Guitar Center Sessions: Gavin Harrison - When To Play Fills
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Drummer Gavin Harrison boasts an impressive resume. Known primarily for his playing with prog masters Porcupine Tree, Harrison has lent his astonishing skills to a diverse list of artists including Iggy Pop and Lisa Stansfield. Since 2008, he has also been a member of original prog rock group, King Krimson. In addition, Gavin Harrison's instructional books Rhythmic Designs, Rhythmic Illusions and Rhythmic Perspectives, as well as his DVDs Rhythmic Horizons and Rhythmic Visions have been hailed as essential material on complex poly-rhythms and creative drumming.
i could listen to that snare all day long
I have
Nah, it needs a touch of ring overtone.
Ho Lee Sheet nah, that sound is common and used by many other drummers. This is woody, fat, sharp, articulate. It’s perfect.
Yeah but have you ever listened to that bass drum through a sub?
"What are you really trying to say with it? Is it just like a nervous habit?"
- Gavin Harrison with some great advice on drum fills.
Ba dum tsss!
Sorry, couldn't help it. Just a thing I do.
A true musician I could listen to Gavin all day.
same
Well said
Gavin Harrison is some of the tastiest drumming. Butter smooth, lots of restraint, and so musical. Obvious chops, but applies everything creatively.
It's all in his restraint. He's a classy case of where less is more. Think My Ashes and I Drive the Hearse. He always serves the song.
A perfect summation
Incredible drummer. Used to think people like portnoy and mangini were best ever. Then I discovered gavin. Some of the beats he played just left me with my jaw dropped.
except I hate all the generic stuff he does. inexcusable, when realizing how TASTY and creative he can be. you can play ballads etc with CREATIVITY and feel. Ain't gotta be predictable.
If he is doing generic stuff, then that was, no doubt, what the songwriter wanted. You want session work then you best be playing what the boss wants ;)
Check out Bobby Jarzombek. His ability is scary
Portnoy is still probably my favorite drummer. I love his style too much
WhoDarestheMAN gamer i have
Gavin is one of the best drummers ever. He beautifully explains his reasoning and then shows it on the drums with impeccable skills. Awesome!
He does unbelievable things on Anesthetize. The best rock drummer for me.
"I started to realize, if I was a bass player, now I know what I would want a drummer to do and what I would want him to do is just playing in time."
Nothing else to do ... but learning from this! Man, what a speech!
I come back to rewatch this once in a while. It's just so smooth.
Gavin Harrison and Neil Peart. Two drummers who are fascinating to listen to not only when drumming, but talking about drums aswell. Thoughtful guys, real musicians.
Man I love his cymbal tones..crap, the whole kit for that matter and with his tasty playing..I'm a guitar guy but watching and hearing him is crazy amazing..
"What does the perfect drumkit sound like?"
Ever hear of Gavin Harrison?
This guy is incredible.
"Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art". I think Gavin embodies this philosophy perfectly, and many musicians could learn much from this.
I was so happy when I first discovered Gavin, I really gravitate to this type of playing nowadays. Not when I first started playing though, I was all about the big fills everywhere, used to love them. Now I try to avoid them 80% of the time ha! - much prefer these little nuances, they're so tasteful
A thinking man's drummer. Brilliant!
His diction is as elegant, articulate, and purposeful as his drumming
Fantastic Drummer . beside skill , his playing style has so much musicality and Creativity .
everytime I skip a little bit his playing and then come back I am always blown away how beautiful and interesting he places accents, cymbals etc. in places that seemed to be unheard before.
I never get tired of listening to him. His advice is so thoughtful and easy to implement in my own way.
Excellent presentation. A very hard lesson for drummers to get is that they are there to play the song. Not to show-off, upstage, impress, etc. but simply play what is correct for the song. Took me a couple of decades to truly get this.
I will show this to all my future bandmates, regardless of what instrument they play. This is the kind of advice that people really need to hear.
