Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio) and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra) are two of today's premier power drummers. Vinny briefly covers setting up and tuning the drums, and explains his philosophy of steady playing over speed and flash. A single bass drum advocate, he explains his techniques and shows how he can get the sound of a double bass setup out of a single drum. Sharp graphics link the onscreen material to the pamphlet that accompanies the tape. However, one annoying flaw is that he also links some of the exercises to sections in his book Rock Steady which does not come with the tape (libraries who pick up this video will undoubtedly have requests for the book.) This is good clear instruction for the intermediate to advanced level drummer. Carmine's clinic uses the same introductory solo technique, but then goes to a question and answer session. Video quality ranges from fair to terrible and tries to be much more artsy than his brother's tape. Also, Carmine pushes five books he's written, which of course do not come with the program, in addition to his own special brand of drumsticks. The two key areas of value are sections that cover the patterning used to structure drum solos and importance of knowing drum rudiments. How to Play Drums From Day One is exactly that. From both content and production standpoints, this is the best beginning level drum set instruction program seen by this reviewer to date. There's no razzle dazzle opening solo to intimidate the beginning drummer, just a basic demo to let the viewer know what he can do if he sticks to the program. Payne starts with all the basics- how to hold the sticks, where to put your foot on the bass pedal, etc. Every time a technique is described, there's a clear close-up to match the descriptive material. An accompanying 37 page booklet describes the exercises in standard drum notation. There is also a system of linking the drum techniques with a vocalization system -e.g. you say "oon" when you hit the bass drum, "pic" when you hit the hi-hat. Many musicians use this vocalization technique when playing guitar or keyboards, so there's no reason to doubt its effectiveness for helping to lock drum technique into one's memory. Hard Rock Drum Techniques is recommended, and Rock Drum Clinic is a marginal purchase. How to Play Drums From Day One is highly recommended. (Hard Rock Drum Techniques and Rock Drum Clinic are available from most distributors.) (How to Play Drums From Day One is available from: DCI, 541 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011) (Reviewed by Elliott Swanson, Kitsap Regional Library, Bremerton, WA)
Hard Rock Drum Techniques -Vinny Appice; How To Play Drums From Day One-Jim Payne; Rock Drum Clinic-Carmine Appice
(1988) 60 m. $49.95. (booklet included) Silver Eagle. Public performance rights included. Vol. 4, Issue 7
Hard Rock Drum Techniques -Vinny Appice; How To Play Drums From Day One-Jim Payne; Rock Drum Clinic-Carmine Appice
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