question about Thomas Pridgen style

Not all of them, surely?

When you say 'grooves' what do you mean? Do you mean in solos?
 
Not all of them, surely?

I would agree.

He comes from a very gospel chops oriented background and is a very "busy" player, so I think it makes some of his 4/4 grooves sound like they might be in odd time signatures.

Most of the time when I listen to him, I can't tell what he's doing time-wise.
 
Most of the time when I listen to him, I can't tell what he's doing time-wise.

Me too! Take a track like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfX6ze7dtBU ... there's some odd time stuff going on there at times but a lot of it is in 6/8, often obscured by all his crazy accents. He's flipping the beat every which way.

If he's being paid by the note he probably lives in a mansion with a gold-plated swimming pool :)
 
Got any particular songs in mind? He plays a ton of stuff in odd time, but also he's pretty clever about making even straight time sound both odd and groovy. "Teflon" from Octehedron is a good example of that.
 
I also notice that Thomas does a lot of syncopation. He places the snare accent in various spots which gives his music a unique feel which i love
 
There's a heavy latin/afro-cuban vibe in his playing, I recall him mentioning in an interview that he studied a lot with Walfredo Reyes Jr. Although like with many gospel drummers, they can play daaaaaaaamn fast, so when you him in particular you're not too sure what's going on. For example listen to any piece of latin music and then try and speed it up in your brain as fast as possible and it'll probably sound something like what Pridgen plays.

It's kind of odd when he plays a standard beat. Below is a video of him at church when he was 16 with a very different style of playing; it's chopalicious.
http://youtu.be/3G3v83zDNjk
 
It's kind of odd when he plays a standard beat. Below is a video of him at church when he was 16 with a very different style of playing; it's chopalicious.
http://youtu.be/3G3v83zDNjk
Wow, I've never seem that clip before! What a monster!

I hope he manages to find another vehicle for his playing that will be as good a fit as TMV was. It's crazy how good he is.
 
My dad thinks he's better than Thomas Pridgen and he hailes Gary Chester and I'm like "Dad... Just no"
My dad's grooves lack and he doesn't listen to much drummers and thinks if he see's someone on the TV do a quick double and snare accent then their amazing.

But yeah, I used to think Neil Pearts stuff were in odd time sigs like ALWAYS but I was wrong. Prog is a funny and great genre.
 
Me too! Take a track like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfX6ze7dtBU ... there's some odd time stuff going on there at times but a lot of it is in 6/8, often obscured by all his crazy accents. He's flipping the beat every which way.

If he's being paid by the note he probably lives in a mansion with a gold-plated swimming pool :)

That was the first time I had heard or seen anything by TMV. I was floored that anything that nutty made it onto network TV. I'm so used to Nickelstaind, Hoobadust or System Against The Beastie Peppers being the regular mush they serve on shows like that.

I bought the album shortly thereafter.
 
after tmv he formed his own band "the memorials". they're pretty incredible in their own way.

http://www.thememorialsmusic.com/
Thanks for the tip. I'll have to give them another try. I heard them a while back and wasn't blown away by them, but since you give them the tentative 1 and 3/4 thumbs up, I'll give them another listen (it was a very careful listen on first pass anyway).
 
I've never understood the fuss about this guy or TMV. Just not my thing, I guess. Maybe I'll change my mind down the road somewhere.
 
I've never understood the fuss about this guy or TMV. Just not my thing, I guess. Maybe I'll change my mind down the road somewhere.


Pridgen is definitely a monster......but a bit over the top pretty often....as most of the gospel players today are.....

I prefer Jon Theodores drumming with Mars Volta to any of their other drummers
 
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