Steve Gadd: Interviewing the Drumming Legend

foreign [Music] that was of course the great Steve gadd Steve is a master of drums all different styles Rock Jazz pop he's played with every legendary artist you can think of James Taylor Paul Simon Eric Clapton Chick Corea Steely Dan he's known for such famous beats as 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover or the drum solo and the Steely Dan song Asia I got a chance to sit down with Steve this past weekend here's my interview Steve welcome thank you we are both from Rochester you are from Irondequoit tell me about your upbringing my first three years we live with my grandparents and my father's Brother on Pearl Street okay and then when I was about three we moved to Arundel Court my parents got you know their own house my brother and I and my parents lived there I went to Saint Ambrose grammar school okay which was like a block away we used to walk there and East Ridge High School I studied at in the Preparatory department at Eastman while I was in grammar school and in high school with John John Beck yeah I I had a good childhood but when I was growing up they had a lot of did you remember the Ridge Crest Inn yes which brought in all kinds of big name ban right you know and uh and it was a small club and you know you could go sit right next to the Bandstand and hear Gene Krupa Dizzy Gillespie Oscar Peterson Ray Bryant Carmen McRae Dakota State and Kai Winding they would do the circuit yeah they would do this they were big name acts doing these circuits Max Roach and those days on Sunday afternoons they had like a matinee a couple hour matinee local musicians sit in you know so my family used to take me and my brother there to hear the music and uh you know on the AFT in the afternoons on Sunday they'd let us sit in you know and Chuck Mangione and his family Gap and Chuck and they would be there too so you know we used to see each other all the time and end up playing with these with these uh big name uh musicians art Blakey you know and these guys were very uh nurturing yeah very they were just um encouraging is this where Chuck connectives are flaky through that well I mean yeah I'm sure it was they uh he ended up going out with Blake yeah you know and uh with him and chick Korea were in that band yeah but um yeah I mean because we all knew these guys from when we when we were kids dizzy gave Chuck a horn that you know the where the the bell went up right which Chuck played for for years until I think eventually it got stolen yeah we were connected with some of those uh those famous people not in a real close way but then when they came through town they'd remember us you know what I mean and they would uh Chuck his parents would invite people over for dinner you know a big spaghetti dinner you know and I just recently saw a picture of Ron Carter and dizzy over at uh Chuck's house did you know Benny salzano I did no I didn't he was a saxophone player that used to play with Chuck when they were kids uh they used to go by the little giants a good player and uh you know unfortunately he just he recently you know passed we lost them but someone sent a picture of him as a kid in you know in Chuck's house with Ron Carter and Dizzy Gillespie sitting at the table all you know getting ready to have a plate of pasta when I interviewed Ron I asked him about being in Rochester back then and he graduated from Eastman in 59 and told him my dad used to bartend at a place Joe squeezers squeezers yeah Joe squeezers yeah exactly Doug used to play there with uh Don Sheldon and Frank Bruno was the bass player right and I used to go my dad used to take me down there and Doug would let me play Don would sit and talk to my mom and dad and hang my my uncle and let me play you know it was so it was that was really a great scene all all the these places and there were so many excellent musicians and people really valued it so you got the band box you got uh the lounge the midnighter Ridgecrest in the pith I Oxford lounge shelmer and they only bring in bands in all the time and there would be matinees that sort of overlapped on Sunday afternoons it would start at the pithead and and go to the go to the Oxford lounge and then it ended up at the Shellman and everybody would be there they even had some after-hours clubs for people to play like Dixie Carey had uh you know did you know Dixie yeah well he had that after hours place down near the pith I were after everyone finished playing you know at two they they'd go and play till five and it was it was crazy so you came up through that when did you start like what were your early influences of people that you actually saw play well Gene Krupa yep um art Blakey Max Roach uh Papa Joe Jones um uh you know I mean uh Jack Franklin was playing with um Kai Winding and this is amazing actually these people would that you'd actually see these people I'd sit right next to the Bandstand and look at the drummers that's the best way for me to learn you know I I like to be up close or I could see you know what they're doing yeah and they were all very um open about sharing information and it was great it was a very loving and nurturing uh situation I first got to know about you through your playing with Chuck we were working like six nights a week at at the lounge you know with Chuck and GAP then with with me and Tony Levin were working six nights a week with gap is a trio while we were in school Chucky and I connected When We Were Young we played like six nights of you know played