I plays the drum

[The Unknown Guru]

Do you play an instrument? How long have you been playing for? Are you in a band? What songs do you like to play? What genre do you like to play? Is this string of questions too long?

I've been playing the drums for about 4 years. I love playing prog, and will not hesitate to bust out YYZ if someone doubts my ability.

[Boney King]

Playing drums for 6 or 7 years. I did play drums in a band 07-08, but we broke up because we were a dumb metal band (not the actual reason, but my reason). I have a beginner's acoustic guitar that's out of tune which I love to write music with because it sounds good. I also have an electric guitar, an Epiphone Les Paul imitation, been practicing and playing with it for nearly a year.

For drums, I like to fool around with odd time signatures, jazz fascinates me and I've recently tried my hand at that. Typically I warm up with simple rock/hardcore/metal beats with lots of double bass. With guitar, I know a few songs here and there (mainly Norma Jean :p), mostly I just write my own things with them though.

I also write with FL Studio 6, but I know that doesn't count.

What's your set up like, Unknown Guru? Plan on joining/starting a band?

[oddler]

I've played guitar since I was in 8th grade. Hmm... 10 years?

I can play drums but have never had a set of my own or played them seriously in a band.

I was in a band not long ago called August (http://myspace.com/rockaugust). Haha. :choc2:

[snacks]

Been playing guitar for about 10 years now, unfortunately I am terrible and lousy.

I was in a couple bands for about 3 practices, which I think is the range they all lasted. A couple metal(ish) bands and a sort of acoustic thing where I was probably the better singer of all 3 of us. (see: _was_ the better singer)

[Kirobaito]

1) I've been playing the guitar for four or five years now.

2) I am not in a band. I don't want to be, nor would any person I'd play with be able to stand me. I want to play what I want to play, and wouldn't be able to play with anyone unless they allowed me to exclusively decide what we played. I am very opinionated about music.

3) I play a lot of songs.

4) I play what I call folk music. Some may not call it that, because strictly speaking it's only folk-like, in that it is not yet considered traditional. I also thoroughly enjoy playing what everyone would consider folk songs. Including in my folk music are protest songs. I enjoy protest songs.

[Namelessfengir]

i have a strat i got last fall ....i suck i should practice more

[I Am Stoner]

Do you play an instrument? How long have you been playing for? Are you in a band? What songs do you like to play? What genre do you like to play? Is this string of questions too long?

I've been playing the drums for about 4 years. I love playing prog, and will not hesitate to bust out YYZ if someone doubts my ability.

Been playing the Drums for just over 9 years now. Started playing the bass about 2 years ago and started playing the guitar about 9 months ago.

I am in many bands and have been hired out as a session musician most of the time. However I like to use cubase to record myself play drums, bass and guitar then sing over it.

[Rengori]

I've been playing guitar for a year now, practicing about 3 or more hours a day since I got an electric guitar. People say I'm good, but I think that's just because I play metal stuff and people seem to think being able to play fast is skill.

[o_O]

I've played drums since age 13. I played in a prog rock band for about 5 years, but then I got a real job and kind of ran out of time for it.

I had formal tuition for piano from age 10, but outside of that and practise/concerts I never really enjoyed it much because it was too formal.

Nowadays I just play my drums and guitar in the evenings after work. :P

[persephonehermione]

I've been playing clarinet for 13 years and got up to my grade 8 ABRSM.

With my clarinet I play from classical (in orchestras) to jazz (in local swing band).

I'm self taught pianist and been playing it for 5 years. With this one I play all sorts. Accompaniment, musical scores, pop songs, accompaniment for myself....plus anything else really.

I've been playing flute for 2 years....not that great. Self-taught again. Play this in bands and just for myself at the moment.

Vocally, been singing for such a long time.........don't really know the length. I sing anything really...with no particular preference. But I prefer lyrics with good meaning.

Just got a concertina which I'm learning how to play.

I also intend to learn guitar, harmonica, violin and trumpet.

:D I love my music :D

[Kanshisha]

a couple of years now. but can play numerous songs. I'm pretty much a good choice for a cover band drummer ^^

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I've wanted to play drums since I was a very young boy, but my family didn't buy a set until recently, about a year ago. It was a high-end digital set, which has the huge advantage of selecting from a lot of different drum sounds, programming your own kits, and adjusting the echo, volume and tune of each pad very easily.

