Number two on my top 10 list is an insane Australian drummer, 'Virgil Donati!" He is the psychotic drummer behind the progressive metal band "Planet X" and a former drummer for the legendary guitarist "Steve Vai!"
He has taken double bass drumming to new "alien" levels in which most people cannot comprehend! One of his trademark move that I love is his amazing speed and ability to more around the drums so effortlessly. (You can see it in this video below at precisely :50 seconds into the video)
On September 2008, I was very honored and blessed to be able to meet him at Singapore during the Singapore Drum Fest 08. He was friendly and I got a front row seat to watch Donati while he did a drum workshop. Picture was taken during the Singapore DrumeFest 08'
And after he finished the workshop, he threw his pair of drumsticks to the crowd and believe it or not, I was one of the two people who caught it! To Virgil Donati: Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the drums to us humans! You are an amazing drummer and will always be in my top 10 list of the greatest drummers in the world!
Landing in fourth place on my list is Australia's master drummer Grant Collins. Grant Collins in my opinion is one the most technical drum soloist that I have ever seen. His is often known for pushing the limits and boundaries of drumming with his four-limbs independence technique. This video shows his massive drum kit and what he does with it. It's pretty cool!
Perhaps it is best summed up by internationally renowned drummer, Dom Famularo, who had this to say about Grant: "I travel the world performing and meeting many great drummers. It is not often I hear someone who is on the cutting edge of modern drum set performance. Well, in Australia I heard that person...Grant Collins! When you hear him, be prepared for the ride he will take you on... you will remember it for the rest of your life!"
The thing that I love most about him is that the way he plays makes it sound like there is a group of people play a bunch a percussion instruments when really...it is just him alone doing everything. And that my friends, takes years of hard work, commitment and an unending love and passion for the instrument.
Jojo Mayer is a guy whom I consider to be one of the most skilled drummers I have ever seen. He has mastered nearly all styles of hitting the drums with just a pair of sticks. Many of you might think that sounds like an easy thing to do but you'd be so wrong to think that. His hand/finger technique is truly amazing, it is nothing I have ever seen before. He is able to gain extreme speeds that have been considered impossible, and he can do it smoothly in a relaxed manner.
Jojo Mayer has the reputation of being extremely skilled with his technique and I find that to be 100% true. It is really a jaw dropping moment for many if not, all drummers who have seen him play the drums either on video or in person.
The method which he uses a lot is call the "moeller" method, it is one of my favorite methods to apply when I drum but I haven't fully mastered it yet. I only know this method through Jojo Mayer's videos. (thanks Jojo Mayer, if there is a possible chance that you're reading this)
If anyone can master his hand technique and apply it like the way Jojo Mayer does. It would be an amazing achievement, I've tried.... and failed... Nevertheless, it is guys like him that keeps me practicing more... to become an even better drummer that I ever was.
One awesome drummer... really love his style and skills.
Now this is a guy you just gotta love. Mike Johnston falls under no. 8 of my list for being so awesome at drums, not to mention his comedic act while performing and teaching. For those of you who do not know who Mike Johnston is, I'll give you a short back story. He was the drummer of a rock band called Simon Says, "Here is the third guy walking in the beginning of the video."
Years later, he opened his own drum school called "The Drum Lab" in Sacramento and started to post some cool drum licks, rudiments, beats on Youtube and that is when his fame started to shoot off the roof (Also that was when I discovered of his existence).
He is one awesome dude and I also love watching whatever new stuff he has on Youtube. Just recently, he posted a video on youtube to challenge other drummers to become better in doing some drum shedding... so I tried it out myself and ofcourse, I got thrashed by the man himself...
But even so, Mike Johnston was humble enough to leave a comment on the video...
From Mike Johnston: RAYMOND! That was great. Your style is incredible, such a smooth flow to everything. It's a true pleasure to play with you bro. Thank you for doing this and showing drummers that we can have fun when we shed, even if we are many miles apart.
Great Job Raymond, Mike Johnston MIKESLESSONS COM
He is one awesome dude and worthy to be called as one the greatest drummers the world has ever seen...
For those who have been asking what I've been practicing on the drums lately. This is what I've just been recently working on...
