So, as I'm sure a lot of you know--or have heard / are annoyed because I'm kind of anally critical when it comes to drumming--I'm a drummer. I've been drumming since I was about 15, so about ten years, now... on and off. Honestly, I'm kinda poor, so I didn't always have a drum kit available to spend all my time practicing on. Usually, I practiced a few days a week after school when I was in High School, and that was about it until I got into college. I learned how to play drums almost exclusively from playing along to Hybrid Theory and Meteora, so I wanted to share a couple of videos with you of me playing. First of all, I use a Yamaha DTXplorer kit, which is kind of limited in that there are three toms, one crash, and a ride. However, those samples can be manipulated, and my custom kit uses a ride sample for the second tom, while the actual ride cymbal is used as a china. As of right now, July 23, 2013, with the two songs I have up, I am not able to record my drum kit because I am missing ONE single adapter. It was stolen from me, and I'm waiting for replacements to be ordered once I have the money. So you're watching me drum, but you're not hearing my drums. This is important because it suddenly becomes really, really stupid to do the typical YouTube drummer thing and just play what the fuck ever I want over the song with absolutely zero respect for the original parts as the artist intended them to be. I have to make it look like I'm actually playing that song, exactly how it sounds in the recording. (I think it's better this way, because if you do just make something up over the original song, you're not really letting that drummer's style influence your playing, which is a huge part of furthering yourself as a drummer!) I don't mind the transcription process (I learned how to do that in college as a percussion major). So keep that in mind. You're not LISTENING for me, you're just WATCHING me play. I'll take care of this soon and my video output will increase dramatically. For now, this should be enough to let you know that I'm not just talking a big talk. The videos are on Facebook (I don't think I can embed them, let me know if I'm wrong), but they're set to public, and you don't need a Facebook account to see them, so please watch and let me know what you think! ANYWAY: Here is "Your Stories, My Alibis" by Matchbook Romance. I really only had one huge issue, and that was because it was so hot in my apartment when I recorded that I was sweating pretty badly, so my earbuds fell out and I completely lost track of the music. Sorry about that, but I was happy with how it turned out, so I went ahead and uploaded it. It's a great song, too! [In this video, assume that the second tom is a ride cymbal, the (your) right cymbal is a crash, and the (your) left cymbal is a China.] HERE IS THE LINK TO YOUR STORIES, MY ALIBIS IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ABOVE. The second one--and believe me, there are NO words to express how proud of this I am--is "Vicarious" by Tool. There are a few mistakes here and there, and I'm still learning a couple of parts (which is why there's some weird stuff going on in the "why can't we just admit it" breakdown), but this is the first one I've shot where I felt like the good things far outweighed the bad things. Completely shit the bed on the first fill of the second chorus, I know, which really irritates me, because I KNOW that fill. I've just been playing this song so much that they're kind of blurring together for me, so I'll get into a chorus and forget which one I'm on sometimes. Gotta keep my head in it! Kinda the same story with the weird entrance at 5:33, and the missed herta fill at 6:07 ... I just wasn't looking ahead like I should have been. I know better, I really do. The last few measures, the sextuplets... I started off on the wrong hand and just went with it. [For this one, I kept the second tom as a tom and just played the ride cymbal where there was a ride, and the crash cymbal where there was a crash cymbal... but since I've only got 2 cymbals available to me, there's no real distinction between a splash, china, hi crash, low crash, etc] HERE IS THE LINK TO VICARIOUS IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ABOVE. Hope you guys enjoy, let me know what you think below! PS. I'll probably be doing VICTIMIZED next--but since I'll have the part I need by then, I won't be playing it how Rob plays it live. I'll actually be playing all of the drums as you hear them represented in the Studio recording (the gang vocal part is played completely with my feet, for example), which makes it a bit more challenging, and a bit closer to my playing style--after learning some Tool, I couldn't just play what Rob plays live... haha.
That, with all due respect, is a ridiculous thing to say. The drummer you linked to is an amazing player, and it's a very stupid and disrespectful thing to say that he "just made something up over the original song". Also I don't think someone as talented as him should necessarily let Rob influence his playing to further himself; not to say Rob is not a good drummer, but that Chris Kamrada is, as far as I can see, on par with him, thus he can do whatever he fucking wants when doing a cover, and does it brilliantly. Anyway, I am not going to watch you drum without hearing you drum.
I'm not doubting his playing at all. He is obviously a great drummer! I'm a fan of his. I just think it's kind of weird how it's 'okay' to noodle around in a drum cover when you can't really do that in a guitar or bass cover... >_> BUT you are right, that was kind of an elitist, douchey thing to say, and I take it back. I know he's a great drummer, I just used the video as an example to show that drum covers are usually nothing like the actual songs that they're covering. And, okay, that's cool. I'll redo these when I get that part in and you'll be able to hear my playing soon. But for the record, it's pretty clear I'm playing what it looks like I'm playing. I just can't record it. And putting in the audio from the recorded video would've been silly because then all you'd hear is 'thwack!' a lot. All the pads are made out of rubber, you know... haha. Just watch part of one, and if you're not convinced, no sweat.
How's this? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3331201454440&l=1942668207682040438 Schism, Tool. Some noodling in there, too.
Thanks! Here's a video I just uploaded to YouTube running through an exercise I came up with to teach myself double bass speed, endurance, and timing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9vHx2gIKtY
Thanks, dude! Robert, I hope you noticed I took your opinion and kind of adopted it... making the parts my own instead of playing it exactly like it sounds on the album... so, thanks! I didn't mean to sound like an egotistical jackass, but I did, and I hope that those two recent videos help to give you some sort of apology on my part for being close-minded.
Here's one more that has some of my drumming on it. I'm basically attempting a live remix of the song. This song is called 26 Lettaz n Da Alphabet" https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3915944232644&l=8015902200355165493