What makes 'The Black Page' so difficult? 

I am one of approximately 236 living humans who can dance adequately to The Black Page. We meet annually in the sewers of Prague. It gets crazy.

I for one would love to see dancing about architecture.

I listened to Zappa as a teenager for his funny lyrics, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the absolute genius level of the compositions and performances. He was the mastermind pushing the limits of rock and jazz music like no one before. His genius lives on in guys like Steve Vai.

Frank Zappa was the only person who could say "not quite my tempo".

"What makes The Black Page so difficult?" (hears The Black Page) "Oh, I see."

Reporter: you have long hair to you are a woman Frank Zappa: you have a wooden leg so you are a chair.

Frank Zappa walks into the tuplet store Clerk: not again

"Talking about music is like dancing to architecture," is a famous quote that is attributed to many other artist, including comedian Steve Martin. However; there is a recording of bassist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd telling a reporter this in 1967, and is the earliest instance of the quote sourced. When you also consider that Roger was a former architecture student who didn't like giving interviews (unlike Zappa), it's not hard to believe the quote originated from him.

Don't all those awe inspiring tuplets sprinkled over a regular 4/4 pulse distract you from the fact that he consistantly kept the hi hat going every tick through out the piece. absolute mastermind.

One time i was helping a buddy move. We accidentally dropped his drum set down a flight of stairs. It sounded spot on.

I just watched an arrogant, dogshit video about how a professional drummer tells if a drummer has got..."It". Then I saw this video and my faith was immediately restored; you're playing a piece, and you're having fun learning it. Turns out enthusiasm is better than arrogance.

Frank Zappa: I want you to try this Everyone: shut up and play your guitar

dance of eternity crying in the corner

Frank Zappa the only man in history that can make a 2minute song seem like an eternity

I had heard about Zappa's compositions being difficult...and when top-level session guys call something "difficult", we normal humans translate that as "f*%#ing impossible". Steve Vai supposedly got his start with Zappa by transcribing "Sinister Footwear" onto paper from hearing it, and sent Zappa a copy. Zappa was so impressed, he auditioned him and hired him.

Ill never understand it. Its like someone transcribed what you hear walking through guitar center or something.

Your sight reading skills are just wow 🤦🏿‍♂️. Absolute goals

3:40 ”Yo dawg, I heard you like tuplets” Thank you for this great video! I knew it was a difficult piece to play, but I never knew it was this HARD.

Frank always said he was a composer that just happened to played guitar. He was a needed genius.

I would love to see a video of Ruth Underwood breaking this down- she was always the essential "spice" that made Zappa's music special. Plus she was just a stunning virtuoso

Not being facetious - i love your dry, down-to-business approach to discussing this. No pedantry, no apparent appetite for attention; just focus and passion. LOVE it. Thank you.

You and Adam are going to duet this right?

Ah, so nested tuplets are just as much of a headache in music as in programming.

I remember listening to 'Baby Snakes' on a constant loop back in college. Black Page #2 was one of those pieces that, even as a casual listener, changed your perception of reality. But, not in the way you'd think. The more you listened to it, the more things made sense.

I've read the quote (in a FZ interview in Guitar Player magazine) as "Writing about music is like eating tennis".

I’m not even a drummer, but I already gave up

When Bozio auditioned for The Mothers, Frank told me he'd only been playing at home. He screwed up horribly and left the building, demoralized.The amazing thing was, he turned around and went back to ask if he could try again. Frank gave him a do-over, and he crushed it. Bozio is a brilliant drummer, and with The Mothers came completely out of his shell, turning into a wild performer...adding vocals and the best scream this side of Steven Tyler. Frank's densepacked sheet music was even a challenge for the LA Philharmonic. This is a terrific video. It's lovely to see those black pages again...💕🎶

Wow that's a GIANT hi hat!

Frank was trolling the band, obviously.

'Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny' -FZ. Shawn, thank you for making this video! You have huge balls, and great ambition and passion for even trying to play this. You are clearly knowledgeable and skilled to come close to playing this difficult piece. I remember Frank was known to give this to auditioning drummers to test how good they were. He had some renown drummers over the years... Terry Bozzio, Vinny Colaiuta, Chad Wackerman, and Chester Thompson. Colaiuta probably enjoyed it, as he was such a freak of musicianship! Keep up the good work bro. I enjoyed the video!

As a drummer, I've had the rhythms down for a long time. My main difficulty is keeping the left foot consistent while incorporating the right foot into all those odd groupings. I think the thing to do is to practice repeated 5's, 7's, etc with several right foot-involved permutations against the quarter note left foot. Excellent job.

