Gavin Harrison here!

Hey Gavin, I was going to be around New York on October, but now I see you guys are playing there September 24th, I might reschedule, specially if you're planning a clinic or store appearance. So, do you have anything like that planned?
Hope everything's going well.


Fox.
 
Just passing by to say thank you for the great show in Quebec City (Capitole),

It was FANTASTIC! haha!!, the sound was perfect, the was lots of energy in the crowd, i was in the front row in front just in front of Steven, newspapers acclaimed your venue here!!!, we hope to see you again, too bad i missed Montreal show (especially for Hatesong) :p

I noticed that for sometimes now, you have that chinese to your left and you play open handed while using it, did you start playing like this after the Modern Drummer Festival? From Simon Phillips? Or you started it on your own?

Is Salvaging , from the Insurgentes album is an example of open handed playing? (at the beginning of the song)
 
Looking forward to the gig in Richmond! We'd love to see a similar set to the last few shows....mainly 'Hatesong' and 'Blackest Eyes'.

Thanks Gavin!
 
Hello,i have ticket to Ruisrock (Finland 10.7.2010)
And question is: I have made that kind of cymbal which you have over you hi-hat. tiny 6" splash/bell cymbal from Zildjian 18" Swish china... And I would love to get signature from you on it.
Do you think if it's somehow possible?
 
There's a fill you do in "Beyond the A" at exactly 2:05 and 2:24 that got me thinking --- Would that fill be a good example of the "left flam triplet" technique you describe in Rythymic Designs? In the fill your using a tom, snare, and a china.

I would post audio samples of what I'm talking about, but I know your free time is very limited.

Thanks

Eric
 
Hi Gavin

I got a question concerning your new transcription book: When you play a pattern in 9/8 like in the beginning of circles, and you make it fit a cycle of four 4/4 bars (as you say in the dvd), do you feel it as 4/4 as well while playing?
I personally find figures that are longer than a 4/4 bar to be quite harder to play against it than figures that go up to 7/8 or so.

Thanks & keep up the great and inspiring work!
Matthias
 
Hi Fox622003

I was going to be around New York on October, but now I see you guys are playing there September 24th, I might reschedule, specially if you're planning a clinic or store appearance. So, do you have anything like that planned?

No plans for a clinic or store appearance around that show.

Hi ProgJazzy(QC)

I noticed that for sometimes now, you have that chinese to your left and you play open handed while using it, did you start playing like this after the Modern Drummer Festival? From Simon Phillips? Or you started it on your own?

I've been toying with left hand lead since I was having lessons in the 70's. Simon has been an influence on me - and having the china way back there on the left it's really nice to ride on it with the left hand. My tech Jason never loves it as he sits very close to it - and it's really loud.

Hi AAP

I have made that kind of cymbal which you have over you hi-hat. tiny 6" splash/bell cymbal from Zildjian 18" Swish china... And I would love to get signature from you on it.
Do you think if it's somehow possible?

You can try - but it's almost impossible to arrange to meet people at a festival.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

There's a fill you do in "Beyond the A" at exactly 2:05 and 2:24 that got me thinking --- Would that fill be a good example of the "left flam triplet" technique you describe in Rythymic Designs? In the fill your using a tom, snare, and a china.

Yes exactly. It's a flam between a tom and snare followed by a china and then a bass drum.

Hi Swiss Matthias

I got a question concerning your new transcription book: When you play a pattern in 9/8 like in the beginning of circles, and you make it fit a cycle of four 4/4 bars (as you say in the dvd), do you feel it as 4/4 as well while playing?

Are you sure I say it fits four bars of 4/4? Because it doesn't. It's two bars of 9/8 and one bar of 5/8 which is a 23/8 cycle...and in that case I certainly don't feel it in 4/4

I personally find figures that are longer than a 4/4 bar to be quite harder to play against it than figures that go up to 7/8 or so.

So do I - so I break it down into groups of 2 and 3. A group of nine could be thought of as 2+2+2+3 or 3+3+3

cheers
Gavin
 
Hi Gavin

of course I didn't mean Circles, but Unsettled - your tom groove opener. As euphoric_anomaly kindly pointed out to me, I somehow managed to mix up titles...

