Jason Bittner

Bernhard said:
This is just a bit unfair in my opinion. I stood right beside hime at PASIC and I was really impressed by his powerful playing. Double as loud as most of the other drummers. This you don't get in the DVD!!!! And very precise. I compared live and know now, why he won the MD awards and fully agree.

Great and nice guy also with huge wide professional background for many years ....also as a teacher. Comments on jazz or latin are in this case really inappropriate.

Bernhard


First of all, thanks Bernhard for this amazing site...
then, i agree with you about Jason, i really love his style and it's not important who is the faster in the world...we are talking about style, not only during a solo but also about the work with the band and all the stuff he is able to put in his songs!
I didn't know so much about Jason before reading and watching his video on Drummerworld but immediatly after i watched the videos, i bought on amazon his Dvd with Chris Adler... ^__^
it's a pity i live in Italy... i want Jason as a teacher!!!! ^__^
 
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He fits his bands music well, but like many others here I havent really heard anything that makes me go 'wow'.

(I am also very skeptical of studio recordings and the 'touch-ups' that can be done, especially when you are able to record on the budget Shadows Fall must have had - great sounding album!)

He's ok, and good for the metal community as far as his influence, but by no means would I consider him one of the great metal players.
 
he's doing a UK drum clinic tour soon, if anyone's interested I can post up dates/ locations. I'm going to the clinic in Hull hopefully : ) just hope i'm well enough to play drums again by then
 
DamoSyzygy said:
He's ok, and good for the metal community as far as his influence, but by no means would I consider him one of the great metal players.

I consider him. I stood beside him. Believe me!!!

Bernhard
 
Your view of Jason Bittner...

I hate to say that I just discovered Jason Bittner around six months ago. Needless to say I think the guy is an outstanding drummer. His performance at the Modern Drummer Festival was amazing. Just wanted to get an idea on other drummers opinion of Jason Bittner and get a feel for where other drummers feel he fits into the drumming community. I think he's a great drummer... agree or disagree? Thanks in advance for sharing your feedback.
 
Are you kinding me, He is like amazing i mean he works so much on just double bass but he is really fast and its hard to beat him.
Assuming double kick and speed are important - which they arent by themselves - I can think of at least a dozen metal drummers out there that would bury him in both departments.

Dont get me wrong - Jason is doing some great things for the metal drumming community, and when people get excited by his playing and study his every move its only ever a good thing for drumming. Im simply saying that I didnt see anything in the MD DVD or hear anything on his albums that really moved me.

To each his own.
 
I kinda signed up for this forum and forgot about it for like 6 months... ironically I've been posting on JB's forum. Jay is one of my most personally inspiring drummers. A lot of you guys are talking about how educated he is. A lot of people don't know this, but he only went to Berklee for a year (it's like $40k a year with room and board...). And yes, a yr at Berklee is still a YEAR at Berklee, but I'm saying that's just a small part of his getting to the level he's at.
You can go to his website and ask him - he will never claim to be the fastest drummer out there. He'll tell you he's a metal/thrash drummer. One of his biggest influnces is Benante from Anthrax. Jay actually filled in for him for 2 shows when CB recently had his baby - that's how much he's played along with Anthrax growin up. You can hear that in a lot of his beats as well.
The biggest thing I love about his drumming is that he writes drum parts that fit the song as best as he can - and that's the most important thing that we as drummers must do. There are some things about his parts that you can't tell as well from a quick listen as you can by really studying the song. If you haven't seen his 'drum lesson' on the dvd that came with The War Within, I'd recommend it. It gives you a greater appreciation for some of his parts. My two favorite songs of his are "The Light That Blinds" and "Ghost of Past Failures." In the latter you will hear a lot of the MD solo parts at work, like the tom pattern where he keeps the beat on the x-hat, the tom pattern,8ths on kicks, snare on 2+4. They're not impossible for others to play, but that's not the point. He's a making great music.

Also, for those of you who are real big into speed - to quote Jay (from a thread where people signed in as guests were coming on and anonymously comparing JB and Joey), "on the new SHAD record there's a Double kick song at 210BPM but I bet that's still not fast enough!!!" Obviously, the man is progressing, just like the rest of us.
(for comparison reasons, the light that blinds was recorded at 180bpm)

p.s. I'm a big fan of Alder as well, I just picked up Ashes of the Wake last week.

Is this a song from Fallout from the War? Wich one? On the MD festival he said that he could only come up to 210 on a good day, but only for like two bars.
 
