GUITAR CENTER DRUM OFF '92 CHAMPION JON MATTOX DRUM SOLO

[btcskins2003]

Best feel and solo I've seen from the Drum off's lookin' at most of them today. This guy sounds like him, the best version of him. All the other winners, albeit amazing drummers, sound like they are all related, grew up in the same house jamming with each other :)

[darthjoey13]

Remember this was the year melodic drumming and the ostinato came out. This guy has great independence and musicality.

[aaronwilliams4w]

What was the Grand Prize that year?

[jangel2771]

man this guy is not technical at all...

[Antiks72]

moar cowbell

[bjamx]

Love the snare fill @ 1:44!!!

[derrick095]

CHOPS from back in the day lol

[mrTooKanSam]

Lmao, Wow, I wish I could time travel to the 90's and destroy the competition

[iandrummer07]

@mrTooKanSam LOL!! Dude thats what i just said in my mind when i heard him "grooving"! lol!!!!

[benwolf13]

this is pretty sweet.

yeah ofcourse its not all crazy and intense like eric moore or some of the other dudes but it was good for this period of drumming,

[jmr2master]

People who have been typing that this solo is bad. . I bet your idea of good is being able to play single strokes at 150 bpms for ten minutes on toms. . Speed is only a fraction of what makes a good drummer. . .

[Antiks72]

@jmr2master I'm not even a drummer I can say there are all sort of intangibles going on as well. Just look at what Rich did. Hell, look at the Bernard Purdy does with his shuffle beat.

[jmr2master]

@Antiks72 Yeah. It just is funny when you see a good drummer and a bunch of little kids say hes horrible because they don't know anything about timing and technique. 

[Antiks72]

@jmr2master they be trollin'

[laurendrums22]

wow... guess it was a lot easier to win back then.

he's good but, i guess i thought the winner would be better?

[1123Donald]

I think that it wasnt az hard ta win da drum off bak den like it is nw..i could b wrong daz jus ma opinion....

[MetalCode]

Your probably right there are too many mind blowing drummers in almost every genre...

[pb0o6]

im not saying he's not good. im just saying he's not doin anything that hard. I can do most of this stuff and im not that good.

[Dancingpants]

This is an awesome solo. so much more groove and actual rythym than the drumming fashion nowadays. I can't stand mechanical, technical speed bullshit. this guy is fast, technically advanced and plays with soul that most drummers just don't have. It takes real balls to lay down an actual groove rather than show off like a high-shool metal band prick.

[cesaralexis73]

wow! your comment is right on the money.

[fila365]

maybe 92 was a bad year for drummers?

[JESSFALLINGDOWN]

Might not be the best.. but I'd bet he can hold down a paying gig.

[GabeDrums]

is guy is just cool

[arnoldimpersonator]

This is great, he has amazing feel and groove. Sorry if you don't agree with me but this guy has got the soul for drumming, love it.

[ImaFez]

@arnoldimpersonator its the 90's man. everyone had feel, groove and soul back then.

[XDDrummer1]

this compared to the newer guitar center solos just shows how much drumming has evolved over time

[rightshot93]

haha

definitely...

that was a little bit pathetic...

[GishoDinev]

It has, but do you think for ex. Jojo Mayer or Weckl were at this level in '92 ?

[ibanezmk1]

@GishoDinev weckl was beyond this at 92 he was already mad choppin in the 80's. and Jojo was a beast more then now back then of sheer critique

[GishoDinev]

Thats what I said the first time ;)

[ibanezmk1]

@GishoDinev oh i didn't get what it meant. thanks for being cool usually people get into fights pretty quick because they with typing there is no mood so you can't understand the context sometimes. peace man

[abud9daniel]

smooth??you must be insane.this bored the hell out of me, but i can see why people like it.its easy to understand.like pop or rock n roll (1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4).when real drum geniouses play like royce shorter or benny greb its lke listening to charlie parker or tchaikovsky.not as likeable for most people but genious nevertheless

[abud9daniel]

heplays with feeling,which makes him good.incredibly sloppy though.he needs a metronome.the beginnings awful,gets better tward the end.anyone who thinks this guys better than donnie marple or any other gc champ on youtube knows nothing about drumming,which doesnt make you wrong.if you like it...cool

[kingstcon]

The other guys might be technically more proficient and probably are better showmen than Jon but the way he moved around the kit and the sound he got out of it is way better than the solos from the other guys (nothing they did was innovative). I loved his improvising on the toms and snare while keeping that steady cowbell pattern between his LH and LF, and the way he varied the pusle of his rhythm with the LF clave. IMO, he is way ahead of the others in musicality musicality and creativity.

