Why do drummers feel the need to tap the hihats before a band begins to rock?
- Thread starter Michael TEOF
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Can you imagine listening to a famous classical piece like Berlioz Fantastic Symphony... right after the quiet horn section, the percussionist gets on a pedestal with a cheesy ass smile and smashes his cymbol with a stick 4 times as a que to get the orchestra on time. I can't imagine anything more distracting. A conductor with an orchestra would be perfect for Prog Power. We could force every band to work with one
Bands like Primal Fear, would be shit out of luck, and be forced to work with oneNo cheesy ass hihat tap for them. The thought of a guy in a tuxedo waving his wand to Primal Fear is just great.
The Michael
Finally your sarcasm is showing. Much better!
But be honest -- there's serious backtracking going on. You said nothing at all about "cheesy smile" in your first post. You were opposed in principle to using the hi-hat to mark time.
The reality of playing live music is that somebody needs to set a tempo and somebody needs to determine when, after an out-of-time pause, people come back in. Unless the band has in-ear monitors and is playing to a click, there is simply no way to avoid making some noise while doing this.
Frankly, I dont' find it bothersome. Where would Back in Black be, as someone points out? The hats are key in Revelations from Iron Maiden's Live after Death, etc.
I wasn't going to involve myself in this thread but it's just so incredulous to those who play music live that this is an issue that it's hard not to comment.
For the record, you can expect hi hats before several songs in Redemption's set (though none during the middle of a song). I figured I better tell you all early enough to cancel your gold badges if it's a problem for you.
This is the first time I've ever needed to quote myself in order to defend myself.
A.) The original intent of this post was to be humorous and not to be taken too seriously. I thought words were enough and did not feel the need to use all these lame ass emoticons everyone uses. There's no backtracking on my part. I think you are reading all these jerks expanding upon what I originally said to inlude (a) any tap of the hihat at all or (b) a minor annoyance I'm obviously exagerrating into a big fiasco. And then beating up on the straw man they set themselves up to attack.
B.) The hihat tap is still annoying in loud counts of four (as stated above in my original post) -- especially in the middle of a song after a quiet emotionally stirring section. Notice how I mentioned the hitting of it four times... not the quick two count tap all bands do use.
C.) The hihat tap (not defined with quick light tsh tsh but a TSH TSH TSH TSH!) is cheesy
Lets just all admit that and move on.D.) I think 1/2 the posts in this thread are people stating "I can't believe its still going" or "I can't believe we are debating this."
E.) I was imagining a drummer standing up getting ready to smash his hihats and the Miller Lite ref coming out and calling a violation. I was hoping some others would get the joke and perhaps expand upon my post and find other cheesy concert cliches the Miller Time ref could blow the whistle on.
There... thread over. Let me use some emoticons to help end it. To all the
s out there, are we all like we are with the posters now? To all the uke: out there, I found your mean comments very . Lets all get along and have a 
And if you don't , then good for you, you F'n Have a fig newton instead. Peace Out,
The Michael
Heavenly Call
Member
eaeolian
Division Guitarist
Stardust2112
And your little dog, too!
Says you. Just because you don't like something automatically makes it bad? That makes no sense. I don't care for bands featuring Julie Andrews as their vocalist, but do I think they should go away? Of course not. Because I don't give a shit, and I'm sure no one really gives a shit about my opinion, either.
If you don't like something, fine. But to make a statement like, "lets not debate over whether or not its a good or bad thing... Because it is bad... how bad, is perhaps debatable," just doesn't fly.
~C
eaeolian
Division Guitarist
BTW exactly how fast is a 37th note?
It could be three hours long I guess. Depends on the beats per minute.
But the day I find somebody writing in on their music sheets that 'this is a 37th' note... is the day I burn those music sheets.
