Never lifting the stick very high off the head, and keeping his hand level with the rims, he would snap his wrist, quickly whacking the drum with incredible force. I know John Henry used a Rogers hihat stand, but which one? While there seems to be no general consensus on exactly how much tighter, the fact that the batter heads were tensioned rather tight themselves indicates that the resonant heads probably werent much higher than the batters. Note the fast single-stroke roll that goes from fast to slow. He was also known to use Remos on his guitar solos. Bonham frequently pulled them off with the same kind of looseness and panache he brought to all of his playing, with no shortage of triplets and Gene Krupa-like fills thrown in for good measure. The Big R stand didn't come out until the early 70s, and maybe he switched to the newer model. things which can only be learned from playing live. Bonham also used a Ludwig 12 inch x 8 drum in the early days of his solo career. WebBonham sets out the scaffolding for Pages complex phrasing, sometimes creating a push-pull effect that heightens a songs tension at its core. Video would be better if Polyphonic actually understood meter. Though us lesser mortal men are able to learn and de-construct his tracks so thatwe may play them accurately, and with his spirit, we still can not even hope to come close to what that demi-god of a man achieved in his short time here on Earth. Beginning looked promissing. So much of Bonhams rhythmic vocabulary with Led Zeppelin referred back to the swinging triplet rhythms of the American big bands that he grew up listening to. The bass drum had the Ludwig rail consollette COOL!!! Bonzo was known for his heavy drumming style, often breaking multiple pairs of sticks throughout a single performance. John Bonham He could bend time. (snares, toms, etc. Mr. Bomham had a technique where he would kep moving his left hand in time even after the note had been hit on the snare. He was the best , sometimes for what he did not do , ie not to much not to little . 3d at the end of this fill. The happiest and most swinging Zeppelin song, in my opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he6TQsU8d6k. However I have been playing the drums for roughly 38 years, and I started out wanting to be like him at the age of 5. Just another example of his jazz feel, and his attention to detail. I still need to know what he used with the Stainless Steel kit. In fact John Bonham borrowed a lot of of Joe Morellos triplet ideas. Remo drums were also used on many of his songs, such as Aint No Mountain High Enough and Dont Stop Believin'. The good drummers can do this, our brains can move in nanoseconds, calculating what you just played, what you are playing, and what you are going to play all at once. John bonham often wore a bowler hat. John Bonham The stick was made from hickory, a dense and durable wood that is widely used in drumstick manufacture, and featured a larger than average diameter and a longer than average length. You can often hear and feel hisuse of ghost notes between the back beat, which was proof that he was not just a BOOM BASH drummer. The finale of In The Light is another example of inventive fills and flourishes. He would also use the Ludwig equivalent silver dot heads. Being a musician myself, If I remember, correctly my drummer said tuning the drums higher is sort of like tuning a guitar higher or using heavier, strings. As a member of Led Zeppelin, Bonham helped shape the sound of the band and established himself as one of the greatest drummers of all time. Rogers offered both types of stands in the catalog when the Memriloc hardware came out in 75-6. What makes Bonzo even more amazeballs is how his fills, no matter where he started or finished them, never (or very rarely) went out of time, and rarely were repeated in the same sequence (the end of studio version of In My Time Of Dying also has a great run of different fills - from "And I see them in the streets" to "I just wanted to have some fun"). He played the first note on his bass drum with an accent (hitting it harder) then silencing his drum head with his bass drum mallet before striking the second note just after. However, the simple act of playing along to recordings of Led Zeppelin, as well as other groups of the era with drummers notable for their ability to swing (Ginger Baker, Mitch Mitchell), can be very helpful in developing feel. John Bonhams drumming style was characterized by his powerful beats and dynamic rhythms. If you dont have a 15, a 12 will work just as well, though you may have to tune them down a notch or two in order to achieve the same sound. i was over da moon! 2a). This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. 2006-2023 Open Culture, LLC. They're hard to explain though, ha, but a short version of the two fills comes in at the 2:30 mark, and at that tempo is quite hard to pull off without having fast arms and leg, I'm telling you. There have been fierce debates as to whether it is has been sped up, but I can assure it has not. 6a). I think I'm going to get one of these too. Consisting of a triplet broken up between the hands and right foot, this move fits perfectly within the choreography of any mid-tempo groove. The Ultimate Explanation, How To Shine Cymbals? Problem was, Bonzo didn't know at the time (1967/68) that Carmine Appice used two kick drums for his fast kick drum triplets, quadruplets and rhythms. The right hand, normally playing the hi-hat on a downbeat, occupies the first of the three notes, followed by two swift right feet, fulfilling the triplet, and then followed by a release with both hands in unison on the hi-hat and snare. One of things I believe that made Zeppelin great was the happiness in their music. LedZeppelin.com Its true that a conscious effort to play behind the beat will almost certainly lack the subtlety of Bonhams groove. (A quick Google check could have confirmed this for me, but I learnt the hard way, I'm grateful to say). To locate it, try playing a single-stroke roll at a slow to moderate tempoperhaps around the kitand concentrate on playing your left hand late, but only ever so slightly. Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. Lack of Bonzo was a tremendous problem for Jimmy when Zep ended. 5b), played identically in both Stairway To Heaven and Night Flight. Also notice the inclusion of the figure in Ex. