Thomas Lang

I have his DVD and watch it quite a bit for inspiration to get me to practice the technical stuff more. He has absolutely mastered so many aspects of the instrument. I also thinks that he sounds much smoother in his approach than some of the other "drum shredders."

Having said that, I still can't get through watching his clinic solo from the bonus features. I have tried to get through it three times now and I just can't do it! It just goes on and on and on and on.

That aside, I love his playing. We need guys like him to come in and kick our butts now and then. It's not about being competitive, it's about being the best we can all be!
 
Well his new DVD has just been set to be released in NOV - details are now on hudson - 3 dvd's, 7hrs of footage...3 kits (one electronic)...i cant wait :)
 
I haven't watched the sample clips of the new dvd yet ... I'm about to ... but I really wonder what he has left to cover after his last dvd!
 
In addition to the mind-blowing playing,
That has to be the best sounding acrylic kit I have ever heard.
 
In addition to the mind-blowing playing,
That has to be the best sounding acrylic kit I have ever heard.
I agree. Ive played some acrylic kits and they dont even come close. His setup looks great too. And his playing is just mind blowing..
 
Here's what i don't get. How did he find the time necessary to practice as much as he did? I can barely score an hour or two these days..
 
Here's what i don't get. How did he find the time necessary to practice as much as he did? I can barely score an hour or two these days..

Anyone can make the time if they try hard enough. He's an incredibly motivated guy, knew exactly what he wanted and put in the hours to get there. I knew a guy who used to live with him back when he was just another london drummer - it's simple, he did exactly what he said he did, practiced for hours and hours every day working through every possible combination and speed of everything.

To be honest, I'm not half as amazed by how he put the time into his playing as the fact he found time to get to know and marry a girl as well! Imagine if whenever you were at home you were practicing - there's plenty of hours in the day if you're prepared to find them and use them like that. I'm not though - I like to do other stuff as well so I balance my time to fit in other things I like instead.

Nowadays, I imagine doing 200+ clinics per year is enough to keep him progressing even if he didn't touch a kit outside of that!
 
Just got the new video and it's amazing!!!

Creative Control was more of a "show off" video. This new one breaks it all down and gives you organized systems to develop high level pedal techniques and coordination.

The "Matrix" is the most organized method of developing interdepndence that I have ever come across. If you've finished "The New Breed" then this could be a great next step.

The pedal stuff is state of the art, it opens up a whole new way of looking at the role of the feet in modern kit playing.

I've got some work to do!!!

PS: He also comes across pretty well in the video. He makes jokes, screws around, plays with his boys. Normal guy stuff as opposed to the introverted weirdness that one might come to expect from such a technical master.
 
Here's what i don't get. How did he find the time necessary to practice as much as he did? I can barely score an hour or two these days..

Vienna Conservatory. You have to audition to get in. (Sorta like auditiong for Berklee College of Music or Juilliard Music School.) It helps being in a focused environment during the critical development years.

Here is the PDF of audition requirements at Juilliard:
http://www.juilliard.edu/pdf/MusicAudRequirementsLinks.pdf

You can check out the "percussion" section. Btw, Julliard also requires the ability to play Beethoven's 5th on your double-bass pedal. I can't do that, therefore, I'm not good enough to get accepted.
 
Just got the new video and it's amazing!!!

Creative Control was more of a "show off" video. This new one breaks it all down and gives you organized systems to develop high level pedal techniques and coordination.

The "Matrix" is the most organized method of developing interdepndence that I have ever come across. If you've finished "The New Breed" then this could be a great next step.

The pedal stuff is state of the art, it opens up a whole new way of looking at the role of the feet in modern kit playing.

I've got some work to do!!!

PS: He also comes across pretty well in the video. He makes jokes, screws around, plays with his boys. Normal guy stuff as opposed to the introverted weirdness that one might come to expect from such a technical master.

I agree completely with your review Jeff. Creative control was a DVD that you watched at 2 in the morning when you just wanted to watch someone play mad drums until you got sleepy (kind of like the Drumbassadors DVD). I dont really know many people who actually used any kind of methods or systems he used from CC but it sure was one heck of a doozy chops-wise.

It seems to me that every complaint I had about the first DVD has been solved. This one has methods that normal non-superhuman beings can do without 7 hour practice days.

That does NOT mean however that this stuff is easy. I'm on the "3rd dimension" of his Matrix system and WOW is it rough. But what is interesting is that the coordination between my four limbs is growing exponentially. Especially the left foot which we all know we can use some work on (especially me!). I can now do all those 2:3 son clave patterns that have had me bashing my head against the wall for years.

