Gavin Harrison interview Part 3: Technical vs musical drumming

[savagerush]

Uh...except he's all about speed. hmmm

[tkivoband]

I guess Portnoy watched this video...

[gibbsies]

i wonder what he thinks of tomas haake...

[willregnier]

@gibbsies I know he loves Meshuggah. Tom is not that type of metal cliché drummer playing fast and flashy and trying to make double bass pedal an olympic competition. He plays syncopated grooves, follow guitar parts and even if the music is really heavy, he has a very sensitive touch by adding ornament such as ghost notes and stuff and it really fits in my opinion. I think Tomas Haake has more a kind of a musical approach than a technical approach even if he has a lot of chops.

[goofygirly2010]

Love his comments on drummers who just play fast and how he loves the little touches!

He is so intelligent and charming!

[goofygirly2010]

Love is comments on drummers who just play fast and how he loves the little touches!

He is so intelligent and charming!

[Jvenvell]

Completely connects with how I feel about the drums after being classically trained on other instruments first. This guy deserves a lot of respect.

[gnrcr]

Applies to every musician who truly wants to go over the top with his/her playing.

[Eljubilodeltambor]

That's what I call.... INTELIGENCE

[allmetaliswelcome]

1:40

mr garrison has billabillabillabillabillabilla­'s that are lovely and nice too! that's the reason i like him so much!

[somethingorotherism]

5:05 -- 5:13

not trying to shit on him, but that sounds a lot like young terry bozzio.....

[oBIGxREDo]

Hahaha 4:10!

Love Gavin Harrison!

He's a great musician.

And seems to be a great guy!

[psychofunksoldier02]

As a guitarist I must say Gavin is very insightful and all musicians, not just drummers, can learn from this. He is the most musical drummer I've ever heard!

[ZeroOZeroO]

@psychofunksoldier02 I am also a guitarist and have learned plenty from gavin also in my guitar and drum playing

[xUMR]

thecrevd's account is not available because he closed it, probably guitarists caused that.

[MastrFlow]

I think this video is the one, in which the comment "Joey Jordison disliked this video xxx-times" would fit the best, but maybe Joey realized he was wrong all the years.

[alexluftwaffe]

Wise man

[TheLt2323]

my favorite drummer of all time

[alaincharnier1971]

who is he performing with in this video? Sounds cool

[mirzamarco]

STEVE JANSEN !!! Gavin is right, that guy is a master !

[Kingding6]

What a genius

[Str8Faced]

love gavin but if he didn't enjoy "fast rips down the toms with double bass and crossing arms on 2 china cymbals" I don't he'd have tried to become good enough to play like he does. Not only is he good at that kind of playing, but he's atleast one of the best.

[jbagel10]

@Str8Faced I think you're missing the point...he's not necessarily saying he doesn't approve of the playing completely. He's saying there that it's only impressive when it makes the music sound better, not when when you're just playing fast and flashy for the sake of playing fast and flashy.

[lastdayinsin3]

Technique and Technicality should be appreciated, but not in the same way Musicality is appreciated. At least for me. It all has it's place.

[lastdayinsin3]

Damn, son has crazy bags under his eyes hahaha

[180was]

i agree. Totally!!!!!!

[xxgdkxx]

i like how he talks so much shit about technical playing and cut to a clip of him playing technically. i get his point about being flashy but everybody does it at least a little or the music would be boring

[lastdayinsin3]

He's not saying it's bad, he's just saying it gets boring when relied on too heavily, and it brings nothing new to the table.

[Kingding6]

A brilliant man and one of the tastiest drummers around.

[schism206]

this guy sums up my views on creative music, and i'm a guitar player haha.

[needlearmor]

gavin's opinion about music vs technique has reinforced what is really important to me about the drum set.

[dcairol]

5:05-5:10, he's talking about Portnoy =P

[CamerOneiric]

@dcairol No, he's talking about Portnoy the whole time.

[toberoo]

@dcairol I know people give Portnoy crap about him being all technique, but the stuff I like the most from Portnoy isn't his fills. Some of his drum parts adds a lot to the music, stream of consciousness being an example. To each his own though, btw I like Gavin much better,

[AirsoftCritics]

he has put into words what i have tried to express my whole drumming life

[jey2010]

He's so lovely, it's like Roger Federer, impossible to hate him!

[shortperson1026]

This guy is my inspiration in life.

[gyro62]

Great Interview, Gavin's the man !

[Zeromus7]

Ahhhh, awesome!! He talks about Stewart Copeland, he is another of my three favorite drummers along with Gavin and Cato Bekkevold.