I worked in with him and his brother when I was in high school when I went to college that's when Chuck went with art Blakey and chick Korea was in the band and then when they left our blakey's band they came to Rochester I was in college by then I I had transferred from Manhattan school music back to Eastman yep so in the two years I was at Manhattan Chuck was out with Blakey and when I got back we he put this band together with chick and Joe Romano Frank palero and me and we were playing at the uh at the midnighter uh six nights a week with and it was it was fantastic and you would be playing what standards you know and chicks music uh you know it was like those guys were we were all into uh miles as chuck had always been into miles you know which he shot miles was a hero you know of all of us we used to wait for his albums to come out and uh and he you know he'd have great Rhythm Section Jimmy Cobb you know Paul Chambers or you know or Philly Joe Winton Kelly and then you know eventually Herbie and and Ron and Tony and all these the the Rhythm sections sort of set the pace for how Niles what the music was you know what I mean yeah and when Tony and and Ron and Herbie started uh playing with Miles that was a whole different approach to playing than the 50th Street right yeah and we were all we loved it yeah you know what I mean and and chick really loved that kind of looseness and freedom and rhythmic understanding you know what I mean so you could play around with the time and but no always know where one was you know what I mean so that was a a great experience for me when they got off our blakey's band and we were I was in college and we were working uh six nights a week uh I had a 22-inch bass drum that I had been playing and during that gig I bought like a smaller set an 18 inch because that's yeah that's where Tony was playing yeah and uh and when I when I switched the drums out chick wanted to come and see the new drums that afternoon and and sat down and played the little kid and it was it was so educational for me because I had been trying to figure out what guys like Elvin and Tony were doing by listening to records because those two guys I didn't really see them play last you know that they came after all of that I was out at really out of Rochester then you know and it wasn't as much going on there but so when I saw a chick it made things clear that I had been trying to understand by slowing the lp down to 16 and dropping the needle to try and figure out what Tony did on that fill or what Alvin did on the fill you know and and you can only take that so far and then when I saw chick just the way he sat at the drums and how you know he didn't play the hi-hat on two and four it was just just free but with form in mind yeah I mean not just playing I mean there was like a there was like bar structure and stuff and it just it's open yeah it just put yeah I was able to put some pieces of the puzzle together from being able to see chick of understanding things that I couldn't really decipher slowing the records down listening you know so and uh and I think what I learned was it's it it it maybe it's not as really so important to get it exactly as the way the guy did it is to understand his approach and and you know so you do it that way and you get it as close as you can I mean if you can get it exact it's great but other than that if you can if you can uh capture the feel and the essence of what he did musically you know then you can start to apply it you know and uh it was uh it was good so you must have seen these guys play later on then right you saw Tony and Elven play and what did you when you saw them play did you say oh did it did or it was at that point you had already developed well you know I mean that when I saw him play I mean I had you know you know developed my way of emulating sure guys yeah and um so I you know when I saw him play I could either tell that I was you know on it or or I didn't do it exactly the same way but but the intent was there you know so I got it as close as I could you know you're on a lot of those chick records in the in the mid 70s early mid 70s leprechaun and Mad Hatter and Spanish heart I think your and friends friends yeah so that connection with chick goes back it goes way back goes way back it goes way back when I was in the Army I went to New York to see chick play at the Vanguard with um with ayerto and Flora and Stanley that music just killed me and here in ayerto play that stuff and the Brazilian stuff on a set of drums the samba I it was it killed me I I told chick I said man the music was great and uh you know boy when I ever get out of the army if you ever need me for anything I would love to do it you know I just put it out there he put a band together for when we were doing when he was doing him to the seventh Galaxy it was me uh Stanley mango Lewis and a guitar player named Bill Connors oh yeah and we rehearsed all of that music and the band was great but he wanted the whoever recorded to go out on on the road I had a little baby and and it was I just it wasn't the right it would have been hard for me to be on the road and um it was a hard decision but I I had to you know stop playing with the band it was eventually they got was Lenny and uh Al Di Meola yep it was like a Return to Forever that's right that was a difficult decision to give up that band you know what I mean but it was you know it was like I was starting to get busy in New York during my first marriage we had a a baby daughter