Transcription: both versions of Flower Punk

I can't believe I never posted this. Back in 2017 I transcribed both versions of Frank Zappa's Flower Punk— the original, played by Jimmy Carl Black, on the Mothers of Invention album We're Only In It For The Money, and the version where Zappa had Chad Wackerman re-record the drums, released on The Lumpy Money Project/Object. I was going to do an e-book of Zappa drum transcriptions, but Zappa Corp has such an active legal department, I figured I'd probably get a cease and desist letter, and be forced to take it down. 

I like both versions. The Jimmy Carl Black version is kind of raggedy, but I like the energy with the broken up bass drum. Here are the first two (of four) pages of the transcription:

The Wackerman version is more solid, with some nice tom fills. His drum sound with Zappa is always kind of interesting. I can't recall hearing a sound like that anywhere else. The toms are somewhat reminiscent of Billy Cobham's sound— sort of an 80s version of that sound.

After 10 years I'm starting to feel kind of silly posting so much stuff absolutely free, so let's try something new: if you'd like to get these complete transcriptions, send $3.00 for both to: 

Venmo: @todd-bishop-16
PayPal: toddbishop@[cruiseshipdrummer dot com]  

Include your email, and the thing you want— Flower Punk transcriptions. 

In fact, if you'd like any of my e-books (see the sidebar), and don't feel like going through Amazon, send $5.00 via the above means. Print books you still have to order through Lulu, although I may start carrying them and shipping them myself soon.

Very occasional quote of the day: Bozzio auditions for Zappa

I had to fly myself down to LA just to audition like the rank and file rest of the people that auditioned for Frank. It was scary, you know, it was ridiculous. I walked in, and I'm this little kid from San Francisco. I walk into Frank's huge warehouse with this big stage, and all this equipment and road cases and stuff. And these ridiculous charts spread all over the stage. 

And I thought I could pretty much read anything, you know. But I mean this was like the hardest stuff you'd ever want to see. You know, just the odd groupings and odd times, and he had melodic things written out around the toms and the drums, so you didn't have to read just rhythmically—you had to read melodic things as well. I thought, "Man, I can never do this. I've lost." But then I thought, "Well, I've spent the airfare to go down here. I'll give it a try." 

I watched a couple other drummers audition, and they were sort of trying to flaunt their chops rather than really listen to what was going on. So I said, "Well, at least I'll listen." I went up there, and I fumbled through some charts the best I could. There's not too many drummers who could sight read that stuff, so when a real hard part would come, I would just stop and say, "Oh, this is this," and I'd play it for him. And he said, "Right, now stick it in with the rest of it." And I would. 

We jammed a bit and he said, "Okay, you sound real good. I want to hear you when I'm finished with the rest of the guys." And everybody there split, so he said, "Well I guess you've got the gig if you want it."

- Terry Bozzio, from his 1981 Modern Drummer interview with Robin Tolleson

From the zone: Zappa transcription project

 Daniel Bédard in Montréal did a really cool project: 

“I challenged myself in trying to transcribe one FZ song a week for a year. That year came to an end last September and due to covid, I've been slowed down big time but still managed to reach my goal of 52 songs in a year.” 

I love his copying style. Here's the whole pile:
 

Transcription: Terry Bozzio / Dancin' Fool - the cool parts

This is one of the cooler things in drumming to come out of the late 70s— Terry Bozzio's fills on Frank Zappa's Dancin' Fool, from the album Sheik Yerbouti. I must've listened to this 500 times when I was in the 9th grade. I've written out the little opening instrumental thing, the same break when it happens in the middle of the song, and also the drums on the “yowza” interlude before the last chorus:

I've notated this for five tom toms; I think he has at least six— he's playing his Rototom set here. The fills don't look very pretty on the page, but they should all work. As he moves around the drums, he seems to often have his right hand on a lower tom and his left on a higher one. Do whatever you have to to make them playable. It sounds like he might be using two bass drums to do those doubles at the beginning of the yowza section— you can easily do them with one. I did a Reed interpretation awhile back that happened to develop that exact lick.

Bozzio had one of the great hihat sounds in rock & roll on this record— he played them half-open much of the time, and when he hit big accents on them, they had a really obnoxious, piercing thing happening which really puts a lot of energy into the music. I think they must have been Paiste 602 Extra Heavy, or Heavy, or maybe Sound Creation., probably 15"?

Get the pdf

Transcription: Vinnie Colaiuta — Beat It With Your Fist

It is law that I must do an ultra-hairy Vinnie Coliauta transcription every time I do a fund raiser [Have you contributed yet? Please do. -tb], so here's Beat It With Your Fist, from Frank Zappa's album Return Of The Son Of Shut Up And Play Yer Guitar. It's one of the harder 29 measures of music I've attempted in a while:

The really big sketchball lick is in measures 15 and 16— which I've chosen to write out as a single measure of 8/4— otherwise the barline is in a really messed-up place. The lick is septuplets— seven 16th notes in the place of four— against even 8th notes in the left foot... and the septuplets begin on the & of each beat. I would play that lick as running doubles— a few of the doubles will be split between two drums. You can learn that lick like this:

Play the repeated measure many times as written, then improvise moving your hands around the drums. When you can do that, trick yourself into thinking the downbeats are the &s: say “&” where it's written in the example, and then play the written ending with the 16th note triplet and crash on “1”.

