I spent an afternoon with that clip... and my admiration for Gadd just went up and up... he's come up with such great, musical stuff that just happens to be technically difficult... it's astounding. and he did most of it on the fly, under pressure... and maybe even a little stoned. An astounding talent that took me some learning to appreciate.

I'm totally with you on that!
If it wasn't for the video and transcription, I never would have been able to play it.  But I got it!  Now, if I can only get my band to play the song...........

If you are really serious about wanting to learn this ...
Up Close (Manhattan Music Publications) is the transcriptions from the video. You get the book plus charts for the music stand, and at the time, a cassette tape. I don't know if they've updated this with a CD or not.

The footage is from the old VHS (now available on DVD), Up Close, Steve Gadd.

The notation for "50 Ways ..." in Rick Latham's book Advanced Funk Studies is completely wrong ... at least as Gadd actually played it.  I do believe this erroneous notation was fixed/corrected in Rick's revision of the book by the same title, but I haven't seen this to confirm that.

   "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"

That's a good clip (the VHS/DVD is great, despite the lame interviewer).  Once you see him play it, it'll make a lot more sense.  Perhaps even more than having it written out.

I just checked out the video.  That is Wicked Cool.

Now That's a creative mind and an artistic heart.

Very cool.

Try to convince them, after all there must be......50 ways!   

Obviously, Gadd's amazing talent to groove and innovate shows up in everything he plays. But, talking of creative drummers, why is no one ever talking 'bout Ringo Star He's (with guys like Gadd and couple others) one of the few drummers you can ear the grooves without music and guess right away the song being played. Appart the fact that he came up with so many unique grooves and fills, he never really approach drums like...well let's say it...a "drummer". (exept the early stuff) Always played for the tune, not himself or others. Anyways, i could go like that for hours (loll) but hey, just though it would a cool specimen to talk about. (even though all the storys 'round him playing or not on the recordings) Maybe that's why it sounds so unique after all...loll. Don't know, let's talk about it !!

Oh yeh, almost forgot... Gadd RULZ and all of you s'well for noticing is tremendous genious !!!   

... must ... resist ... temptation ... to comment ... about ... mentioning ... Ringo ... when ... discussing ... the ... genius ... of ... Gadd ...

 

Edited........




A five minute lesson would be fantastic.

I have nothing to say about this that hasn't been said 10,000 times before...

but this groove absolutely kills me every time. The incredible sense of space and time between the notes just kills me. It feels like you could have a meal between some of the notes, such a relaxed and mindblowing command of time. To me, this is one of those rare grooves where what isn't played (and not from the sense of, "What us plebes would play" but rather those beautiful silences) is almost more amazing than what is. That immense quarter note on three puts just a stunning amount of space into it. Contrasted with the 32nd notes and their placement... just... wow.

Like I said, nothing new, but there it is: my ode to this incredible pattern.