However, it just didn't feel nearly as real and responsive as an acoustic set would (ESPECIALLY the hi-hat, by far, and to a lesser degree the snare), and the wires got in the way (not to mention several pads that kept falling out of their sockets), so this Christmas I got myself a middle-end acoustic set (plus a top of the line crash ride cymbal). It's awesome - but I'm totally not used to it being so loud after I played the digital set on a really low volume. I got muting pads of course, but they not only lower the volume too much, but completely defeat the proper sound of the drums too. I'm planning on getting some jazz brushes to play more subtly and quietly- plus, I've always loved jazz drumming as much as I love prog rock drumming.

[Sergeant Hartman]

I play piano, been playing since last summer.

Needs more pianists itt.

[Old Manus]

I play guitar, and this is my Fender Strat

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/oldmanus/17-01-08_1855.jpg" border="0" alt="hell yeah, motherfucker">

It kicks ass.

[Bunny]

I used to play guitar, organ and piano. But I stopped and now I feel dumb.

[Pete for President]

I've been playing guitar for the last 5-6 years. Never had a lesson in my life and I've got a Gibson Les Paul Studio.

MySpace.com - The Juicy Zooters - Rotterdam, NL - Garage / Punk / A'cappella - www.myspace.com/juicyzooters (http://www.myspace.com/juicyzooters) has been my one and only band for the last 5 years. We play punkrock/garage and I must say we've accomplished some cool stuff over the years imo. Being from Holland, we toured the UK twice and played some shows in Belgium.

For fun, I usually play punk, indierock and garage.

[Big D]

I've played the clarinet and recorder since I was a kid.

Over the last year or so, I've been learning traditional African and Middle-Eastern drumming. It's fun, especially when you're part of the drumming circle for Tribal or belly dancers.

[The Unknown Guru]

What's your set up like, Unknown Guru? Plan on joining/starting a band?

I play a 5-piece Rogers kit from the 70's with a Dynasonic snare. It's virtually impossible to find hardware for it, but man, it sounds good.

I'm in a band with a couple of my friends right now. In the past, we've mostly covered hard rock (Zeppelin, Wolfmother), but we're starting to write our own material right now. It usually ends up sounding like a mix between Nirvana and 70's prog, with some modern alternative blended in.

[Rostum]

Play guitar for around 5 years. Have a fender telecaster, dean strat and yamaha acoustic.

Play keyboard for a year. Have a CME midi controller which is absolutely awesome.

Play djembe for a year. Really nice hand made african djembe my girlfriend bought me -- need to get around to re-tuning it.

Like playing around with cubase and midi stuff (got some great VST's from east west). Really need to get a proper midi/audio soundcard and some proper microphones.

Oh and I have a degree in audio engineering and did some volunteer work at a studio in Melbourne.

[o_O]

I've played the clarinet and recorder since I was a kid.

Over the last year or so, I've been learning traditional African and Middle-Eastern drumming. It's fun, especially when you're part of the drumming circle for Tribal or belly dancers.

You have some rad hobbies, Dave. :p

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I've played drums since age 13. I played in a prog rock band for about 5 years, but then I got a real job and kind of ran out of time for it.

Ooh I love prog, and especially all the progressive drummers, so I'd like to know more about your band and here some of your work, if you recorded anything; my absolute favourite being Carl Palmer from ELP, but I also REALLY like Bill Bruford (primarily from Yes and King Crimson, but he later briefly toured with Genesis, and stars in his own fusion band, also his other jazz albums), Terry Bozzio (he was, in my opinion, Frank Zappa's best drummer by far) and Neil Peart (from Rush).

On the jazz side, no one beats Buddy Rich. In fact, he's the most technically skilled of all the drummers I've ever heard, but I find his endless focus on the snare gets old eventually, neglecting the toms and cymbals - and he's a better soloist, he's not really a drummer that plays along with the band for long. In that way he's more of an individual performer. For those reasons, I prefer Carl Palmer, who has better variety and a stronger style. Carl took the most influence from Buddy, and he was the only rock drummer Buddy really ever paid some recognition to. He's quite rightly called the Buddy Rich of rock.

