John Bonham

i read that they didnt really enjoy playing good times bad times so yeah, it would probably be very hard to find a bootleg, much less one of decent quality. if anyone does, post it
 
i read that they didnt really enjoy playing good times bad times so yeah, it would probably be very hard to find a bootleg, much less one of decent quality. if anyone does, post it

Yes it would be great to find a live version !
PS: It took me a long time to be able to to play the triplets part with the bass drum but now I have to add the hit hat...It's true that it generates some "colours" with the cow bell.
 
I just placed an order for Mike Portnoy's tribute to Bonzo called "Hammer of the Gods" on DVD.

He plays a (prototype) amber acrylic tama mirage kit.
mid_0-asppg_Im951546753.jpg
 
Yes it would be great to find a live version !
PS: It took me a long time to be able to to play the triplets part with the bass drum but now I have to add the hit hat...It's true that it generates some "colours" with the cow bell.

According to Dr. MustardPie on the Presence site, there are two known live recordings of Good Times Bad Times - both audience sourced:

Good Times Bad Times
AUD 1970.09.04 Inglewood, LA Forum - In Communication Breakdown medley. Best source.
AUD 1971.09.23 Tokyo, Budokan Hall - In Whole Lotta Love medley.

I have the LA forum concert. This live version's tempo is a good measure brighter than on the original album and I think because of that and the fact that all that more embellished playing he does in the studio probably doesn't even come off in an arena, he opts for more streamlined, driving playing.

Check out some of the Zep sites (Presence Server, Traders Den) and you should be able to download the torrent. Look for the Zep title "On Blueberry Hill". That's a widely used name for the show since they played "On Blueberry Hill" that day. You'll probably find alot of other stuff that you'll want too. It's addicting. :)

If that's a hassle, I could burn a CD of the show and snail mail it to you (if you don't mind PayPal-ing me for the postage and disc(s) - not to be cheap, but it adds up).

I'm working on playing the studio version too - nowhere near up to tempo yet, but it's progressing. I took the tabs that were out there on the net and added the little things I hear on the recording and I think I have a pretty close paper representation of what he's playing on the track. So far, I've only done the intro and the first verse, though.

The main thing I added in my transcription was his bell pattern variations. He's not just pinging 8ths on the bell - he plays a much more alive, breathing bell. Just because I like Art so much, I see Bonham's verse groove almost like an Art Blakey type thing with some additional bass drum action. In my opinion, it's also not very far at all from Bernard Purdie's 4 bar drum break in Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady" if you break it down. I practice the two together (Good Times verse groove and Rock Steady drum break) and sometimes I get tongue tied and go into a piece of one while playing the other just because they feel so closely related to me - like cousins or something.

Coo
 
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GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES PRIMER.

i've heard some versions of this...often missing various elements. the hihat must be constant 8ths but the cowbell has 16ths in the beats leading up to the tom figure in each measure. if you listen to the second attachment i lowered the other instruments in the mix to make the C-bell stand out and i slowed it right down in the end to show how the bell weaves in and out with the bass drum just before the hitom and lowtom figure.
the first attachment is a little sketchy without the bass and guitar to give it feeling but i got those triplets in there mostly right. in this version the cowbell 16ths are over powered by the bassdrum unfortunately but i swear they are there...hence the second version.

(please forgive the recording it was direct from roland to laptop)
 

Attachments

  • gbadtimeswhole.wav
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  • gbadtimescowbell.wav
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I agree with Jason about the bell weaving in with the bass. The audio example is a nice touch too.

Here's a visual representation of what I hear. I think it pretty much agrees with what Jason put together above:
 

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  • GoodTimeBadTimes.pdf
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Re: John Bonham - Live Good Times Bad Times

Hi again,

Here's an MP3 from the LA show mentioned above. The band cuts into Good Times from Communication Breakdown about half way through the track.

Due to the filesize upload limit, I couldn't include the whole track. I just included the Good Times part of the medley.