Mary Beth and so it would have been better for me to be able to work in New York and commute back and forth so uh but it was hard to give that up because I knew that bam was was going to be but Steve you played but you played get you played on many records with cheers during that same time period the thing is like after that right he called me to play and which was I'm so happy for that because I'm so happy that that didn't end our relationship because there was so much more music and uh for for for us to play together and and stuff for me to learn just from being around it's interesting because chick was writing a lot of Music at that point that he had so many different projects going on that you could you could do those records really at the same time he had the other group going he was he's always he was he never stopped chick there's so many different things I want to ask you about as far as your your drum kit and your setup and everything that you eventually got to but I want to talk about these some of these records I want to play a couple things from the uh a couple things of chicks for example like [Music] oh yeah [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] do you remember these you remember doing this right um yeah we did that at Electric Lady and we did it live yeah I mean we reading charts you know that that session I I was came at the right time in my life because I mean I had finished five years of college I've been in the Army for three years reading you're reading chat every day yeah I am in your reading chops are good determined by the amount of reading that's right you know and uh so you can read anything yeah I was right yeah I mean I would attack it the pages I read off the piano score uh you know what I mean because she had everything he goes it was like trying to play uh you know come up with percussion for an orchestra that you know was trying that's the approach I came to see you play with the three quartets group um in Ithaca you only played a few shows with Brecker and Eddie Gomez you and chick okay it was 1981 and it was your first show and you went to Ithaca New York and you guys had charts that were literally on the going across this thing and it'd be incredible charts and this is what it would be like in the studio right I'd have to there you couldn't put you I mean there was no way to we tape it to the wall and then we'd we'd have you know symbol uh boom stands without mics that we'd like suspend tape and you know and it would be all the way you know that's all you could see you couldn't see anybody else really then but I mean you know I I was hungry you know what I mean I was hungry for it and I loved it and uh and I mean it was like all of a sudden I had a chance to to apply everything that I had done up till that time and and it helped me you know what I mean now it'd be hard to do you know what I mean if you don't read every day and stuff it's just but you know I was like in my 20s yeah you know so your Tom sounds were very different you had the really fat lower tune Toms those are small drums those are small drums powerful it's so fat sounding though that was a a 10 12 13 and 14 okay on the floor would you have a 18 is your kick there or was that a 22. that was a 22. okay it was a 22 Gretch okay and then I I had bought I I I bought some Pearl concert times eight of them and they had one head on yep I had bottom heads put on all of them and then I chose the ones that were the most tunable and where I could you know effectively use them for different situations so I wouldn't have to be changing gear you know if you got if you have uh drums that have a tuning range that you don't have to you know you don't have to change as much you know and Bernie curse that was the first time that he had done uh well that I had worked with him with chick you know and that I think that was his first time working with chick for a leprechaun and they've been we're together until he died from then until he died Bernie did all his all the albums did all the live shows for sure wow and he started out as a house engineer at electric ladyland when you would do a take like that would you go back in the control room first of all you guys were all sitting around each other in the same room correct or no was anything isolated I mean there was a uh the the the electric plan had a had like a wall around the drums okay not a full drum boost but okay halfway up you know what I mean so it blocked but you could see you could see everybody could see each other yeah except when you put the music up then you had to pick and choose who you were going to look at would you go in and listen to takes after you did them or just move on to other songs no we would uh chick would listen you know we rehearse a lot and then do a take and listen and then do another one you know but we were he he was really good at rehearsing the band and the musicians were for that music I mean their reading and they're playing everybody it was was fantastic well Pros if they haven't passed away they're still people that are still playing yeah for a living man they had the string section on that I mean it was incredible yeah amazing um a great horn section I I think they had what wasn't Eddie Gomez and Anthony Jackson yeah I think Anthony is playing on that track but Eddie Gomez and Anthony are on that record when I when you guys played this three quartets band it was amazing because chick said this is the first night we're playing uh we're only doing five shows or something