Hey, has anyone worked on "Custard Pie". I really like that tune and it's technically pretty straight ahead (just a little quick footwork here and there), but definitely attainable. Musically, it's excellent as everything just fits together so well and each members' ideas compliment the others.
I was wondering if people would mind going through my transcription below and let me know what they think. I didn't transcribe the whole tune note for note; I just picked key phrases and pulled those off.
One place where I did alter what's being played is in the first kick phrases of the verses (bar 5 of each verse if you're counting). I don't think Bonham plays his bass like I have it indicated, but for me, this fits very well. Also, it's not uncommon at all for him to move things down to the bass drum that other people might play on a higher drum, so I don't think it's an uncharacteristic change for me to make.
For those few phrases, I basically just moved some attacks down to the bass drum to free up my hands for the crashes. I play traditional grip and trying to get quick crashes in on the end of a 16th note string with my left is a real weak and awkward proposition for me right now. Using my bass drum here and there gives me an extra hand to work with so that I can keep my balance and still feel like the idea is flowing and still keep my rights and lefts alternating nicely.
The other thing I don't have that I think I hear are slight ride pattern variations. I think I hear an occasional double here and there (16th notes) on the HH. He does this type of thing on alot of tunes (you can even see it on the live footage in Good Times and such) and I think he's doing it here too. It's something that you hear Clyde Stubblefield and Jabb'o Starks start doing in their later stuff that they still do today, so I think it's natural for Bonham to be doing it. I'll add those little varions later as I experiment with them myself and look at them a little closer.
If you want a full-sized version, I have a PDF file available:
Custard Pie - Physical Grafitti
Thanks for any comments/suggestions you can give.