John Bonham

Bonzo books?

Hi all, my little sis is 15 and has acheived grade 6 drums and LOVES Zeppelin. Recently in her GCSE Music lesson she got a lower grade than usual on a piece because the other kids that were playing in her group wanted to do a RHCP number that was very un-challenging for her to play and the teacher wanted to see her do something more technical and challenging. He said a Zep song would be awesome and he'd dish out some good marks if she did some of that. Trouble is, there is a distinct lack of good Bonham books around, and the few that I have found have contradicting reviews.

Can anyone reccomend a good Led Zeppelin drum score book? I heard about one by Bill Wheeler that got slated. A lot of people said he got a lot of things wrong and had to correct pretty much every song in it. I also found one of the same title but by a different author, Joe Bergamini, but I think some people reviewing these books got confused over the authors, as both books seem to have the same title.

Can anyone let me know which one is best (author) or if there is anything even better?

Any help / pointers in the right direction would be majorly appreciated, as this is the only thing stopping my sister getting an A* in her music GCSE test at the moment.

Cheers!!!
 
Found a better pic of his 1968 rig, and it's indeed a Slingerland.
1968-09-13_new_yardbirds.jpg


1969-01_Whiskey_01.jpg


So I guess when they say he used a "black diamond pearl Ludwig" at the beginning of Led Zeppelin it was actually a "black diamond pearl Slingerland" Then came his maple Ludwig thereafter.

BTW, did find a pic also of him using both bass drums on his maple rig as well:
1969-06_01.jpg
 
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Re: John Bonham assignment

Bonham was very influenced by Soul and R&B drummers. A major influence was Bernard Purdie. I believe that the "Purdie Shuffle" which he played on tracks like "Babylon Sisters" and "Home At Last" by Steely Dan influned Bonham's beat on "Fool In The Rain."

not to mention that Jeff Porcaro stated that his "Rosanna" beat was a combo of the "Purdie Shuffle" and Bonham's "Fool in the Rain".

and with the Ludwig double bass kit...Bonham's endorsement deal with Ludwig came from a recommendation from Carmine Appice as Zep toured with Vanilla Fudge on one of their first US tours, if not THE first tour.
 
Re: John Bonham assignment

not to mention that Jeff Porcaro stated that his "Rosanna" beat was a combo of the "Purdie Shuffle" and Bonham's "Fool in the Rain".

and with the Ludwig double bass kit...Bonham's endorsement deal with Ludwig came from a recommendation from Carmine Appice as Zep toured with Vanilla Fudge on one of their first US tours, if not THE first tour.

Wow - didn't know that about the Porcaro - thanks - I'm going to pull those out right now and listen. Been off the site for a while and just now catching up on the posts.

That Purdie Shuffle is so slick. I'm trying to break into that right now myself, just building from the ground up by filling the gaps various ways using the snare and bass and studying Home at Last and other tunes. I think it's going OK, but not it's not trivial at all. Even on the videos he has has on this site, it's not easy to break down because he's so fluid with it, changing it up and such (maybe I should post this under Purdie's thread?)
 
at the moment i'm loving and learning this bit from 'i can't quit you babe' (first album version - halfway through the song)

HH |X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..X..
SN |.........X.................X........etc
BD |X.....X......xx.xxX.....X......xx.xx
................\3/\3/............\3/\3/


john's bass drum is so fragile in its placement throughout the song so almost naive but perfect and then he starts the tour de force bass triplets. it is a great song to learn.

j
Yeah - I just love his treatment of these slow 12/8 blues. I've been digging into these for a while myself and things are finally becomming more natural and fluid. The Coda version of "I Can't Quit.." is so cool as is the Zeppelin I version above - vintage Bonhan 12/8 blues.
 
While I've been searching to determine what type of shoes Bonzo wore (see the famous shoe thread...lol) I found this vintage interview from 1970. This is awesome. The newscasters talk about "The Led Zeppelin"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0fqgq6ZMZY&mode=related&search=

I don't think Bonham was as concerned about what kind of shoes to play in like we are today. I have seen a lot of pictures and clips and he has a different kind of shoe on each time. I wondered the same thing for awhile but I see that sometimes he wore boots, hushpuppies, those Italian boots that were real popular in the 60's and then later on it looks like he wore sneakers. I think he could pull off those triplets regardless of what he was wearing!
 
I don't think Bonham was as concerned about what kind of shoes to play in like we are today. I have seen a lot of pictures and clips and he has a different kind of shoe on each time. I wondered the same thing for awhile but I see that sometimes he wore boots, hushpuppies, those Italian boots that were real popular in the 60's and then later on it looks like he wore sneakers. I think he could pull off those triplets regardless of what he was wearing!

I agree. I was just joking around in relationship to some other thread about shoes...I'm sure Bonham could have worn combat boots and still cranked out Good Times Bad Times with no problem.
 
I agree. I was just joking around in relationship to some other thread about shoes...I'm sure Bonham could have worn combat boots and still cranked out Good Times Bad Times with no problem.

I agree. I think today drummers put to much emphasis on equipment, shoes, lighting etc. So often I hear a lot of drummers whinning " I can't play a kit if it doesn't have double bass pedal" or "I can't play a kit unless I have these certain kind of cymbals" or " I can't play unless I have three remote hi-hats." I say SHUT UP AND PLAY!!!!
 
I agree. I think today drummers put to much emphasis on equipment, shoes, lighting etc.

Unfortunately, many drummers get too caught up in this side of the equation and spend more time looking/drooling at the equipment rather than practicing/playing...

nutha, i saw about 1/2 second of bonham's shoes in that video (in the beginning). hard to tell that they were cowboy boots....they did look black...that is an awesome video....where do people get these things? it looks like he only had 1 floor tom. was that just for that gig or did he always use 1 floor tom back in 69'?

thanks, now you have me on a youtube binge!!!! there's some good footage of moby dick on there (3 parts)...you've probably already seen it. take a look at the "Tags" from the person that posted the vids! lol..any idea where/when this is from?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rOCa-qgbtc&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fwcFjzyik&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd4NDf7ciK4&mode=related&search=
 
i agree. a great drummer can make music with a plastic bucket.

j
I agree 100% a good drummer can make any drum sound good.it's not what you got or how many things you got or what school or lessons you took it's how you TUNE & PLAY period.

Keep swatting,
Bonzolead
 
Truly unique and a giant in rock. Ever notice how syncopated he got? If one reads up on the extra-musical activities of the band (books like Hammer of the Gods and Stairway to Heaven, et.al.) one may form a sort of mental image of the personalities. Like Keith Moon it makes one wonder how all that great music was made considereing the excesses. But then, that was/is another world...wasn't it?
 
Re: John Bonham (Bonzo)

well, yeah, Bonzo was just great, BUT...we have to admit that we wouldn't been discussing and admiring him if he wasn't dead...like with Elvis who is earning more money than he ever did
smile.gif

yeah.... right... think about how much he progressed thru the years. If he had lived longer he would have been even a bigger leyend.
 
I like led zepplin a lot but I really dont like john bonham all that much. He is still a really good drummer though.
 
Lately I've been listening to the last two and a half minutes of 'Dazed and Confused' off How The West Was Won right before going out at night to hear the part Bonham and Jones play during Page's guitar masturbation. Nothing gets me more pumped up. I love how simple it is, he's really just running on his pedals and playing a snare/tom pattern over it, but the feel, the places he puts the accents combined with Jones' bassline carve that nasty groove that makes it impossible to keep your head still.
 
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