My Transcriptions

Updated version of Billy Cobhams Fragolino. Fixed some mistakes I found while learning it.

Also, here is the second part - the second time they play the chorus in an extended version with a drumsolo. This one is a bit longer and more difficult.

The record is "Mississippi Knights". I should really upload an mp3 of that song... it's great.

You should really check out Billys playing. It's really unique and outstanding.

Have fun with this one!

Also: Antonio Sanchez Jazzplaying on the way.
 

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  • Billy Cobham Fragolino.pdf
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  • Billy Cobham Part2.pdf
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Sorry... two things I forgot to mention about the Billy Cobham transcription:

First: The tempo is at 124bpm, so it's quite bright.

Second: Obviously, for those familiar with Billys playing or this particular record, Billy uses something like 7 toms (in a strange order, not just high to low), 3 snare drums, a few bassdrums and a ton of cymbals.

I've notated everything for one snare, three toms and two cymbals (ride/crash).

So a lot of the orchestration is gone missing, but the rhythms are all still there. I transcribed this because I wanted it to learn myself and I only have a small setup and wanted it to be playable on 3 toms plus one snare.
 
Lutz,

The Lenny and Billy trans are fantastic! I've been focused on open-handed approach for a short while but love their drumming and these are just perfect for me right now. This is pretty out there but I'm doing what I can. It's definitely the "food" that will keep me energized and focused for a while to come.

Thanks again!

Jiva
 
WOW!!!!

DiCenso its amazing.

And you are great transcribing ti... I start doing this and give up...
Sorry to asl you, but, how long did you take on this one?

Sorry my english!

Thank you again and again!

Here is Dave DiCenso with Two Ton Shoe part two.

This one was much easier to write out because it stays on the vamp all the time. There are some really insane licks in this one and a lot of similar stuff as in the first one but orchestrated differently.

This one could also be very intersting for all the double bass guys around.


I've added a timecode and made up a big workshop part in the end to get you started. The highlighted sections in the solo are the ones that you will find in the workshop. Enjoy this one and give me some feedback.

I'd recommend all the Dave DiCenso fans to start with this one because I think it's a bit easier to "get".

Lutz
 
Hercraft,

thanks for your enthusiasm for both Daves playing and my writing :)

About the time: Well, after all the other stuff that I've written out, it seems that it's becoming easier and easier - my ears are getting much better and I recoginse a lot of stuff at once by now. Also, I can handle Sibelius (the program I use to write things out) blindfolded by now which means that the technical side is going really fast now.

Dave's first solo gave me some headaches and I needed quite some time for it. The second one came very easy to me because a lot of stuff is very similar, he stays much more within the vamp and because the sound is better.

I'd guess I needed two or three nights for the second one.

BTW: I have gotten a lot out of these two solos as well. I think the second one is a great solo to learn and it's actually possible to learn.

Where are you from btw?
 
Rick,

Thank you for your input. I'm from Argentina!
I came and go to this forum and came across with
your post looking for DiCenso information.

I felt in love with his playing on the MDF 2006

I think "my style" will develop hopefully in his way of
playing, and was very exciting to saw him playing and
hear some crazy ideas that I came across but have not yet
the required technique.

I'm working hard to achive some of those ideas.

I play drums for 10 years now. But last year and this one
are THE years for me. I have time and mental state for
studying.

BTW, I was looking forward for material and practice routines
oriented to de DiCenso kind of playing... you think you can help
me out?

The workshops you made are amazing, that kind of stuff or something
oriented in that kind of thinking.

Sorry I dont want to hijack the Thread, but some kind of insight its more
than welcome.

Thank you for your amazing job and thank you for sharing!!
 
Ralph Humphrey: Ain't gonna wait (drumsolo)

Here is some absolute awsomeness from my old teacher Ralph Humphrey. Ralph is an absolute monster player, a master of technique, rhythm, reading, orchestration, groove and taste. Also - above all - he is a real nice guy and a great teacher.

You can hear all these things in his playing... check it out. Everybody with the slightest interesit in motivic development should really look into this one.

Some real cool stuff from one of my all-time heroes.

Have fun.

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ralph_Humphrey.html

(It's from the song that Bernhard uploaded to Ralphs profile.
 

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  • Ralph Humphrey ain't gonna wait.pdf
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BTW, I was looking forward for material and practice routines
oriented to de DiCenso kind of playing... you think you can help
me out?

The workshops you made are amazing, that kind of stuff or something
oriented in that kind of thinking.

Sorry I dont want to hijack the Thread, but some kind of insight its more
than welcome.

Thank you for your amazing job and thank you for sharing!!

You're not hijacking the thread at all, I'm always happy when people show interest in this stuff and ask questions.

About the DiCenso style: I honestly don't really know what to tell you about that because all I have ever listened to from Dave is what I have transcribed plus the MD2006 festival video (which has also been transcribed by Terry).

I'd suggest you check out these transcriptions and work on these, especially the stuff that I have put in the workshops. Start slow and always practise with a metronome, then try to get it up to speed.

I have a few further suggestions though that you might find helpfull:

1: Quite obviously, Dave must have worked on technique a lot. He uses six-stroke rolls and all kinds of variations of that really often. Therefore: Make sure to know all your rudiments and focus on correct movements and execution (Moeller technique helps a lot and is what Dave is now using as it looks like). Also, apply rudiments to the drumset (e.g. accents on toms/cymbals). Make sure to have your low notes real soft and the accents real loud.

2.: Work on your foot technique and on all kinds of hand-feet combinations.

3.: Dave uses quite a lot of metric displacements and weird tempo-shifts. So I'd recommend to work on that stuff by checking out books like the Unreel drumbook, Rhyhthmic Illusions, Rhythmic Perspectives and Rhythmic Horizons (all are fantastic).

