Bill Ward

furrowgroove

Junior Member
Bill Ward is an incredible drummer who never seems to get much attention from the drum community. He is my personal favorite drummer. His style is unmatched and incredibly unique in such a heavy band as Black Sabbath. Please people let me know that other people out there respect this guy and his playing as much as I do!
 
Yes, Bill kicks butt, the stuff he did on the Paranoid album is some of the best rock drumming I've ever heard ... definately one of my favorites and an influence in my younger years.

I have a DVD with old BS footage when the band was young and hungry. It shows Bill nailing his bass drum to the stage before the show, and I'm sure he needed it. What an animal, he pummeled both his drums and my young innocent mind.

You know his early kits were straight out Buddy, Slingerland 5 piece with big bass drum and two floor toms. I read an interview where he said when he was coming up he 'wanted to be Buddy Rich'. You can tell Bill worked hard on his fundamentals, he knows his rudiments.

Bill is still doing good, I've seen footage of the last Sabbath tour and he still kicks butt.
 
I love Bill Ward's Drumming, Vol.4 would be my favourite album for his drumming.

One of the things I think holds him back from being in the 'Bonham, Paice catagory' is his sound on the Paranoid & Master Of Reality albums, the toms sound awful for some reason, I mean the fills on War Pigs are classic stuff but when he goes on to his toms - they sound like cardboard boxes - Bizarre!? Never sure how much input he had into the sound & I'm sure some people love it, but not for me I'm afraid. Having said all that, Bill's still a huge influence on me & thousands of other drummers...
 
They sound like they were absolutely covered in tape. In fact everything does, even the cymbals.
 
Personally, I think Bills drums and cymbals sounds from those days are classic. They fit Sabbaths, heavy, low, and muffled sound just right. Bill didnt use tape or muffling on his drums or cymbals. As bongodoggie said, it was a basic Buddy Rich style kit. Bills drums dont sound like Buddy.... why? Watch him play. He plays with the butt end of his sticks and seems to digs into the heads. Unorthodox? yes. But for Sabbath, nothing else would have fit the music. He hasn't really played drums in any other group since Sabbath, he says it doesnt feel right playing drums without them. Maybe he doesnt feel like his playing would work in other bands? I dont know. I'd would love to see him doing something with music nowadays. He seems to have slipped off the map.
 
Personally, I think Bills drums and cymbals sounds from those days are classic. They fit Sabbaths, heavy, low, and muffled sound just right. Bill didnt use tape or muffling on his drums or cymbals. As bongodoggie said, it was a basic Buddy Rich style kit. Bills drums dont sound like Buddy.... why? Watch him play. He plays with the butt end of his sticks and seems to digs into the heads. Unorthodox? yes. But for Sabbath, nothing else would have fit the music. He hasn't really played drums in any other group since Sabbath, he says it doesnt feel right playing drums without them. Maybe he doesnt feel like his playing would work in other bands? I dont know. I'd would love to see him doing something with music nowadays. He seems to have slipped off the map.


Damn right!

Great drummer.

Children Of The Grave anyone???
 
Damn right!

Great drummer.

Children Of The Grave anyone???

YEH! Children of the GRAVE!

What about The Wizard? People rave about all those technical players like Portnoy, etc. But Bill's playing on the The Wizard is genius. When it comes down to having to play like the CD, The Wizard would be more difficult to learn and play RIGHT than much, if not all of Portnoy's playing. (Sorry for bashing Portnoy, I do enjoy his playing and respect him - saw him at G307 = amazing - his name just came to mind first)

Symptom of the Universe fills anyone? Brilliant!
 
Re: Bill (William Thomas) Ward - Black Sabbath

Hello colleagues,

We have to recognize the outstanding drumming of Bill (William Thomas) Ward.
Example on: War Pigs, Iron Man, Children of the Grave, Supernaut, Rat salad. He is one of my main influences to beat the skin besides his old mate (friend) Cozy Powell.

The one I like and play the most is...War Pigs

Thanks & Regards,
 
Hello, fellows.

Bill Ward on drums, enjoy the man's pictures.

Cheers,
 

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Bill Ward is one of my favorite drummers ever.

Some of his songs have incredible fills (like war pigs).
Some have great rythm (like Paranoid).
Some have the perfect groove (like Ironman).
Some are just damn fun to play! (like Children of the Grave).

I also like his cymbals (sabian). Although he uses some huge rides and crashes.
Also, the tuning of his bass drums in Children of the Grave is odd, but sounds pretty cool, It reminds me of Hot For Teacher by Van Halen. Soundwise atleast.

He's definitely one underated drummer.
 
Nothing like some classic sabbath to start my day!

I have a classic drummer with a Bill Ward article. He talks about playing "dark" as much as he can.

...Ozzy was still coherent back then!!! :)
 
Nothing like some classic sabbath to start my day!

I have a classic drummer with a Bill Ward article. He talks about playing "dark" as much as he can.

...Ozzy was still coherent back then!!! :)

You do mean that he handled his substances better than now; I believe.

Yeah, Ian thanks for the heads up Bill is always great to listen to!
 
You do mean that he handled his substances better than now; I believe.

Well, if you graph his substance abuse over time SA/T I believe he reached a saturation point in the early 90's s=1991 therefore, in youth his faster metabolism (FM) + lower saturation (LS) = more intelligable speech. His older self has a higher saturation (HS) and slower metabolism (SM).

His speech had been degraded by the late 90's so logically SA/T+SM+HS= obscenity laced babbling on mtv reality show. (OLB+MTV.)
 
iwilliams: thanks for make me aware - so i uploaded the movie.

But the best part to come: I took contact with my DVD-Company and they send me the DVD Black Sabbath - part one till 1970. so i can put up then some more and best quality.


Bernhard
 
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