What drummers do you like and draw influences from? Also, what progressive artists/bands do you and your fellow bandmates like and how do they influence your music?

I'm an aspiring progressive/ and jazz drummer myself (all the listed drummers have a big influence on my own style), but I still think I need some practice before I join a band. I'm an amateur drummer - meaning I've never taken any lessons whatsoever, but neither did Bill Bruford, and he says the lack of experience lead to ways of working around his weaknesses that actually bettered the development of his own style, so that's why I'm confident in avoiding lessons. Besides, I much prefer teaching myself.

[aquatius]

I play Saxaphone and Ocarina.

[o_O]

I've played drums since age 13. I played in a prog rock band for about 5 years, but then I got a real job and kind of ran out of time for it.

Ooh I love prog, and especially all the progressive drummers, so I'd like to know more about your band and here some of your work, if you recorded anything; my absolute favourite being Carl Palmer from ELP, but I also REALLY like Bill Bruford (primarily from Yes and King Crimson, but he later briefly toured with Genesis, and stars in his own fusion band, also his other jazz albums), Terry Bozzio (he was, in my opinion, Frank Zappa's best drummer by far) and Neil Peart (from Rush).

What drummers do you like and draw influences from? Also, what progressive artists/bands do you and your fellow bandmates like and how do they influence your music?

I'll try to get in contact with the guitarist and get the stuff we did off of him. We didn't record a lot because we were kids and poor. :p It was mostly covers of not-too extreme prog. We covered a few Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment songs marginally. :p We also played a bit of Tool, Porcupine Tree and other miscellaneous metal like Hammerfall and Fear Factory. For some reason we covered half of CKY's Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild album too.
We were all Dream Theater freaks, so that's definitely where got the largest influence from. :p

The one drummer I drew the most influence from was undoubtedly Mike Portnoy. I have a lot of respect for drummers like John Bonham and Neil Peart (ok, well he actually was technically brilliant) - being pioneers and all, but as time has gone on I think that as far as technical skill goes, they've been left back in the 60s/70s/80s.
It's my opinion that drummers like Portnoy and Asgeir Mickelson (Spiral Architect) and even some outright metal drummers like Mike Smith (Suffocation) are head and shoulders above the next skill tier down, so rather than looking to older stuff (except for a bit of Rush) I mostly picked up what I could from listening to new prog rock. Mainly DT.

I asked a ton of annoying questions to my teacher as well - he hated Dream Theater questions because he was nowhere near as good as Portnoy. xD

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I've played drums since age 13. I played in a prog rock band for about 5 years, but then I got a real job and kind of ran out of time for it.

Ooh I love prog, and especially all the progressive drummers, so I'd like to know more about your band and here some of your work, if you recorded anything; my absolute favourite being Carl Palmer from ELP, but I also REALLY like Bill Bruford (primarily from Yes and King Crimson, but he later briefly toured with Genesis, and stars in his own fusion band, also his other jazz albums), Terry Bozzio (he was, in my opinion, Frank Zappa's best drummer by far) and Neil Peart (from Rush).

What drummers do you like and draw influences from? Also, what progressive artists/bands do you and your fellow bandmates like and how do they influence your music?

I'll try to get in contact with the guitarist and get the stuff we did off of him. We didn't record a lot because we were kids and poor. :p It was mostly covers of not-too extreme prog. We covered a few Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment songs marginally. :p We also played a bit of Tool, Porcupine Tree and other miscellaneous metal like Hammerfall and Fear Factory. For some reason we covered half of CKY's Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild album too.
We were all Dream Theater freaks, so that's definitely where got the largest influence from. :p

The one drummer I drew the most influence from was undoubtedly Mike Portnoy. I have a lot of respect for drummers like John Bonham and Neil Peart (ok, well he actually was technically brilliant) - being pioneers and all, but as time has gone on I think that as far as technical skill goes, they've been left back in the 60s/70s/80s.
It's my opinion that drummers like Portnoy and Asgeir Mickelson (Spiral Architect) and even some outright metal drummers like Mike Smith (Suffocation) are head and shoulders above the next skill tier down, so rather than looking to older stuff (except for a bit of Rush) I mostly picked up what I could from listening to new prog rock. Mainly DT.

