Huge Hands

My question would be - has your drummer played to click before? As a former drummer, I tried it for the first time in a studio setting back in my uni days. I thought I would need to hear the click really well and got them to turn it up and up - til it was almost bashing my ear drums across my head into each other! Suffice to say, it wasn't great playing or a great track. A few years later, when working as a live sound engineer, I spoke to one of the pro drummers about it and listened to his click during a rehearsal, it was much quieter. He had it at a level where you barely heard it, then if you started falling behind/speeding up, your brain would suddenly notice it and concentrate on it. When I then tried it a year later at these sort of levels with my own band, it worked really well for me. When on time, the click almost disappears and you are able to enjoy the music. As others have said, depending on what is on the track, you may not need to hear it at all, especially if it is washy strings or effects. I'm saying this because in my opinion, some drummers will never get their heads round playing with a click. Some may just need some adjustment on their levels and then get it fine. Apologies if your drummer is well experienced and knows this all already!

Careful what you wish for - you could end up with Chris Evans....

As a kid, when I first started saying I wanted to be a drummer, my Dad's mate would lend me cassette tapes of Buddy rich just soloing constantly for about 60mins. It used to turn me right off. However, I was later given a tape of him playing with his big band, and in a musical context, thought he was amazing.

They (Steve White) claimed it was the top drummers mentioned by other drummers. He also said putting a list together was tricky - "...the 30+ drummers involved in this program... " which would suggest only a vote of 1.5 was needed to get on the list of 20! One drummer (the guy from the Libertines) suggested Weckl, Colauita and Jim Keltner were obvious disciples of Steve Gadd, which was obviously their single justification for not including them as Gadd was on there. I totally agree that Grohl is nowhere near their talent, but I guess if you ask drummers who grew up with Nirvana who their most influential drummer was? I must admit that watching by Nirvana unplugged back in the day, I was inspired to try Hot Rods and used them for many years in low level gigs. I don't think the show was perfect at all, but there were some interesting interviews and playing. EDIT: @ezbass according to my Sky box that was episode 4 of 4, but happy to have more!

Dave Grohl is on the list. Dave Weckl did partake in the program - his Buddy Rich impersonation (playing, not personally) was very impressive.

Sorry NJ, I did wait nearly a week for this reason. I can't keep everyone happy 😉

Yes! Nigel Olssen! Forgot about him too! I have to admit I just had to Google Dave Mattacks, so maybe these lists are doing their job!

I'm also fairly sure that in the first episode, when they used a clip of James Brown in his Bootsy period and very artistically split the screen/graphics to show/name Jabo and Clyde, it wasn't actually Clyde in the clip. It's been bugging me that, I'm sure the internet would provide the answer...

Good point. I think I heard someone briefly say his name but surprised he wasn't more prominent.

Did anyone else watch the whole 4 episodes? In the last one, they did a list of the "Top 20 Drummer's Drummers" - basically the top ones mentioned by the contributors. They are below. Discuss! Note before you get angry, even the program (Steve White) said it wasn't the definitive list, it was just theirs, so don't take it too seriously. No surprises with most choices, but I just thought it would be good to hear people's thoughts. Like they said, if it inspires someone to go check someone out, it's worth it. 1. Buddy Rich 2. John Bonham 3. Hal Blaine 4. Ringo Starr 5. Gene Krupa 6. Dave Grohl 7. Louie Bellson 8. Bill Ward 9. Billy Cobham 10. Ian Paice 11. Neil Peart 12. Earl Palmer 13. Ginger Baker 14. Steve Gadd 15. Cindy Blackman 16. Dave Daddy Kane (didn't get mentioned in all 4 episodes until the list) 17. Carlton Barrett 18. Jeff Pocaro 19. Clyde Stubblefield 20. Keith Moon Personally, and I am by no means an expert nor right, I was surprised they had Jeff Pocaro and not Bernard Purdie, as he just went further with BP's idea? Also, with Cindy Blackman, it felt like they had put her in because they felt they had to include a female? I admit she is good (and most likely much better than I ever was), but top 20 ever? Some of my personal idols that didn't make the series (not necessarily the list) were Mitch Mitchell (surprisingly barely mentioned at all) the Motown drummers, Al Jackson Jr (Stax), Greg Errico and UK drummer Pete Ray Biggin. I did love hearing Jabo Starks humbly praising Clyde Stubblefield as though he was nothing in comparison! I also have renewed love for Ian Paice, both his drumming and his personality after watching this series. ...and no doubt the most inflammatory bit for some - I totally agree with Ringo's inclusion - he was a massive influence on me.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but think this is some sort of penis extension bragging thing...and I say that as a former drummer myself. It also reminds me of the percussionist at the concert band I play with. There is a separate guy who plays drum kit, but he will show up half an hour early to wheel out glockenspiels, xylophones, gongs, tubular bells, timpani, congas etc etc, just to end up playing "ping" on a triangle on one piece before having to put it all away again. He's a lovely bloke and has a lot more patience than me....

