The legendary Steve Gadd

Re: So, what is it with Steve Gadd

I wanted to come back and revisit this topic because, like you at one time, the only real drummer in the world was Neil Peart. I remember being in jazz band in High school and my band director put on an Al Jarreau album(!) with the song Spain. I didn't know that it was Steve Gadd at the time. Later in life I began to explore music a little more and found an article on Steve Gadd's Spain in DownBeat magazine. As a challenge to myself, i learned to play the transcription in that article. Just the verse grooves alone are obvious but creative - typical of Steve. He plays the most obvious ideas and makes them sound incredible! He was outside the box before there was a box to be outside of!


What I would doif I were you, is to try to step outside of the boundaries you have set up with the "only Neil Peart/Danny Carey/Dennis Chambers/'insert name of your favorite drummer here' can play" thinking. It will change your playing in ways you can only imagine and take you further. I'm not saying these guys aren't great players. I am saying tke what you can from them and then go on, because Danny Carey is going to be playing the Tool gig for a long time.


Mike

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Re: So, what is it with Steve Gadd

2) Steve is a groove master who has played on thousands of records, not by flashing chops, but playing music, the song.

x10000000

If i may add: Touch, feel, subtle timing/tonal/texture/volume control.... Steve Gadd plays what is necessary and no more or less. Reminds me of the drumming equivalent of Miles Davis during his Prestige years recordings.


4) Steve is a WONDERFUL, beautiful human being. VERY humble, and down to earth for someone who has achieved SO MUCH....'nuff said on that one!

The world is a far better place with Steve in it.


I suggest you listen to recordings of Steve with Chick Corea in the '70's. Listen to Aja by Steely Dan, just to start out.

x10000 Chick is a very interesting as a musical inventor/creator.

Steve Gadd just has that something that completes the music and does not compete with it. Hope that makes sense.

-----------
Ok, perhaps cliché yet...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5--Sje98jI
My goodness, look how young Simon is, gawd i feel old!

And of course

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZLLYEzKE8

A thing of beauty!
 
i can't believe someone actually made this thread. i mean really? :-/
 
i can't believe someone actually made this thread. i mean really? :-/

Well i'm sorry but i'm relatively inexperienced and was just asking a question. After all, that's allowed right?

I now realise why he is so great, and I know how it may piss people off that I asked the question in the first place, but thanks to the comments posted on this thread I have to come to realise why he is so respected.

Anyway, thanks to all who have posted as it has allowed me to explore his playing which I should of done in the first place rather than just watch one video and ask questions.
 
Re: So, what is it with Steve Gadd

In that video of the drum battle, it seemed to me that Gadd annihilated the other two. Admittedly I don't know a lot about the kind of thing they're doing, but I could actually hear a "groove" to his, as opposed to just showing how quickly he can hit the various toms and cymbals.

It's sorta like the difference between a guitar solo that's all huge sweeping arpeggios and one that has a solid melody you can feel. The thing with haphazard showing off of chops is that it's non-specific. As impressive as it is, it's cut-and-paste. I'd argue it takes a lot more deep feeling of music to construct the kind of thing Gadd does.

Totally agree. I generally dislike drum solos because they are usually pointless, chops-galore ego-fests. I was instantly drawn to Gadd's playing, tasteful, intense, dynamic and fit-for-purpose.

Davo
 
Re: So, what is it with Steve Gadd

Mr Chattr, with all due respect, I'm with Matthias in that I could practice 24 hours a day for another 30 years and not be able to play what Dave and Vinnie did in the drum duel clip. Those guys are freaks IMO. And so is Steve, but in a different way, although as has been said he has major chops.


...listen to 'Master Plan' on Weckls album Master Plan to hear steve play in a more weckl-type style!
 
well im a huge fan of Gadd myself, theres a subtlety to his playing that is lost of many apparently more "technical" players.

In fact im furtunate that i'll meet him next week. He's doing a signing and drum clinic in Edinburgh as part of his "mission from gadd" tour and my tickets are in hand.

Taking along a mint copy of Aja for him to sign, that sucker will be getting framed and going up next to my drum kit.
 
well im a huge fan of Gadd myself, theres a subtlety to his playing that is lost of many apparently more "technical" players.

In fact im furtunate that i'll meet him next week. He's doing a signing and drum clinic in Edinburgh as part of his "mission from gadd" tour and my tickets are in hand.

Taking along a mint copy of Aja for him to sign, that sucker will be getting framed and going up next to my drum kit.

Wow! Sounds great, shrink. I'd be looking VERY much forward to that myself. Could you take some pics at the Gadd clinic and post 'em here? That'd be awesome, Thanks!

Have a wonderful time. I know you will!
 
im not sure what the protocol is for taking pics at these clinics. WIll try to find out, as sadly the only camera I have is a full blown SLR with pretty huge lenses. Don't want them thinking im taking the piss :)
 
Clinic in Karlsruhe

some pics from me:

gadd_karlsruhe01.jpg

gadd_karlsruhe02.jpg

gadd_karlsruhe04.jpg

gadd_karlsruhe15.jpg

gadd_karlsruhe16.jpg

gadd_karlsruhe33.jpg
 
I play Vic Firth Steve Gadd signature brushes, I love them!
 
sorry if someone has already mentioned it but I just heard "Ludwig" by Bob James (from "Foxy") and it is probably the most technical I have heard Gadd. Absolutely awsome sight playing... Check it out.
 
A conversation with a drumming icon

Joe Bosso, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 7:00 pm BST

Your discography is so vast, there's no way to list even half of the artists you've worked with. However, I do want to ask you about playing with Paul McCartney, who's no slouch on the drums himself.

"In one way or another, the job is always the same: you try to come up with parts that are supportive of the music. When I worked with Paul, he didn't give me a lot of direction per se. There were a few times, I think, when I wasn't playing as big and loud or as energetic as he wanted, so I made whatever adjustments were necessary.

"Again, I try to listen to the song. If you can listen to the song and really visualize in your head what it needs to be, you can figure out the dynamics and the backbeat and everything else.

"I remember there was a lot of emotion in the air the first time I recorded with Paul. It was not too long after John Lennon had been shot, so as you can imagine, things were…it was heavy. The emotions that everybody was feeling, coupled with the beauty of our surroundings [the island of Montserrat, where George Martin operated AIR Studios], it all came out in the music. Oh, and Ringo Starr was there, too. I had played with him on one of his solo records, so we were old friends. It was great being around him; he's so inspiring."

What kind of musical dialogue do you have with somebody like Ringo? Even though he's one of the greatest drummers in rock 'n' roll history, he's very unlike you in that he doesn't read or write music, never studied theory…

"Yeah, I know what you mean. We had a great time together. See, Ringo comes from a different kind of school, and I find that totally exciting and challenging. How he does what he does…it's so different from what other drummers do. If somebody approaches music or their instrument in a way that's unique, I want to be around that person. To me, there's something to learn there."


Full Interview: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guit...h-clapton-mccartney-and-his-new-band-259506/5
 
Me and Steve Gadd. :) 2009
 

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