Vinnie Colaiuta Flam 7's | Study The Greats

In this episode of Study The Greats, we will be breaking down a great 7 note flam lick by the one and only, Vinnie Colaiuta.
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[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Excellent job Austin. Keep it up

[@abbdrums]

Thank you Stephen! I have a lot of respect for what you've built for yourself. Maybe one day I can get to that level but I still got lots of work to do 😓

[@lucca123ful]

Stephen Taylor?How did I find you here?

[@theclash435]

Hey! Aren't you that guy from drumming around?

[@retrogore420]

Stephen! Always a student eh? Haha!

[@SXI96]

That modern drum solo is f**king awesome !, big respect for you for breaking this down and understanding it, great job!

[@rlatimer1962]

Austin not only can you play brother you can teach as well. Rare qualities to have both. Thank you for the breakdown. Looking to add it to the tool box.

[@dougsteeleguitar]

I'm a guitar player but I love drummers, especially Vinnie. Cheers for that.

[@vodzdrums]

man, you are the proof that studying the greats is the most fun, effective and motivational form of practice. i've been soloing like i would never imagine i would just leraning those licks and orchestrating them. thanks a lot for your work, man!

[@Rpoke21]

Austin, I love the series you've done on The Greats. Vinnie's lick is just another great example of letting us mere mortals on the inside of what great drumming is all about - keep it up. Thanks.

[@salviadivinorum1762]

Related: Bruford does polyrhythm type fills in 'Larks Tongues in Aspic part 2' where the basic pulse is in 5 and his snare '16th note' singles accent every (5) '16th note' which is understandable if you've studied 4 against 5. Vinnie seems to be doing the same w/ 7:4 (or 7:8) just varied sticking and moving around the kit. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3ixlIhufNSWa9km46s

[@drummer375]

Austin this was one of the most informative lessons I've seen here. Thank you for posting and please keep up the great work

[@ghart56]

You nailed it, Vinnie's trademark. Just about every solo I've seen him do, he throws it in. Awesome-my favorite drummer ever since Zappa. Thanks for the video. Austin more, more, more.

[@gcrichards1]

Great explanation and great sounding kit, thanks

[@JCurtisDrums]

Nice stuff. I like your presentation and set up. Looking forward to some of your other videos.

[@kyrikeys]

Vinnie is 'Thee man', period. Control with power is the hardest thing in drumming and he is the master. Mixed in with his imagination, musicianship, feel and taste, you have the all round perfect combination for a master craft mans at his art. Just love him, never be another.

[@abbdrums]

agreed...

[@brettnewmandrums]

Excellent. Thankyou, have always loved this lick. Cheers

[@kaydubj]

Love your videos! Thanks for posting!

[@TheStudioDrummer]

Excellent breakdown. Thank you!

[@upbeatmantis86]

That's some good educational vids man, keep up the good work! cheers!

[@kekkonenhiihti]

Thanks a lot! Great video and I like the way you expain this stuff. Easy to grasp expanation.

[@MrFg1980]

As everyone who plays drums should, we need this Vinnie information. Please, please demystify more Vinnie. You've done a great service for MANKIND here. Nicely done.

[@BrunoTagliasacchiMasia]

You are great man! Humble, hard work and great way of comunicate! thanks ;)

[@erikcamposdrums]

its also nice when played the 4 16ths as 3plets and the 3 16ths as normal so you get a nice speed illusion, also signature of Vishnniue Colaiuta.

[@AngelRomerodrums]

your work is amazing in details

[@LeandroCaldeiraDrums]

I Love that lick!!! Can't go wrong with the master. You did great man!! Loving your videos series. Keep it up the good work Austin. All the best

[@abbdrums]

Thanks man

[@snorhyveln]

You are a pro! Really good transcription show.

[@hayek218]

Super series!

[@tdrum21]

Great lick there. Thanks for this!

[@mesrop6622]

Awesom bro! Thank you!

[@Simonewhitesim-1music]

haha Love you pointing back saying It's Vinnie!!!!! Thanks for this man!

[@JewCastleDrummer]

great work man! Thanx a lot for your videos! :-)

[@LOLE1991KOVIN]

Great lessons, man!

[@erealty875]

Great advanced lesson!

[@goofayoo]

Just found your channel with this vid. Earned you a sub. Keep em coming! Cheers!