like that you just put out the record which I love the three chord sets record it's one of my favorite chick records and and the band with you and Eddie and Mike Brecker and chick that was just such an incredibly powerful group I want to play something actually off that [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] I hate to stop that that's unbelievable how exciting is it to play with that group right there it was very exciting I mean I was at it was I was the right age you know um to be playing you know I had the energy I was I was young I you know you know it's like uh it was just the right time yeah perfect time for that there's a there's a power to that piece right there that is just with the vamp that you guys are just playing over the that intensity of that is to me Indescribable it's as heavy as any Rock thing can be it's it sounds it has the power of rock but the harmony of modern Jazz yeah I was just starting you know thinking about you know when I listen to that uh what Drew chick and I together I I I mean I think that he appreciated my uh love and understanding of Jazz of guys like you know Tony and Alvin art Blakey and Philly Joe all the guys that he loved because he loved those guys he could play like them but he I I think he also musically liked the uh my uh understanding of the groove from doing some pop things yeah you know I I and or and playing with a band called stuff I I really understood you know how important the groove was because if you can if you can lock that in then you can build the Empire State Building on top of it and it'll support it but if it's if it's not locked in at the bottom then it's great you know it could be great and everyone could be playing great but it doesn't have the cohesiveness of somebody trying to play underneath and and let everyone know what the form is without overstating it but just you know just like at the beginning of the phrase you know maybe X at the end of four not not one all the time but you understand what there were ways to let people know where we were without like throwing it away and making it too uh obvious you know and uh and they like that kind of tension and uh because they had I mean Bricker man he could just play Forever yes and chicken too they could just solo I mean to be able to be supportive and to go not to make them go there but to go with them you know it's uh it's a Young Guy's thing you know what I mean I'm glad I did it when I did it yeah and I'm glad they recorded it we could listen back to it that that recording is incredibly it's it's so well recorded it sounds so fat to this day you hear it through here and it's just the bottom end is full Kick Drum is you know just yeah Bernie he was you know Bernie knew man it was uh you know I I I had some kind of uh a technique uh from being in the studio and a lot of those guys would do were jazz people who did an album and go out on tour yeah but not they a lot of them weren't as interested as I was and the the pop kind of thing right I saw the um uh I I saw the challenge and uh and and the seriousness of people making pop records it wasn't just you know they were they were serious musically about what they were doing so I I think that that helped my uh him you know that awareness helped it's pretty crazy music but it's pretty cohesive to too you understand the difficulty of the of playing a part I'm going to play another thing here that's that you've heard a million times and this is 1975 or so just you with Paul Simon this is one of the most classic grooves of all time [Music] the problem is all inside your head she said to me the answer is easy if you take it logically I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free there must be 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover what made you come up with that drum Groove well if you play the next section which I will the bridge the the chorus yes it's uh when it comes up I'll show you yeah the the chorus but we were not we were playing the whole song at the beginning like with a BackBeat you know [Music] a place that felt really really good okay but the beginning Phil and Paul thought they needed something like a signature or whatever whatever you know I we didn't know where it was going to come from those guys knew that the the chorus was cool but the verse needed some work and and uh and we did it at a r 48th Street and I was in a drum room you know and so I I A lot of times when I was in that situation it wasn't easy to get out and get to the control room to listen to stuff so and you know I knew when it was from working with those guys when it was time to go in and listen yeah you know there's a lot of time when they're they're just going through stuff and talking and when they were doing that I would be in the room and constantly you know what I did between takes was I'd be practicing different things you know what I mean to just sort of that's what kept me um uh that was my creative outlet for practicing not doing it loud not technically but just these little different patterns and how to you know how to play the hi-hat with the foot and hit it with the left hand after you know things like that yeah and they and they Phil heard me practice and that stuff and I you know I probably put it into some kind of little Groove and he said why don't we try something like that for the verses it's all about trying to come up with an agreement with everyone you know what I mean so we finally reached the agreement and uh that was it lucky day for me