I still think it was funny at Circus Maximus last year when the drummer screwed up. The other guys had the greatest look on their face like, "What the fuck is he doing...." Great guy though, great band. And hell that screwup made me enjoy the show more
RiffDaemon
Member
In response to someone mentioning classical orchestras use a conductor to keep time: While that is true, smaller ensembles like quintets, quartets, and some chamber ensembles don't use conductors. They all use body language to start on time and stay in time. So in that regard, it would be nice to see bands use body language to start things off ... ... though in poor lighting (or no lighting at all) that would be damn-near impossible. Anyway, just my two cents. Four hi-hat beats, head-nods, in-time pyro .. anything's better than a clusterf**k
.. anything's better than a clusterf**k
DAVETHEMETALGUY
Member
Purveyor Of Evil
Heavy Metal, INC.
DAVETHEMETALGUY
Member
It's called a "conductor." You might have noticed him. Guy in a tuxedo, with a baton, stands right in front of everything?
Exactly my point, there are ways around it. For bands where the singer plays no instrument, he could do four arm movements to "conduct" the little transition. It's a thought. 95% of the time it's no big deal, but the more I think about this, the more I understand where Michael is coming from. If you're watching something graceful and orchestral, and it's about to get bombastic, I would prefer not to hear the Skid-Row-at-State-Fair cliche'd taps.
Well said Jebus. Its kind of like watching a horror movie, and right before the monster pops out, some dude bangs his hihats four times. You all could respond telling me that horror movies and concert performances have nothing in common, but you'd be missing the point. The point is the "hihat tap" is a mood and suspense killer.
All bands use some form of the "hihat tap"... but there are a select few that just make it glaringly obvious. If I was watching The Rolling Stones it wouldn't bother me as much as it would in a band like Epica or Therion.
And to all the posters out there putting their comments about wanting this thread to end, chill out and have a fig newton. Glenn hasn't closed this thread yet... so he must be enjoying his figs.
The Michael
13ShadesofGray
RI Porch Commando
One of the best come back ins I've ever seen was Portnoy with DT. After finishing his unhuman display of percussive prowess... he's accepting the overwhelming crowd response, standing tall with arms raised high... then BAM - one click and back in to the end of Ytsejam. Flawlessly executed and freaking beautiful to behold. When it adds to the overall performance I say bring it on.
No-Mercy
Feanor
i have to mention that the BG concert i went to in philly, i didnt notice that all.
i really noticed it when listening to LIVE: the song majesty. just came right in with nothing i could hear. awesome. = god.
i really noticed it when listening to LIVE: the song majesty. just came right in with nothing i could hear. awesome. = god.
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
There ya go Michael! If you would sponsor a conductor for PPVIII, Glenn might have those pesky tss tss tss tss banned for you, this year! I hear that John Williams has nothing to do that weekend and he's a BIG fan of Redemption!
LOL
I could talk to Eyal from the band Daath here (recently signed, too) and see if his dad is available for the weekend.........
His dad is Music Director Emeritus (and past conductor) for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Regarding the hi-hat intro......I can't speak for everyone else at a metal show, but if I know how a song goes, then part of the fun at a live show is hearing the drummer tap the hi-hats and then, with the rest of the audience, giving the old fist-pump or head-bob right on time with the band when the song crunches back in.
That's the sort of anricipation and group excitement that you just can't get from listening to a CD on your home stereo.
MetalPrincess8
KEEP IT METAL!!
Michael, you are the king of analogies and condradicting yourself. I totally agree with Nick's statement...you backtrack on yourself all the time...and not just in this thread. If you'd like me to quote you, I will. Also, I think your statement about this being humorous and that people are taking it to seriously is just a cover-up for you realizing how stupid you sound. Both of these things, you've done in other threads. As soon as someone disagrees with you, you say "oh...that was supposed to be funny, and not to be taken seriously." Is that the best excuse you can come up with? Also, I find your analogies really annoying...none of them even make sense and you seem to use at least one in every post! Nobody likes a drama queen...Maybe you should go back to your global warming research and see how much you can pull out of your ass on that topic.
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