I guess I'll be the black sheep. I am not particularly impressed by him. He's a good drummer, but I wouldn't say that hands down he's better than Chris Adler or that he's the best metal drummer around. I think his style is a little dry and sometimes he just loses me. I have one of Shadows Fall's albums. I really don't like the band, but just listening to the drum tracks, sometimes it just kinda seems he doesn't belong.

Just my $0.02
 
Assuming double kick and speed are important - which they arent by themselves - I can think of at least a dozen metal drummers out there that would bury him in both departments.

Dont get me wrong - Jason is doing some great things for the metal drumming community, and when people get excited by his playing and study his every move its only ever a good thing for drumming. Im simply saying that I didnt see anything in the MD DVD or hear anything on his albums that really moved me.

To each his own.

Again and again: sorry Damo - you really don't get it!! he was voted the No. 1 drummer with good reason.

I stood behind him at Pasic (and behind all other drummers too). But Jason had by far the most professional punch of all - heavyweight champion. Perhaps doesn't work out well on DVD's - but be sure: Washed with all waters and a true master.

He's also a really good professional teacher with the most solid technical background inklusive fine brushwork and jazz.

Speed???? What is this??? Be sure, there is enough speed around!!!

Bernhard
 
I still don't get it with the "who is better, faster than who thing".
It's a basic fact that Jason is a KILLER drummer, KILLER person, and KILLER friend.
If any of you want to beat up on anybody....
Start doing this crap to the OTHER instrumentalist who stand on stage with us!
(Not that I condone such behavior! LOL.)
D.
 
I still don't get it with the "who is better, faster than who thing".
It's a basic fact that Jason is a KILLER drummer, KILLER person, and KILLER friend.
If any of you want to beat up on anybody....
Start doing this crap to the OTHER instrumentalist who stand on stage with us!
(Not that I condone such behavior! LOL.)
D.

DEREK
thats a GREAT idea lets start to pick on the other musicians LOL
we as drummers are supposed to STICK together.
Unfortunately speed has and will always be an isuue for some drummers in comparison.
Yes Jason and Chris are both good drummers and should not be compared but drummers will always compare their heroes with so snd so...LOL

drummers as a rule are still going to be more excited by dennis chambers blazing around the kit than Bernard Burdie doing his purdie shuffle both are valid and none is better than the other just different.....
we have all heard the crowd go nuts when a drummer does a blazing fill.....
Tim
 
Jason is defantly an amazing drummer. There are faster and there to some ppl are better metal drummers than him. Im not saying he's the best. All im sayin is he is great and his drumming fits the songs its in.
 
In my opinion Jason is one of the best metal-drummer of all times. I just watched some videos of him and learned much. And his Mb10 Bell Blast Ride from Meinl is a great ride for many styles.
 
I just read the MD article and went out and bought a copy of War Within. What style of metal do these guys play? I got through it without any damage being done, which is pretty amazing for someone who only listens to jazz. (Actually I liked it)
 
I have heard Bittner's playing quite a bit from CDs, I have seen him live and on various videos and I just don't see it. I think that he is a very competant metal player, and is very solid and plays exactly what he should play given his style of music. However, his playing doesn't hold my interest for very long. Its almost as if he plays metal the way a drum instructor that doesn't play metal plays metal (if you can follow the poor wording of mine). It is very textbook and stale to me.

I still think that he is a good drummer though.
 
Jason is doing a meet and greet at the Drum Headquarters in St. Louis, MO on May 1st. I am looking forward to meeting Jason as I have been a Shadows Fall fan since the first album. I like Jason's playing.....he is not the most creative metal player ever but he is a damn good metal drummer who plays for the song and he's a good teacher.
 
today was the first time i ever heard or saw his paying. i saw him on the modern drummer dvd. I think that he is an awesome drummer.
 
Ive met Jason.

Hes not only a great drummer, he's a really cool guy.

Like Derek said....
 
No people we mentioning other drummers in this thread who they thought their feet were just as fast as Bitners, so I mentioned Martin Lopez as another one. I'm not bashing Bittner, but I believe his feet gets him his most acclaim I don't think his overall drumming is that great. Yes he is very good but I would not classify him as an amazing drummer in my opinion, he doesn't make my jaw drop like Weckl and many others.


Maybe not but what I like from Jason is his tasteful melodic fills and the sound color he get from his kit. For an Heavy Metal drummer, he is melodic and use the "Art of dynamics" in his playing. The guy can play Latin/afro-cuban rhythms and Jazz too.
 
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