If it's any consolation, with all of this crazy stuff happening, there is a little bit of variance in the length of the measures— the time does stretch a little bit, as low as 65 bpm, and as high as 72, averaged over one measure. Vinnie Colaiuta is, apparently, a human being.

This is another pdf that will only be available for the duration of the fund raiser.

Get the pdf

Groove o' the day: Vinnie Colaiuta — The Central Scrutinizer

The pdf links for last week's Zappa features are now down, so, to assuage the pain for those of you who missed them, here's Vinnie Colaiuta's drum groove from The Central Scrutinizer, the opening track from Joe's Garage. In 1985, during the long drum corps tour bus rides, and in the following year in school, I managed to transcribe a big chunk of the drumming on that record; I've been coming back to it a bit recently to see if the experience is any different after nearly 30(?!) years.

Note that there are two toms played, and they are written on the top space, and the line below it. There are a lot of variations in the bass drum part, especially on beat 3. These exact variations occur frequently on beats 1 and 4:

I was going to write out the whole thing, but the track is essentially just a 4-bar vamp with a little B-section, and obviously recorded blind, with the vocals and sound effects mixed in later— Zappa likely just had the rhythm section play generically off of the vamp for a few minutes, and that was it— and I kind of lost interest. But Vinnie's fills are fun, and there's a nostalgia factor at work, so maybe we'll get to a full transcription a little later.

Audio after the break:

Transcription: Terry Bozzio — Rubber Shirt

Let's consider this a special feature for the funds drive; like the other Zappa thing this week, I'll be taking it down in a few days and submitting it to Drum! Magazine, so get it while you can.

Rubber Shirt is an improvised duo by Terry Bozzio and bassist Patrick O'Hearn, from Frank Zappa's 1979 album Sheik Yerbouti. Aside from being great music, what's interesting about it is that, seemingly impossibly, it was created by putting together bass and drum tracks from different tunes, different sessions, and in different meters. Recording musicians who worry about loss of “chemistry” when overdubbing parts— even solos— take heed. Things tend to work together and make their own chemistry just because you put them together, and that's a beautiful thing.

The drum track is in 11/8, phrased as 4/4+3/8. There's one measure of 6/4, which is either a mistake by Bozzio, or part of the arrangement of whatever tune he was originally recording. I've forgotten O'Hearn's meter, and didn't have time to figure it out; you can get out your copies of The Real Frank Zappa Book if you want to look it up.

Bozzio is using his large Rototom drumset here; I think I've notated for five tom toms. If you don't have that many, it doesn't matter; just figure out a way to do it with what you do have. There are a few special licks which I haven't taken the time to make head or tail of— I just tried to get what I was hearing onto the paper in a realistic-seeming way; aside from being kind of fast, it may take a little analysis to make them work on the drums. Don't hesitate to make changes if what is on the paper is not playable.

Get the pdf [This was a special thing for the fund raiser, and the link is now dead. I'll announce when/if it will occur in print.]

Audio after the break:

Transcription: Frank Zappa — I'm A Beautiful Guy

This is a fairly epic two-minute thing I should really be submitting to Drum! or Modern Drummer, but— well, actually, I'm going to do that, so you'd better get this while you can, because I'll be pulling it at the end of the funds drive. After that, you'll have to wait and see if it comes up in one of those magazines.

So: This is “I'm A Beautiful Guy”, from Frank Zappa's You Are What You Is, and it looks pretty scary— it is pretty scary— but it should be well within the grasp of most early college-level drummers. In fact it would make a nice college audition or jury piece. Or you can just make a YouTube cover of it. I've written this to be as playable as possible, instead of an exact note-for-note transcription, but I haven't edited out much. The drummer is the little-known, and highly underrated David Logeman, who kills it all the way through this record.

The chart calls for a drum set with four tom toms, plus two Roto-toms or bongos, but you should be able to adapt it to any sized drumset. If I can be bothered to drag out my 10" tom tom, I'll be working  it up on a five-piece.

To approach this thing, first just listen through the recording with the printed transcription, and try counting through the meter changes. Then you can start trying to reconcile the notes on the page with what you're hearing. The major grooves or repeated figures that occur during the piece happen at measures 1-2, 8 and 11, 28-31, 42-43, 59-60, and 84-85. After you've looped those and can play them at tempo, try working up whole sections: 1-22, 23-38, 39-53, 54-81, and 82-end. You'll probably need to isolate several of the fills, especially the one at 17-18. With those septuplets that occur several times, use the sticking RLRLRLL.

Good luck!