That snare....damn
His snare sound is ALWAYS dope :)
the snare in exacly 2:13(after the fill) ... he is making natural delay with ghosh notes...as a sound engineer i have to say i have never see something sooo beautiful!!!
Gavin's "ballad" pattern is more interesting than most people's craziest fills.
And more musical.
Gavin's more than 'just a drummer' - he's transcended into drummer/producer territory, that's why everything he touches turns to gold... I play guitars and not drums, but he's the ONE professional I respect the most!
With a drummer like Gavin behind me it would inspire me to write so many riffs. Unbelievable sound and choice of hits. Wow!
He is a musical genius.
WhoDarestheMAN gamer Music isn‘t a competition. Grow up.
What's great is the things like what he's describing here aren't even weird super smart stuff, he simply applies common sense and plays without ego.
A living Role-Model. I confess , I'm as enchanted by his presentation and skill as I am inspired by his discipline and attitude.
We we playing "The Thrill is Gone" one time, and out of the blue (wink) I started playing it with quarter notes on the ride like that with little ghost notes or an accent on my high Tom occasionally... The band stopped.... What are you doing? No no! Keep it up.... It's soo cool! Idk I'm a shit drummer, but that day, it just felt right and I felt like I did something completely new.
As a part of my active listening routine, I was going on a focused binge of Porcupine Tree today, when I figured what Gavin Harrison is referring to in 5.30’’ of this workshop. The song, which he beautifully and artistically plays a quarter note on the ride and sixteenths on the snare is “The Sky Moves Sideways”.
What a vast library of technique and expertise that Gavin has within him! An honest-to-goodness MASTER of his craft! Wow...
That was the single most precise movement ever performed by a human being. Gavin Harrison could be a heart surgeon.
I always love the tuning and sound of his drums.. So crisp.
God bless him! So simple and intuitive concepts but still a lot of drummers doing all the things he was talking about - toms rundowns, playing separately of the band, doing what you want to do instead of what the song really needs.
you know what..i have to stop playing for other drummers. I've been so worried about impressing people that I've totally forgotten about the song. The song is the most important thing and somewhere along the way I seemed to have lost that. Thank you Gavin, thank you.
Amazing how Gavin can make even "duggadugga duggadugga dum dum dugga dum Bosh" sound sublime !
You're an absolute inspiration, Gav. A true musician and never selfish - always humble and willing to share ideas and knowledge :)
I love his musical approach, playing fills for the song to enhance it as opposed to playing a fill just to play a fill. I totally agree with Gavin, play to the music first and foremost..!!
Brilliant lesson !!!! Filling in where appropriate and holding back when necessary. Showing that drums is listening to the other parts is essential. Perfect sounding kit. Brilliant musician indeed. Gavin is true world class!!!!
Thanks for posting this guys, watching this year's later and still being inspired by Gavin's words.
Funny thing, I always learn a lot from Gavin's videos as a guitarist and it always inspires me to try new things.
This is exactly why Gavin and PT is so incredible. Subtle perfection is mastery.
Being a guitar player this is one drummer I love to listen to.
Could listen to this guy talking for hours, he's really inspiring...
I could listen to Gavin talk about drumming all day long, let alone watching him actually play. Super musician
This guy is so humble! Provably the best drummer of all times.
Nice to see all likes. This man is awesome... what a drummer and what a musical mind!
Very smart and wise words from Gavin. Great playing and amazing ghost notes too.
I don't remember the last time I watched a video on TH-cam that the drums sounded soooo damn good. Unbelievable.
Oh I think gavin has the best touch in the business, so delicate and creative, probably thanks to his background in jazz..
Gavin is awesome! Great teacher. He teaches with with life experience analogies better than most school teachers.
This guy is one of my favorite ....He is an amazing drummer and He also cares about a good drum sound, like Simon Phillips and a few others.
Yes sir. Could listen to him talk all day long. Cheerio.