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! You're completely right by the way, I'm not fond of using Dropbox to link songs but at the time of posting my cover originally, I was on my phone and couldn't upload the audio file anywhere; not YouTube or Soundcloud unfortunately. I believe an example of this technique can be found on The Wanton Song . In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of players began to experiment with different types of drums. Light touch. Don't let the beater lay on the head when you are playing. The hand is quicker than the eye. That one was very nice!!! The subdued sophistication of the groove at 1:02 could not be more understated, with its ghosted singles and doubles complements of the left hand. John Bonhams Drumming Explained WebFor the most accurate recreation of Bonhams sound, go with aluminum. I tune it to the same key, but I'm not sure what that key is yet, I just know it by ear haha. I read a story somewhere recently that allegedly, after recording the drums for this song, Jimmy Page increased the tempo of the track. Huzzar! The next one is in my opinion, one of the hardest John Bonham fills to execute of all time, and it is the same as the former drum fill, but is repeated 4 times in succession, and that comes in at 5:27, even I struggle to play that correctly at that tempo. Funnily enough, after developing this alone, I discovered this video which not only demonstrated what I already knew, but explained it in a way I couldn't at the time: https://m.youtube.com/results?q=bonham heel toe bass drum&sm=3. Rather than kicking down the toes, you are pivoting your toes down from the ankle, which doesn't give you as much speed or power but provides a nice warm tone as it allows the beater of the kick drum pedal to essentially bounce off the skin of the bass drum, allowing for resonance and tone. Take a look at the refined shadings of Bonhams entrance in No Quarter (Ex. Check out our FREE DOWNLOAD of Bonham: Like Father Like Son. In this father and son interview we asked John and Jason Bonham the same exact set of questions, only twenty years apart. Custom Speed King Pedal In Red/Silver Finish Bonzoleum on Youtube is a very interesting guy and I think very knowledgable about Bonham in both playing and equipment. The first 0:26 of Good Times Bad Times was enough of a break from the past to have changed the course of drumming forever, but what followed was ten years of absolute innovation and musical authenticity of the highest degree, from a man who was so deeply in love with his instrument that the very thought of him often inspires us to drop whatever were doing and go play drums. Ah, that about clinches it -- thanks again, everyone. 3a, from How The West Was Won). It all begins with the triplet, the thump-pe-da, thump-pe-da, thump-pe-da rhythm the Led Zeppelin drummer plays on every piece of the kit. Additionally,inbetween this kit and the maple kit he had a Ludwig Black Diamond Pearl set for only a couple of months from December '68 - February '69 it can be seen in pictures from Gonzaga '68 and the Whiskey a go go in January of '69., http://www.ledzeppelin.com/photos/led-zeppelin/1968-1969?page=16, "Bonzo was a Ludwig enthusiast throughout his career. In this comprehensive article, we will dive into the history and specifics of the drumsticks that Bonham used to create his iconic sound. Its quite common to hear a line of sixteenth-notes and notice the bass drum playing in unison with the right hand on the downbeats (think Keith Moon). It was also used with Zildjian Cymbals, when he got the ThermoGlossdrums in1969 is when he fully switched to Ludwig and Paiste. . For my DW Brass snare, I've wrestled with various batter heads. Judging by the big tube height adjuster, I'd say its the big R stand. Bonzoleumon Youtube is a very interesting guy and I think very knowledgable about Bonham in both playing and equipment. He used the Emperor and Ambassador drumheads for batter toms and bass drums. Bonzo was widely regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time. The kit was a Super Classic: 22in x14in bass drum, 13x9 and 16x16 tom toms, with a 14x5 Supraphonic 400 metal-shell snare drum. I dont remember when possibly also for the 1980 tour. While some of the early footage of Moby Dick does not exactly reflect this technique, he refined it over the course of his career and was in absolute top shape by the end of his life, as evidenced by the footage of the Knebworth performance from the final 79 tour. The next one is in my opinion, one of the hardest John Bonham fills to execute of, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he6TQsU8d6k, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKkJHSO8A0. The bass drum or kick drum originated in Turkey. "Four Sticks", I remember, we tried that on numerous occasions and it didn't come off until the day Bonzo who was just playing with two sticks on it and we tried all different things, then one day he picked up two sets of sticks, so he had four sticks, and we did it. What kind of drums did John Bonham use? This indicates that while Bonham was known for using felt strips to dampen his kick, he only used one on the batter side while in the studio. 5a is a delight to playthe kind of phrase that feels like it was meant to be. He said Bonham was to have a Black Sparkle kit for the American tour that never happened. Would have been awesome to see what JB would have played then and through the 80's, 90's, and today as drum equipment has changed. John has an interesting approach to this song where alternates the lead beat of the bar between the snare drum and the bass drum. How did he tune his drums? It's similar to his stick technique. As a result, he was able to conserve a lot of energy that other players waste flailing their arms about. Snare rim/skin hit technique: This one is important. . The most famous of these players was the legendary John Bonham, who was a member of the band The Who. He was a drummer where feel came first, time second. He decided not to use the more expensive shell on the drum because it would be too expensive to replace. We also see it serve a similar purpose on Misty Mountain Hop and Four Sticks (Exs. (And Ringo). Instead, he achieved his powerful stroke with the use of his wrists. drum I'd find Primus' Tim Alexander to be a good example of someone who uses the drier kick drum sound with imagination and variation. This is a great example of how fast and tight the rhythm section was, and how important it was to the success of the band. We begin with those trademark triplets, then learn of another Bonham signature. In the 1990 MTV documentary, John Paul Jones sums it up, saying that Bonzo had all these subtle colours going on, and that this is why so many other drummers trying to copy Bonzo never got it right. Hell, I'm 38 years oldyou've been playing my whole life. True, or not ??. I've seen pictures of two mounted drums near Bonham in 1970. The John Bonham Signature Edition drumstick is a tribute to the legendary drummers legacy. Who played the The set was eventually bought by British drummer Robin Melville, who lives in Cumbria. Here you can see him playing that kit. This technique allows for greater speed, and power, but also efficient use of the beater on the skin, and actually allows forthe use of bass drum ghost notes!