm some 16 years ago, heading out to interview Andy Strachan from The Living End armed with a handheld tape recorder and a notepad. Too many interviews to count later, I’ve met my heroes, like Steve Gadd and Zigaboo Modeliste, and even faced the withering gaze of Ginger Baker and lived to tell the tale. I’m thrilled that Rhythm is now back in action!” What was your first gig? “My first gig was in school assembly. I dropped a stick and didn’t have a spare, so had to scramble around in the middle of a song. Lesson learned.” Andy Hughes Andy Hughes has been a professional freelance music writer for more than 35 years. He has contributed to over 100 international…

“…THEY REALLY KNEW HOW TO HIT THE DRUM SO YOU GET A GOOD SOUND.” Human. :||: Nature marks Kai Hahto’s first album as a fully-fledged member of Nightwish, the reigning champions of symphonic metal. When not touring or recording, Hahto is a busy drum teacher, passing on the skills he learned after spending a summer in New York studying with Freddie Gruber and Joe Morello. “They didn’t understand about metal music,” he says, “but they really knew how to hit the drum so you get a good sound.” Nightwish has such a diverse style from folk instruments to symphonic metal. How do you achieve a drum sound that covers it all? “It’s like intuition. I really want the toms to resonate. I like Simon Phillips’ drum sound, even though he…

“I grew up listening to my parents’ music, which was jazz and funk and Miles Davis from my dad, and The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison from my mum. As a teenager I got into rock, Incubus, System Of A Down, Queens Of The Stone Age, and in my twenties I went into hip hop and soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy and so on. You learn styles by listening, and then you learn to put your own personal stamp and sound on those styles. John Bonham was the player who made me want to be a drummer. The thing is, any drum teacher will tell you about listening to as much varied music as you can, but it’s something that is easy to ignore. You listen to…

You simply can’t have failed to notice the explosion in the world of percussion that has happened in the last decade. Unless you’ve been living on Mars, of course, but even then we reckon a cajon or two must have made it that far into deep space. The rapidly-growing availability of percussive treats has allowed kit players to experiment with some stripped-back sounds via that aforementioned cajon or maybe a shaker or two. However, the role of the dedicated percussionist has remained a position steeped in supreme ability, vast musical knowledge and an innate ability to pick parts to not just stay out of the way of the singer, guitarist, keys player (the list goes on) but also to make sure their rhythms perfectly complement the kit player. Sometimes the…

Taking centre stage this issue is the Micro Kit II from USA custom builders, Spaun Drum Co. Despite a relatively run-of-the-mill 20", 12" and 14" configuration, it’s the fact that each shell in this setup is a mere 6" deep that piques our interest – yes that’s a 20"x6" bass drum! Long-standing review writer and former Rhythm editor Stuart Williams took the Micro Kit for a spin along with a selection of Ancient Art Series cymbals from Turkish cymbal-smiths, Symrna. Elsewhere, Mark Whitlam considers a chiropractic consultation after spending some time with the monumentally weighty VKast Bronze Snare from VK Drums. This hulking piece of metal has a 5mm brass shell with matching cast bronze hoops, contributing to a weight of over 20lbs! If accessories are more your bag, we…

Q. The Micro Kit IIs take a slightly different approach to others – the diameters are more traditional with depths giving the reduction in footprint – what was the design thinking behind this? “My idea was to create a small portable set with a big, full sound. I designed the Micro Kit II with the idea of stacking all the shells into a single bass drum case for portability.” Q. The bass drum, in particular, is very shallow, is it a misconception that greater depth equals a more ‘cannonlike’ sound when it comes to kicks? “The easiest way to describe depths of drums and how they affect the sound is “longer shells produce longer notes”. The main pitch of the drum is primarily determined by its diameter. The idea that…

PRICE: £TBC From finely-crafted gaffer tape fins to mass-enhancing full-face mufflers like the Big Fat snare drum and even to opinion-splitting uneven tuning techniques, the era of dampening is well and truly upon us (again). It’s certainly not a new thing, with companies including internal mufflers and felt on their kits 60 years ago, but it seems that when it comes to overtones in 2020, the objective for many is total elimination. Remo isn’t new to this game either, with products such as the CS Dot having been a feature in its line-up for decades. Then there are the bespoke products: RemOs (the company’s version of a mylar studio ring), Dave Weckl’s external head dampener, right up to last year’s Sub Muff’l bass drum heads. New for NAMM from Remo…