I have no idea how to play the drums but I'm watching this anyway

I was always mindblown at how beautiful the phrasing is for such a discombobulated rhythm

When learning anything you will be better the next day. The reason for that is, your brain goes over new information while you sleep, reorganizing itself to better deal with what you learned. This allows it to perform better when in the same situation again, allowing you to perform better when trying to play it again. Anytime you hit a brick wall, call it a day and sleep on it, and you’ll likely get beyond it the next day.

I know that feeling of just being unable to get satisfactory results on a certain day but coming back the next day and getting a sudden performance boost all too well... it's a weirdly universal thing that happens to a lot of people I know. My little theory is that the night's sleep you get after a whole day of practice lets your brain internalize and process everything it learned during the day so that it becomes more subconscious and natural the next day.

And Terry Bozzio had it nailed in 2 weeks doing 20 minutes a day.

Gotta love Zappa music... Listening to it of course, playing it must be a nightmare but extremely rewarding if you can nail it

"...and the way you develop that [internal timing] is through the voice." Billy Rimer of Dillinger Escape Plan said that he remembers the insane drum phrases in their music by equating them to a vocal phrase of a certain number of syllables. Interesting.

Sixteen years after his death and his compositions are still challenging & baffling gifted musicians. Great video. Most enjoyable.

… Wow. The black page 1 sounds like a troll on musicians.

It is so rare to get testimony of people actually learning the music. So helpful. Thank you.

The funny thing is, what you're referring to at 00:10 is likely Pedro's Dowry, which Vinnie would later have to *sight-read* at his audition. And he did.

I'm not even a musician, but thanks, it's pretty inspiring. Keep up the good work!

I performed it from my degree recital years ago. One of my biggest and proudest accomplishments Took me ages to learn the solo and to find a band that could play part 2 alongside me. Regardless, it happened and I'm so pleased it did. It's super fun too, once you know it well enough.

I was heavily into Prog-Rock in the seventies, but when you listened to Frank, it was actually Dimensional Rock -- it was dimensionally beyond anything anyone has ever really heard in that era.

Much as I admired Zappa..there comes a point in this video when you think...why...???. Thank you for your patience and (immense) knowledge Shawn.

A heroic endeavour! And your comments on having a good work ethic are spot on. I hardly ever post comments but this was exceptional. RIP Frank.

It says "Drink more Ovaltine" when you decode it lol

Zappa was way ahead of his time! Sure do miss his live performances!

I'm not even a drummer, but this video's message is applicable to just about anything in regards to succeeding at life. Great job. Great message.

Dude... This video is one of my favourite things to watch. You've made a clinical, unpretentious and super informative documentation on your approach to the piece, without a hint of ego souring it (even though someone with your talent and insight would arguably deserve to be a little big-headed!). I send this to all my muso friends and watch it all the time. I don't even play drums, but love the piece so much. Thanks for passing on the sheer joy of music to another music nerd (and I mean that positively!) across the world.

During my percussion study in Amsterdam I’ve been lucky enough to perform this twice on cowbells and marimba. I studied it soooo bloody much that I still do a karaoke version :D Masterpiece!

Love the smile at 14:15! I'd smile too if I could play this nightmare!!

That cheeky smile over the 11-tuplets right near the end was such a delight.

Legend has it this piece of music drove Bill Burr into comedy...

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" is a Thelonious Monk quote

Shawn: Can't sightread quintuplets nested within triplets Also Shawn: I give myself a D minus. Just goes to show how amazing this guy is. I can hardly imagine me ever getting to a point of proficiency where I would fail to sightread nested tuplets and consider that "not that great". Huge props for doing as well as you did on the first try, and for learning this monstrosity of a piece!

This is why Porcaro turned down several invites from Zappa to come down and work with him.

Anytime I hear the word subdivisions I always sing the Rush song "Subdivisuons". Solid work my friend

I love the approach you took to learning this amazing piece, I had a student recently ask me what the most difficult song for drums is. After dissecting the real intention of the question, I showed him your video (as well as one of terry playing it as well). Needless to say he was completely stunned and baffled by the piece. But Your conclusion, about putting in the time to make the piece work was really impactful for him. Thanks for taking the time to work this out, it was very inspirational.

If he did it in D minor, we would weep instantly, and constantly.

So how many notes do you want? Frank: YES

Master drummer, excellent explanation. The kind of musician we need to teach music to us common people.

Very interesting video, i didn't know about this piece until now. You explained it very well, thanks!