This is a composition made by a composer called Steve Reich. This is a 12/16 (similar to 6/8 or 3/4) clapping rhythm performed by two people. 1st, both clappers will clap the rhythm in unison. 1 will keep on playing the same rhythm throughout the entire time while the 2nd clapper moves 1 quarter of a note back every 4th, 8th, or 12th bar. They will keep this up all the way until the 2nd clapper comes back into unison with the 1st clapper.
Steve Reich in 2006
This is one of Steve Reich's early pieces of simple "phasing."He has done alot more other types of composition that does even more complicated phasing. For those who do not know what is phasing in a musical term; " it just means that two instruments playing the same thing in steady but not identical tempo. Slowly making them out of sync... all the way until the 2nd instruments comes back in unison with the 1st instrument."
I first got the idea to do this when I saw Glenn Kotche's interview at the Modern Drummer Festival 2006 DVD. I was so fascinating that I've tried to mimic it by ear by for a whole year couldn't find it possible until I finally sat down and spent an entire hour writing out the entire notation for clapping music. Surprisingly it is only 12 bars.
You can see Mr. Kotche talking about the Clapping Music around 0:40 in the video. In it, he also demonstrated how he did the Clapping Music with two different drum surface. One on the floor tom and one on the rack tom. The rhythm he did on the floor tom doesn't change (mimicking the 1st clapper) while the rhythm on the rack tom does the phasing (mimicking the 2nd clapper).
So what have I been practicing?... This is it. Trying to do Clapping Music on the drums like how Glen Kotche did. I have to say..this is not an easy task to accomplish. I might post a video of myself doing the Clapping music piece once I have mastered the piece. Which will probably take a while.
Okay, the fact the my Lady Gaga drum cover has been deleted off youtube due to copyright reasons I guess was fair, but when I uploaded the video again, I have made it clear that what I did was not meant to surpass any copyright law and meant it for leisure only. Despite that, the video was once again deleted... So I made a third attempt, this time I have stated
(Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.)
guess what happened... it worked...for a day and then it was deleted again. Right now, to show my response, I have uploaded another video to in a way show them my feelings and to substitute my Lady Gaga Drum cover. Hopefully this does not have the copyright law protection nonsense. (I will post the Lady Gaga Drum Cover video on blogger if it doesn't have any copyright law protection.)
So here's Waking the Demon by Bullet for My Valentine. Enjoy!
____________________________________________________ Now, what kind of diabolical drumming style of music do you think he would be doing?
I finally got the time to upload my drumming on Youtube.
Now, I know that many of you are thinking, why this song? It's so easy to play! or Anyone can do that...
All that is true, the reason I did a drum cover to this is not because of the technicality of the song, but rather how the fact that you can have all the riffs and fills you want. Yet, something so simple can be so catchy. And as a drummer, the beat is very simple and consistent, leaving alot of room for more flowering on the drums. Thus, this cover is made.
Hope you all enjoy this and dont forget to leave a comment on YouTube.
Something else in mind...
This is a really nice song, and I just felt the need to do a drum cover for it. Despite the fact that tons of ppl have already done it. I just want to do it for the sake of enjoyment.
When these two names come to my ears, I have to say holy #@$!. You will all now why once I show you their drums, especially Terry Bozzio's kit.
The major thing about these guys' playing is that it is not your ordinary, "fast drumming" or extreme drum solos. In fact, they have made something that is really out of the ordinary; making melody on the drums! (I am serious). And that is really not what you would expect to see or let alone hear from a non-melodic instrument. And because of that, they require drum sets that are massive and having each tom, and bass drum tuned differently.
First off, let's talk about Chad Wackerman, he was the first one that really brought to my attention that drums can be melodic! And this was the video that really opened up my mind to having new ideas to be more creative "in a melodic" sense besides just making rhythm.
In this video, his right hand and both feet are providing a 7/4 time signature rhythm, while his left hand is free to lead a melodic fill all around. Soon after at 1:40, he lets his feet to do the rhythm and his hands continue with a solo that is a mixture of rhythm and melody which is one of the coolest thing I have ever seen.
F.Y.I. yes, he composed that melody. Now, the man with the biggest arsenal of drums known to man. Terry Bozzio. Although he has been ridiculed by alot of people because of his unnatural approach to playing the drums, I believe he brings out something new, original and not just having a big drum set just for the sake of having it.