A great drummer and a great teacher too!
Musical genius small subtle fills instead of big rock arena fills and keep perfect time this is what will keep you working great video and advice
how i love the way gavin talks about playing,its so informative!
My favourite drummer for a while now........ (well actually since Ian Paice & Neil Peart!) IMO Gavin's another one of these drummers that always hits the right things in the right places.
@Fortificatio its essentially a term he made up to visualize and be creative with fills. He is saying that you know where you are going to end up and where certain hits are but not what the finished product is. Curling refers to a basic shape of fill and be able to put pieces in it on the fly. A very cool way to think about it. Hope that helped!
Another classic GH Video! Thank you man!
Great video, great drummer.
Gavin is a genius. Best drummer there is. His kit sounds absolutely amazing.
Ahhh, I want more!!! This guy's got a lot of great insight and conceptual ideas.
This is actually some of the best advice I’ve ever heard
Great, amazing and perfect.
Wow, best advice i've ever gotten from a drummer
His techniques are great. Like his style, especially the song In Exile... Incredible!
This has really opened my eyes
Great video. Really interesting and made a lot of sense.
The sound of that Snare is just awesome:)
Gavin has a bright class and an excellent drum set possibilities knowledge. I am impressed.
This guy is like, the smartest man I have ever heard talk about music haha. Great perspective.
OH...MY....GOD! This video is practically life changing!
It came to me now, clearer than ever that my own mindset when it comes to drumming is close to identical to his. I have several drummer friends who are into the whole "score points"-type playing, so I recognize what he said in the video.
Gavin is on of the drummers you benefit more from listening to the wisdom he shares as well as watching. Most drummers you look up to you see something they play get influenced because it sounds good and you add it to your music ideas. When Gavin speaks you completely reassess your drumming and think about it, as well as pick up something cool from him. Maybe that's just me!
so insightful. gavin is one of the best alive.
I am not a drummer either, but I could listen Gavin talk about drums all day long-Adorable, Genuine and Genius. Adorable Too :) !
This lesson is really true for all members of the band, especially guitarists :D
Gavin Harrison, thank you. This is something a struggling young drummer could use adivce in. I'm no fanboy of any sort of but I do appreciate your take on fills.
Another great video from Gavin!
drums sound really impressive. i love the punch of his drum.
sounds really fantastic!
At 5:35 the Song Gavin is talking about is a Balled by PTree called Half Light. Great song in which he plays quarters on the ride with hi hats with foot and great finger ghost notes and "reg" stick ghost notes. Great song ideas by Gavin. Thinking like us drummers should - like a musician.
That was great. Thanks Gavin!
@naooki They're both great. I like both of them. they're both prog metal and its hard to say one is better than the other.
Lessons in life from a drummer. Less is often more; become a great listener; appreciate other's needs and check your ego in at the door.
this is ingenious. very cool.
wow...it felt like it was only a 2 min video!!! i learned so much!!!
His left hand on the snare at 2:13 , love it!
I was there, this was at the Guitar Center in Hollywood. I wish these sort of places that post his clinic footage would post ALL of it. This stuff is like crack to me. I wish the play-a-longs would work.
He has a video on how he tunes his snare "gavin harrison tuning heads tech spec" is the name. He cuts down the strands on the back of the snare so he only has 8. The extra ones on the outside (that he removes) are the ones that buzz first.
god, Im not even a drummer, but his playing is so immediately recognizable.
Best drum teacher ever.
And I'm not even a drummer.
This video should required for every drummer in an original band. Like my band director used to say, listen to what the song needs from you.
what an inspiration!
hes just so smart man!..he doesnt care about flashy fills he just cares about the music,what it would sound like you know..and thats rad man!
It's great to hear an influential drummer tell other drummers that when they're playing, it's NOT necessarily all about THEM.
Astounding Perspective
I love Gavin's drumming!
great lesson!
great to hear someone who knows what they are talking about