you were doing sessions all the time then tell me about that time of your life mid 70s were you doing sessions in morning afternoon evening what were you with different artists moving from Studio to Studio what were you doing yeah doing that working at a club called Michael's okay a band called stuff yeah remember stuff um it was uh it was a time in my life where everything that I had been working for musically was you know coming together but my first marriage was uh we were having problems because we had two little girls and and I was not I was working a lot you know and so I felt like that there was a competition with the work you know which really wasn't there but I mean if you're a freelance guy you can't you don't get any work by saying no that's right you say yes to everything right whether it pays whether it doesn't pay you know if you want to get in this business and and you think you can play then you take everything you can because the whole idea is to meet as many people that that can play and hopefully they'll like you and they'll recommend you for other people I mean that's really it's a word of mouth business you know music was uh in those years my my marriage was uh failing my dad was uh was dying of of cancer and uh so part of my my some of my personal life important parts of my personal life we're just following ending falling apart and uh and I use music as an escape from that was the only thing that I could do that made me feel like I was uh being productive that I was doing something positive that I was uh giving something to people that and they appreciated it uh other than that my life was I was failing you know what I mean and uh that's when I got into you know doing drugs and stuff too because I I uh I was living in Woodstock and uh Tony Levin was living in Woodstock and Mike manerion Warren Bernhardt we had a band and uh and I would go you know into New York three days a week and and and work and then drive back and I started doing coke to keep me awake on the drive home you know what I mean so yeah so I was uh using to work and then I don't know when it happened I because I didn't really see it happen but I went from using to work to working to use and I didn't even know when it happened you know what I mean that's how subtle and and uh baffling it can be you were in Woodstock traveling to New York doing sessions did you at some point make it out to LA to live out there or did you always do your work in New York I went to LA to work the people they fly you out there well yeah you know a lot of times what happened is I'd somebody one per project would want me and they'd end up out there and then I would let people know that I was there and you know other work would come in or people would find out that I was there and I'd get some calls so you know that's how I got work out there your discography when when I look at up the things that you've played on it goes on and on and on and on I mean it's amazing how many records you have played on do you even know how many I I don't but I I know that I'm I'm very uh fortunate it's insane you know but I I really feel lucky and fortunate now when you look about oh look at how things are today you know I was at it was a good time for me when it was happening because I don't know what would what I would do today you know what I mean it's like um but during those years it was just perfect so I want to ask you about Asia I recently interviewed Chuck Rainey Chuck told me that this was an overdub that you came in and played and he wasn't there he played bass on this but he wasn't there when we did it right he said that that you were playing to a clique he thought he wasn't sure but he thought that you played do a click because I've interviewed other people that have played on the session and everybody has kind of a different story you know I'll tell you there's a lot of it that I don't remember okay I'm sorry to say I I mean I was it was at a time in my life where like I said you know I was running away from problems and just taking one thing after another to keep you know music was the thing that was was saving me so I you know I had they didn't call me I hire me to go out there and do that I was out there and I got a call because they heard I was out there and asked me to come in and do it and uh and I I just I heard that they had tried it with different people and um and you know not that the stuff wasn't good it just they didn't they were looking for something else yeah they were looking for something that it was hard for them to communicate what it really was and you would have been reading a chart right I was reading it yeah okay okay so then so that part that part that we're listening to now is sort of like a pop way to try and play that stuff it's like grooves it's like the section repeats you go back to the same thing you know what I mean it's like it's like or it's like a part it's orchestrated you know what I mean yeah and that's you know when you're playing that kind of music that's what you try and come up with because it's makes it easier to listen to yeah it connects with the listeners you know what I mean when it gets real busy it's hard to connect you know I mean so let me play the part with you and for those of you this is Steve playing a solo along with Wayne shorter Wayne wasn't there Wayne overdubbed rain overdub but I want to say that Wayne just just passed recently the fact that that he's on it and we're playing together is it's unbelievable right for me yeah it's a it's an