[McDrummerSLR]

What he says at around 2:00 about the "fast and flashy" playing, that's why he's such an amazing drummer. he plays fabulously, but when he plays the "simpler" things and adds little touches here and there, that's what makes him amazing at what he does... He is one of my top favorites out there today

[McDrummerSLR]

What he says at around 2:00 about the "fast and flashy" playing, that's why he's such an amazing drummer. Is he amazing at playing fast? of course, but when he plays the simpler things and adds little touches here and there, that's what makes him amazing at what he does... He is one of my top favorites out there today

[rahooligan]

Brilliant. And by the way this doesn't just apply to drums but to every single instrument.

[SokSa]

what an amazing lesson...

[Smpte11]

This whole debate on technical vs musical is BS. Play whatever you want to if you want to and if you like it. There's something for everyone. If you're into Gadd, good for you! If you're into Donati of Lang, good for you as well. Neither is more or less musical than the other, it's just a matter of opinion and taste. Musicality is subjective and so are opinion and taste.

[TheLt2323]

i love on a song called a mother and child divided he does ghost notes with double bass and its just makes me go... wow wat control for anybody who is curious the begiining goes two bars of 5 and one of 6 :)

[godinneutral]

He has such a jazz sensibility to his playing and his philosophy of composition. Fantastic ideas.

[92JinKazama]

Very informative and simply amazing.

[runtifish]

Even though he plays as technical as fuck...great player this guy!

[SinisterSkip]

@runtifish

Great player this guy and great guy this player :)

[123theater1]

Wow! this guy just change my view on the drums, I just started playing dums and I would practice to stay on beat with very simple eight note fills. I was maily inspire by Mike Portnoy by Dream Theater. I really like Portnoy's styles. But then I remeber someone telling to check out Gavin from PT since I had one song of them and I gotta say I just been ispire more. He is a very wise drummer with really good rythym. Like to learn more from him.

[patorikku65]

fuck hes amazing... like a sage

[TheMakyoura]

One word: Wise

[MrJdrummerc]

I don't think he want to say we shouldn't train our technics I think he want to say we alsow should train our musical brain......

[Sthrudel]

Agree with Gavin but I must add that he wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't in fact working on his rudiments and developing muscles, etc.

Look at he's double strokes. They're perfect. I mean, he can play them soft, loud, on the snare, over the toms, place them in whichever measure...

I was Porcupine Tree not long ago and was literally shaking. So yeah, it takes both, technique and developing a sense of what is musical.

[as99ad]

It's not about who's kicking whom's ass. It's all about music!!!!

[freakshowfunk]

He is great but..MARCO MINNEMAN KICKS HIS ASS!!! And Nate kizerian kiks ricks ass on bass!!

[COBHC279]

Marco minneman has been around playing srums much longer and gavin will get there real soon!!!

[w9jon]

what is it a competition to you?

[COBHC279]

marco doesn't kick his ass he maybe a bit better but Gavin will get there soon, definitely!!!

[DrumBlast89]

5:38 so so so sooo tru!

[giosmrbig]

amazing drummer !

[stix4Him]

This man is one of the most well rounded and uber talented musicians alive today!

My personal favorite!

[DWDrummerJon151]

Hes the greatest philosopher whilst being an amazing drummer.

Everything he plays in fantastic, everything he says is spot on:)

[huginandmunin]

you should check out victor wooten if you haven't already. his theories on music are more impressive than his amazing playing. him and gavin actually touched on similar notions with the whole "not listening" bit. i urge you to check him out if you've got the time

[orphanedlars]

AMEN

[waynedrumpal]

no kidding....check it out mike

[LanceDirk]

This should be titled "the video Mike Portnoy needs to watch RIGHT NOW"

Unfortunately, I've had very little patience for music lately, i.e. I've been wanting something I can just rock out to rather than something that you have to kind of sit back and really listen to intently. That jazzy groove Gavin plays later in this video really got me though, so maybe that will rekindle my desire to listen to something deep and musical.

[ChristTubot]

@LanceDirk :

agreed Mike Portnoy is really just technique to the extreme...

but unlike many other, I find it fitting quite good to Dream Theater, I mean it's a band founded at Berkeley, they are amazing muscicians and live by showing off their talent together, and therfore is Mike Portnoy the right drummer, and plays what is right to DT... IMO

[LanceDirk]

I agree with that because I would apply the same criticisms I make of Portnoy to the other members of Dream Theater.

[happy30yrs]

Hey thanks for the vids jez12 and keep up the good work! This interview is priceless.

