DRUMMER CAFE - Community Forum

If so, how would you grade your ability?

A+ = You’re pretty much channeling Porcaro

F =  Is that an animal dying?

I give myself a gentleman's F.

I'd say a C+.

I can play the groove, but not up to the tempo of the song, and I don't channel Porcaro when I do it. 

Not sure anymore.  I will pull it back out after all these years and see, but I believe I can play it. I will let someone else listen and give me the rating you are looking for but A+ verses 2 F's isn't a really good gage.


                   Nutty

Nutty: I don't understand what you're saying.  The grade range is from A+ (best) to F (worst).  I'm asking you to grade yourself. 

Maybe you were confused by my joke about a "gentleman's F" which is a play on the "gentleman's C" -- a euphemism for a passing but unremarkable academic performance.

Ok Smitty,
Except, I don't like really grading myself.  I will let someone else with a trained ear grade me and get back with you but I used to love to play that song.
                      Nutty

I haven't played it in a little while but I don't think it would take me long to get it back to where I was with it. I would have to give myself a B on it, based on what I was doing with it. I play it and play it at the tempo and can play it at a faster tempo but wouldn't dare say I have channeled Porcaro and sound just like him. Very nice groove.

Never tried.

This would be a great one for the treatment Bart gave 50 Ways ... a couple of weeks ago:

- MP3 sample
- Pattern written out

 ;D

 
F
 
(A good shuffle groove isn't easy, is it?)
 

Someone beat you to the punch: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Jeff_Porcaro.html

And a slightly larger version of the same transcription: http://tinyurl.com/67zfxq

It's all there, including a video of Jeff explaining/demonstrating the groove himself. Can't get any better than that. One note, however: in the transcription, the stem on the accented/rimshot snare note on 3 in the first bar seems to have been lost in translation.

I'm still planning on featuring this on the series of Legendary Drum Licks. I'll be breaking the groove down a bit more than what Jeff demonstrates, plus show what each limb is doing independently.  ;D

COOL!

Ive never tried it, perhaps I will try it over the weekend.  I can do Zeps "fool in the rain" decently and Rosanna is very similar.

Well I think I can do a reasonable attempt at it thanks to Bart.  So I'd give myself a C. 

How 'bout a guest spot for one of Mr A's "drum grooves of doom" every now and then? Perhaps Mr A does the intro with a little blurb (like that he uses on his site) and then hands over to you for the run-down?

As for Porcaro's shuffle? I'll give myself a 'B' for mechanical execution, and an 'E' for "owning it." Give me another ten years or so and I reckon I can make that a solid 'D'...

I started trying to figure this out when I was 17. It wasn't until I saw JP doing it on his video that I worked out where I was going wrong. I will hesitantly rate myself a B-. I am very reluctant to rate myself against any Porcaro groove - though I will say that they keep me motivated to play.

Lido is obviously another great groove, though my favourite is "Black Friday" on the Katy Lied album by Steely Dan.

I had some private lessons from Ed Roscetti on how to play this groove.  He was  a good friend of Jeff's and played it very authentically himself.

I'm still trying to figure out the notation.  :)

Never saw parens on a chart before.

The parentheses denote ghost-notes.

And actually, notes with parentheses around them mean they are optional or played occasionally. In the case of the notation you are probably looking at, the parentheses are around ghosted notes. I just wanted to point out that this is not really common to do. There's no "standard" per se.

Ghosted notes are typically the unaccented notes. Sometimes they will use smaller note-heads for the ghost notes. I don't notate ghost notes with parentheses because it gets too cluttered. Others feel the same way, which is why the parentheses are reserved for notes that are either optional or are not played every single time (assuming you are repeating the figure).

Just an FYI.  ;D

Can I play it?  Yes.

Can I make it groove like Pocaro? Uh....that would be no. I'm not there yet. Don't know if I ever will be, but I'll keep on practicing.

Even without trying it yet, I'm sure my answers are going to be:
- Yup, can play
- Like Porcaro? - probably nevuh

Jeff had an extraordinary amount of talent from all accounts I heard.

Im pretty sure i could pass that intro test unless my listening skills are less than i think they are. Good or bad ive tried to duplicate drummers parts as close as humanly possible from Porcaro to Seraphine. Ive always pained myself on getting into the minds of better players by trying to put their playing under the microscope down to the correct sticking etc.

Chalk me up for the big 'F'. I've tried, but its beyond me.

Ditto,
Most people I've played with don't recognize the groove as "The Signature Rosanna groove by Porcaro" and when I pull it out, even without the same polish, it sounds pretty good and they like it.  Of course, you wouldn't by it (or buy it) but that's the beauty of being an amateur - I can get good enough to have fun with it but don't need to impress the recording studio producer ;D

I am going to say A- or B+ for me. This is one groove I have alway played pretty well. Perfect,,, NO.