incredible um it was just incredible because he was he is and and he's such a giant musically man you know and I loved the way he when he was playing with Miles the way they played together and I mean I don't know if anyone played with Miles the way like Wayne did man he was you know unbelievable and then the stuff he did was weather report I mean what an amazing uh musician and uh so the fact that I'm on a on a record with him is pretty incredible for me let me let me play this [Music] everybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] these charts that you would have for a Steely Dan session like this would this be an involved chart would there just be the basic kicks you know it was I I the form was there you know all the sections were there I just remember trying to come up with parts that that work musically I think that we got through the whole thing and you know when we got to the end the first time I just played we didn't I didn't know that they were going to put a solo over it or anything and uh but and I think that this is where they had a problem with other people was one that got to the end they wanted it to go they wanted it to shift to go somewhere completely somewhere else yeah and you know if back in the day if you were called to do sessions you know that were pop things the last thing you wanted to do was make it so crazy right you know what I mean you're trying to make it cohesive so people can understand it so it was just hard to understand how crazy they wanted it because it was sort of a separation musically from what we had been trying to do which was really you know orchestrate that arrangement in a way where it really felt good you know what I mean and then and we had done that but so to leave that and go to this other place was it was hard to uh to to understand that that's what they wanted I mean it's almost like you you go over the top and and and you know you go you you don't know anything else to do so you go the other way and that's what they wanted they wanted that kind of uh that kind of crazy but it's hard to explain that yeah you know if the Solo's not there but I I and I think that that was uh the communication problem that maybe they had with other guys there's really not a tune that's like that either that's a really unique song with a basically a drum solo and a sax solo going on for that period for that period of time is very unusual and uh but you could tell that those guys loved they came from a jazz background yes but they also you know knew about they were smart and intelligent and used music to to make a living you know what I mean and um and they were good at it yeah so and so they brought a couple of different genres together in that song yeah are you surprised at how this is this you know has lived a life on its own this this drum part I mean it's crazy how much uh um uh notice how many people heard this song and and talked to me about it yeah I mean unbelievable yeah I'm extremely fortunate what was your uh drum set up at that time if if you were doing sessions and you were in town in L.A hey I'm here would you have a company that would bring a Cartage company bring your drums a particular drum kit that you had out in La that would bring it to the studio back then what would what was your setup during this period what was size drums were you playing your recording Customs then some people had the budget where you could car get your stuff out there a lot of Studios had uh like a house kit or something well yeah they had bass drum and Tom yeah and and and then you'd bring your own uh pedals and seat and snare drum and cymbal stands and symbols yeah so that could have been that would you always tune your own kit though before you is when you got I said I was yeah you know in those years yeah yeah I bought some different year when I got out of the army okay I bought a set and I I experimented with different heads uh you know I so I learned a lot about um you know tuning from building that set myself and from trying different things you always you played with a lot of the same players throughout your career there you know these guys that would be on that would do sessions all the time and were there people that and you don't have to name people if they're people that you would be like Oh I'm psyched that they're on the session that I get to play with them because I really connect with them in the 70s I mean getting called to play you know it's like a lot of times the artists that were were had deals I I didn't know who they were but I knew all the sidemen that they were hiring man like uh will Lee or Chuck Rainey Gordon Richard T Paul Griffin uh Frank Owens uh you know you I all the Spinoza tropay those being able to play with those guys was even uh more exciting than the artist you know what I mean well you know because I didn't know they were young artists they did sure some of the artists were were weren't that experience they were talented yeah and they they were on their way to but they the musicians were could help them along and those musicians while they were helping the artist helped me learn how to help Dr so uh yeah I mean I I you know the the the the stars of New York for me in the 70s were the the guys that I wanted to do sessions with you know would you always know it was you if you heard a song on the radio and you were playing drums no no not always I mean if I knew if it was a hit and I know I played I would know but sometimes I say you know I I didn't I didn't realize because well it