John Bonham

Re: John Bonham Fans

MSTRKRFT said:
Does anyone know what size this mounted tom is pictured here?

JB_Royal_Albert_Hall_9_jan_1970.jpg


Please answer quick, I need to know! Thanks. (Please make sure you're 100% positive)

You will note the Roger's Swivo holder? This is the 12x15. There was also a 12x14, you can see this drum as mounted on a snare stand, in various pics.
Appice's bass drums were 15x26s, not 14x26s, which were a requested size, so, if Bonham received an identical kit to appice, his bass drums would have been 15x26 on one of the maple configurations.
The green sparkle was 10x14
The amber was 10x14
The stainless was 12x15, until the latter dates when he went back to a 10x14 stainless tom.


At the time of his death, Bonham had a 14x24 bass drum on order from ludwig.
 
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theduke86 said:
. Likewise, given very hard study for an endured period of time, you can learn to play exactly like John Bohnam.


No. Sorry. He is as UNIQUE as Buddy or Elvin. Oh yes, and if you know of such a person, there are three geezers in England that would pay the chap a million pounds to go out on tour with them........
 
ClockworkOrange said:
No. Sorry. He is as UNIQUE as Buddy or Elvin. Oh yes, and if you know of such a person, there are three geezers in England that would pay the chap a million pounds to go out on tour with them........
Hey man, I gotta say I like your posts a lot, but you should reread the thread closer. John Bohnam is every bit as unique as either Elvin or Buddy. I never claimed otherwise.
 
Coomanchu
Do you think that anyone would have had come into the session with a chart of at least the form for this tune or do you think it just evolved? It seems like it would be a real bear to talk someone down on this tune without a piece of paper to at least serve as a road map.

you know, in all my reading on the great man i have never found any mention of whether he read or wrote charts or manuscript (that i can recall).

i think each member in the band were creative giants. john paul jones is a genius of course, jimi was already a legend from his yardbird days and plant had oodles of blues influence. i think each song was created differently.

i can imagine that for black dog jimi played the riff, bonzo put some drums to it and plant suggested doing the free singing between. jonesy probably arranged the rest of the structure with a lot of arguments with plant.

i can guess that good times bad times was inspired by bonham doing that weird beat and the rest fell into place.

songs like thank-you and the rain song might have been jones started

songs like since i've been loving you and dazed and confused are actually highly original covers of blues standards.

j
 
The best version to use to actually hear what Bonham is doing on 'Black Dog' is the one from the BBC sessions. You can clearly hear the bass drum doubles, and as mentioned by Jay, the last hihat click to make the other guys aware of the 'entry'...Bonham softpedalled the other beats on hat. The bass drum doubles puts into perspective where Bonham is 'reading' the beat on the song.
 
Re: John Bonham Fans

ClockworkOrange said:
You will note the Roger's Swivo holder? This is the 12x15. There was also a 12x14, you can see this drum as mounted on a snare stand, in various pics.
Appice's bass drums were 15x26s, not 14x26s, which were a requested size, so, if Bonham received an identical kit to appice, his bass drums would have been 15x26 on one of the maple configurations.
The green sparkle was 10x14
The amber was 10x14
The stainless was 12x15, until the latter dates when he went back to a 10x14 stainless tom.


At the time of his death, Bonham had a 14x24 bass drum on order from ludwig.


we already settled this...its not a 15 inch tom....i posted proof from a ludwig manager himself:

Ludwig, Finish-Thermo-Gloss Natural Maple
14"x26" x2 Bass Drums-model #-926L
Cymbal Mounts-model #-1372C
Bass drum spurs were 2 sets of Ludwig Disappearing spurs-model #-1303C on each drum.
12"x14" Tom-Custom Order**
16"x16" Floor Tom-model # 950L
16"x18" Floor Tom-model # 952L (this was added later on)
6.5"x14" Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum-model # 402

He also used a pair of conga drums.

**For years I thought his tom was a 12"x15" but Todd Trent from Ludwig told me it was 12"x14" not a 12"x15" (Thanks Todd!)



http://www.griptoad.com/JBKITS.html
 
Re: John Bonham Fans

pdp 9091 said:
we already settled this...its not a 15 inch tom....i posted proof from a ludwig manager himself:

Ludwig, Finish-Thermo-Gloss Natural Maple
14"x26" x2 Bass Drums-model #-926L
Cymbal Mounts-model #-1372C
Bass drum spurs were 2 sets of Ludwig Disappearing spurs-model #-1303C on each drum.
12"x14" Tom-Custom Order**
16"x16" Floor Tom-model # 950L
16"x18" Floor Tom-model # 952L (this was added later on)
6.5"x14" Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum-model # 402

He also used a pair of conga drums.