I used to work with Bobby G's version on the holiday camp circuit about 15 years ago. It was quite a litigious mess. If I remember correctly, Mike Nolan and David Van Day (Dollar) had joined forces and were doing hits from both, but when Mike quit, DVD kept plugging away calling himself Bucks Fizz, or something like that. However, I think all the legal stuff has forced a wedge/hatred between Bobby and the rest of the original members. Shame, I used to think Bob was a lovely bloke when I knew him. His missus used to bring us cakes!

Just a thought, but perhaps Ric put them at an angle for a reason, such as they've found that the tone improves if the E string end is further back and the G string end is further forward? Not sure if a few mm angle would make much difference, but the two examples on this thread seem to be wonky in the same way?

Another massive fan here. Jamiroquai were never the same after he left, in my humble opinion, no disrespect intended to the later bass players.

Might be an accent thing - perhaps Yorkshire? I notice a lot of my old school mates from the North East typing Facebook statuses in phonetic Geordie, but with the added complication of zero punctuation or grammar. Takes me a while to work it oot mesel....

Hmm, I certainly am not a fan nor would I make an offer, but I don't understand some people's need to put comments like that on someone's listing...?

As a former drummer myself, I have been enjoying the series so far. Interesting choice of guests too. Was it just me or did the guy with 6 pedals struggle to keep the time constant and start to slow once he started playing everything? I'm sure he's an amazingly gifted technician, but that is what it sounded like to me. In the first episode, it was odd they glossed over Motown and Al Jackson at Stax by just playing the types of feel without naming actual the drummers, but loved watching Jabo playing Clyde's funk - RIP to both of them. Lets see what the last two episodes bring....

I'm sure Dave (obbm's) offer will be great, and I haven't looked if you still can, but you used to be able to buy new parts including the removable lead from Canford Audio. You could buy all the bits to make a new pair! I bought several sets of new drivers for mine over the years when I was in the industry. (I'm sure other suppliers are available too).

Wasn't Jools Holland, was it?

I had to quit my main gigging band last year because of ill health. I just couldn't do it any more. I'm only glad that my employer has been very understanding in letting me work from home, and that I didn't have to rely on gigging for my main income.

A year ago, I would have said I have two gigging basses: Sire V7 5 string NS Design NXT5 I then have the following around the house: Squier P5 with Wizard J pups - Sire's predecessor - now on permanent loan to a mate's son Squier P5 with EMG P6/J set Squier JV Jazz - my first proper bass and will never (hopefully have to) sell Harley Benton 5 string Acoustic Cheapo G4M double bass Unfortunately, due to sickness, none of them are currently gigging basses 😢 Oh, and I'm a technology manager who always dreamed of going pro but never had the balls or talent to do it full time....

It looks like he's only selling the two cabs with the TV in though - so you'd have to faff around and try and win the rest too. I think the bit with the TV would look odd on its own without the rest.

Beauty. If you've sold your soul, does that also mean you've gained the ability to play it at virtuoso level, and you're beating the ladies off with a soiled stick? Two reasons I know I haven't managed to sell mine yet...

I could of course be very wrong, but I think a lot of modern theatre/music scores are specified as written with a 5 string in mind. I seem to remember being involved in a cabaret show as a sound guy and the bassist told me he'd had to get a 5 string because the score demanded it - lots of low Ds and Cs etc. I'm assuming some 4 string bassists would jump up the octave or use drop tuning - I guess it would depend on how lenient the MD/director was.