All drummers need to watch this video to learn how to play like musicians and not drummers. Too many drummers forget that music is theme/variation and tension/release. Too many drummers just play random crap to show off how fast they can play or how many different things they've learned with no regard to composition, form or structure. Obviously, Simon and Gavin are not just drummers, they are musicians.
this is the first drum duet in 20 years that I thoroughly enjoyed. Excellent musicianship and beautiful chemistry. Gavin is in a leauge all by himself. G.O.A.T. as of 2015... Who knows what drummer lurks in the shadows waiting for their shot.
These guys are geniune, top-of-the-tier MASTERS of total musicality. They've got it all - finesse, control, chops, dynamics, melodic & harmonic playing. All four parts of this is . . . simply mind-blowing, . . . truly fantastic. Awesome performance Simon and Gavin! Keep 'em coming.
True masters of their instrument are the ones who make the instrument look like a natural extension of their own bodies. Watching Maestros Harrison and Phillips is a textbook-perfect example.
not really, playing along another person is even harder because you have to be super locked in or else things will start flamming and sounding like crap. You don't even imagine how hard it is to pull off something like this, these guys are like orchestra maestros of the drums , and they only had like two days to rehearse it.
btw, I love how it sounds like sliding slowly on a fretless bass when simon's strokes are getting faster on that gong bass drum, increasing frequency. But then it becomes compressed...
I love both drummers. I have seen Simon in a duet with Gerry Brown and bass player Helmut Hattler back in 1884 at the Frankfurt Musikmesse - I was blown away. Gavin has five toms (three rack toms, I guess 8", 10" and 12" and two floor toms. Simon has four rack toms and two floor toms. He also has two bass drums while Gavin has double bass drum pedals. So they are not that different. Simon is more "old school" (Think Chester Thompson of Genesis live) - besides playing open handed = hi hats and ride are played with the left hand. But that's all. I'm very happy these two awesome drummers are buddies and play together so well. Both would be (Simon even was) 100% perfect for two of my all time fav bands: Genesis and Toto.
Jason Cavitt what you didn't see is that I used a vertical bar line before the treble clef. This is technically wrong because the clef makes it obsolete. I did it for graphic reasons and it pleases me. And why should I use any other time signature? I could have chosen a more exotic clef as well. Instead I opted for what represents music and what pleases me. I thought "C" for common time looks boring and stuff like 13/8 or 7/16 and would a) make me look pretentious and b) would raise your very question even more: "why exactly this time sig?"
Jason Cavitt Well there was no way I, or anyone, could tell it was a joke. So I opted for an explanation what thought process went into it. Also: you are using "Cascadia" (a proposed flag) as your Avatar, which further enhances the feeling that you meant: "couldn'd you come up with something more original. Besides: I am German-born. We have absolutely no sense of humor ;-)
Christian Schonberger _"There was no way I, or anyone, could tell it was a joke."_ So you missed the absurdly liberal use of exclamation points, eh? It appears your choice of the word "pretentious" was right on the money.
![Gavin Harrison & Simon Phillips [Part 3] Guitar Center's Drum-Off 2010 Finals](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