**For years I thought his tom was a 12"x15" but Todd Trent from Ludwig told me it was 12"x14" not a 12"x15" (Thanks Todd!)



http://www.griptoad.com/JBKITS.html

I'm sorry, but, you're wrong. If the tom being referred to is the one with the swivo holder in the pic, it is from the kit that is at the bottom of page 36, in A Thunder of Drums. It's 'mate'
the 10x14 is pictured there with the two bass drums, NOTE the Swivo holders on the bass drums?
The above pic from ANOTHER maple kit has the 12x14 tom. It is placed on a snare drum stand. Also, with this pic, please note the double ludwig spurs on the bass drum. These were put on as the drum's depth is 15", the same as Appice's.
 
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Does anyone know how Bonham did 'Heartbreaker' on the studio cut it sound like the hats are doubling kind shuffle like. Just curious.


Mike
 
this is the most common tab i found for heartbreaker.

BPM = 95
......................................................|----repeat 6x---|
C..|----------------|----------------|x---------------|----------------|
HH |----------------|----------------|--x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|
S..|----------------|-----------ooo--|----o-------o---|----o-------o---|
Bd |----------------|----------------|o--o----o--o-o--|o--o----o--o-o--|
Hf |----------------|--------------x-|----------------|----------------|

...|1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |

i think this is what john played but then they did one of two things ...
either they laid another track of hihat or they added an echo. the reason i believe this is the case is because i have just listened very carefully to the track and i don't think the 'shuffled' hihat part have the same timbre...ie they are either another hi hat or they are the same hihat put through different effects... it could be a shaker even. funnily enough i've always played this song with two hands on the hihat and played the snare with my right...
something like this:


HH(L)|-x---x---x---x--|
HH(R)|x-x---x-x-x---x-|
S(R).|----o-------o---|
Bd...|o--o----o--o-o--|

.....|1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |

j
 
I don't hear the shuffle at all on the two live recordings I have (one from How the West Was Won, one from BBC Sessions), but both of those are a little quicker than Zeppelin II and you can definitely hear it there. So, I agree: it could be just an effect they added or it could be the shaker that he had mounted on the top of his hi-hat too. You hear nothing like the shuffle or ghost notes when he moves over to his ride cymbal on the Zeppelin II recording even though the rest of the groove is pretty much the same.

The timbre does sound different to me too - especially immediately after the back beat - maybe that's the shaker and it's a little more prominent there because he's hitting the hi-hat a little harder on the back beat for effect.

Probably not my final answer, but I'm going to say shaker mounted on the hi-hat. Whatever it is, it's a very nice, subtle effect that actually adds quite a nice texture to the groove.

Could it possibly not be a shaker or a studio effect?
 
In reference to Heartbreaker I myself always played two hands on the hi-hat also. I think there is overdubbed percussion on that track. There is that famous photo in the studio of of Jones, Plant, and Bonham playing various percussion instruments, I don't think it's a far reach that maybe they overdubbed something there. But I agree about the live recordings of this tune he is not playing two hands on the hi-hat, it's pretty straight forward. I like the live versions better, it is a faster tempo then the studio track. When I play this song out I usually play the BBC recordings version.
I have a question in reference to "Ramble On" since we are talking about Led Zeppelin II. Does anyone know what that subtle tapping noise is throughout the song? What is Bonham playing on or is it electronically produced? To me it almost sounds like a towell on top of maybe a floor tom, or sometimes it sounds like he is tapping on a phonebook (ha ha.)
 
I wish Bonham was still alive because if he was i think he would be the best drummer there is
 
I have a question in reference to "Ramble On" since we are talking about Led Zeppelin II. Does anyone know what that subtle tapping noise is throughout the song? What is Bonham playing on or is it electronically produced? To me it almost sounds like a towell on top of maybe a floor tom, or sometimes it sounds like he is tapping on a phonebook (ha ha.)

lol. i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually jimi doing that on the wood of his accoustic guitar. or john might be hand hitting a drum case. it is the ironic opposite to his drumsound philosophy of wide open ringing drums.

j
 
My 15x12 rack tom with a 26x14 kick.
 

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Re: John Bonham Fans

MSTRKRFT said:
Does anyone know what size this mounted tom is pictured here?

JB_Royal_Albert_Hall_9_jan_1970.jpg


Please answer quick, I need to know! Thanks. (Please make sure you're 100% positive)
I think it's a 15x12.
 
harryconway said:
My 15x12 rack tom with a 26x14 kick.

That's some good kick drum! Nice Harry, where do you get all this great gear?
 
pcmckay said:
I have a question in reference to "Ramble On" since we are talking about Led Zeppelin II. Does anyone know what that subtle tapping noise is throughout the song? What is Bonham playing on or is it electronically produced? To me it almost sounds like a towell on top of maybe a floor tom, or sometimes it sounds like he is tapping on a phonebook (ha ha.)

That's the sound of a drumstick on vinyl...or to be precise the sound of drumsticks on the top of his drumthrone seat.
 
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