Ulysses Owens Jr. | The Power of Touch
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ส.ค. 2024
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Other gear used in this video:
• Cymbals (From drummer's L to R): Zildjian 15" K Constantinople Light Hi-Hats, Zildjian 20" K Constantinople Light Ride Cymbal with 3 Rivets, Zildjian 22" A Avedis Dark Ride Cymbal
• Drum kit: Yamaha Recording Custom Birch Drum Set: 20x14, 12x8, 14x13
• Snare: Noble & Cooley 14x5.5 Ulysses Owens Jr. Signature "U" Snare Drum
Played by Ulysses Owens Jr.
www.usojazzy.com/
/ ulyssesowensjr_
What a fine lesson in expressive grace. Allowing the snare to just whisper opens door to more creative expression without drawing attention or stepping on other’s lines. This video is the foundation of comping at its best.
The best drum instructor I had was a professional jazz drummer in the 60's who could blow away most drummers with his brushes on solos. My first lesson was with marching band sticks about the size of baseball bats. He told me to do a double-stroke roll on his 4" x 14" Gretsch piccolo snare drum with the mufflers off. I sounded like someone throwing marbles into a metal trash can. He took the sticks from me and made the same rudiment sound like someone tearing a Kleenex in half. That got my attention. This began a very long relationship. I was his only student because he said he didn't teach. I was his first and only exception simply because of my passion and the fact that I had improved every time I came back for my next lesson.
Because of him, I transitioned from a lousy teenage rock banger to jazz musician. It took a lot of time, practice and patience. He was like Mr. Miyagi in the movie, "Karate Kid", and he was very strict - nice, but strict. I was hired for my first jazz gig at a very large and famous destination resort as a fill-in for the original drummer who had a car wreck. I was scared to death. Within the first 5 minutes of my audition, the leader of the group (violin, piano, acoustic bass and drummer) said I was QUIET and kept good TIME. In other words, the POWER OF TOUCH. I'm 75 now and I'm still practicing this very thing.
Ulysses is an old soul in a young body. So wise and so gentle. Thank you, Ulysses!
I went from playing in metal bands to jazz and singer/songwriter stuff and nothing has been better for my sound than to realize the potential for expression in dynamics in volume!
I had a really interesting experience one day when I posted to Facebook a "drum off" featuring Colaiuta, Weckl and Gadd. A music loving non-performer friend of mine asked, "What is so incredibly different about the guy on the far right?" Of course it was Gadd. That's when I really had to think about how to explain that originality of the highest order can come as much from touch as technique. She totally got that all three drummers were obviously monsters, but even without the vocabulary for it she picked up on something really profound. That's why I was so happy to have your video pop up today. Thanks for your great presentation.
I guess you're talking about the Buddy Rich memorial concert in '89. Iirc the guy on the far right was Weckl (seeing them from the audience pow) and Colaiuta on the far left. Gads was on the center.
Yeah Gadd was in the middle, and those guys all have amazing feel
@@acidrums4 Thanks. It’s certainly possible I’m misremembering Gadd’s position, but it is without question that Gadd was who she was referring to. I’m sure you feel me on this.
Excellent! Starting at 4:00, you draw the audience in and make them pay attention to the music. It's like, "Come here, I want to tell a secret." Perfect control and sound. Thank you.
Wow. Thanks for this vid!!!
Best lesson I've seen on line in quite a while. Thank you.
This was the nicest video I’ve found in about 2 years. I spend a lot of time on this : “touch” and “intent”. And by a lot I mean hundreds of hours in a year. It takes a long time to do well, but hopefully in my case it means I can sound good in more rooms and with more bands over time. Thank you!
Thankyou , very interesting lesson 😊
We’re loving the sound of that signature Noble & Cooley snare of yours. “U” deserve nothing but the best. 🤙🏽
Beautiful lesson about mindful drumming, so important.
THE most important topic!! Thank you! Well done!
What awesome communication/education about a subject that is very easy to misunderstand. Thanks!
Beautiful.
Ulysses is the man
Thank you. Fantastic lesson.
Thanks for the video
GRANDISSIMO 🎉
So we’ll done! The word touch can be replaced with taste or class!🥁💜
"I use PROMARK sticks."
*continues the entire video holding his REGAL TIP drum stick*
YO!!!!!!!!! This video is 🔥 really enjoyed listening to what was discussed & how he applied it there at the end. Earned my respect! Touch & intention: GOT IT! Time to go back to the practice pad. Again.