[@LasVenturasDrumShow]

Awesome Lesson, very tricky lick!!

[@MrBostonrobb]

I love this channel!!!!!

[@KyleSherman]

You said you were going to make a video about counting odd groupings over 4. I would find that very useful! I hope you make that soon. Thanks for the videos. Very cool!

[@sancheskiko]

Amazing content , transcription....

[@timar101]

Austin....Thank you man for doing all these cool lessons I have sent loads of my students here already! literally one of the best things on youtube! oh and FYI i found you from benny greb sharing your video =)

[@abbdrums]

Thanks man, yea that was crazy when Benny shared that on his page. I still can't really believe that happened... highlight of my drum career so far haha

[@gimigeeisreal5012]

Good morning mr a Austin I really appreciate your good job making drum rudiment application easy for most of us thank You and God bless ..please I came in contact with a drummer and I really want u to do a tutorial on what he plays in that video please can u break it down

[@peterlibby466]

Austin, This one is near and dear to my heart. Though it’s highly unlikely I will ever get to use it in anger. I was fortunate to attend MI and to study with Ralph Armstrong and Casey Scheruell so I love me some odd and artificial groupings. Thanks.

[@albitcapinigro1107]

Awesome.

[@Mandalazu]

Nice work! Great ears!

[@Joesfosterdogs]

Attack of the 20lb pizza story: Vinnie and Mike Landau are jamming in Vinnie's basement or music room. Bought a pizza at Joe Peeps in North Hollywood...they are HUGE. Vinnie couldn't shut the fridge and needed a name for the tune. Attack of the 20lb pizza because the monster pizza packed the fridge. Joe Peeps is still open for biz. And none of the employees know the story.

[@Smoove_J]

That is fucking fantastic. Thanks for the story.

[@evildrummer]

Austin, love your channel, thanks to you, I've added some cool new licks to my vocab! Please please please do more old school weckl and Steve smith?

[@Cowri]

Awesome mate! Now I've got something to work on! :) Cheers!

[@giampierofusco]

great job ! complimenti!

[@Leviplaysdrums]

Your tom sound is unbelievable bro!!! nice!

[@freeat_last7375]

Attack of the 20lb pizza comes from ordering a pizza at Joe Peep's pizza in now Valley Village, CA (North Hollywood) and it is still there...drive past it a lot...and everyone who works there has no clue about this song so it makes for good small talk waiting for my order. VC was in a jam in his home studio and heard the skip on a playback, worked it out and said he had no title. Went to the fridge for some grub and the pizza was so huge he couldn't close the door. Thus we have Attack of the 20lb Pizza...and "I had no idea what to call this tune...so this works!"

[@markcrimi]

Appreciate you man!!!

[@anibalmonkeyfranco880]

Great!!! I´m subscribe now... Thanks a lot.... regreats from Mexico

[@blapis89]

Great job as always Austin, thanks a lot :D!! I love this fill, went nuts about a year ago to break it down and making it feel good.I also like to put sometimes a pick up note with the bass drum between the end and the start of the 7. I think Vinnie does it also sometimes but I'm not sure

[@abbdrums]

Yea, I think he also does a 6 note variation of this as well

[@kaschamacka8681]

thx austin for upload, exactly this lick we can see that he was at certain times influenced by Tony williams so much..But every Drummer has his Idol and that is good as it is.

[@thomasnichol4138]

Thanks Austin!

[@checono24]

Thanks man for the fast response ur videos are amazing and u are en excellent drummer!!!!!!

[@abbdrums]

+Checo Ruiz thanks :)

[@alanarber6950]

Hey, Austin. Great videos. You mentioned you'll make a vid on how to count odd note groupings over 4. Please do!

[@royterrell31]

This is good stuff, man!

[@Hogy58]

amazing vid.

[@ghostpedlar]

Awesome work man, really well thought out and explained! Your lessons have been very useful and inspiring. Also, the "Humm" comment you do when first showing the lick could be kind of your trademark. A nice sense of humor.

[@tdrum21]

Agreed. I love that hhhmmmmm bit Over the playing in the video!

[@farclebaba]

Great work Austin. Vinnie is THE drummer that just wrecks me. He consistently plays things that my ears just don't know what to do with. He's the drummer that makes me scratch my head and think "I really have no idea how he just did that, or what he's really doing..."

[@abbdrums]

you are not alone...

