John Bonham

I totally agree with all that you have replied here.
Think if he had lived today, maybe he had been much better, simply said, in his own class.

As bonzo said before Led Zeppelin's live concert in Royal Albert Hall, 1970:
"If my fills won't work today, I will quit drumming"
This shows that he was bloody serious with his dooings!



(Sorry for bad english, but my teacher sucks-bigtime)
 
I haven't seen that first interview in years. Those two had been friends for years and years. He was John's guest at the Melody Maker awards in 1976. John was nervous about the interview, and was drinking heavily before it as well. Billy sugested that they completely spoof it by him asking long confusing questions, and John just shrugging them off. Which is what exactly happened.

There's an article about it in the October 2005 issue of Mojo Magazine, the one dedicated to the 25th anniversary of John's death.
 
RamboKnife said:
Apparently it was supposed to go that way, it was a comedy show I believe...if I'm wrong tell me, but my dad said he was playing along.

I think you are right because if I am not mistaken Billy Connolly is not only a actor but a Irish comedian. By the way he was great in BOONDOCK SAINTS! The greatest movie of all time!
 
On the intro to Rock & Roll:

Bonham starts it with a pick up like the familiar Elvis guitar lick on Jailhouse Rock which starts on the "an" of beat three in the pick up measure. Knowing Bonham's sense of humor maybe he had that idea in his head and then change it in the 3rd bar.

Accent story for Rock & Roll (accents in bold)

Pick up
|(1 + 2 + 3) + 4 + | 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |


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


| 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + || (1) Songs starts on "1" not a pick up
 
Just wanted to share a transcription of "Rock and Roll" that I put together for myself as a practice aid/study tool. It's very straight ahead and helped me get the tune down so that I feel pretty comfortable playing it with the record or with a group (if someone were to ever call for it)

It would be great if someone else were to get some use of of this or if anyone had any comments or suggestions. Putting it together was very helpful, so maybe some of the benefit is lost by just using the PDF below as is. Still, at the very least, it can be used to compare to your own ideas about the tune if nothing else.

Thanks,
Scott

Rock and Roll: Super Straight Ahead
 
FYI: I edited to the above PDF: Fixed a couple typos and a notation error (5-11-06)
 
NUTHA JASON said:
that's very neat. thanks manchu.

now go and do 'bonzo's montreaux'...kidding...unless you can?
j

:)

Well, that would be a good one - maybe at least the basics of it. Isn't that one pieced together from various studio stuff he played? You'd almost need a score with the various instruments - sounds fun to me!
 
Hey, here's another transcription I'd like to share. It's the first chorus of "I Can't Quit You, Babe" from Coda.

This has always been my favorite recording of the tune and in just the first chorus it shows most of Bonham's signature slow blues phrasing style: broken trips in the bass, subdividing the 8th note into 2s and 3s, extended phrase ending fills, great sound and great rhythm. One thing he doesn't do in the first chorus that he does on other tunes is keep the 8th note pulse going with his foot during extended fills. Other than that, it's got alot of the Bonham spice.

I don't think there's tab out for this particular recording (maybe there is), so that's another reason I thought it would be nice to share it.

I excitedly picked this album up when I was in high school when it originally came out on vinyl. That release of the album attributed this tune to a sound check before a gig. Until it was corrected recently to be attributed to an actual concert at Royal Albert Hall (and is included in the DVD boxed set), I had always thought, "Damn, for a sound check, these guys are really leaving it all on the bandstand!" Who knows? They probably did play soundchecks like that.

ICantQuitYouBabe.pdf
 
Hi. Here's another transcription I'd like to share with the forum:

GoodTimesBadTimes.pdf

It's just the intro and first verse going into the first chorus. I can't play it anywhere near tempo, so I'm working on getting it down better before moving further into the tune.

Anyway, the thing I added to this transcription that I don't see in any tabs or any other transcriptions are Bonham's bell pattern variations. He changes the pattern up and adds little embellishments beyond just pinging out 8ths all day on his bell. In my opinion, it adds a very nice, perceptible spice to the groove and gives it alot of life beyond the basic pattern people probably learn for this groove. For me, it aso gives insight into additonal possibilities that can be tested out on the groove as well as material for variety so things don't get stale.

Another thing I added was notating the 1 bar fill going into the verse in triplet form. This fill really feels and sounds like medium/up-tempo swing to me (if you consider the 8th note subdivision in the hi-hat as a quarter note in medium/up-tempo swing), so I notated it as 16th note trips to emphasize this impression.

I play a 4 piece Ludwig kit, so this is adapted for my intrument. The notation might not be 100% standard, so please don't hesitate to ask if something looks weird or if you see another way something could have been played or notated.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
CyclopseSlayer said:
When you guys talk about Bonham's triplets, are you referring to the "broken triplets" he does on like Good Times, Bad Times or something else?

I have the sheet music and he does do broken triplets on Good Times, Bad times.
 
Back
Top