Respect. I want to say two things: 1. What amazes me about this piece is that it makes sense melodically. Meaning, it’s crazy hard but it makes sense to my ear. It doesn’t just sound like a jumbled mess which really shows Zappa’s skill. 2. The first time I ever heard Zappa, my friend (also a musician) and I were at a guy’s apartment buying weed (in college). We get stoned, and unbeknownst to us, the album “Make a Jazz Noise Here” was on the stereo (something we used to use to listen to music). As we sat there hanging out and this music is playing, my friend and I looked at each other in disbelief and just started laughing. We couldn’t believe what we were hearing. We couldn’t stop laughing. It was so incredible. I’ll never forget that moment of being introduced to Zappa.

That was incredible. That’s some goal to set. A crazy crazy achievement. Very inspiring. Thank you.

Awesome man! You did a helluva job on it. Zappa was an absolute genius. Like I feel like most people partially misrepresent him as simply being a musician. No this dude was a straight up _composer_ (I kinda feel this way about Prince, too). Always happy when I see others appreciate him, like you have done in this vid. Thanks!

Man, this is so good on so many levels! The honesty, the message and the PLAYING!!!

This is a beautifully conceived and executed video, and I really appreciate it. It’s the first time I’ve really made the effort to listen to an out-there Zappa piece, but in actual fact it was you who made the effort for me ;)

This was a hilarious piece of One/upmanship by Zappa. He Always had musicians good enough to play these things, but most musicians would look at this or “Inca Roads” and just leave, and go back to playing top 40 stuff. Steve Vai allegedly transcribed this at 17-18, and showed up for his audition with Zappa and gave him the transcription. According to Zappa, that meant he already had the job, but he let him go ahead with it and Vai played with him for a few years.

Wonder if we'll be seeing a Sungazer black page-like composition in the future now!

You can tell when a true musician is speaking. You my friend are a true musician.

Steve Vai transcibed it by ear. Go figure...

Meanwhile, me, still having a hard time with 7/8

Anyone who even tries to take this song on is playing at an incredible level. Impressive work and thanks for sharing!

@12:10 that hit me hard, the "putting in the work". I've been "playing" guitar for the last 5 years for around 20-30 minutes a day...yet It almost never feels like I'm learning anything, even when I play along with songs I feel like shit when I finish the session and just put it down. Music is incredibly difficult, it hits you hard and takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions, yet this is a simple fact...you have to put in the work. I hope I can take that into account and, well, do something, as I really need music as a release for all of the shit in my life. But I digress, great video!

Zappa had so many great drummer. I always find my ear zeroing in on the drums whenever I listen to him.

I played the Black Page #1 and #2 for my senior recital in 1985, complete with keyboards and guitars. It wasn’t perfect, but exciting and memorable. There was a Mexican dinner afterwards.

I really like the approach you have of diceminating the subdivision process in order to understand the piece.

I normally don’t leave comments...but damn, this video was amazing! Great work!

Shawn, I was so impressed with your explanation of this piece that I subscribed to your page. I studied polyrhythms with Gary Chafee in Boston while I was going to Berklee long ago. And I really like how you explained it I even think some non-musicians could understand what you’re talking about. Very good.

Nice work, good to see a drummer's perspective - I made a more general nested tuplets video last year, which thoroughly breaks down Bar 15 of The Black Page (I used it as the frog on my dissecting table to demonstrate my main method of learning nesteds). Slight lack of surface polish (but I was new to recording & editing videos), but I'm still confident in the content. Bar 15 was tight in your performance by the way - that's the one people often flounder on!

Good !! Congratulations ! I appreciated the smile at 14:15, so thank U !

Wow. Excellent job dissecting this. You did not mention Steve Vai. Steve transposed this for Frank. What a collection of musicians! Cudos for even attempting this. If I was stranded on an island, Joe's Garage has been my pick for a long time. Love FZ, and wish he was still with us, especially in this time of censorship. I have always wanted more, and in doing this you have expanded the little that we have of him just a little bit more. Thanks!

And this is why Bill Bruford and Alan White are so great, complexity and timing with seamless fluidity across many changes in mood and feel. Yes Close To The Edge, and Relayer

Appreciate this. Amazed that I came across it so soon after it was uploaded. Saw Bozzio play back in 2006 or 2007 on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Amazing talent.

Love the way you expose yourself, it's good to see your progress and the flaws, it shows that with hard work anyone can to it. Thanks a lot for the lesson Shawn!!

Shockingly informative for a youtube channel. Nice.

I just wanna highlight how great that backing track is - it really nails the Zappa Synclavier, it's uncanny.

I can almost count the damn thing. I was thrilled watching you find the joy in playing it. BRAVO!

