Brian Blade or Dave Weckl?

KellerPaulsonDrums

Junior Member
Recently, a fellow drummer and myself got into a pretty heavy argument over the drummers Brian Blade and Dave Weckl. The reason being is Dave Weckl came up in conversation and I noted that I don't like his playing, I think he is too much of a show-off, doesn't play tasteful stuff, and I think that he plays corny stuff. He took this very offensive and tried to back Dave up by saying that his hand and foot conbinations were pretty much impossible to be done by anyone else.

I brought up the fact that Brian Blade is more of a drummer I would want to listen to because what he plays is tight, tasteful, and always groovin. He is never doing stuff that is flashy and show-offy, however he is doing stuff that is just as complicated as the stuff Dave Weckl is doing.

Later, my other buddy brought up the fact that there are musicians who play for the altheticism and try to show off all of what they can do (in my opinion Dave Weckl, and the guy I had an argurment with), and then there are musicians who play to be in the pocket, tasteful, and musical (in my opinion Brian Blade, and me).

No drummers are alike but still there is a fine line in what people want to hear. Some would rather listen to Weckl, and other Blade.


What do you guys think on this subject, and who would you rather listen to?

Also, feel free to mention any other drummers that fit in the category of your listening.
 
The reason being is Dave Weckl came up in conversation and I noted that I don't like his playing, I think he is too much of a show-off, doesn't play tasteful stuff, and I think that he plays corny stuff.

Dave Weckl doesn't play tasteful stuff???...plays corny stuff???...What are you talking about??..really man why start silly threads like this??..Weckl is one of the most respected drummers in the industry..
 
I think they are both amazing in their own way. I think Weckl is technically astounding and has a lot of wonderful drum parts, but I do not like the music he makes. I like watching him on youtube sometimes. His drum sound is amazing. He had a part to play in the HHX Evolution series of cymbals too. He is inspirational in ways, but for me, having a classic album or two is not one of them.

I like listening to Blade's albums.
 
I definitely prefer Brian Blade over Weckl, especially the music he plays with his band: awful.

However I have much respect for Weckl. The stuff he plays when he is touring with other people like Chick Corea is AMAZING.

I would much rather listen to Weckl over Vinnie though. I think they both fit in the category of "show off" drummers, as described in the OP. They both default to playing "hero" licks that purely show off chops. However, Weckl hasn't lost his tasteful side, and you can hear it in pieces he plays with other bands. Vinnie has completely lost any sort of tasteful playing ability IMO. He has gone way too heavy rock for my tastes. I have a recent album he did with Chick Corea, and his playing is horrible. I saw Chick on tour for the album, but Blade was drumming and it was excellent.
 
Guys, I'm not writing that I think Weckl is a bad player, because he is obviously not! If he sucked, he wouldn't be playing professionally. However, when I watch him playing solos, they are more flashy and random badassness as compared to a musical drum solo that starts with a theme and climaxes through the end.


I definitely prefer Brian Blade over Weckl, especially the music he plays with his band: awful.

However I have much respect for Weckl. The stuff he plays when he is touring with other people like Chick Corea is AMAZING.

I would much rather listen to Weckl over Vinnie though. I think they both fit in the category of "show off" drummers, as described in the OP. They both default to playing "hero" licks that purely show off chops. However, Weckl hasn't lost his tasteful side, and you can hear it in pieces he plays with other bands. Vinnie has completely lost any sort of tasteful playing ability IMO. He has gone way too heavy rock for my tastes. I have a recent album he did with Chick Corea, and his playing is horrible. I saw Chick on tour for the album, but Blade was drumming and it was excellent.

Also, I totally agree with you man. The stuff him and Vinnie plays is definitely "hero" lick material. They play some cool stuff, but I feel like what they're playing is just based off of lick and not playing what they feel fits and improvising.
 
Both top drawer players who can produce more pleasing music with one limb than I can with four. Dave Weckl is hugely impressive, but I love Brian Blade's playing. He has the magic.

It's a funny argument to have, though. What's a better dessert? Cheesecake or tiramisu?
 
Guys, I'm not writing that I think Weckl is a bad player, because he is obviously not! If he sucked, he wouldn't be playing professionally. However, when I watch him playing solos, they are more flashy and random badassness as compared to a musical drum solo that starts with a theme and climaxes through the end.

Also, I totally agree with you man. The stuff him and Vinnie plays is definitely "hero" lick material. They play some cool stuff, but I feel like what they're playing is just based off of lick and not playing what they feel fits and improvising.