He has played in numerous bands such as Frank Zappa, Steve Vai and his latest project with KoRn. His drum set is what I would consider as the biggest drum set in the world.
This is his current set-up. (Excerpted from Wikipedia)
Drums
Vertical Low Timbre drums in olive ash burl finish with satin chrome lugs and black powdercoat rims. All heads are Terry Bozzio Attack signature in clear mylar
10" snare tuned to D
13 - 8" x 3" piccolo toms - tuned from high C to a low C
12" solid craviotto snare tuned to B
8" x 3" piccolo tom tuned to Bb
8" x 6" tom tuned to A
4 - 10"x 6" toms G-F-E-D
10" x 8" tuned to C
12" x 6" tuned to B
12" x 8" tuned to A
13" x 9" tuned to G
14" x 10" tuned to F
16" x 12" tuned to E
Cymbals
All cymbals are Sabian Radia Terry Bozzio signatures.
21" ride
16" china below 8"china
18" china below 10"china
14" china w/12"crash stack below 7"china w/6"crash stack
16" china w/14"crash stack below 8"china w/7"crash stack
18" china w/16"crash stack below 10"china w/8"crash stack
20" china w/18"crash stack below 12"china w/10"crash stack
20" china below 12"china
22" china below 14"china
36" Chinese gong (behind right w/beater on cym boom)
10" hihats
left remote china hi hat 16" over 18"
spoxe hi hat
12" hi hats
lp tambourine
12" heavy bell under 8" cup chime
11" heavy bell under 7 1/2" cup chime
10" heavy bell under 7" cup chime
9" heavy bell under 6 1/2" cup chime
20" flat ride w/20"china stack, under closed14" flat bottom hi hats, under factory metal , under pete englehardt ribbon crasher
26" B-20 radia gong on dw custom 3 point gong holder designed by Terry
20" x 16" main left kick drum (muffled) tuned to Bb
Metal tambourine shaker or tb special tambourine foot plate jingle device
20" x 16" main right kick drum (muffled) tuned to G
24" x 14" bd tuned to A (w/ akg d-112 may mic)
right remote hi hats 16" over 20"
18" x bd tuned to D
18" x bd tuned to E
20" x 8" bd tuned to B
Other
Glockenspiel
36" wuhan Chinese gong
One octave set of wuhan Chinese bossed gongs
Now when you put these two monsters together, you'll get probably one of the most amazing site to behold for not just drummers but also all musicians.
Up until today, this video is one of my personal favourite drum solo and also can be considered as my favourite drum song! Keep on drumming and rock on Chad Wackerman and Terry Bozzio.
When it comes to powerhouse drumming and extreme showmanship; no one can match up to the amazing drummer by the name of John Blackwell...
John was raised in a very musical family and started his playing since the age of three when got his first drum kit. He studied in one of the most prestigious music college (Berklee College of Music) soon after, his career kicked off and was playing for big Pop, R&B, and Rap artist like Prince, P. Diddy, Utada Hikaru, and Justin Timberlake.
John Blackwell drumming for Justin Timberlake at the Grammys.
He has made a trademark of himself with his kung-fu like stick twirls when he drums which is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. He does it so fast that at times I though the video was being fast forward...it's that fast!
You can see him doing it at 0:52 in this video...
Not only is John Blackwell good in his showmanships, but also in his amazing groove and style of playing which really nice to hear...
Rock on John Blackwell!
This concludes my series of my favorite gospel, R&B, Hip-Hop drummers. My next post will be about drummers that the majority of readers will know and recognize as famous, good, cliche and extremely overrated. Although not alot of drummers like them, they have truly caught the attention of many non-drummers and non-musicians. Causing an effect that made many people want to play drums. So for that, I would have to thank them by mentioning them in my posts. But to clarify things, I do not like those drummers but I respect them.
Possibly one of the most admired drummers among many aspired Christians is what Teddy Campbell calls "Marvin- the Magnificent- McQuitty." And the word magnificent is just a small word for man this talented!
It began when he just 3 years old, mimicking his father playing the drums, soon it became what Marvin was destined to do. His drumming is very well known for his groove and uncanny musicality, also not forget to mention an amazing versatility! Because of his amazing ability to change and adapt in music, he has worked with many of today's big artist like Destiny's Child, Stevie Wonder, Mary Mary, Israel & New Breed etc.
