Gavin Harrison here!

Fox622003 said:
Ghost notes? But aren't you a keyboard player man :p?


Fox.
Click to expand...

A bit offtopic but yes I am but I always considered it my secondary instrument (which you wouldn't tell by the collection of synths, racks and boards I have…) . Though I'm back at the drumstool thanks to Gavin :) He really poked my interest and fascination for rhythm and the drumset with his remarkable talents and especially taste. Currently renting a rehearsal room with drumkit to practice and work on Gavins concepts and I have a mesh head practice pad to practice on at home. I'm comparing options for a practice mesh kit for in my tiny flat as I like to have something for myself to practice on.
 
Gavin Harrison said:
Looks good - I've never tried it. Doesn't the snare wobble when you hit it really hard?
Click to expand...

Hi Gavin,

I know that you have a really heavy pounding, which i don´t really have, but i would say it won´t move unpleasantly. The length of the tube isn´t too much, and the whole structure of the rack helps to keep it all steady, i think.
I picked up the idea from a friend with a Pearl rack holding a Stewart Copeland steel snare, and the DW rack is holding an Edge snare (around 10 pounds weight!) and it works OK to me on both racks!.

Greetings
Gustavo
 
First off, I am new to the forum; very glad to be here. That said,..... should I ask a Q that has already been addressed, I apologize in advance.

Gavin, you are an absolute inspiration in so many ways; Thank You!​
I feel as a drummer it is very difficult to create one's own "voice" as opposed to, say, a melodic player. (Even Still Hard) You are amongst the very few that I believe have. I applaud you and all of the time and work you have spent perfecting your "voice". You must have a level of self-discipline I can only dream of! I sit in awe when listening to your playing, as do 99% of my friends and family; most of whom are not musicians. I very much admire your cool humbleness, you seem in no way an ego-maniacal "rock star". You carry yourself in a very respectable, admirable way; Cheers! (Either that or your acting talents are congruent with your drumming) I am sure you have heard enough about how amazing you are so I digress....

I am a huge fan of your "Kick" sound. I have heard all kinds of things about how you attain it: heavy pillows, wood, miking, heads etc.. Someone mentioned to me you use something to stiffen/harden the batter side. I love this feel however, I have not been successful at creating it well without giving up something in return; namely having a batter head that is tensioned too high, thus ruining the low punch I love. In short, what methods do you use to create your kick sound? 1)Tuning, 2)Muffling, 3)Miking and 4)Stiffening batter-head of the Kick?


Your input is invaluable! Thank You! Keep up the Mind-Blowing Work!
 
Hi gavin!
just one question, I just saw de video of My Ashes Live in Tilburg (and it's amazing!) but i think you changed the ride you use permanently at live shows, am i rigth? because I see that is bigger, i think...

Wich is this?

cheers!
 
I took up drumming again last year after about 23 years of non-drumming, and Gavin is one of the reasons why I keep enjoying the drums.

Good drumming is not only about good timekeeping but also about the little things the drummer does or, sometimes, does not do at all. Gavin is so incredibly versatile... To date, he is my biggest example.

It must be terribly boring for him to read all these superlatives. :-D

There is one thing I'm really curious about. He says somewhere that he's got fifty plus cymbals at home. Since he is endorsed by Zildjian, I was wondering if he uses/has used any other brand and what his impressions were comparing cymbals.

I know, tricky question :) Maybe Gavin will read this?
 
@Kalma Thanks for the info. My apologies for my ignorance on the subject.

@FOX62203 Yeah, probably rivals the snare wire question too! Is this a Q&A forum? Hmm I think it is? Thank you for the answer to my question @Kalma

Observation:
Seeing as how there are well over one hundred pages of questions there is bound to be a bit of redundancy. Especially considering that there are multi-thousands of questions that we all have for Gavin. No need to be an a** there are plenty of other forums out there for you to do that.
 
Terry B. said:
Hey everybody,

I figured that there would be a few questions about Gavin's groove on "Bonnie the Cat".

Here's a quick little transcription:

bonniethecatgroove800x6.jpg



Enjoy!

Terry
Click to expand...

I'm certainly a novice when it comes to reading transcriptions, maybe I'm just viewing this askew, but to me it looks like he hits the snare twice (bah bah) in between the first bass note and the second one at the very beginning of the transcription., yet I can't hear any snare hits. how would I be able to tell the difference between a snare shot and a ghost note?

Thanks
 
euphoric_anomaly said:
I'm certainly a novice when it comes to reading transcriptions, maybe I'm just viewing this askew, but to me it looks like he hits the snare twice (bah bah) in between the first bass note and the second one at the very beginning of the transcription., yet I can't hear any snare hits. how would I be able to tell the difference between a snare shot and a ghost note?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The one with the accents (">" over them) are the actual, well, accents :p The others are (mostly) ghosted, but some are more audible than others, I think.

ZGR8DCVER said:
Observation:
Seeing as how there are well over one hundred pages of questions there is bound to be a bit of redundancy. Especially considering that there are multi-thousands of questions that we all have for Gavin. No need to be an a** there are plenty of other forums out there for you to do that.
Click to expand...

The site you were referenced to has many sections, and it's a lot easier to cover than the actual forum. Shouldn't be too hard to find out if your question has been asked or not.


Fox.
 
euphoric_anomaly said:
I'm certainly a novice when it comes to reading transcriptions, maybe I'm just viewing this askew, but to me it looks like he hits the snare twice (bah bah) in between the first bass note and the second one at the very beginning of the transcription., yet I can't hear any snare hits. how would I be able to tell the difference between a snare shot and a ghost note?

