[kidbronx]

I think you cat's are making this to technical and to personal...Sax players only get hired in good working bands that can read...Even Sal in Billy Joel's group can read but not well...and he just had a job...to make things simple...if you don't read you don't make a living in reality...you're just an ordinary player...and don't give up your day job!

[kidbronx]

I am not sure I understand, Guy you are one of the finest drummers in the business and so are you Quirk, I have heard you both..did you ever listen to Scotty Hazen?...The best unknown I ever heard and stole all of his licks....Sax players, you only work with blues or rock bands that are garage bands or come to Branson and play with tracks....stay in this stupid business for 40 years, send your kids thru school and keep a wife for 25 years..known or unknown...working and making a kiving is the price you pay for pracitce syncopation and sight reading...as long as you get paid..until you price yourself out of the business ....I was omce the kid working for $225 a week and paying 10% of my hotel bill...then it was $800+ and wife and dog....then after all the ****...even the Four Tops said I priced myself out of the business.....please you cat's..don't give up your day gig......

[animal.22]

Hey guys I'll shove my sixpeneth in here.

I play in a brass band in the UK and as such our repetoire covers all bases.I.E. we play most genres from a standard march through to rock and on to jaz. That being the case it is imperative that I can read the percussion part so that I can decide whether I NEED to play the piece as written (in the case of a march) OR if I can use the music just as a guide to keep me in time/tempo/mood with the rest of the band. In my situation there are times when I can "let rip" and there there are times when I MUST "play as written".

Sorry if I have doubled up on a previous reply here but I didn't have time to look all the way through the thread!

Cheers fellas,
Clive.

Keep shuvin it in for your worth!!!!!!

[kidbronx]

YO! Clive...heck of a name on the streets of New York man! I was in the U.S. Navy Band. Graduated the Navy School of Music and went to Viet Nam aboard the USS Coral Sea....CVN umm a Air Craft Carrier a small one but a tough one....so Marching in parades and functions and being in my high school marching band was a chore for a drummer...you gotta do what is on the paper because there is choreography involved and keeping the band at 120 beats per minute to keep the whole parade in march time steps......here is a tip for alll the drummers that read this.....I learned in Little Creek VA. amphibious naval base and from Eddie Shaughnessy.... A big band is set up so the drummer can look over the 2nd bone players chart....after we check out our score we actually read from the 2nd bone ... that has all the rests, dynamic signatures, so we can fill or change meter or whatever is called for that the stupid... sorry not all arrangers are stupid but the ones that write for drummers that are not playing for dancers or rigorous strict patterns...are.....so. cats and pussycats...read the bone part....follow dynamics and keep the time.. 15 - 17 good players depend on you... not the bass player...the bass player in only your key into the melody that you listen to...you can only express yourself in Rock, Blues or Jazz...the Latin or Big Beat as they call it now....is for dancers and listeners...don't play for other musicians....play for the band and the people....you're just the drummer in the band....and everybody including singers that bust your balls every gig...whether they believe it or not ... you're the boss...only you don't sign your own paycheck....but yagotta pay taxes...and lastly..."yagotawanna"

[Luke]

I'm only 14 and I can read music quite proficiently, actually better then some juniors on my drumline at school. I think this is because my private teacher taught me not only how to read music but to WRITE it. writing out your own drum parts can be a challenge but prepares you to be able to read music very easily. About a month ago when I was in the pit orchestra for our school play I had to read all of the drum music. It was also hand-written which made reading it more difficult. Learning to read/write music is a very useful skill to learn along with being able to play be ear because music parts may not always be the best or written correctly

[slingerland]

Your wrong Buddy Rich the #1 Drummer DIDN'T READ DRUM CHARTS DRUM, CHARTS usually are good when you are playing for a singer or have to know certain breaks in a song when the song doesn't go straight through. I can read DRum Charts and have played GIGS for 40 years and never used Drum Charts and never wanted to. If you look at most Jazz Drummers Rock Drummers they don't use Drum Charts either, you use them for performers usually. I hope this helps clear things up

[butter]

Originally Posted by slingerland

Your wrong Buddy Rich the #1 Drummer DIDN'T READ DRUM CHARTS DRUM, CHARTS usually are good when you are playing for a singer or have to know certain breaks in a song when the song doesn't go straight through. I can read DRum Charts and have played GIGS for 40 years and never used Drum Charts and never wanted to. If you look at most Jazz Drummers Rock Drummers they don't use Drum Charts either, you use them for performers usually. I hope this helps clear things up

who are you responding to with this post?

also, buddy rich is definitely one of the best, but is he THE BEST?
recently i have decided that it is very difficult to title a drummer as the "best", at least overall. you may disagree, but this is my take.
there are many factors to consider in ranking, like innovation, technique, style/taste, and of course how much the drumming appeals to the individual.

i would rank buddy rich as number one in the category of technique, but neil peart is very close second. im not actually sure

it is true that reading music in any form is unnecessary, but it is definitely a benefit.
i can read a snare drum part pretty easily, but i have to decipher any parts for more than a few drums. i have never needed to read music in any situation other than school marching, but its a skill i am glad to have. youre right about performers being those who require musical literacy more than anyone else.

happy drumming
butter
(sorry, i went off on a bit of a tangent there with the top drummer classification rant)

[slingerland]

Hey Butter Did you ever hear of Gene Krupa or Louis Bellson you may be a little young but Gene Krupa was considered America's Ace Drummer he was a great Drummer he put it all together on the drums you could google him and you can see and hear DRUM BATTLES between him and
BUDDY RICH then there's alway's LOUIS BELLSON those were the 3 GREATEST. NEIL PEART is good but he's alot of show with all his drums there's alot better look at Steve Smith if you like JAZZ he's with a group called LEGACY LOOK these DRUMMERS up and don't be LOCKED into the little world that I see your in. LOOK AROUND EXPAND JAZZ DRUMMERS CAN TEACH YOU ALOT

[butter]

actually i have heard of gene krupa. never louis bellson, but buddy rich was the only one mentioned on the post before, so i only included him i have some of those drum battles of gene and buddy favorited on my youtube, they are some good videos. also i like buddy rich better than krupa (theres that bias).

i dont actually like neil peart's playing all that much, its very interesting and entertaining, but i prefer playing like dave weckl's or vinnie couilluta (i can never spell his last name right).

i am rather uneducated on the older drummers, but i think i know more than most my age. i think because i mentioned neil peart you assume that i am the same as the rest of my generation

[slingerland]

Butter How old are you? Look up Joe Morello and Jake Hanna if Jake Hanna is alive he's probably the oldest drummer on earth. Do you like Jazz? Jazz drummers have a certain technique that just can't be beat. Try looking up Steve Smith with Legacy. I would say that Jazz drummers don't beat the heck out of cymbals like rock drummers do, they stay mainly on drums
if you saw Gene Kruupa play you saw that, Buddy Rich did a drum solo on mainly drums not cymbals look up LOUIS BELLSON he was a drummer like RICH and KRUPA NEIL PEART is good I agree but I wouldn't say he is the greatest, he's more of a show man with all those drums and cymbals.