Get the pdf [This was a special feature for the fund raiser, and the link is now down— I'll announce when and if it will occur in print. -tb]

Audio after the break:

Two links

Hit the link for the full-size scans.

Two short items: First, someone is sharing what I consider to be the “real” sheet music for Frank Zappa's Black Page— it's the same copy I learned it from in the '80's, and my brother before me, back in 1979 or so. We got it from Charles Dowd, and I assume it's either the original commercially-available version of the piece, or possibly it's Zappa's own studio chart— I don't know if he had his stuff professionally copied before giving it out to the band. First person who gets a chance ask Bozzio about it, leave it in the comments, please.

Also at the link is a recent video of a Terry Bozzio playing the piece, which will come in handy if you want to actually learn it.

---

Second, a new addition to our blogroll— a fan site dedicated to Jim Keltner, including his complete discography, with album personnel and notes, photos, and, most interestingly, scans of a lot of rare print interviews. I'll be linking to a lot more from this site.

Transcription: Ralph Humphrey — Don't Eat The Yellow Snow

Here's a nice introduction to rock in drumming in 7: Ralph Humphrey's part from Don't Eat The Yellow Snow, from Apostrophe by Frank Zappa. I go way back with this song, to 1974 when I was 7 and my brother brought the record home. I think this was the first thing I ever heard that it occurred to me to ask who it was who was playing it.

It's mostly in 7/4, with a few measures of 7/8. The 7/4 is a half-time feel, phrased as 2+2+3 quarter notes, and the 7/8 is a 16th note rock feel, and breaks down to 2+2+3 eighth notes. The feel change on top of the meter change may be a little confusing, but the underlying pulse is consistent between meters. It's tempting to try to explain it, but you can figure it out if you follow along with the recording a few times. Go ahead and count through the rests at the end— get a feel for how the 4/4 contrasts with the 7/4.

Get the pdf

Audio after the break:

Vinnie Colaiuta Q & A

Here's 37 minutes of audio from the question and answer portion of a Vinnie Colaiuta clinic. He opens with some discussion of playing in 19/16 on Keep It Greasey, from Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa (which reminds me, I think maybe Santa might have a transcription for you coming up). At a certain point in my life I would've worn out the cassette hanging on every word of this, despite the quality being a little rough:



As I'm listening through: He discusses getting an authentic feel in samba and baiao, which is something else we've talked about here, and also the non-alternating flam drag, which is similar to one of my licks.

h/t to Stitch Kaboodle @ Drummerworld

The Hawaii 5-O fill

That's the term I use for that universal 8th-grade-style fill down the toms effectively applied, ever since it was coined by Ralph Hardimon regarding a concert tom run of mine when I was in Santa Clara Vanguard's pit in 1986 (for you non-corps people, the pit is the non-marching concert percussion section that sets up along the front sideline). The piece is "The Hut", from Pictures at an Exhibition- it starts at 7:00, and the fill is a few measures after- my most exposed stuff on the show was during this piece- the concert toms are all me on that one:



When he said it I recognized it instantly, but listening back to the actual theme, with John Guerin on drums, nothing like the fill actually happens until late in the tune, at 1:13, so maybe he was just talking about a general vibe:



Other examples after the break- share your personal favorites in the comments:

Transcription: Jim Gordon - Apostrophé

Here's Jim Gordon's drum break from the title track of Apostrophé by Frank Zappa. The tune is a jam with Zappa and Cream bassist Jack Bruce. This is actually one of the first things I ever transcribed, if not the first, back in 1984 or so. Along with the rest of the record, it's one of the earlier pieces of music I actually noticed and liked, from when my brother was playing this around the house when it came out in 1973.

Get the pdf   | buy the LP (the only way to hear this one)

YouTube clip of the track after the break:

Best books - Even in the Odds by Ralph Humphrey

The classic text on odd meter playing by Zappa/Don Ellis drummer Ralph Humphrey, this book covers swing, funk, and solo patterns in 5/4, 7/4, 5/8, 7/8, and longer odd time signatures. Each meter gets a concise treatment of four or five pages focused on learning its particular terrain. The written text is also minimal but effective- the instruction "repeat each exercise until a casual swing develops" is representative. This is a welcome change from many current books which tend to include way too many exercises, and assume a lot of ignorance (and isolation from real-world sources of information) with overly detailed verbal instructions. It appears to be geared towards college students who are going to tear through it, then run out and complete the process by applying it in performance.

For a partisan (like me) of the modern, interpretive Syncopation-based method of practice (reading a single melody line and orchestrating it for the drums on the fly), the process used in this book is rather old fashioned, in the Chapin mode. This entails learning by fully written-out one measure patterns, eventually adding up to at least a practical vocabulary, if not a lot of understanding. This does work well with the subject matter, though- many of us are back in the stone age (or at least the early days of the Chapin book) when it comes to odd meters, and it's fine to be spoon fed the patterns a little bit while the shape of the meters sinks in. And this book is well-constructed in that at leads you easily into going beyond the written exercises- in a way, it seems like the pinnacle of that approach.