Thanks
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huCBXUAmle0

Between 0:14 and 0:22 is the groove for bonnie the cat. Maybe it helps you a bit :)
 
Hi SantiBanks

I have two questions about overriding. You use the dotted quaver override in 7/8 patterns like on What happens now? I think I can play the override good but I'm having troubles with the ghostnotes on the snare. Do you play 16ths, 8ths, triplets or something else as ghost notes on the snare? And do you just hit the bell of the ride or do you also play on the "edge" (more in a ghost note style?)

where I can - I generally play the ghost notes as 16ths in that pattern. I play the bell of the ride in that section.

Also, for the song Last Call, when I first heard the track I thought you where playing an override as it sounded like that. On the dvd, you said that you played every second triplet (in the group of 3). Is it actually an override because that is how I perceive it?

No I didn't say that I played every second triplet. I said that the second bass drum note and the main snare accent lands on the second triplet. There's no overriding going on in that song - the hi hat is generally 4 in a bar. Have you seen Terry's transcription of it in the Rhythmic Designs book?

Hi ZGR8DCVER

I am a huge fan of your "Kick" sound. I have heard all kinds of things about how you attain it: heavy pillows, wood, miking, heads etc.. Someone mentioned to me you use something to stiffen/harden the batter side. I love this feel however, I have not been successful at creating it well without giving up something in return; namely having a batter head that is tensioned too high, thus ruining the low punch I love. In short, what methods do you use to create your kick sound? 1)Tuning, 2)Muffling, 3)Miking and 4)Stiffening batter-head of the Kick?

The tuning is pretty loose. Inside is a fairly large pillow that rests against both heads. That's the reason that the batter head is a bit 'stiff' and the head doesn't move too much. The mics (in my studio at home) are Audix D6 - Shure SM91 on the pillow - Sennheiser MKH40 pointing at the front head. There's some further explanation here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOJOACCcEgE

Hi Zildjoe

just one question, I just saw de video of My Ashes Live in Tilburg (and it's amazing!) but i think you changed the ride you use permanently at live shows, am i rigth? because I see that is bigger, i think...

No it's exactly the same Zildjian 20"K Ride that I've used for many years.

Hi euphoric_anomaly

the hard thing about playing ghost notes is to know how loud you need to play them. Sometimes when all the other instruments are playing they drown out the ghost notes. In this particular pattern it's really important to play them anyway as the groove feels quite different if you play it without them.

cheers
Gavin
 
Gavin Harrison said:
Hi SantiBanks

where I can - I generally play the ghost notes as 16ths in that pattern. I play the bell of the ride in that section.
Click to expand...
Thanks for clarifying that up! Time to work on it :)

Gavin Harrison said:
No I didn't say that I played every second triplet. I said that the second bass drum note and the main snare accent lands on the second triplet. There's no overriding going on in that song - the hi hat is generally 4 in a bar. Have you seen Terry's transcription of it in the Rhythmic Designs book?
Click to expand...

Sorry to have misunderstood the dvd. I'll check the video again and I'll check the transcription and try to read it (I'm very bad at reading music, be it a drumscore or a pianoscore. I always work out stuff by ear or write the notes under the staves with piano scores and work trough it bar by bar… Gives me the advantage of knowing 100+ songs from the op of my head, but gives me the disadvantage of inflexibility)

Btw, did I notice correctly, on the new dvd, that you are playing the beginning of "Sleep togheter" open handed? If so, is there a particular reason for this?

Thanks for your time.
Santi
 
Hello again Gavin, I have a quick question on your high hats. How far apart do you keep the top and the bottom separated and how loose is your top high hat, and could you explain why you have it set the way you do?

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
jojojojojo said:
hi gavin,

you did very well at the sonor days.great hanging out with you.

could you explain the beginning part of drawing the line.i can´t quite figure out what happens there.are there a lot of ghost notes played by one hand on the snare.or is it played hand to hand?

thanks for sharing your ideas

god bless

jo
Click to expand...

As far as I know he just plays the notes in between the notes on the Snare with the left hand.
 
Hi Santibanks,

did I notice correctly, on the new dvd, that you are playing the beginning of "Sleep togheter" open handed? If so, is there a particular reason for this?

You're correct - and I played it like that because I wanted to play 16ths on the snare drum.

Hi Deathtoll

I have a quick question on your high hats. How far apart do you keep the top and the bottom separated and how loose is your top high hat, and could you explain why you have it set the way you do?

I would say the cymbals are about two inches apart. The top cymbal is pretty loose because I like to really lay into the hi hats on the heavy songs. If you have your cymbals really close together you can't really play the hi hat effectively with your left foot or get a good clean "chick" or "splash" sound.

Hi Hi jojojojojo

could you explain the beginning part of drawing the line.i can´t quite figure out what happens there.are there a lot of ghost notes played by one hand on the snare.or is it played hand to hand?

It's quite a complicated pattern - and I tend to do a lot of the ghosts (but not all) with my right hand.

Now - for all the folks who have asked me so many times about my white 12x5 snare drum. Sonor are making a Ltd Special Edition of this drum (in celebration of their 135th year). You may have seen me play it on video clips on the net. Modern Drummer Festival - Clinics etc. If you want one you're going to have to be quick. Contact your nearest Sonor dealer.

SE_G_Harrison_Snare2.jpg
cheers
Gavin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top