Frank Zappa first came up on my radar more for his stance against "The Industry". I think the guy wasn't just musically inclined, but also really wise and ahead of his time in his understanding of political games and agendas within the entertainment industry. I started looking more into Zappa from there, and by extension, his drummer Terry Bozio. Bozio is definitely talented, but I feel that Bozio is something mainstream could never really appreciate. Kind of an odd ball as far as his drumming and music vision, I'd say. Still, I have some of his drum work saved on my phone and it's fun to listen to even if he's not something mainstream could ever get behind and appreciate. Maybe Zappa is the reason Bozio does such strange things in drumming. When people make their "top drummers" lists, I always find myself thinking of Bozio. The guy has immense talent. I don't care if it's strange or seemingly odd, the guy got skillz.

As a mere guitarist, drummers this good are scary, lols. This was a great breakdown of something I have always wanted to see done. I'll have to watch this a few times.

The mere look of the page enraged me, the part about tuplets depressed me, but the end result sounded surprisingly pleasant. Thank you for inspiration. I've liked playing music for years (as a hobby), but never put actual effort in learning. Just started. This video is very important and motivational in this context.

I hear that Linda Ronstadt is looking for a lead guitarist....

14:12 that smile...

amazing. A documentary on an advanced musicians journey to learn a piece. So awesome, so human and ultimately so educational. You did the hard work and passed on your knowledge to the rest of us. You are awesome!

First off, I want to say respect. I think you did a pretty amazing job of it. I find reading it next to impossible when it comes to those tuple tuples. But why all the insults (in some of the replies and comments), I really don't get that? You don't like it? Fine, but why slag off someone who does? The same goes the other way around. I guess Frank Zappa still polarises opinion. I went to see him in 84, I think, some time between Joe's Garage Part 2 and Ship Arriving Too Late..., when Chad Wackerman was his drummer (with a name like that, what else could you be?) and it was probably the best gig I ever went to. It was mind blowing. So you can guess that I'm a fan and Chad was my favourite of his drummers. Personally, I do like the piece, both versions, but I wouldn't even try to learn it. My strengths lie much more in the feel and groove areas and that's what I also enjoy playing most: locking in with the rest of the rhythm section. If I had to learn it I'd do by playing along, or by programming it into a sequencer, by ear. I don't do a lot of reading anyway, and actually learned to read playing flute and piano, before I took up drums. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate this kind of stuff either, though. I did also see Terry Bozzio (who played the original on Live in New York) once, but not with Zappa (with UK, after Bill Bruford, probably my favourite drummer of all, had left. UK had another Zappa musician, Eddie Jobson, on violin and keyboards, who first teamed up with Bill Bruford in King Crimson). As for the piece itself, I wouldn't say Zappa was trolling his musicians. He knew they secretly called his sheet music black pages because they were so dense, and he did write it in an “I'll show you black page” attitude, but one thing that's always struck me about his bands is that after all the hardship, the long, difficult, and disciplined rehearsing, they knew the material inside out and were totally confident and at ease playing it. By the time it came to touring they were really enjoying themselves and having fun with it and that always came across to the audience. You could see them smiling and laughing. A lot of the really difficult stuff was actually something most people wouldn't realise, like segueing into a song in a different key and hitting a five part vocal harmony spot on. And one final observation: while I also have a lot of respect for Terry Bozzio for learning such a difficult piece, the person that I most admire is Ruth Underwood, who not only played the same difficult rhythm, but the melody as well (she was his percussionist for a long time and an amazing musician. Unfortunately I didn't ever get to see her. I got into Zappa about six months after the Sheik Yerbouti album, which was recorded in London and was the last album she did with him). To finish I'd just like to leave you with something a Jazz pianist friend of mine once said: there are really only two types of music: good music and bad music. That isn't the same thing as music you like and music you don't.

Good job dude. He used to say about a particular piece coming up in concerts, "And this is a hard one to play" . That period in his life during the 70's when I was a teenager was very special for me, although I was unable to appreciate any of the albums that were meant to be comical, only the serious albums. Before he died and you may know this already, he remastered all of his 54 albums onto digital. Someone else that may interest you , but perhaps not is John MacGlaughlin, who played (guitar) with billy Cobham among others. The best album was called 'The inner mounting flame'. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I've got a 45 min performance coming up for my music degree in six months. I wasn't gonna do any Zappa... But now.... I kinda think I have too. Gonna copy your rhythm chart and be on the lookout for the sheet and that midi file. Thanks.

I'm a huge FZ fan, but not a drummer and I always wondered about The Black Page, since it's one of his least enjoyable pieces to listen to, for me. But it all makes sense now, it was written to troll Terry Bozzio into submission. Very Frank.