First things first - download your free transcription here.
I need to spend less time on Reddit. Put, this past week, it “pulled me back in”.
Over the stupidest stuff, too.
A poster had shared a video of their tom tuning, and asked for feedback. Without looking at any of the other comments, I wrote something complimentary. Then, contrary to the advice I’d give to anyone, I looked at the other comments. And this poster was getting dragged by everybody, for the simple act of muffling.
Slapping a couple of moon gels on, to get a deader sound. Like Steve Gadd. Purdie before him. Ringo. But nope, guess the Reddit community will no longer abide anything other than fully-open, “let a thousand overtone angels sing”.
What I should have done was close my phone and go for a walk. What I did instead was fire up the laptop and begin penning the screed that turned into this video.
In which we’ll examine the true history of muffling, which players were famous for it (hint, not just modern ones), their likely reasons, and the gear that made it possible.
Then, we’ll cover tom tuning and a few “hot licks” I like to warm up.
Finally, we’ll run our own experiment: from “wide open” to “dead as hell”. And you can be the judge.
Hope you enjoy!
P.S. did you know you can get 30 days free at JP Bouvet Method (until May 3) with the code FLOW, and support 8020 in the process. Get you some!