I asked a ton of annoying questions to my teacher as well - he hated Dream Theater questions because he was nowhere near as good as Portnoy. xD

I've heard of Portnoy and seen a few videos - he is very good from what I've seen, definitely one of the best drummers out there, especially from more recent bands, but I haven't given him enough of a chance to really glean some influence. The others I'm not too familiar with - though I do think Bonham doesn't deserve to be among the others in that list. He's completely and utterly overrated and a fairly common-sounding drummer. He was good at what he did, but in terms of technical skill, originality, and creativity in his style he was rather weak.

If it's too much trouble to get any recordings, that's cool. I just wanted to hear another aspiring prog drummer, especially since you're from Eoff. :greenie:

Also, have you ever tried a digital set? If so, what did you think of it in comparison to acoustic?

[o_O]

I've heard of Portnoy and seen a few videos - he is very good from what I've seen, definitely one of the best drummers out there, especially from more recent bands, but I haven't given him enough of a chance to really glean some influence. The others I'm not too familiar with - though I do think Bonham doesn't deserve to be among the others in that list. He's completely and utterly overrated and a fairly common-sounding drummer. He was good at what he did, but in terms of technical skill, originality, and creativity in his style he was rather weak.

His kit ought to say something about how skilled he is. xD This is one of his kits, anyway, and goes by the name of "The Siamese Monster" because it's essentially two drum kits joined together. You should check out some of Dream Theater if you like prog - these guys define the genre in my opinion. Have a listen to their song "Dance of Eternity", it's awesome.
<img src="http://bademagaci.com/resim/101/siamesemonster.jpg" />



Also, have you ever tried a digital set? If so, what did you think of it in comparison to acoustic?
I have and I can't say I liked it. I've only played one a few times, which doesn't help, but there are quite a few things about them that I don't like. For starters, the pads are usually a lot smaller than actual drums and don't have the same "bounciness" as a drum skin. It felt like playing one of those rubber practise pads which were far too bouncy. One thing that was kind of a novelty was playing on pads bouncy enough to quadruple-bounce my strokes. :p
I didn't like the uniformity of each stroke. The one I played supposedly never produced the same sound twice, but there was nothing like the variability of an acoustic kit. I could forget about playing a rimshot or cross-stick. Having variable sounds from the pads in new electric kits is a step in the right direction though.
My opinion might be different had I played one more though. :p

For me, drumming is about sitting down, sticking some loud music on and having a (loud) bash, which just doesn't work on an electric kit.

What's your stance on double-kick pedals and double-bass kits? Does the jazz in you hate it while the prog in you loves it? xD

[Hambone]

I've been playing cello for 2 and a half years and violin for about a month. I'm solely a classical musician and I enjoy playing works by Bach, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Schumann, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Handel, and many others. My favorite piece is usually the main one I'm learning, but Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major takes the cake, I must say. This year, I'm focusing much of my attention on some grueling études by Popper.

[Big D]

I've been playing cello for 2 and a half years and violin for about a month. I'm solely a classical musician and I enjoy playing works by Bach, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Schumann, Beethoven, Vivaldi, Handel, and many others. My favorite piece is usually the main one I'm learning, but Haydn's Cello Concerto in C Major takes the cake, I must say. This year, I'm focusing much of my attention on some grueling études by Popper.My brother's a cellist too, he's been playing for close to 15 years now. His repertoire has similar composers to yours... you might want to take a look at Elgar's cello concerto sometime - it's apparently a difficult piece to perfect, but well worth the effort.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

I've heard of Portnoy and seen a few videos - he is very good from what I've seen, definitely one of the best drummers out there, especially from more recent bands, but I haven't given him enough of a chance to really glean some influence. The others I'm not too familiar with - though I do think Bonham doesn't deserve to be among the others in that list. He's completely and utterly overrated and a fairly common-sounding drummer. He was good at what he did, but in terms of technical skill, originality, and creativity in his style he was rather weak.