I can only suggest you do more listening. Weckl is capable of the most musical drum sols - in fact, I do believe he's the greatest drum soloist alive. Vinnie too is not a player that can be accused of "not playing what they feel fits & improvising"... he can be hard work because his ideas are very angular at times, but the guy is a master.

When people comment on "flashy" drumming, do they ever think that maybe Weckl or Vinnie believe that that is exactly what represents the way they are hearing the music at that moment? You cannot simply dismiss a whole virtuosic style because it's difficult.
 
I definitely prefer Brian Blade over Weckl, especially the music he plays with his band: awful.

However I have much respect for Weckl. The stuff he plays when he is touring with other people like Chick Corea is AMAZING.

I would much rather listen to Weckl over Vinnie though. I think they both fit in the category of "show off" drummers, as described in the OP. They both default to playing "hero" licks that purely show off chops. However, Weckl hasn't lost his tasteful side, and you can hear it in pieces he plays with other bands. Vinnie has completely lost any sort of tasteful playing ability IMO. He has gone way too heavy rock for my tastes. I have a recent album he did with Chick Corea, and his playing is horrible. I saw Chick on tour for the album, but Blade was drumming and it was excellent.
Vinnie? Show-off drummer? What have you been listening to? He's one of the biggest studio-players. Do you think he'd record with so many if he was a show-off drummer?
Maybe you should actually listen to some of his recordings?
Listen to Frank Zappa's Joes Garage, Jeff Beck, Seven Days by Sting, listen to the new Herbie Hancock album, listen to Joni Michel, Jing Chi, Chaka Khan. How can you say he's a tasteless drummer!? It seems to me that you haven't heard a lot of Vinnie's playing..

I'd listen to Vinnie over Weckl any day, but it's more of a preference. He actually has some balls to do something different, play out of the box, while I feel Weckl is playing the same stuff again and again, especially after he get his "technique upgrade" and grew up from the 80's.

Look at his discography. I can bet that it's 100 times longer than Weckls
http://www.vinniecolaiuta.com/discography.aspx

On that note, Brian and Dave are two completely different drum-players. Stop comparing drummers, and enjoy the musical ideas.
(Yes I know I compared Vinnie to Dave)
 
Brian Blade of course. Weckl sounds like a machine with no feel whatsoever. I actually liked Weckl before he decided to re-arrange his set-up, grip etc. These days he sounds like a guy with a nice and loose grip but no feel or groove in his playing.
 
Brian Blade of course. Weckl sounds like a machine with no feel whatsoever. I actually liked Weckl before he decided to re-arrange his set-up, grip etc. These days he sounds like a guy with a nice and loose grip but no feel or groove in his playing.
I have to respect your opinion, but really this idea that "Weckl has no feel or groove" is, in my opinion, the most misguided & banal thing I have ever read on a drum forum. Utter nonsense.
 
Two different drummers and styles, I am more into Brian Blade's feel.
 
SMH @ some of these comments on Weckl and Vinnie...
 
They are sooooo different. I guess I'm not a fan of a lot of Dave's music, but he's solid, gets a great sound and he does a great job on everything he's hired to do.

Brian is another favourite. His band is great, and he did a great job on the Joni Mitchell DVD.

As for Vinnie on the Five Piece Band record. It can't really get any better IMO. Yes, he plays a lot, but that's the wrong way to look at music like this. It's musicality and interaction of the absolutely highest level.

All these guys are amazing IMO and each of them has their own unique and immediately identifiable style.

Taste is a hard thing to discuss. Don't like it, change the channel or turn it off.
 
Weckl is technically very good.
And he has great chops, and great feel for the style of jazz he plays.

I prefer brian blades style more. Plus I love redman, being a sax palyer as well.

It's apples and oranges.
 
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I saw Dave Weckl playing with Mike Stern last year and there were sections where Dave played relatively straight. It sounded phenomenal. He's one of my favorite drummers, not so much because of the chops that he has in spades (and arguably over-uses) but because he has a great sense of time. He can leave spaces that'll make the hairs on your arms stand up.

The problem is is that he rarely shows that side of himself.

I thought as I left that show that he would do himself a great service by branching out into other genres. I think he could be a first call session guy, or even better, join a band that had a singer where he would be forced to economize his ideas and parts.

I think if he got the call from Sting, that he'd be every bit as impressive as Vinnie was. There's no way in hell that Sting would let him get away with his non-stop over-the-topness.

He would find a whole new level of respect from drummers if he did something like that. Actually, before he got the Corea gig, he had the Paul Simon gig, so you know he's capable.
 
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