[FictionSmurf]

smart guy,

[hodyou7ube]

ffff hearing him talk is as good as hearing him play. I had a big goofy smile on my mouth everytime he went "whoa, that's nice"

[TheJDizzification]

Steve just had...*picks nose*...style, elegance

Just kiddin' around I love Gavin.

[HATECREWrulz123]

I love Death Metal and Black Metal, but no question, Gavin Harrison is my favorite drummer.

[milanpaloyannidis]

i thought he was 42 . well all the years of playing really payed off for him.

[GenericInsect1979]

How old is Mr. Harrison now?

[jez12]

46.

[GenericInsect1979]

Damn, he's a lot older than I thought he was

[streets1390]

@jez12 bullshit ,no he is not, i dont belive that

[95TurboSol]

@jez12

Dang, he looks like he's 29!

[Lexcoaster]

@jez12 46!? He looks ten years younger..

[Superterrestrial]

Hahaaha what the fuck Gavin could have done the things he does today 25 years ago!? I give up!!

[plainsofpromise]

zzz. my previous comment was ment to be a reply to thecrevd's comment. youtube is just as bad as myspace sometimes |:

[MrWarrenbuffett]

thats why death metal is so boring

[SupermansWheelchair1]

Death Metal is pointless really.

[jimilufnin]

I played in a metal band years ago & I tried telling them this kind of stuff but they just didnt get it & they kicked me out of the band because they thought I was trying to turn them into fusion heads but I was just trying to help them write smarter music, some people just dont get it

[winnerbaby44]

the same happened with me when i was in a indie/punk rock band..

they thought i was trying to make me look like a smart guy and didnt care..

so i quit

i wanna play music.. not the same shit song after song

[SigDrums]

Same here! I quitted though, but it's the same story. I wanted to create something unique and harmonic, not just a composition of things done earlier by others.

Gavin is a genious, no one opens my eyes like he does!

[thecrevd]

GUITARISTS Take note: 6:11.

....Now go back once more to 6:11, and actually LISTEN.......

[plainsofpromise]

lol

there must be a lot of arrogant guitarists out there. im a drummer and i guess ive had the plessure of working with some of the sane few.

ima still add a thumbs up to the above comment. hilarious.

[MrInsHaine]

@thecrevd ehi MAN, just for your knowledge, out there there are also guitarists that listens to the band instead of themselves and can play along with other musicians and they are great musicians.

Viceversa we have the stupid guitar heroes as we have stupid drum heroes, it's not about the category of musicians, it's about how clever your are as a musician.

[PhilipPorter]

@thecrevd Sorry but the audio just seems to cut out at 6:11. Must be some technical problem! ;-)

[ANesthetizE1212]

I love this interview. I have always felt the same way about "flashy" drummers. Any drummer can play a million beats a minute with enough practise, but its only when they start to think outside of the box that things get interesting. One of my fav drummer is Danny Carrey (Tool) strictly due to his incredible creativity.

[AirsoftCritics]

@ANesthetizE1212 THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[CamerOneiric]

@ANesthetizE1212 this is why i hate Mike Portnoy lol

[pedrovenegas0]

5:15 "what are u looking for... noob?"

[zogthedoomed]

I've been a fan of Steve Jansen since the later years of Japan and it was quite interesting to hear Gavin show appreciation for Steves style and emotional content. Steve J was the first drummer I heard who played drums that made you want to cry. Not in a bad way .. but simply drawing out such intense emotion from a simple rhythm.

[sipaopao]

@ 5:05

Dennis Chambers might take offense!

hahahaha!!!

[ozzydt]

Carter Beauford too! haha

[goatwacker]

I love those little bell cymbals. Lovely.

[CountYorik]

Great video, it's nice to see someone make sense.

[Op3thiangr]

I fucking love this guy. :**

[SnareSpectre]

Haha his impersonation of drummers who just play fast all the time at 1:40 just about had me rolling out of my chair onto the floor!

[AsG1989]

I like drummers who combine crazy time rythyms and soul like gavin does

[Mahavishnu80]

interesting. vinnie c is the drummer i think of as being tasteful..even a crash without bass he does is nice

[sickpack82]

very very interesting interview. I listen to Gavin's Drumming for some years. And I followed some interviews with him and Steve Wilson as well as an interview with Gavin on tour with PT. But this interview here is very interesting in deed. Gavin is one of the greatest drummers on this planet of our time.

Thank's for uploading this!

[corigraves]

Good ideas ... yes they take time to develop .. and maturity I think !!!