Vinnie Colaiuta Technique Question

TomasHakkesBrain

Senior Member
I am really inspired by how vinnie does polyrhythms like this where he plays a piece with syncopation and plays straight rhythms over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ueqo_UUPM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

But i cant seem to get into applying this. He and gospel drummers do it a lot in fills especially. Im wondering if anyone has experience with this and any pointers. Im good with polyrhythms like the gavin harrison book, tool etc, but this is tricky.
 
Is an example of what you mean at 1:39? It's just counting (metric modulation). Sounds like he's turning the triplet into an 8th note.

The bigger question is why you'd want to do this? Unless you've got really good musicians around you, you run the risk of destroying a tune.
 
I am really inspired by how vinnie does polyrhythms like this where he plays a piece with syncopation and plays straight rhythms over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ueqo_UUPM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

But i cant seem to get into applying this. He and gospel drummers do it a lot in fills especially. Im wondering if anyone has experience with this and any pointers. Im good with polyrhythms like the gavin harrison book, tool etc, but this is tricky.

Vinnie is a beast but a lot of the metric modulation etc comes through practice.

If this is something you want to get into then the following books are for you.

Gavin Harrison - Rhythmic Illusions and Rhythmic Horizons

Gary Chafee - Sticking patterns and rhythm and meter patterns.

Vinnie was a student of Gary's at berklee and took a lot of his concepts and applied them to his playing.

Start at the source!

All the best

Dave
 
yeah, start simple. if you check out "vinnie's half-time", you can hear some of there polyrhythms themes over a 16th note hi-hat pulse. start at 2:28 & check his left hand & bass drum. stuff like triplets, 5:2. if you can master all sorts of partials / combos of triplets under grooving 16th on the hi-hat, its should get you going on to the next level, next level, etc. remember Vinnie is a musical / drum / math genius. his brain operates ways above average mortals, so dont freak if you are a bit stumped at the complexity going on.

+ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7EOb-KeMLM
+ http://www.freewebs.com/jivepatrolmusinc/Vinnie Colaiuta - Vinnies Halftime - Page 3.pdf -- measure 83 is 2:28
+ http://www.freewebs.com/jivepatrolmusinc/Vinnie Colaiuta - Vinnies Halftime - Page 4.pdf
 
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Great. I dont want to get into it hugely because its not practical for the music i do, but just want to add the occassional bit here and there.
 
Vinnie is a beast but a lot of the metric modulation etc comes through practice.

If this is something you want to get into then the following books are for you.

Gavin Harrison - Rhythmic Illusions and Rhythmic Horizons

Gary Chafee - Sticking patterns and rhythm and meter patterns.

Vinnie was a student of Gary's at berklee and took a lot of his concepts and applied them to his playing.

Start at the source!

All the best

Dave

From what I heard Vinnie flew through Chaffee's book(s) in 2 weeks. Maybe myth but impressive.
 
Chaffee (as I've heard it) said that giving the same material to both Steve Smith and Vinnie, that Steve had to work to get through the lessons and everything came naturally to Vinnie. This was from a Chaffee student who is a friend of mine.

I don't remember Chaffee having a book back then, just sheets of paper with exercises. I'd believe Vinnie's ability to blast through those lessons though.

From what I heard Vinnie flew through Chaffee's book(s) in 2 weeks. Maybe myth but impressive.
 
When you already have the capability to play something, it won't take long to learn a particular set of exercises. For example, because I've spent time with The New Breed, I find that it's really easy to work on similar material. It's just a matter of getting a feel for the reading, I'm not really learning anything new in those cases, just playing something I already know.

Perhaps Colaiuta already had the capability to play the material Chaffee gave him. That doesn't necessarily make him 'more impressive' than Smith; it just means he happened to already have that knowledge at that point in time; meaning that he had practiced similar concepts before.

Pure speculation is silly, but fun :)

-sheldon
 
There is Vinnie and then the rest of us!

I state this not that he is my all time fav, he's close, but that I'm reasonably certain he could play ANYTHING and improve it.
 
The bigger question is why you'd want to do this? Unless you've got really good musicians around you, you run the risk of destroying a tune.

There's a time and place for everything. Having this particular skill at your disposal doesn't mean that you have to play it constantly or without restraint.
 
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