wasn't like I was trying to do something for myself I was letting the music dictate what I was supposed to do so it was less personal Steve what do you do for warm-ups and things like that I know that you have you have a rudiments or academics normally before a gig you know I'll I'll I got these sticks with and uh um with rubber tip so I can play on a on a counter or on a table in the dressing room and and uh and what I would do I would just go uh you know just some rudiments foreign you know things like that and I would do that before the gig for you know 10 or 15 minutes and then go to play the show and then uh when when covet happened and I had we had all this time I figured well I gotta I don't wanna I don't want to let time a lot of time go by and not do something sure I don't want to have to fight coming back yeah you know so I I started just doing that little 10 whatever I did before the the show but there was no show so you know 10 minutes would turn into an hour two hours and before I knew it I was back into you know practicing again and I started you start writing these things down yeah new things new ideas and sticking started to to come to me just from you know just from being in that zone and uh and I started to understand about displacement so and once I got into that it opened it's like everything that I practice now if you know if I displace it it it explains all right so here it's like here you know what I mean it's like one two three four that that's the same and every time you displace it yeah it's like you're it's like completely different and so but not in a way where technically you're it's technically the same but mentally in the brain everything all those beats are in different places so it's all new yeah and when and and when you understand it then these rhythms start to become comfortable yeah and so it can I'm I think it's giving me like uh a new bunch of rhythms that I never thought of before uh and that were you know uncomfortable when I first started it but now they're now they're comfortable and so there's new are you a drummer I'm not a drummer no no you're a guitar player yes things have come to me uh that uh new stickings and I've been playing my whole life but I never thought of these things before paradiddles are right yep so paradiddles are a basic rudiment that drummers use a lot and it's like the single they're mostly single beats and they end with a double right but now yeah I I sort of come up with these new things where it starts foreign you start with a double okay and and and and and you try to make most of most of the rudiment use doubles and and and and only two sets of singles so you can play them faster so it's like and and you can start these things with flams too and then you can displace that stuff oh so all of that stuff because of the displacement stuff and because of the of these a couple of new um ideas about sticking to use try to do more doubles and less singles because you can you complain faster uh it is there's a lot of you know it's just everything is feels new to me you know what I mean is it amazing after playing so long to come up with all this new I mean it's crazy man I can play something every day that I never played before just based on on this displacement thing and you know I haven't even really tried to take it to the kit I've been just working it I you know I I did a book called The adamans and I'm and I'm still practicing because I I because I'm into it because this thing interests me now yeah and and I love to share you know it's great to share with other drummers that we we love to I'm a drummer in Spirit Well we I mean I find that most drummers are more than willing to totally show their friend what they did absolutely and and they get excited seeing them be able to do it and they get excited being able to do it and and if you can do it together it's even more fun okay so one of the things and I'd love to have you play on the drum kit for for a minute and uh is to actually take it to the snare drum and bass drum right that would be the first thing to do that what I would do now is probably just play the bass drum to keep time and do some of the displacements around that I haven't really you know worked on it well let's can we can we try it out let's try it out we could try it out can you demonstrate one of the things you did on the on the table Yeah so with the snare and the kick then like the warm-up one two three [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] and you keep them all in phrases though so um and for me just the displacement thing makes everything that I can take anything that I've ever played and at all and and displace it and it's like starting over again it's rewiring your brain that's what it is right and the thing that's nice about it it's not like you got to learn something new technically yeah it doesn't change right but it sure feels like it does yeah okay so I wanted to ask you we talked on the break for a second about the kick drum when you got when you were developing that you're recording custom your kick is maple the toms are Birch but we were talking about the kick length being a different that when you played longer kicks you felt like you didn't have the bottom end to your like to yourself it's not necessarily what the mic was capturing but you yourself yeah I there was too much there was too much distance between the the batter head and the outside head nothing was coming back yeah nothing which it was just going out and it wasn't coming