4.: A great exercise would be to choose any group of 4 notes and play it as triplets or sixtuplets (instead of playing it as 16th notes) - Dave does that a lot in his playing. Also, work on all the permutations of these patterns.


Hope this will be helpfull to you man!

greets to argentina!

Lutz
 
Thank you Rick!!!

Very good advices. Im workig on all the stuff you mention by the way. Its amazing the things you can hear. Im working on "naturaliceing" all that stuff in order to jam and improvise free around with them. I shoot a little video yesterday. Im uploading it to You tube in order to show some of the work im doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ0iMEZT_JQ

Thank you very much. All suggestions are more than welcome!
 
Last edited:
Thank you Rick!!!

Very good advices. Im workig on all the stuff you mention by the way. Its amazing the things you can hear. Im working on "naturaliceing" all that stuff in order to jam and improvise free around with them. I shoot a little video yesterday. Im uploading it to You tube in order to show some of the work im doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ0iMEZT_JQ

Thank you very much. All suggestions are more than welcome!

Man, I really like your playing! You sound really smooth and clean. Also, very nice recording quality.

If there is any input at all that I might give you it would be to maybe start thinking in longer phrases and go over barlines a little more. On that video, you were ending all fills and phrases on the beat (mostly on the one). Just a little more syncopation would be nice at times.

But really: You're really good already and more than ready to work on all the DiCenso stuff. Really... all it takes is some time and dedication.

Awesome man!
 
Hey, I was wondering if sometime in the future you would write up the transcription for this great "groove" (according to Drummerworld). Its Larry Finn and its got tons stuff that I'm just having a beast of a time trying to transcribe myself.

Thanks!

Here's the vid: http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/larryfinndemo.html

I might give this one a shot later, but right now I've got a lot of other stuff to write out. I just gave up on Gary Novak because the camera is driving me crazy. They were filming anything that is not important... You don't see anything that would be important for writing stuff out. At least I was able to get some nice licks out of it, but not enough to post something here.
I am currently working on more Billy Cobham, after that I plan to write out some Stanton Moore and also some Antonio Sanchez. After that I might check out the video you've posted. I just watched it and thought it was pretty nice.
 
2.: Work on your foot technique and on all kinds of hand-feet combinations.

I'm just amazed the way he pulls off 32nd note doubles around the kit with a single pedal.

I remember seeing Weckl in the early days at a clinic warming up doing the same thing...unbelievable!
 
awesome thread man, will have to try some of these out in the coming weeks.
 
I'm just amazed the way he pulls off 32nd note doubles around the kit with a single pedal.

I remember seeing Weckl in the early days at a clinic warming up doing the same thing...unbelievable!

Well, like with all pure speed issues, this is only a matter of practise. If you put in the time, you'll for sure be able to pull off the same thing. Hell.... I'm able to do that, and I certainly don't have the fastest twitching muscle fibres. Like I said: Only a matter of practise and the correct technique + the correct pedal settings.

I'm more impressed now with how he phrases that stuff and just uses is seeminglessly and musically on the spot. That's unbelievable.

Have you seen JoJo play 3 or 4 strokes with one single pedal? Really crazy if you ask me. Now, a good friend of mine really wanted to learn how to do that and put in some serious work on it. Believe it or not, only a few weeks later he was able to do that at the same tempo. Like I said: technical things can always be achieved with enough and correct practise.

A few pointers:

You can use a lot of different techniques for achieving fast doubles on the bassdrum, I'll go ahead and list a few:

1.: You can just use two fast ankle strokes. Heel up and not moving.

2.: You can use one ankle stroke heel up and drop your heel on the second stroke. This is my favourite way of doing it (and it's NOT heel-toe! You're still playing two ankle strokes, you just use the dropping of the heel to get the beater out of the drumhead again).

3.: You can use the heel-toe motion. I don't really like this technique because it produces very different volumes out of the two strokes and therefore sounds sloppy. Speedwise it's one of the fastest techniques though and you can also get into longer groups of notes than just two. I also know some guys that can get the two strokes to sound almost identical in volume: Again - just a matter of practise I guess.

4.: You can swivel the two strokes. This one can be really usfull and if you watch closely, it seems like Dave is using this technique to a certain degree.

5.: You can use a sliding motion. You play the first stroke at the end of the pedal and slide your foot up real fast to create a second stroke. I used to use this one when I started out because it seemed most natural two me. At one point, a teacher told me it was bad technique because it burries the beater, so I switched to the heel-dropping motion.

6.: You could also just play heel down and work on getting fast doubles that way.


If you check out all these techniques and work on them, eventually you'll find one, that works best for you.

Here, I've made a little sheet with some exercises that I found really helpfull. You can choose any sticking and orchestrate as you like.

You can also substitute that hands for the left foot.

Have fun with that one.
 

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  • Bass Drum Technique.pdf
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And there we have one of the best posts about bass drum technique I've seen on this forum.

That was awesome, you're doing great work in here.
 
Man, I really like your playing! You sound really smooth and clean. Also, very nice recording quality.

If there is any input at all that I might give you it would be to maybe start thinking in longer phrases and go over barlines a little more. On that video, you were ending all fills and phrases on the beat (mostly on the one). Just a little more syncopation would be nice at times.

But really: You're really good already and more than ready to work on all the DiCenso stuff. Really... all it takes is some time and dedication.

Awesome man!

Hey Rick!

Thank you man!!

Its important to me your input! Thank you very much.

I usually work on 4 bar phrases and solos and love the over the line thinking.

Maybe I will shoot some video in a couple of days.

I ll PM if you want !

Im gonna work on all the dicenso stuff.

Thank you very much for everything!
 
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