[@farclebaba]

+Austin Burcham No doubt! Vinnie boggles the mind of many drummers, and that's not hyperbole. Again, GREAT job on this. Really digging your breakdowns Austin. Subscribed!

[@MrThuggery]

Nice break down Mate cheers..

[@Jellybeantiger]

flams and ghosties,love em

[@edgarmartini]

awesome.! genius.. keep going!

[@StompL7]

Great !!!

[@siremenson]

If you look at all your feedback you have to say " the drumming community is pretty cool" I am glad to be part of it. I think we are a part of something great.

[@thewutitizband]

Great presentation and playing Austin. Man,and I thought the 7's per quarter note were challenging.

[@AlexanderMininDR]

Great☺

[@liusdrums]

nice snare sound !

[@timothygayne2058]

wow what program are u using to notate I want to bring my method book into modern times with quality presentations like yours great playing

[@igorchekodanov2842]

Cool-Thanks

[@rlbrett]

Look up "the sauce" on youtube. Vinnie is killing it, as usual, live at the Baked Potato.

[@jaimemorales398]

sick snare sound man

[@meekoloco]

Nice man!

[@fumangchero]

hi dude good videos ! what program do you use,good vibes

[@MikeMcLarenDrumming]

sick man!

[@drewbairdummel]

Lotta cool shit for sure!

[@BrandonGebbia]

Thank you !! :) Great

[@eloyfortezavargas4353]

7 / 16 Awesome!!

[@tomohasebe2491]

Hey Austin, I would love you to try "Train Song" by Jing Chi (Vinnie also plays for the band)

[@ericmsandoval]

Nice HHX ride. What series is it and what hats are you using here?

[@jaygroov]

This study the greats is a great idea! Subscribed! I wonder if you take ideas as well? For instance the opening groove from this Vinnie solo (the whole thing is pure gold) would be interesting to check. Or anything on how does Vinnie keep the machine gun-like ghosting while doing everything else? clever sticking? one handed roll?

[@freeat_last7375]

your drums so killer bro... great mic'ing...do a vid on this!

[@petarpavasovic6333]

Can I play it as septuplets? (Quarter note = 7 eight notes)

[@lorenzmuller3542]

I love this man. He is batshit crazy.

[@MrThomas1958]

thx

[@raylombardo4186]

It seems clear when you watch Vinnie play this, that the CHARACTER is made by a very aggressive Left stroke on the flam, as in the Blushda.

[@mrnegronis]

Excellent lesson. Question: if it's in 7/16 then is the count 1 e and ah, 2 e and? It doesn't feel that way when you play it.

[@abbdrums]

When I did this lesson I was just concentrating on isolating the sticking pattern to figure out what it is so I didn't really transcribe it out to encompass how he is using it within the context of the solo. I just figured the easiest way to transcribe the pattern out would be to just show it as seven 16th notes so it's easier to comprehend. So, to answer your question, yes it could be counted like you did in your comment but there are multiple ways you could count it like "1234567" or "ta-ka-din-a-din-a-ga" for example. They all get you to the same place, though. In terms of what he's doing in the solo, I'm still not positive on exactly how he's applying it but it's fast as fuck so I think he may be playing it as 32nd notes. I need to go back and analyze it more to figure that out...

[@antkn33]

Nice videos! Very well done. How do you like your Direct Sound headphones? Do your ears get really sweaty? Thanks

[@abbdrums]

+antkn33 I love them... I've been thinking about doing a review video on them. I think they're the best over ear headphones for drummers. In ears are cool too but for some reason I just love the EX-29's... but yes, my ears do get sweaty but it's never really bothered me before.

[@antkn33]

I suppose all over the ear headphones will make you sweat. thanks

[@nogoogleplus]

Wonder whatever happen to Austin B, this was such a cool vid series, really miss these!

[@larrytate1657]

So it's really. Left handed flam to start it off right?

[@ezequielpoli]

Austin thx for all your videos! I started watching a logic tutorial to work with sheet music on logic and it was very helpful to me, but 'study the greats' it's awesome too. Don't you put only a big 'failure' text on the video, keep rocking bro!

[@wrightguyz]

need to give a shout out to that snare sound and floor tom....are you using some type of drum replacement on the floor? Sounds like a gong drum!! Curious if you can elaborate on how you achieved your drum mix for either...oh and , of course, great breakdown of some Vinnie'isms....