So you don't hear your 9/8 tom motive as a whole thing but break it down into smaller pieces? I must try that then, because I like to stay in 4/4 mentally (as long as it is 4/4). I suppose you split it into three parts of 3? I think I'd get lost with keeping track of the one "3" part in 2+2+2+3 and not losing the "1" at the same time.
 
Hello Gavin,

I'm not sure if this has been touched yet but...

how long ago did you start learning how to use traditional grip? Do you still practice with that grip as often as you do with match grip? I've seen you use it a couple of times in your DVD's.
 
Hey everybody,


Here's a little transcription request that I'm posting for Kalma:

This is from the MD Festival performance of The Sound of Muzak. It's the fill leading into the first chorus. Great stuff!

Enjoy,


Terry
 

Attachments

  • Muzak MD fill.pdf
    31.7 KB · Views: 505
Hey Gavin!
Just two small questions.. I have watched a few videos of you (on youtube) and have some questions after watching them.

Q1. What is that white colored snare drum that u use in the video of Sound of Muzak (on youtube)?? what heads does it have on?? and how do u tune it EQ, effects etc? (absolutely in love with that fat, non ringy snare sound of yours)

Q2. In one of the other videos @ PASIC 2008 (video titled "double bass patterns in odd meter feels) you talk about how your live sound engineer uses a gate on the mic placed inside ur kick for that sharp attack which sounds really BIG in auditoriums.. Could you please elaborate on that?? As in, could you please explain what kind of sound you aim for from each of the 2 kick drum mics individually?? how do u gate/ compress each of them?? and how you like to tune and EQ them??

p.s well ok those weren't really small questions! :p but would be really grateful if you could answer them for me!!
Thanks a ton!!
Loads of Respect & Love!
Caleb
 
Hi Gavin,

can you tell me, what you think?

A friend of mine and me talked about "custom bells" and he said that the Quality of the Cymbal that is used to cut down is not important.
So he said you could use a Paiste 302 Crash and it would sound like if you would cut down an Zildjian A-Custom or so.

I didn't believe that this is true.
I think for a Bell the quality of the Cymbal itself, the thickness and the bell-diameter make the most important characteristics.

What do you think?


Thanks
David
 
Hey Gavin...

What's your opinion on weighted sticks (like e.g. lathed aluminium) for practicing purposes. Currently I'm having a hard time surpassing a certain amount of speed and I figure it's primarily a matter of finger and wrist strenght especially on the left hand as I play trad grip. I can go fast on the xpad. You know what I mean? At higher speeds on a real drum my left hand starts to lag...

Todd shared my concern that weighted sticks might mess with my touch and stated that they could even slow me down in the end, when I come back to the real sticks.

Have you had any experience with those things, Gavin?

Thanks for your input!

Cheers, from Bavaria,

Andreas
 
Hi Gavin !
I am new to this forum and I think that it's amazing that we have the opportunity to talk to a person and pro drummer like you! I saw you in Quebec City last week, and the show was just wonderful. Porcupine Tree is definitely my favorite band and your drumming is so awesome and inspiring.

My question for you (I don't know if it was asked previously, sorry if it's the case) goes like this:

I was wondering if there was a possibility to have some Porcupine Tree Play along tracks (without drums). I am ready to pay the price for this. I would really enjoy to play the drums on your tracks, plus it would be helpful for me because I study the music at college and if I had some play along tracks, I could use one of them to perform one of my exams!! I didn't really found any interesting rock tracks to play along with and at school it's mainly jazz or latin tracks. I mean, I love jazz and latin but the possibility to play some prog would be really nice too. This would be for personal use only, I am not wishing to give the tracks to anyone in the future.

I know this is a big request, and I would understand if the answer is no. But I still wanted to try =P

Thank you very much!

BEN
 
Hi Swiss Matthias

of course I didn't mean Circles, but Unsettled - your tom groove opener.
So you don't hear your 9/8 tom motive as a whole thing but break it down into smaller pieces? I must try that then, because I like to stay in 4/4 mentally (as long as it is 4/4).

In the case of that intro - I do think of it in 4/4

Hi GhostxNote

how long ago did you start learning how to use traditional grip? Do you still practice with that grip as often as you do with match grip? I've seen you use it a couple of times in your DVD's.

I very rarely switch to trad grip. I guess I would have started with it when I was very young - but when I was around 11 years old my teacher switch me to matched grip. I don't really practise it to be honest.