back if you shorten the length of the bass drum that'll allow the shorter it is the the quicker the The Comeback is I never realized that before so I Norm I like a 22 by 14. and I tried a 20 by 14 which was that's a standard size and um and we decided to go with the 16 to just lengthen it two inches I think you can go to 18 right but I that for me that's too far because the longer it gets the the less I hear back what's the first thing you do when you sit down on the kit If You're Gonna Play a gig to warm up oh foreign [Music] you know I would do try to keep this that's starting to Triplet with the left now or you could start it with the right yeah so as all those different things you know like so you that's starting it with the left foot or this is starting with the right and I usually you know I usually double something on the right there so uh if you change where you're starting at the doubles in different spots and then if you try to just continue that and play phrases over that yeah do you know what I mean it's like depending on where you start that triple pattern it all changes what you're doing on top you know what I mean it's just um and you can apply it to you know you can play apply it to what you're doing on your foot just with the triplet that you could start it at one two three four let's play in the double on on the right foot at the beginning now you're playing with it with a double kick pedal here and when did you start doing that probably the late 80s why would you do that though why is it because you there were things that you wanted to play you know well this thing at the end of songs yep you know when you when you gotta play you know like it helps yeah you know it helps for being able to play louder and and and and and trying to make one leg play really fast yeah I mean it evens out a little bit more so that's why I originally did it and then the more that it's there the more you can you start trying to you know apply it you know what I mean so foreign [Music] that's another way you can displace it like if you take more beats starting with the snare drum then the left foot and then two on the right [Music] thank you so you can displace them and do it in in phrases and try to come back on one of the next phrase so you can work on your Technique you work on your time and rhythms you know it it you just it just you have to start understanding new rhythms to to to be able to make it comfortable and you know and then all of a sudden if it gets really comfortable then you've got a new trick that you could depend on you know what I mean it's great that you're practicing and working on new stuff all the time you know I for years I mean I I didn't I would warm up and I'd do gigs and I was working a lot so I wasn't a lot of practice but right man when you it's it's so nice to be to to be back and um and I can do all of it on a table if I want I mean you know to understand you know what I want to take to the kit you know so it's like I can do it take a pair of sticks with rubber tips and I could play on anything you know don't you think it's incredible though that you can learn things new things like that and and unbelievable for me I've been playing my whole life and and uh and you know practice before the pandemic was just sort of trying to keep everything up to power right you know what I mean but now every you this is like opens up a whole new ball game you know what I mean you know new stickings start to show themselves yeah I mean it's like how long does it usually take you to get something in your playing that you're practicing because I always ask people this I remember seeing a uh interview with Mike Brecker and he said that he would have to practice something for about three months or so and then it would start to creep into his playing but it would be about that long yeah this is different you know this is more of a these exercises start to show themselves better when you play them longer you know what I mean so um yeah I I can I start using some of the some of the stuff in solos yeah oh not a lot though but I mean like foreign [Laughter] that came from taking this step which not a flam Peridot it's one of those new stickings that starts out with a double and ends with a single but taking it and displacing it [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] that thing and it's just goes on forever you know um sitting here hearing you play is so incredible if you want to play us out I'll play a rudimental solo I learned when I was in Drum Corps okay no I know I played Crazy Army you know I play that a lot but this is another crazy Army that was on Chuck it was on Land of Make Believe yeah uh legend of the one-eyed sailor yeah yeah yeah I'll play that yeah thank you thank you love it I I like that I like that solo I liked it I'll play one more this was a Riley Raider solo from the 60s these guys played it [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] one two three four [Music] [Music] five [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] perfect okay Steve thank you so much this has been amazing I really appreciate you taking the time such a such an honor to uh to meet you and my employee thank you thanks maybe we can do more absolutely love to thank you be great thank you

Channel: Rick Beato

Views: 480,218

Keywords: rick beato, everything music, rick, beato, music, music theory, music production, education

Id: j8762lBtu9A

Length: 66min 6sec (3966 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 14 2023