[@abbdrums]

It's been a while since I recorded this one but there's definitely no sound replacement on anything! I remember I had that floor tom super detuned to the point it had barely any tension on it at all. The lugs were pretty much just finger tight or maybe slightly more. Bottom head was pretty loose too... Snare I usually have the top head tight and the bottom head super tight. I also spend a lot of time mixing which is too big of a topic to cover in a comment but that's a big part of my sound too. I may make a video in the future of my mixing, tuning, etc...

[@wrightguyz]

+Austin Burcham thanks for confirming / reply...awesome mix!!

[@dandydrumming8367]

Yeah !! +1

[@Metalfabius]

Sweet dude! What ride are you using in these videos? Keep it up, these lessons are great :)

[@abbdrums]

Thanks man, it's a Sabian 21" HHX Groove Ride

[@Metalfabius]

+Austin Burcham nice, thought so!

[@checono24]

Hi there just wanted to see if u can check the cideo i loaded on youre lesson , ro see if iam doing it right

[@abbdrums]

+Checo Ruiz Close! Looks like you're doing K Fl R l R l l... the pattern in the video is Fl R l l R l l

[@danielfilat9446]

That snare sound...

[@Jellybeantiger]

I’ve tried this and boy am I slow,is he using a moellar type stroke for the left hand flam double because my muscles tense up doing this.

[@abbdrums]

It's a tough one!

[@carlosbenson1381]

Question: Have we ascertained that the flam in the beginning is L-R or R-L ? (easier for me to play up speed with R-L)...In the blushda lick that Vinnie does (ala Tony Williams) he starts the "BL" with the R-L on the very open flam. Also, I would say that every right stroke in this 7 lick is accented with all the lefts being treated almost as ghost notes (except for the 1st flam, which is accented with the right) . Any thoughts there AB ? And this is great work, very nicely done vids and I respect your humbleness, your a great drummer AB !

[@carlosbenson1381]

+Carlos Benson OK AB.. sorry abt that.. hopefully you can reply now.

[@abbdrums]

Awesome. Okay, so yea the flam is RL and they are both accents basically. It's almost just a unison accent but its easier to play and sounds cooler with a little flammage in there. All the other lefts are ghosts and all the rights are accents but that's pretty much all there is to it. Phrasing it like he does in the solo and executing it at that speed is what's hard as fuck... thus Vinnie's greatness

[@fuzzylogiceire]

That Logic transcriber looks really good, are you putting it into a step sequencer type thing (or piano roll perhaps) and then it transcribes it in musical notation for you? Brilliant lesson btw.

[@abbdrums]

Yea, I just program midi in the piano roll and Logic automatically outputs the notation for me. I made a video on how to set it up a while ago, here's the link. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGa0f5tth651jdk

[@fuzzylogiceire]

***** That's cool. I don't have a Mac myself so can't use Logic. I'm impressed with how good the drums sound played back after you program them. Are those drums stock sounds from Logic?

[@abbdrums]

+fuzzylogiceire the stock drum sounds in Logic are pretty great but i'm using Superior Drummer for my sounds

[@fuzzylogiceire]

***** I guess then you are taking different parts from kits in Superior Drummer and giving each their own part in the piano roll?

[@abbdrums]

yup 👍🏼

[@NEGAODABATERA3]

Olá Austin! Que programa é este que você usa? Hello Austin ! What is this program you use ?

[@abbdrums]

Logic Pro X... I have a video on my channel showing how to set it up for drum notation if you want to see that

[@siremenson]

Wow!, Thank you for breaking it down--not so easy and HOLY CRAP!! what kind of drums are those--- they sound amazing!! please tell Regards Joe

[@abbdrums]

+siremenson Thanks Joe, it's a Pearl Masterworks Maple kit. You can see my full gear list at abbdrums.com if you're interested in that kind of stuff.

[@siremenson]

If I ever get that drum sound ..................I can die. But, I could also die if I could play like you. Thank you and keep up the GREAT work. You are a real gift to the drumming community. Be well.Joe

[@manuredrum4754]

Wow Vinnie do not use the charleston while he does that incredible rolls, you are very good !

[@Smoove_J]

Even Vinnie couldn’t explain how he played these odd note groupings. I saw one of his clinics around 97, and he was totally stumped when someone asked him, “do you actually count notes or is it just from feel?” But he seemed pretty coked up, so you have to give him some slack.