It’s been quite a while since I last played drums. I used to play in a band gigging around London reaching the dizzy heights of playing the Hippodrome at Leicester Square. My passion for drumming is still there but my grip isn’t. But I really wanted to see if I could still hold a beat. A friend of mine, Clive Wagner, very kindly invited me to his home to let me play his superb Roland electronic drum kit. So, with some special sticky bandage taping the stick to my hand I started to get acquainted with paradiddles, flans and super imposed polyrhythmic patterns!
I had an electronic kit back in the eighties and was impressed with the sound but you knew it was electronic, whereas Clive’s kit had such a live, real sound to it. I got quite smitten with it.
So, here’s a quick video of me playing to a ‘rock ballard’ looped track. It had to be a rock ballard style as that’s slow eneough for me to play with as my right hand, which I didn’t tape a stick to, started to lose grip. But at least I didn’t drop it …too often.
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