Marvin McQuitty was brought into my attention when he performed at one of the most prestigious drumming event known to man. The Modern Drummer Festival! where he play along to one of his compositions called "Get Your Life Back". In which he performed flawlessly with tremendous fill and groove that made my eyes glued to the TV screen!
Marvin is and I quote from www.drumemrworld.com that "Marvin is living his dreams, walking in his purpose and affecting the lives of thousands with his spiritual inspiration and affinity for God."
I have got to say amen to that! Currently, Marvin is now working with grammy award winner Israel Houghton in his group "Israel & New Breed".
you can catch Marvin worshipping with Israel & New Breed and Hillsong's Darlene Zschech in that video... the camera catches Marvin at 1:19/ 2:22 My salutes goes out to Marvin McQuitty, an amazing drummer for God! Amen!
Teddy Campbell... as for as gospel drumming goes, he is probably one of the most sought after drummer! He is particularly famous for being the drummer of American Idol. He is one of my personal favorites not just because of his amazing drum fills and gospel chops, but for his amazing ability to groove to any type of music. He proves it very well on the American Idol show, when the contestants wants rock, he'll sound like a rock drummer, when it's jazz, he sounds like he has been playing jazz for all his life, and it goes on and on...
His resume is super impressive too! Since he's the drummer for American Idol, there's no need to mention that he has performed with Kelly Clarkson, David Cook, Hudson Taylor, Fantasia etc. but he also performed with Britney Spears (back when she was at the top), Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera
In 2006, he was invited to perform at the Modern Drummer Festival with many other goespel drummers like Aaron Spears (drummer for Usher), Gerald Heyward (drummer for Mary J. Blige), and Marvin McQuitty(drummer for Israel & New Breed).
Teddy at the Modern Drummer Festival.
I personally had the opportunity to meet with Teddy Campbell at the Singapore Drum Festival, and he is one of the nicest guys you'll ever see and very humble. I not only respect him for his amazing drumming but also for his faith, during the festival said "When I play the drums, I am only ushering people into the presence of God." When he said that out loud just like that, I really wanted to shout amen! (laughs)...
watch this video at 1:47
God bless you Teddy Campbell and may the Lord shine upon you.
photos and info courtesy of www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Teddy_Campbell.html video courtesy of www.youtube.com
When it comes to Tony Royster Jr., there is only 3 letters that sums up the whole thing about him... O.M.G. !!!! He is probably one of the craziest -young drumemr I have have ever seen and heard. His drumming is really out of this world...
Tony Royster Jr. was voted #1 Up and Coming Drummer by Modern Drummer magazine 2000 readers' poll and has been voted #2 in the UK 2001 readers' poll. And believe me when I say this, do not underestimate him. He's currently 23 years old.... but watch this video when he was only 12 years old!
Amazing right!!!
watch him now!
Now he has groove and amzing techniques that just blows my mind that he can play better than that video (when he was 12 years old)
This video show his ability to work with a band with double bass drums....and I love his groove.
That's the thing, the groove, I do not know about you, but I find this is close to becoming a fact. Black guys who plays drum has the most amazing licks and grooves! Dont believe me? I'll let you see all the goespel drummers that I like on my next blog. Anyways, Tony Royster Jr. is one of my all time favourties because he is living the dream. Endorsed by DW Drums! That's my dream! The DW drums will make you drool!
Currently Tony is touring with big hip-hop artist Jay-Z. This video shows how nice Jay-Z's concert is with Tony by his side.
Tony makes Jay-Z sound 1000 times better in my opinion. My salutes to you Tony Royster Jr. Hopefully I might have a chance to drum with you!
Oh boy... this is going to be a big one. A man who seriously has some of the biggest drum kit monsters I have ever seen...aside from being one of my biggest rock influences, Mike Portnoy is probably one of the most respected technical musicians in the Progressive Rock industry.
Mike's long list of Awards include 24 Modern Drummer Magazine Reader's Poll Awards including: 2004 Hall of Fame Inductee, Best Progressive Rock Drummer (12 years in a row!!), Best Clinician (twice), Best Educational Video/DVD for Liquid Drum Theater, and Best Recorded Performance of the Year (6 times) for Dream Theater's Awake, A Change of Seasons, Falling Into Infinity, Scenes From A Memory, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Score.