Wow this is great lesson. Thanks
Touch: Jarle in Tord Gustavsen's trio, Jon in Eberhard Weber's Yellowfields, Joey Baron, Brian Blade, Paul Motian, Jack Dejohnette... Thanks for bringing up this topic!
Great lesson, I hope you elaborate or do more like this.
It also helps when you have really great gear too. It makes a big difference. I remember playing at different churches where they had a very low budget drum kit and I would tune it, muffle and moon gel it and the drums would sound a little better but never to the degree of what a quality drum kit can deliver. That snare drum in this video sounded great in high and low volume, but like I said, it's a challenge to get a great sound from a low budget drum kit. My opinion from experience !!
Regal Tip are the best sticks in the world. Period.
They are for me but it’s what I got used to as an 8 year old drummer. I’ve found other sticks that work better for different music. genres. Barrel top wood are more articulate and earthy for jazz or funk thee was a company that made “jazz” sticks like Gene Krupa buddy rich etc with lighter wood don’t know if they still are made but they allowed to hit harder and not sound louder. It’s good to have an array of different sticks and brushes they all sound and feel different. I love regal tip 5 a nylon tip they have great rebound and balance for me but I also must admit years ago in the 60’s they were made better with better lacquer probably more toxic but better. Just like drum heads they all have their place and different voice
Bello/Magnifico.😱✡️✡️✡️✡️✡️✡️
Listen to Antonio Sanchez from pat metheny!!!
Hello Memphis drum shop! I love every single videos of your youtube channel. But would be best, if you can create set list of each type videos you having here.
Appreciate all your work! ❤
Glad you enjoy our videos! You can find playlists of our guest artists on our home page or head over to this link here: th-cam.com/play/PL1KPAC_Tity-nSdT6R3ljhPWgQKtS6qAL.html for our Ulysses Owens Jr. playlist
Wonderful lesson! I feel like I’d be bashing my hands on the crash/ride placed over the high tom so far.
Light touch is where control happens
Great lesson! Touch is rally all about how you PLAY drums and cymbals rather than how you HIT them. Further, so many drummers today play WAY too loudly these days, in my opinion.
I struggle with that a lot and I’ve been playing for a long time.
Or put simply , sometimes you can play hard sometimes you can play soft. Job done.
That ride got more square footage than my house
I like holding my sticks way back like that too. They become like paint brushes.
I partially agree with the funk groove played at a lower volume, there are certain situations where that could apply. But I don't think its gonna cut through in a funk band. I think you had more intent when you played it louder.
I'm sorry but this makes no sense. Why hitting the snare and pulling the stick back to the top affects the sound? A strike is a strike, provided that you don't dig in the stick into the head then physics tell us that it's exactly the same. He says that and then demonstrates something different. I mean he's a great drummer but this is just wrong
I’ve heard it called "playing off of the drum" and "burying the stick." Focusing on bringing the stick up allows for it to resonate a bit more where burying it or plying harder can deaden the sound even if there may be more projection. To me, it makes a bit more of an impact if you focus the idea on the ride cymbal. Burying the stick in the cymbal and playing off of the cymbal can give huge changes in the tones the cymbal resonates. The subtle change in approach can really open up some dynamic doors in terms of playing the same groove in different ways. In the end the way we strike can allow for a multitude of different sounds, so instead of tuning the drums or changing to different cymbals, we can approach how we strike differently to get subtle changes that could impact the feel of the music we are playing to. Just my 2 cents. Cheers mate
@@artemcultura6191 But that's what I was saying. Naturally if you bury the stick, be it the drumhead or the cymbal will produce a different sound, more chocked, but if you hit the snare and stay with the stick away from the head even by a centimeter or so, you're still producing the same sound if you pull the stick away from the head deliberately.
In fact if you observe the Murray Spivack/Richard Wilson's technique you'll see that part of the technique is finding the floor, so when you hit the drum the stick remains around 1cm above the surface, but doesn't go up
@@CrappyProducts Sounds like you have a seasoned approach and get it. Ulysses may just be saying it in a way to make sense for a beginner to kinda overdo the motion- whether it’s a centimeter or all way up to 12 o’clock.
@@artemcultura6191 yeah I get it, but I'm always careful about these sort of descriptions. Wouldn't it be better just saying: when hitting the drum or cymbal don't bury the drumstick? It's ok to criticise it
I think it’s more a bit of a mentality thing/metaphorical way of thinking about playing. Just like how horn players will ‘project into the room, rather than into the microphone’. It’s a mantra that will change how you play, even though literally speaking it doesn’t really hold value