[kingstcon]

As far as timing goes there was not glaring about his time (maybe it's time for you to get your internal clock wound up). When it comes to solos, timing means very little. Without that slight push/pull of time you're not going to evoke that feeling from the listeners. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to hear a mechanical solo with no human element to it, and it's not memorable for longer than 5 minutes.

[blkkoi]

Awesome Feel,Groove!!!An alot of what is not seen or heard nowa days.......

[huntsman0603]

Awesome!

-T.R.A.S.H.

[dusteroo]

it's interesting to see the evolution of drumming styles and the evolution of the demand that supposedly defines quality.

This guy well-earned the position. His solo had a good balance of taste, and technicality... Many drum-off champs these days seem to have strayed from the fundamentals of drumming ~ it's all about fast technicality these days; no feel, taste, or arrangent.

I wish todays' demand would bring back it's originality as there was in '92.

[rogersat]

i agree. this is the best GC drumoff drum solo video on youtube IMO

[jwichser]

i agree man, it seems that todays drumming is focused so much on technicaity rather than feel....its nice seeing a solo like this even though it is 15 years old

[jmr2master]

Yeah, this is one of if not THE smoothest drum solo on youtube.

[doughdoughhead]

are you guys all on dope?

royster jr won shortly after this dude..

and eric moore from 2006..

I really dig his style, but this is the sloppiest winning drumoff solo I've ever seen

[DSIGUI60198]

@dusteroo I kinda agree with you. Things got that way because each year the Drummers are trying to beat the other players that they are currently playing against, & after the 2nd year, they are also trying to out play the previous year's drummer. So, sadly, in order to win, you have to kinda steer away from the fundamentals a bit, & show off everything you got. Obviously, pocket & fundamentals are only get you so far & well, speed will get you some fast & easy points. It's so sad but it's true.

[amishrockstar]

the 2 measure fill that he does at 4:22-4:26 is my favorite, it's not complex but it's groovy and sounds really cool!

[jmr2master]

Goodness i'm sick of people who cann't even hold a 4/4 groove tring to give an opinion of a great drummers drumming, he moved the whole right and left sides of his body against the other, this guy has chops and you can tell by how easy he can add in a almost full perc section and keep heavy stroke and light stroke apart.

[grindcore1986]

fuckin smooth on some parts, seemed a little dry.

all in all good work dude!

[yourtubesteak]

Don't want to sound critical, but he is all muscle as far as his speed. There is no real technique such as a guy like Mitch Mitchell or Buddy Rich who could play rolls so fast and clean with all wrists. This guy is obviously a solid rock drummer, but not in the same league with a guy like Mitch Mitchell.

[Shnoopdy]

Yeah, I agree about the technique, no offense to the drummer. But it's all power and unnecessary stick elevation in my opinion. Not necessarily a bad thing, just could cause quicker fatigue. For higher volume, it's all about elevaion or stick height, not power. Volume isn't affected by how hard you attack the drum. Anyway, just an opinion from a spectator's point of view... who am I to judge? Congrats on the win. I didn't watch the competition, but obviously the best drummer won.

[ironcobra8]

tasty.....like a really good BLT. I mean that. Wish there was a slow motion feature.

[Nordicdudester]

man! it sounded like 10 drummers were playing

[MattIRONJohnson]

Very nice and tastful solo man! Lovin' the 5's. Keep it up

[ventsintheedge]

Jon,you killed it then and you kill it now!

[chunkingmusic]

I was there! Definately the winner solo... and that's how it's done folks.

[timmyb2000]

I love it, especally how you are calmly chewing gum in time as you drum!

[hamhose]

Amazing!! You shoulda played this for them in Greenland!

Amazing!!

[jacedaniels]

Killer! Love the seamless left-handed stick nab on 00:42!

Digging the bell pattern with that tumbao thing. Wish there was a second camera to your left. So from a purely visual point of view, I suppose we really could use a little more cowbell!

Thanks for posting!