Uploaded May 2008 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Right! Here is a much better version of my attempt at covering this beautiful Genesis live track. I look a bit more serious than last week, so it is not as amusing perhaps, but it is definately closer to the original! Maybe drummers DO have to look stern and serious and show no emotion, to play these difficult tracks :-)
I love Bill Bruford's opening drumming on this. It is so crisp and effortless, and very deceptive in terms of trying to copy. Even the pause before the little fill at 1'49 throws me every time - I always want to go into it earlier! The bit he plays around 2'16, with the ride bell 'ands' is also deceptive - very easy to mess up!
Obviously, the real fun starts at 2'47. Here we have really difficult interplay between the open hi hat and the bass drum and snare, all in 7/4 time. Maybe this is a weakness for me, but I find that opening and closing my hi hat quickly enough in this part really hard. It takes a lot of co-ordination and balance. And once the double hits start on the bass, it becomes a real 'mare!
I have pretty much got all the fills right in the section from 2'47 to 3'28, although one of them comes one bar too late. Pants. They are beautiful fills by Bill (or Phil?? - which one is playing this bit??!!)
I ad lib a bit during the quiet section at 3'50 - hope this is ok. The gorgeous snare rolls that come out of this section at 4'06 are my favourite bit of drumming in the whole track - they sound incredible (Phil / Bill, not me).
The hi-hat inversion thing that goes on at 4'43 is awesome. I love how they do this, and provided you can get into it at the right moment, it sounds incredible when you manage to copy it. Especially once you get that extra bass drum hit in, that is introduced several bars in.
I messed up at 5'04, managing to play a fill instead of a complex bass drum part. Pants. Er, and I fully admit that I totally chickened out of playing the hellish snare / bass interplay thing at around 6'35. I keep getting this wrong in practice, and was not going to mess up this take by getting it wrong again! You can't have everything! Suffice to say that Bill / Phil do something incredible at this point, and I ain't up to copying it!!
The closing bit at around 6'50 just cannot sound right when there is only me on my own - this really needs two drummers!
Anyway, I am much happier with this version, and hope you enjoy it!
I think I will do Abacab live next - I should be able to grin and relax a bit more in that one! I hate all this serious face stuff!
:-)
Right! Here is a much better version of my attempt at covering this beautiful Genesis live track. I look a bit more serious than last week, so it is not as amusing perhaps, but it is definately closer to the original! Maybe drummers DO have to look stern and serious and show no emotion, to play these difficult tracks :-)
I love Bill Bruford's opening drumming on this. It is so crisp and effortless, and very deceptive in terms of trying to copy. Even the pause before the little fill at 1'49 throws me every time - I always want to go into it earlier! The bit he plays around 2'16, with the ride bell 'ands' is also deceptive - very easy to mess up!
Obviously, the real fun starts at 2'47. Here we have really difficult interplay between the open hi hat and the bass drum and snare, all in 7/4 time. Maybe this is a weakness for me, but I find that opening and closing my hi hat quickly enough in this part really hard. It takes a lot of co-ordination and balance. And once the double hits start on the bass, it becomes a real 'mare!
I have pretty much got all the fills right in the section from 2'47 to 3'28, although one of them comes one bar too late. Pants. They are beautiful fills by Bill (or Phil?? - which one is playing this bit??!!)
I ad lib a bit during the quiet section at 3'50 - hope this is ok. The gorgeous snare rolls that come out of this section at 4'06 are my favourite bit of drumming in the whole track - they sound incredible (Phil / Bill, not me).
The hi-hat inversion thing that goes on at 4'43 is awesome. I love how they do this, and provided you can get into it at the right moment, it sounds incredible when you manage to copy it. Especially once you get that extra bass drum hit in, that is introduced several bars in.
I messed up at 5'04, managing to play a fill instead of a complex bass drum part. Pants. Er, and I fully admit that I totally chickened out of playing the hellish snare / bass interplay thing at around 6'35. I keep getting this wrong in practice, and was not going to mess up this take by getting it wrong again! You can't have everything! Suffice to say that Bill / Phil do something incredible at this point, and I ain't up to copying it!!
The closing bit at around 6'50 just cannot sound right when there is only me on my own - this really needs two drummers!
Anyway, I am much happier with this version, and hope you enjoy it!
I think I will do Abacab live next - I should be able to grin and relax a bit more in that one! I hate all this serious face stuff!
:-)
