DAVE WECKL - The thread about Dave

[Steve Holmes]

One of the things that bugs me about Weck (I've mentioned this before) is his need to play something at the end of bar 4, without fail. He never plays THROUGH. I find this interesting because Gadd does this so much.
And by play through I mean NOT: accenting the hat in any way, hitting a splash, bell of your ride, buzzing your snare, or any embellishment at. all.

[treeinrock]

Steve H., do you mean Gadd plays through and Weckl doesn't ?
I think playing through builds more tension, and then when finally playing a tension release point- it's like "WHAM!"- finally a release. Holding back on those those release or tension points is the key to me and it bothers me that so many drummers have to constantly play something at the end of an 8 bar or 16 bar phrase.

Let the music or soloist breathe, otherwise it get boring and sounds like a cube or box. That's my take on it.

Really, really knowing song form and chordal structure helps to deal with that. It's not just numbers any more, it's looking at the song or tune as a whole and developing a unique shape to it.

[treeinrock]

Some of the best music requires not very much in terms of the drums and too much diddle daddling can become the enemy to that particular music.

Could you imagine playing a fill or ornament every 4th bar or even 12th bar on a Blues gig ?

And then there's music like Alan Holdsworth that requires tons of orchestral playing and compositional playing. Almost like playing drums like an orchestra. Knowing the composition inside and out. That requires a whole different approach.

Keith Moon sounded as good to me on his gig as John Bonham did on his gig. They both were perfect for the type of gigs they played. I certainly couldn't have imagined hearing Keith Moon with Led Zepplin or John Bonham with the Who. I couldn't imagine that working.

[LinearDrumma]

One of the things that bugs me about Weck (I've mentioned this before) is his need to play something at the end of bar 4, without fail. He never plays THROUGH. I find this interesting because Gadd does this so much.
And by play through I mean NOT: accenting the hat in any way, hitting a splash, bell of your ride, buzzing your snare, or any embellishment at. all.

To me thats the greatness of Weckl...the embellishments, splashs, left hand on hat-bell ride thingy - I think its pretty tastey...

[Juan Expósito]

This is VERY GOOD:
Classic 1985 Weckl.
It seems an audio from the mixer (or maybe a commercial album...anyone?)

[Josiah]

One of the things that bugs me about Weck (I've mentioned this before) is his need to play something at the end of bar 4, without fail. He never plays THROUGH. I find this interesting because Gadd does this so much.
And by play through I mean NOT: accenting the hat in any way, hitting a splash, bell of your ride, buzzing your snare, or any embellishment at. all.

Now that you pointed it out, I can't help but notice it everywhere. Dammit.

He also LOVES the moving the back beat to the + of 2, I've heard that SO MUCH from him in all types of circumstances.

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah it's tasty but 99% of the time doing it is a bit much in my opinion.

Man he sounds great on that 85 recording - crazy to be at that level back then at such a young age.

[Rhythmatist]

One of the things that bugs me about Weck (I've mentioned this before) is his need to play something at the end of bar 4, without fail. He never plays THROUGH. I find this interesting because Gadd does this so much.
And by play through I mean NOT: accenting the hat in any way, hitting a splash, bell of your ride, buzzing your snare, or any embellishment at. all.

When I saw him with Oz Noy recently I actually heard some restraint in places...letting Oz dictate the flow and the dynamic.

I noticed this not only about DW but a lot of players. I noticed it in myself out of college. There were books that actually "forced" you to think that way..."play 3 bars of time, then play the fill," and that does this strange unconscious thing that conditions one to do "something" in that 4th bar. OK, fess up, how many are guilty? I'm raising my hand.

[Jim Richman]

Yeah it's tasty but 99% of the time doing it is a bit much in my opinion.

Man he sounds great on that 85 recording - crazy to be at that level back then at such a young age.

or any age for that matter. Lol

[Kurtis]