Dual Drummers- ever wondered why?

I agree! And "Whipping Post", and listen the the drum breakdown in "Hot Lanta". The whole Fillmore East album is amazing. It's subtle but very powerful the way they weave in and out with each other, and it totally propels the whole song. I always thought The Allman Bros pulled off the two drummer thing perfectly. The textbook example of how to do it!

Absolutely agree with your description of this album and the other 2 tunes.The two drummers weave in & out of each other, creating incredible dynamics, which wouldn't have been possible with one drummer.
 
Absolutely agree with your description of this album and the other 2 tunes.The two drummers weave in & out of each other, creating incredible dynamics, which wouldn't have been possible with one drummer.

Yeah, and Mountain Jam off Eat a Peach. I've never played Elizabeth Reed before; but it is a staple from what I understand. You try to play it as one guy. You try to do the response but you only have two hands. You feel impotent. :)

In additon to The Dead and Allmanns, Charlie Daniels, the Outlaws and Doobie Brothers were bands I used to go see and they had two drummers. Marshall Tucker was another great band, only one drummer, Paul Riddle, a great drummer.

There was a MD a last year had a list. Lark's Tongues in Aspic II with Bruford and Jamie Muir topped the list. Trouble No More from Eat a Peach was number two, Mother's: Don't You Ever Wash that Thing with Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson was three, and Coltrane's The Father Son and Holy Ghost with Elvin and Rashied Ali from Meditations was number four.

Adam and the Ants had two drummers. I used to love that band, great hooks : )
 
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There was a MD a last year had a list. Lark's Tongues in Aspic II with Bruford and Jamie Muir topped the list.
Adam and the Ants had two drummers. I used to love that band, great hooks : )

Overall I would class Jamie Muir in King Crimson as a percussionist, though. He did play drums occasionally, but more often was bouncing all over the stage hitting other things.

Yeah, the Ants drum sound was pretty awesome. More simple doubling up as opposed the the Allman Bros approach, but very powerful and unique sounding.
 
Yeah, it is a strange choice. I have a live version of Part II, which is double drum set; but to me, it doesn't sound like the album version has two sets. And if it does, and I really can't tell, what does that say aout it? I think that because of the uniqueness of Part I, which is obviously not a dual drum set piece, they voted in Part II. Part II does show up on USA, but Muir was gone by then, right?
 
Sometimes I'll set up two kits in the jam room although it gets very cramped. I'm a lefty and I'll set up a righty kit so others can sit in without having to rearrange a whole kit.

I have to say without a doubt playing drums along with another drummer is the most fun I've ever had jamming! As long as you can stay out of each other's way during fills, it is really a great experience. My favorite thing to do is play a counter rhythm to the other beats. If the other drummer is heavy on the downbeat I'll dance around the upbeats. If they play 16ths on hats, I'll play 8ths on the ride in between.

There are so many things to experiment with and take things to a new level. Many types of music these days are incorporating beat loops and complicated drum machine patterns along with a live drummer. Why not experiment with two live players?

It's a very enlightening experience and I've learned so much from all the great drummers I've had the pleasure to jam with. I highly recommend it if you can.
 
Adam and the Ants had two drummers. I used to love that band, great hooks : )

When I read in MD that they used two drummers, suddenly a light bulb went off in my head.
I'm not a big fan, but my wife is, and I have to admit, I was baffled by some of the parts, and two drummers explained it.
 
Maybe there are better songs for the purpose that I've not heard, but I haven't heard anything in the Allman Bros. that even called my attention to the fact that they HAVE two drummers. Let alone made it interesting enough to justify doing it.

The studio version of Jessica sure doesn't sound like two drummers to me. I guess I'll have to listen more closely.
 
Yeah... foot in mouth.

Just re-listened to Jessica today specifically listening for the two-drummer-thing.

There's a lot more going on than I'd thought.

I still don't think you'd miss much of anything by only having one drummer, but they aren't playing the same parts. At least on that song, anyway.
 
The best gigs that I have ever played were with dual drummers. There is no better way to play! One drummer can concentrate on vocals while the other lays it down. One can be on the hats while the other riffs around. Both drummers can play in sync or play in syncopation. I play with a left handed drummer in a mirror image sometimes. It looks great when we roll on the toms in opposite directions. It is the utmost freedom for drummers. It gives the music that Full, Laid back sound! Try it sometime! Its Great!
 
The only time I've ever seen this was ...And You Will Known Us By The Trail Of Dead in 2005. They swapped instruments constantly. Two drummers made no difference at all.

I'm sure there are more interesting and useful applications for the idea, though.
 
I did a double drummer gig many years ago, it really was fun!! I was in a band with all of my friends and one happened to be another drummer and I'll tell you what, it worked out great!!

We weren't playing just southern rock either, we also did The Stones, Zep, Petty, Sabbath but we just happened to have 2 drummers. At the time we locked really great and sometimes we kinda built our kits into each others so we'd kinda have a little more where the kits met.

Sometimes we'd play together, other times we'd compliment, it depended on what we felt like doing to the tunes.

All in all, it was great fun and it made me appreciate seeing all the bands that also had double drummers.
 
Yep, it's a stonker. I must admit this is one of the very few examples of dual drummers that I enjoy. To me it only sounds good if the drummers have both have super sense of time. Getting it down live is a rare feat.
 
The worst double drumming I've ever seen was tony thompson and phil colliins playing led zeppelin at live aid. poor tony, i felt embarassed that he had to play with the totally unprepepared collins. It sounded like a train wreck. phil kep doing is signature riffs and it was so bad i was cringing through the whole thing.So much so that plant and Page wouldn't let it be used on the DVD.

i've seen it work very well in other bands. it worked great on the George harrison concert dvd.
 
The worst double drumming I've ever seen was tony thompson and phil colliins playing led zeppelin at live aid. poor tony, i felt embarassed that he had to play with the totally unprepepared collins. It sounded like a train wreck. phil kep doing is signature riffs and it was so bad i was cringing through the whole thing.So much so that plant and Page wouldn't let it be used on the DVD.

AMEN to that! I think I remember everyone saying the same thing back then... that he SUCKED and wasted everyone's time, and that Collins gave the excuse that he had just flown in from playing some other show and hadn't gotten any sleep blah blah blah. If you ask me, I'd say the problem was his huge ego. (But that's just me...)
 
I heard Bruford-Muir from Crimson mentioned, but I think that does fall under the drummer-percussionist category, a combo that is used much more often. And alot of times I am surprised that there is double drumming when it doesn't really sound like it.

King Crimson did make use of two drummers years later with Bruford and Mastelotto and now Gavin Harrison and Pat Mastelotto. I haven't heard that combo yet, but Thrak (Bruford-Mastelotto) had some real interesting stuff including the solo B'Boom which made great use of double drumming. Seeing them with Harrison-Mastelotto would probably be amazing as well. The King Crimson approach makes much more sense to me. Explore the different possibilities of totally different and contrasting parts.

(I also remember times when the early 80s Crimson had Belew play a few drum parts with Bruford live. Is there anything Belew can't do? )
 
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