Welcome to Beats Working this issue where the familiar trio of Colin Woolway, Erik Stams and myself are delving into the world of Latin rhythms, looking at mambo, songo and mozambique, respectively. Next, in ‘Four-Piece Fills’ Jason Bowld explores some 32nd note groove fill ideas, while in ‘Percussion Toolbox’, all-round percussion guru Pete Lockett brings us part two of the rhythmic possibilities of the humble shaker. In ‘So, You Want To Play Hybrid’ Tom Bradley turns his attention to triggering sub drops, while in his ‘drum lesson without picking up the sticks’ Mike Sturgis looks at practising and our reasons for doing it. And finally, our play-along tracks include The Meters’ classic ‘Cissy Strut’ and the eight-minute Rainbow epic ‘Stargazer’. Here you’ll find both pieces broken down, with key elements…

Songo is one of the few Afro-Cuban rhythms created specifically for the drum kit. The Cuban percussionist Changuito (José Luis Quintana) developed the songo while playing in Los Van Van in the ’70s. These patterns have their roots in timbale patterns and there are many variations. For the purposes of this lesson, we will simply focus on one. The first thing to identify when playing Afro-Cuban music is the clave pattern. The clave pattern is literally the rhythmic ‘key’ to the music. Songo is usually played in 2-3 rumba clave, with two beats in the first bar and three beats in the second. ‘Rumba’ indicates that the third beat of the ‘3’ side of the clave is displaced to the ‘&’ of beat four. This creates a more syncopated effect.…

This time we will continue our look at the basics of the percussionist’s indispensable shaker. We are focussing on the modern ‘cylindrical shaker,’ which is most often found in pop and rock music the world over. It provides a steady rhythmic bedrock which often serves the function of bonding elements of a groove together, sometimes with an ‘invisible’ profile. It’s one of those things you don’t notice so prominently as a listener but when you take it out of a mix you really see the impact it has. More often than not, in pop and rock, the shaker will play regular and continuous 16th or eighth-note patterns. However, when you travel the musical world and hear other shakers such as caxixi, maracas, ganzá and shekere, etc, you hear a much…

It’s the event that has given a leg-up to some of the drum world’s brightest talents and early in 2020 the Young Drummer of the Year crowned a new winner thanks to the blistering skills of Ebenezer Sendey. Ebenezer triumphed in a ridiculously-talented field of 10 top drummers aged 16 and under at Bromsgrove’s Artrix Theatre. Discussing the winner, show founder Mike Dolbear said: “I think the overall standard of the entries is getting higher but the top 10 has always been a very high standard. Ebenezer has been in the final before. He comes from a church background and he’s used to playing in front of people and playing music he’s not familiar with.” But, while Ebenezer was crowned as a worthy winner, X Factor on Drums this very…

Meat and Potatoes From the Atomic Clock? Where did Testament record Titans Of Creation? “We recorded the drums at the same place we did the last album, Juan Urteaga’s Trident Studios. Juan is great. He’s worked with Machine Head and Night Ranger, a whole bunch of Bay Area bands. On this record, I just cleared my schedule for the writing, so Eric [Peterson, guitarist] and I got together a bunch of times over about a six-month period, I’d fly up to Sacramento from San Diego and we’d start working on songs, so I was part of the sessions from the get-go. That made my recording performance feel natural. Eric always has a very definite vision for what he wants the drums to sound like, that’s why my drums for Testament…

COPELAND GETS ARTY Stewart Copeland is the latest A-list sticksman to join forces with SceneFour for an illuminating art project. Rather than paintbrushes, Copeland used technology to capture the movement of his drumsticks to create the ten pieces in his What Is Art? collection. SceneFour has previously worked with the likes of Cindy Blackman Santana, José Pasillas, Chad Smith and Carl Palmer. GAVIN GIVES Gavin Harrison has raised thousands of pounds for charity by auctioning off one of his stunning Sonor kits. The prog maestro’s Sonor Designer kit was sold off to aid the MS Society UK. The lucky winning bidder shelled out £8,100. Explaining his rationale for selling the kit, Gavin said: “I’m going to auction off this beautiful Sonor drum set, with their blessing for the charity Multiple…

One of the strangest interludes in drumset history occurred during the Second World War as a result of the USA War Production Board’s ‘Controlled Materials Plan’. This stipulated that no more than 10 percent weight of ‘critical materials’ could be used in the manufacture of non-essential items. As explained by W. F. Ludwig himself (in ‘The Ludwig Book’, by Rob Cook), Directive L-37 limited the use of critical materials to 10 percent by weight of the instrument. This largely meant metals, and at first that seemed to spell the suspension of drum production. But Ludwig’s chief engineer, Cecil Strupe, quickly redesigned Ludwig’s drums to accommodate this. The result was kits like the Ludwig Victory, seen here, with its oversized toy drum appearance. The kit belongs to Alan ‘Sticky’ Wicket, who…

