Ergonomics are of the greatest importance to a drummer when it comes to the question of seat height. For years drummers have argued over whether one achieves more power by sitting high or low. Questions regarding speed and control also become part of this issue. The edge of a seat positioned too high can cut into the undersides of the thighs, pinching major blood vessels and causing numbness in the lower limbs.
Sit on a standard dining-room chair. Pull your feet back as far as possible under the seat, keeping them flat on the floor. Now try to play an imaginary bass drum pedal. This is an extreme example of the knee-ankle-foot angles that are created when you sit very low.
The extensive range of motion you now have reflects the angles that are created when you sit higher. With all of the above in mind, I suggest that you sit at your drum kit and objectively evaluate whether you might benefit from a change in seat height. The drummers themselves are also faced directly forward so we can see their smiling faces. But if the bass drum is facing straight ahead, that means that the bass drum pedal is pointing straight back.
The human body is designed to operate in a very limited number of ways. It has remarkable flexibility within those parameters, but cannot endure extended abuse without some reaction — usually in the form of injury or impaired performance. And when it comes to your thigh, knee, calf, ankle, and foot, they all work together best in a straight line.
Twists and turns cause problems Fig. Some drummers try to get around the nonaligned foot-to-pedal situation by setting the bass drum facing straight forward, but letting their foot angle naturally across the pedal plate instead of turning it at the ankle to correspond to the pedal. Post a Comment. Wednesday, September 02, Let's talk about Billy Cobham. Labels: Billy Cobham , fusion , key players , listening. Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments Atom. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.
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These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". He honed his percussion skills in a drum-and-bugle corps outfit called the St. From to , he served as a percussionist in the U. Army Band, and after his release, he was hired as the new drummer in hard bop pianist Horace Silver's band.
Cobham toured the U. After eight months with Silver, Cobham departed to join the early jazz-rock combo Dreams in , which also featured the Brecker brothers and guitarist John Abercrombie. From there, he landed a job in Miles Davis' new fusion ensemble, and played a small part in the seminal Bitches Brew sessions; he also appeared more prominently on several other Davis albums of the time, including more aggressive classics like Live-Evil and A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
Cobham and guitarist John McLaughlin split off from Davis' group to pursue a harder rocking brand of fusion in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which debuted in with the seminal The Inner Mounting Flame. With Mahavishnu, Cobham's fiery intensity was given its fullest airing yet, and his extraordinary technique influenced not only countless fusioneers in his wake, but also quite a few prog rock drummers who were aiming for similarly challenging musical territory.
The follow-up Birds of Fire cemented his reputation, and by this time he had also become something of an unofficial in-house drummer for Creed Taylor's CTI label, known for a smoother, more polished style of fusion; here Cobham backed musicians like George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, and Grover Washington, Jr.
Unfortunately, the volatile group chemistry that made Mahavishnu's recordings so exciting also carried over into real life and the original lineup disbanded in Deciding to make a go of it on his own, Cobham formed his own band, Spectrum which initially featured ex-Mahavishnu cohort Jan Hammer on keyboards , and signed with Atlantic.
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