Coo
 

Attachments

  • CommBrkdnMedley-GoodTimesExcerpt.mp3
    1.8 MB · Views: 721
Well I'll be damned, I always thought Good Times was just straight eights on the cowbell but upon listening to it even louder that usual I can hear the extra cowbell notes before the tom hits.

Many thanks to CooManChu and Nutha for posting that audio, great stuff. I think it's always cool when you find out there's a little extra wrinkle to something you thought you had figured out cold. I've been trying to get that Blueberry Hill boot because I've heard it's one of the better quality ones in circulation, but I always have problems downloading it. One of these days...
 
Bonham was the king man. Who on earth would play the drums that loud with bare hands with such a feel and not care that his hands were busted up.

what he played was simple and for the song, it worked, end of story. he inspired so many people to play, he can truly be called once of the greats
 
hey coo, thanks for the clip. drums are pretty low there but boy does JPjones stand out. he is such a monster bassist.

j

:) anytime - JP rocks - definitely.

Some of these boots I have are really high quality - almost studio. This one isn't too bad, but the drums are a little low like you said. I think I have a couple where all you can hear is drums - that's OK by me.

I just starting getting into the recordings of these shows this year and it got kinda out of control for a while. I've tamed down now and am looking for higher quality sound instead of grabbing everything I can (which I'm still sort of doing, but at little more reasonable pace so that my wife can use the DSL connection from time to time).
 
Re: John Bonham - Live Good Times Bad Times

Hi again,

Here's an MP3 from the LA show mentioned above.

Coo

Quite interesting and historical ! But one of Bonzo's trademark seems to have vanished. Where are the bass drum triplets here ?

Never mind ! when you listen to Zeppelin discography, you realise the genius of Bonham as a drummer influenced by jazz, blues and even soul.
 
i agree.at the moment i'm trying to learn jazz. totally new to me because i have dedicated myself to pop, funk and rock drums. so to really lock the ostinato in place i take a drum magazine, put it on my snare, put on 'how many more times' from zep1 and play my right hand ride and feet while flipping the pages and reading articles with my left. when the track gets to the breakdown part i just hit the repeat button and do it all again for about 20 minutes a day. john had a great swing.

ps: RHYTHM magazine interviews jason bonham this month about his dad. very cool article.
 
Re: John Bonham - Live Good Times Bad Times

Quite interesting and historical ! But one of Bonzo's trademark seems to have vanished. Where are the bass drum triplets here ?

Never mind ! when you listen to Zeppelin discography, you realise the genius of Bonham as a drummer influenced by jazz, blues and even soul.

As John Paul Jones once said in an interview something to the effect that he was always more impressed with the little things that Bonzo would do rather than the monster triplets and the big thunderous drum fills.
 
Zeppelin was not hated by the record buying public, but they were not liked much by the critics/writers cause Peter Grant (the brains behind the operation) never allowed Zeppelin to do many interviews if any at all and that is what made them successful, besides the fact that you had 4 great musicians who wrote great tunes.

Peter Grant was a genius at keeping Zeppelin under wraps. As long as Zeppelin kept on cranking out one great album after another, the public kept buying them and the critics kept getting more pissed cause they couldn't get their hands on Zeppelin.

www.anthonyliberto.com
 
Wow, 1000th post on Bonham.

Well that sure looks like a Slingerland logo to me in that first picture even though it's small and out of focus. The location on the head and the lettering give it away.
 
John Bonham assignment

Hi

First off I would like to say that I do not know if this is the right forum to put this thread in but since it is John Bonham related I thought it should be here in the drummers forum.

Anyway, I am to write a huge asignment for school on the way John Bonham influenced the music of Led Zeppelin. I will do this by analyzing several bars of different Led Zeppelin songs on sheet music. Now here is what I like to ask you guys about. It would be great for me if some of you could give me some examples of drummers that have inspired JB in his playing, for instance, if you can pin point a drummer or even better a track or beat that JB use as inspiration if you could spot a bit of Gene Krupa in his playing on Dazed and Confused etc. Also if you can point out some ways that he has influenced the drumming scene with his beats and style. I know that Beastie Boys has used some of his beats but if you could give me more examples I would truly apreciate it

Thanks
 
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