His kit ought to say something about how skilled he is. xD This is one of his kits, anyway, and goes by the name of "The Siamese Monster" because it's essentially two drum kits joined together. You should check out some of Dream Theater if you like prog - these guys define the genre in my opinion. Have a listen to their song "Dance of Eternity", it's awesome.
<img src="http://bademagaci.com/resim/101/siamesemonster.jpg" />

That kit is smurfing awesome! *envious* I actually did try them once, but I'm someone who isn't as a big fan of heavier music. It gives me a headache and grates on my nerves. I'm fine with some noise, some dissonance, some bombast - but too much of all three, and I just get annoyed. But I'll give them another try for you.

I also prefer a lot of the earlier bands from the 70's (prog's heyday) to the newer ones. But Crime in Concert are as good as the classic bands to me, for one. Which of the classic bands do you prefer?





Also, have you ever tried a digital set? If so, what did you think of it in comparison to acoustic?
I have and I can't say I liked it. I've only played one a few times, which doesn't help, but there are quite a few things about them that I don't like. For starters, the pads are usually a lot smaller than actual drums and don't have the same "bounciness" as a drum skin. It felt like playing one of those rubber practise pads which were far too bouncy. One thing that was kind of a novelty was playing on pads bouncy enough to quadruple-bounce my strokes. :p
I didn't like the uniformity of each stroke. The one I played supposedly never produced the same sound twice, but there was nothing like the variability of an acoustic kit. I could forget about playing a rimshot or cross-stick. Having variable sounds from the pads in new electric kits is a step in the right direction though.
My opinion might be different had I played one more though. :p

Actually, I completely agree with you there. All of those are very good points, especially the limited variability of sound, inability to use more technique through the likes of rim shots, and the unresponsive, not-bouncy, too-small pads.


What's your stance on double-kick pedals and double-bass kits? Does the jazz in you hate it while the prog in you loves it? xD

I really like them, a lot, though I haven't invested in them yet. It can be hard to do much with the bass drum, hard to keep the muscle moving enough to keep the beat - therefore use of those is justified - however, it's sort of cheap to use that when a lot of drummers don't, because they actually learn how to use the original, single pedaled bass drum. My jazz sensibilities don't really come into the picture - I'm too open-minded to be limited by the standard views of whatever genre's musicians that I might ascribe to. ;)

[o_O]

That kit is smurfing awesome! *envious* I actually did try them once, but I'm someone who isn't as a big fan of heavier music. It gives me a headache and grates on my nerves. I'm fine with some noise, some dissonance, some bombast - but too much of all three, and I just get annoyed. But I'll give them another try for you.
Fair enough - It's definitely not easy listening. There are too many different time signatures for that. :p That goes for most of their stuff anyway, I recommend that you check out "Wait For Sleep" and "One Last Time". They're two softer songs with <i>amazing</i> piano parts.


I also prefer a lot of the earlier bands from the 70's (prog's heyday) to the newer ones. But Crime in Concert are as good as the classic bands to me, for one. Which of the classic bands do you prefer?
From that era, there are a few that stand out for me. Pink Floyd (which I've been listening to all day at work ;)) are probably number one, followed closely by Rush and Zappa. From the 80s I love Styx, though they might not strictly be real progressive.


I really like them, a lot, though I haven't invested in them yet. It can be hard to do much with the bass drum, hard to keep the muscle moving enough to keep the beat - therefore use of those is justified - however, it's sort of cheap to use that when a lot of drummers don't, because they actually learn how to use the original, single pedaled bass drum. My jazz sensibilities don't really come into the picture - I'm too open-minded to be limited by the standard views of whatever genre's musicians that I might ascribe to. ;)

My teacher hated double-kicking for the exact same points you made, so I didn't buy one for the first 5 or so years. Once I did get one though, I realised that it is a whole different skill to master. I love it, now I can play along with my favourite metal songs. Well, some of them, anyway. :p Currently, I think <a href="http://www.theduallist.com/triple.html">THIS</a> is cheating, but people seem to like it. xD

[Kanshisha]

my kit is just the norm cheap pack. but customized with aquarian skins, a cowbell and alchemy cymbals.

I'm saving up for a D-Bass

[o_O]

I've wanted a cowbell, since playing my cousin's kit which has one. :p

Apparently is is possible to build a <a href="http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6284/mpmonsteryn5.jpg">larger kit than the Siamese Monster</a>.

[Jess]

I'm pretty much musically retarded. xD