Hi caleb708

Q1. What is that white colored snare drum that u use in the video of Sound of Muzak (on youtube)?? what heads does it have on?? and how do u tune it EQ, effects etc? (absolutely in love with that fat, non ringy snare sound of yours)

It's a late 90's Sonor Designer 12x5 with a Remo C.S on the top. I would say it has a medium to tight tuning.

Q2. In one of the other videos @ PASIC 2008 (video titled "double bass patterns in odd meter feels) you talk about how your live sound engineer uses a gate on the mic placed inside ur kick for that sharp attack which sounds really BIG in auditoriums.. Could you please elaborate on that?? As in, could you please explain what kind of sound you aim for from each of the 2 kick drum mics individually?? how do u gate/ compress each of them?? and how you like to tune and EQ them??

The Shure SM91 gives me the clicky attack and the Audix i5 gives me a much fatter round sound. When I use them in my studio I don't gate or compress them at all. PT's live engineer gates the SM91 (but I don't know exactly by how much). As I said in the video - the bass drum is pretty dead sounding.

Hi Kalma

A friend of mine and me talked about "custom bells" and he said that the Quality of the Cymbal that is used to cut down is not important.
So he said you could use a Paiste 302 Crash and it would sound like if you would cut down an Zildjian A-Custom or so. What do you think?

I don't actually know because I've never cut down a 'lower grade' cymbal. I would imagine that it wouldn't sound as good as a 'higher grade' cymbal.

Hi the-gablushe

What's your opinion on weighted sticks (like e.g. lathed aluminium) for practicing purposes. Currently I'm having a hard time surpassing a certain amount of speed and I figure it's primarily a matter of finger and wrist strenght especially on the left hand as I play trad grip.

A long time ago I did try some metal practise sticks - but they hurt my wrists - so I gave up with them pretty quickly. I would suggest practising on pillows instead.

Hi Ben777

I was wondering if there was a possibility to have some Porcupine Tree Play along tracks (without drums).

Not possible - sorry. I believe there is a playalong to "The Sound Of Muzak" (without vocals) floating around somewhere - made by a German drum magazine called Drumheads

cheers
Gavin
 
Gavin,

There is something you do in Futile which I cannot grasp or understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTUl-AMoJpU

It sounds like you're either stopping the beat for an 1/8th rest on the ride cymbal or catching up to the tempo.
Very hard to explain but it happens at exactly 2:06 in the video. Could you embellish at all on this technique or trick you used?

Thanks so much
Eric
 
euphoric_anomaly said:
Very hard to explain but it happens at exactly 2:06 in the video. Could you embellish at all on this technique or trick you used?
Click to expand...


Well, to my understanding, if the notes that he's playing on the ride are considered 8th notes (although there's something odd about this tune, so it might be some sort of override, but still, IF they are considered eight notes), here's where that note goes. Also, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be with 32nds, or more of a triplet feel, but it's essentially the same. And Gavin is also playing some ghost notes on the first part of the transcription, it would had taken too long to get all of them, and I felt it was unnecessary in this case.
I also included a pseudo-MIDI file of the transcription being played so you can see it more or less sounds like it. I'm completelly unsure on the second bar there, though, that part really confused me (and I hope Gavin can enlighten us there), but as for what you were asking, it's a lot more simple, and should be something like that.
The attachment is the part that starts at exactly 2:04 on the video link you sent, and the fourth beat of that first bar is what I think you didn't catch.


Fox.View attachment 33880
 

Attachments

  • Futile.jpg
    Futile.jpg
    32.9 KB · Views: 2,252
  • futile.mp3
    307.8 KB · Views: 368
Last edited:
Hi euphoric_anomaly

There is something you do in Futile which I cannot grasp or understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTUl-AMoJpU


OK let me stop you there. First of all this is a very deceptive piece and I hope you realise that the whole section is a rhythmic illusion right? It sounds like it's triplet based but it's not. Check out this video and in particular the riff section that starts at 29 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE2kFrD1eWI
and here's a simple version of that illusion
Futile riff section.jpg

Very hard to explain but it happens at exactly 2:06 in the video. Could you embellish at all on this technique or trick you used?

so the fill that you're talking about on the other vid is just 4 in a bar snare drum with bass drum hits on the off 16ths ("e" + "a"). Simple !!

Sorry Fox622003 - I couldn't understand your transcription there.

cheers
Gavin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top