JoJo Tomorrow (Mon) night at GC LA

[Isaac Lee]

Lucky guys...!!! I miss this time of year (but not the traffic the rest of it!)

Hey you know (to Isaac and all), take it as inspiration. Nothing they do you can't do, they are human like you and I. As vinnie has said, it's all about qualitative repetition. JoJo's (and the like) have been playing longer then I've been alive, it's not comparable. Nor would I want to be them, I want to be me.
It's a language and we all have our own unique story to tell.

Never forget the best masters/writers often used the simplest forms. Read Hemingway, arguably one of the best writers of the last 100 years. His language is simple, coarse and effective.

Just trying to throw the positive spin on the "oh shit!" aspect. I'll never be a spaceman, but I'll sure as hell try and be a great drummer.

Hey YamahaPlayer! That is great insight. Thank you.

[Brett Borba]

I was also a bit underwhelmed by the sound. Jojo played his ass off though. By contrast, the sound (and organization) of Weckl"s recent clinic at Jim's Music in OC was great. Hope they get if figured out before Gavin's clinic tonight.

The bonus highlight was chatting with Steve a bit after the show! Super nice guy.

[Rodge]

Lucky guys...!!! I miss this time of year (but not the traffic the rest of it!)

Hey you know (to Isaac and all), take it as inspiration. Nothing they do you can't do, they are human like you and I. As vinnie has said, it's all about qualitative repetition. JoJo's (and the like) have been playing longer then I've been alive, it's not comparable. Nor would I want to be them, I want to be me.
It's a language and we all have our own unique story to tell.

Never forget the best masters/writers often used the simplest forms. Read Hemingway, arguably one of the best writers of the last 100 years. His language is simple, coarse and effective.

Just trying to throw the positive spin on the "oh shit!" aspect. I'll never be a spaceman, but I'll sure as hell try and be a great drummer.

They've been playing longer than you've been alive ? What about recording great album when you're under 25 years old ? Thoses guys always had a HUGE technic before their 20s, but the thing I want to say it's that what we love about our favorite musicians is beyond the technic, it's the music they do.

Check out the age of Omar Hakim when he did David Sanborn, Weather Report or Sting, HUGE musical statement, the age of Vinnie recording "Joe's Garage", Tony and Herbie with Miles, the list is endless...

The technic must serve the musical statement, because at the end, it's all about the music. And the better technician is not the better musician as we all know.
That's why we praise people like Vinnie, Dave, Dennis, Jojo, etc... They are MONSTER technicians, but their schedule is full because their musical skills, not the technics one.

Here another exemple : I think that Lenny Kravitz is a better musician on drums than lets say Virgil Donati who is from another planet behind the kit, it's about the emotion you give with your instrument, whatever if you have some technic or not.

But yeah, seeing the great must inspire to practice more and not to quite, ALWAYS !!!!

[YamahaPlayer]

They've been playing longer than you've been alive ? What about recording great album when you're under 25 years old ? Thoses guys always had a HUGE technic before their 20s, but the thing I want to say it's that what we love about our favorite musicians is beyond the technic, it's the music they do.

I think that starts to get into the realm of who you know, location, etc... In the case of JoJo, his dad was a heavy weight musician. That always helps *a touch*.
He also didn't record his first album (according to his discography) until he was 30.

Indeed there are the few Tony Williams for example, who just had it from the go - and of course, was spotted for it being in the right place and time. Vinnie was working with Zappa at what? 23? But of course, had the resources to go to berklee at an early age and it's during it's major days.

Lots of factors involved, including determination and talent without a doubt.

[Andy Vermiglio]

I really enjoyed the Jojo clinic on Monday at GC in Hollywood. For both the Gavin and Jojo clinics I sat in the front row. Real glad that I had my earplugs with me. I know some of the guys heard a muddy sound production that night. From where I sat, the mains were cranked way too high and a lot of the time the tracks through the PA had way to much low end. Too much low end will wipe out your perception of the high frequencies. So, even if the highs are physically present in the mix, they'll become inaudible when the lows are excessive. In these situations, wearing a good set of earplugs will take down the lows (in your ears) and allow the high frequencies to be heard. So, good earplugs can reduce the "mud factor."

Jojo was playing his usual configuration of Sonors and his latest cymbal set from Sabian. The drums and cymbals sounded great. He really knows how to musically incorporate a huge range of sounds from the kit. On the kick, he had a coated Evans G1 and the ebony Sonor resonant head (no hole). During the sound check the kick sounded really resonant. Lots of low end and actually too much resonance for Jojo. He tweaked the tuning and used what looked like a sheet of felt laid between the pedal and the head for some muffling. It looked like he was playing some sort of prototype pedal. He didn't mention it but the pedal was unlike any other I've seen. The 10 and 14" toms had the Evans coated G plus heads on the batter side and some sort of coated heads on the resonant side. The 8" tom had a coated head on top and a clear head on the bottom. The snares had some sort of Evans kevlar/mylar hybrid batter heads. They sounded real crisp and dry.

As always it was a blast to see him execute his amazing technique in such a musical way. What a nice repertoire of ideas and a constant flow of expression. He spoke about the difference between exercise and practicing. Jojo also answered a whole bunch of questions. I saw Jojo the first time at the MD festival in New Jersey. I also saw him perform at one of the NAMM shows and at West LA Music for a clinic. This was the first time that I was able to see him in a very small setting up close. I sat so I could see that right foot in action. He talked about his philosophy regarding bass drum technique and mentioned that a DVD was in the works.

The organizer said that this clinic had a larger audience than any other event that they’ve had. The whole thing was recorded for presentation through some sort of GC medium. I wrote to the organizer to find out where this tape is going to land but no word yet.

[Rodge]

Meshell at her best, and curly Jojo on drums, GREAT !!!
We can see some Torsos in the band, and the great Wah Wah Watson on guitar.

[YamahaPlayer]

That sounds like a great clinic by JoJo as always!

Andy, anything in particular stand out in his advice about practice/exercising?

[deseipel]

was this the pedal he was using?

[YamahaPlayer]

Looks like a prototype with the spring mechanism built into the rotation piece. Pretty cool lookin. Bringing back the 70's designs...

http://www.billyrhythm.com/drums/ghost/ ... beatad.jpg

[Andy Vermiglio]

deseipel that's the pedal! Where did you get that pic?

Yamaha Player, the practice vs. exercising point Jojo made is that he found practicing material that he was actually going the play on a gig much more productive than focusing on a series of exercises of stuff he wasn't going to necessarily use.