When he was a teenager, Mike Portnoy was awarded a scholarship to study at the Berklee College Of Music, where he met John Petrucci (guitarist) and John Myung (bassist) . Eventually forming the greatest progressive rock band we now know as Dream Theater. -**HUGE FAN of Dream Theater **-Mike, Petrucci, and Myung decided to stop studying in Berklee and make their own music, eventually hiring a vocalist James LaBrie and a psychotic keyboardists "Jordan Rudess". And to show you how amazing Dream Theater is...just watch this MV of them...
Guitar solo at 3:10 Keyboard solo at 3:50
The past few years since I've heard about Mike Portnoy, I have seen many of his Drum Instructional DVDs from Hudson Music and they are mind blowing-ly awesome!
Mike Portnoy In Constont Motion and Liquid Drum Theater.
One of the things I really like about Mike Portnoy is not only the fact that he drums technically but also the fact that he can make it sound sooo nice that it can even attract people who dont know a thing about drums...especially when people look at his drum kit....
and his Collection of Drums that TAMA (the drum company) has given to him... Mike and his two kids...
Another reason why I like Mike Portnoy is because he is working in a band where he is really great but he is working in a band where every single musician awesome! Here are just some short videos them!
The bassist John Myung...
A crazy 10 minute intrumental in the Live at Budokan video.... includes addictive bass lick(John Myung), mind blowing guitar shredding-picking (John Petrucci) and keyboard/ drum duet (Jordan Rudess and Mike Portnoy)
To put it simply, Mike Portnoy = crazy/awesome drummer
Mike Portnoy in Dream Theater = AMAZING/Crazy/Mind-blowing/awesome/technical/powerhouse/ music!!!!
Mike Portnoy with Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) left Mike with David Archuleta (an icon)...I'm referring to Mike.
Hi all, for the next couple of blog posts, I'll be blogging about all my favorite drummers as to what they have contributed into the music world and also how they have impact my life as a drummer. Making the drum set such an awesome instrument to play. I'm a "drum-aholic" and I intend to keep my name up to standard. I've heard of many people who called themselves "drum-aholics" and told me they have no idea who is Steve Gadd, Ringgo Star, or even Buddy Rich!!! Instead, they would be naming the most overrated drummers such as Travis Barker of Blink 182 or Joey Jordison of SlipKnot...
That is equivalent to a guitarholic saying they dont who Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or Jimi Hendrix is!!!! If you are neither a drum-aholic or a guitarholic and you have no idea who these guys are; lets just say you call yourself a Classical Pianist and you have never heard of Beethoven, Mozart or Johann Sebastian Bach! If that is still theoratically hard to understand, then just imagine you call yourself a Christian and you dont know who Jesus Christ is!!!! It's that bad!!!!
Alright, so from now on, this blog will be dedicated to all the drummers out there and to those who are interested about drumming... I will only be talking about all the drummers that you see on the right column "drummers I like" and more. Accept for Arthur Kam and Anson Lau... for obvious reasons. (laughs)
For my other fellow readers who are not interested about this topic whatsoever, you can go to my Xanga blog, I will be posting about others things like life in general while this topic is going on...
Alright then! Buckle up guys n (hopefully some gals) for lots of pictures of drummers, drum sets, drumsticks, cymbals, bios, and lots and lots of drum videos! Enjoy and God bless!!!
note: Travis Barker and Joey Jordison will still be mentioned in my blog despite the overrated viewsfrom everyone because these two are also very good drummers...
Here's Jacqueline playing a mixture of songs on the drums in youtube. Normally I wouldn't care much about girls playing drums cause they usually have a bad reputation at playing the drums on Youtube with all the wrong techniques, but are always complemented by the guys just because a girl is playing drums. Well, except for Cindy Blackman and Hillary Jones who are extremely great drumming gals...but..after watching this girl play... I'm really amazed.
What else...she's really good, she has rhythm, she's really hot!....SO..a girl who's hot and plays the drums really well......I think I'm in love! >.<
Picture was taken during the Singapore DrumeFest 08'
To Virgil Donati: Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the drums to us humans! You are an amazing drummer and will always be in my top 10 list of the greatest drummers in the world!
