Hi hairydrummer
I'm hoping to get an audition with a prog rock band called Coralspin, obviuosly apart from learning the auditon pieces, is there any other research, listening you would suggest I do? I have a fair amount of prog stuff at home, mainly Genesis, Spocks Beard, Also Eden and Porcupine Tree (of course).
Just do the homework and be yourself.
Hi Trains'
finally i got your DVD's really enjoying them! Great stuff! also i'd like to ask what the snare on the AS DVD is ?
The snare drum on that DVD is a Sonor 14x5 Black Steel with an EmperorX on the top and 8 strands of Puresound snare wires on the bottom.
Hi Fox622003
I was wondering, well, I'm 90% sure you *can* sing in tune since you're a very musical drummer. While I'm very technical, I never got past rhythm when it comes to music theory, and while I can notice when things aren't sounding well tune-wise, I can't sing in tune or identify musical notes at all. It has been suggested by some of my bandmates that it would be really helpful to develop that aspect of music (apparently not so necessary for drumming, but that's what I'm asking!) It would be great to hear your take on the matter!
I've always had an ear for picking out notes - I can sing a melody close enough that I can go and find it on a guitar or piano - but I don't really know how good my tuning and intonation as a singer really is. About 20 years ago I bought the Relative Pitch and Perfect Pitch courses of David L Burge. Whilst I found the Perfect Pitch stuff interesting - I didn't find it that useful. The relative Pitch was really worth it and I only wish I have done it as a kid. It does open your ears and make you listen in a different way - does it help with drumming? Kind of - because it made me realise that I could focus my ears in ways I hadn't imagined before.
Another thing, I've spotted you switching to traditional grip in different footage, but you only seem to do it for a few seconds, do you play traditional, or do you just switch some times to get certain sounds for a particular fill or part?
Yes because there are certain touch/bounce subtleties that I can only really get from trad grip...but 98% of the time I play matched.
cheers
Gavin