“I started playing ‘She Loves You’, and I just loved the groove of it when I heard it, so I learned it. Ringo looked like a guy with cool hair having so much fun! Your ears are the most important tool you have when you start learning to play the drums. You have to understand what players put in, and what they leave out, and why, that’s the first and most important thing you have to do as a drummer. It’s no good listening to one style, unless you want to be a one-style player. These days, you need to be versatile, because the opportunities that are going to come your way are going to be from different styles of bands, and it’s no use waiting for the one band…

“…IT FEELS SOFT UNDER OUR STICK AND THE RESULTING DARK ‘PING’ BLOOMS INTO A WASH…” PRICES: 14" hi-hats £235 15" hi-hats £255 17" crash £165 19" crash £195 22" ride £275 One thing that a quick walk around the NAMM Show drum hall will confirm is that cymbal production is certainly not limited to the Big Four. While these brands dominate and (let’s be honest) have product lines so extensive that between them you will be extremely hard pushed not to find something that suits your playing, choice has never been so abundant across the gear board. When it comes to cymbals, this is as important, or maybe more-so than with the rest of the parts of our kits. Drums can be dialled-in, heads changed for a different sound, muffling…

PRICE: £2,499 Alan Van Kleef is a world-renowned, UK-based drum builder who specialises in metal materials. This offering, which is part of the VKast range, is a 5mm thick, cast bronze 14"x6½" beauty, with matching cast bronze hoops and 45-degree bearing edges. It is a beastly weight at nearly 20kg so a double-braced snare stand is a must here! As you’d expect from bronze, it has a fairly bright tone, however we’re pleasantly surprised as to how focussed the sound is, and that it’s in no way overpowering. This changes rapidly when rimshots are added into the mix. The cast hoops have some serious mass to them and really elevate the volume and pitch dramatically. It’s no surprise that artists such as Danny Carey and John Tempesta are VKast snare…

The Afro-Cuban mozambique rhythm features a unique syncopation which not only makes for a funky Latin feel (just check out Steve Gadd on the Buddy Rich memorial solo with Dave Weckl and Vinnie Colaiuta) but it can also be used as a rhythmic phrase that can be moved around the kit. Example 1 shows the essence of the mozambique rhythm. This is the bell pattern traditionally played in the right hand. A useful first step with this is to start filling in the missing eighth notes in the left hand. Next, in Example 2 the accents from Example 1 are orchestrated on the kit using a six-stroke roll phrasing approach. In Example 3, the bass drum gets involved and plays what could be regarded as the ‘pick-up’ notes into the…

So far in this introduction to hybrid drumming, we have incorporated electronic pads and acoustic drum triggers into our setup. In this session, we won’t add any new hardware but instead refine the physical response of our e-drum gear by delving into the module settings. The sensitivity settings dictate how hard a pad or trigger needs to be struck to achieve the desired dynamic response. The number of velocity layers will vary depending on how capable the module is but generally, the default setting requires a forceful strike to coax out the top (loudest) layer. Changing the numerical value of the sensitivity allows the response to be tailored for individual playing styles. Usually, the higher the number, the more sensitive the pad will become. Threshold sets the minimum velocity level…

Previous members of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow look like a Who’s Who of classic rock musicians but it could be argued that the line-up of 1976’s Rising album was its zenith. With Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Cozy Powell on drums it was a unique time in the band’s history and one which resulted in possibly their most epic track, ‘Stargazer’. At over eight minutes long and accompanied by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the track features an Egyptian theme and builds in intensity right from Cozy’s thunderous four-bar drum intro. And Cozy’s on top form here. There’s an undeniable John Bonham element to his time playing and bass drum patterns but there’s also a heavier overall sound, like with the way he lays into the ride cymbal, similar to Alex…

Birth Track: ‘Hope’ Album: Gotten Bold, 2000 “I’d been into Drumtech in Acton doing a masterclass. The studio was next door. As I came out, somebody said to me, ‘This guy’s looking for a drummer.’ There must have been a studio kit. I do remember it being a little bit shabby, but we threw loads of gaffer tape and tissue all over it and it sounds incredible. The drums are recorded very dry, very bare, very in-your-face. It’s my favourite tune I’ve ever played on.” Véronique Sanson Track: ‘Le Paradis Blanc’ Album: Avec Vous, 2000 “We recorded it live at The Olympia in Paris. Behind us there was a 54-piece orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic. I’m sitting in the middle of this incredible sound and this song is so beautiful. I…