Disc 1 seems to be a crash course in all the foot madness contained in Creative Control. But again, its more organized, its more step-by-step, and its much more accesible this time around. How many of you skipped around Creative Control looking for things that you could actually play and work on? I did that a lot, but there isnt much here that causes that kind of jumping around on the menus. With this DVD one actually gets the sense that they CAN do this stuff.
 
I dont understand something about this DVD though. It seems to me in the vids on his page of the exercises, that he was using all of his pedals. And he has like 30 on his set. I have a double bass pedal, and a hi hat pedal. It seems like this would be kinda usless to me unless i had all his stuff. Does he go about helping people with less pedals?
you have two legs, so the minimum pedals required = 2 to complete all the exercises he shows!
 
RE: Multiple pedal setups

One of the main points that Thomas makes in this video is that he feels that Buddy and Co. have essentially said it all already when it comes to hands. In his opinion, the cutting edge of drumming techniques are happening with the feet. Accented double stroke rolls on kick drums, multi-pedal orchestration etc.

So, naturally, he is going to break out all of his gear and show us some really cutting-edge techniques. It is a DRUM video, after all. The point is not how many pedals you have, The point is to develop your feet to the same level as your hands and to be able to coordinate the whole mess.

The concept of accented doubles and odd stroke rolls in 4/4 alone are worth the price of the video. I have my work for the next year cut out for me.

If Thomas flowed as smoothly as Dom Famualro he'd be untouchable. I have to say that he uses a pretty muscle-oriented technique and he must be absorbing alot of stick shock that way. It bothers me to see his huge forearms tensing up to play a single stroke roll. I wonder what his "Purdie" shuffle sounds like?
 
...
And yes, obviously we have a differnet view on what is needless on a drumset. If you ask me, anything is needles that goes further than a bassdrum, a snare drum, three toms (better two) and cymbals/bells/hats. Maybe a second snare but that is like the total maximum of stuff.

In that regard we are back to TL now, because I think that there is obviously a lot of needless stuff on his set. And you can trust me that I am a huge fan of Thomas - but that does not mean I have to like anything he does and anything he attaches to his drumset.
...

This point-of-view gets into the big-kit/small-kit discussion...

Some drummers approach the kit as a complex polyphonic instrument. They instinctively think of the drumset as a xylophone. This leads to adding a high number of surfaces to hit to reproduce the complexity they hear in their head. A 20-piece kit may be needed to realize this "xylophone" expression. They want to expess multi-layered orchestrations or pseudo melodies on the drumset. This is the Bozzio, Lang, Peart, etc perspective.

But some drummers see the kit as a simpler timekeeping device -- with lots of space and air between each strike (each rythmic accent or event). They are communicating a "heartbeat" with a few subdivisions of that heartbeat to mix things up a bit. This is the Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, etc perspective.

Both approaches are absolutely valid. Now, the only way people are going to reconcile this difference and be respectful of both approaches is if they feel that those drummers listed above are born to approach the drumset the way they do.

Think of it as a coincidence that the "xylophone" drummers and the "heartbeat" drummers happen to use some of the same equipment: drum shells + cymbals . Because their equipment use overlaps, some of us are fooled into thinking that drummer A should do what drummer B does (or vice versa). Some drummers blend a little bit of both (Vinnie C) which confuses folks even more about which type of drummer is "normal" vs "over the top". All of this is irrelevant.

I believe Thomas Lang plays a complex drumset because that's how he naturally and intrinsically expresses himself. He has no desire to play 3 minutes of a simple 4/4 beat (at least on the DVDs). I also believe Ringo Starr plays a 4-piece because that's what he naturally hears in his head to express himself. Ringo has no motivation to play polyrhythmic ostinatos or 50 different surfaces. Some people talk fast when they speak, some talk slower. Some people fidget quite a bit sitting around in the waiting room for the dentist; while others are more laid back. People don't seem to understand that these differences in human idiosyncracies get translated to playing a drumset. It's not all training, peer pressure, or ignorance that people play differently on a drumset!

I see what both guys are all about. I respect what both guys are about. I truly enjoy & appreciate how they both express themselves. Why do you guys have to make this to be an either/or situation?!?!
 
Haha, that was good! When he started to sing... it was something like Jim Carrey would do. You're a lucky man, Bernhard.
 
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