whats so special about John Bonham?

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Slippy

Slippy

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whats all the hype about? i grew up listening to Zep tho never been a huge fan but i did like them.. i have watched some video's and listened to alott of his stuff but never really understood why he is considered such a drum god. Now im not trying to ruffle any feathers here just wondering if there is some video clips or drum recordings that might show boat his talent?
 
GROOOOOOVE! Rocked out, but still had such a feathery touch. good stuff.

 
If you don't get it no words are going to explain it??? He took from the great jazz drummers and came up with his own cookbook.Innovator, genius, Pioneer!! are all good descriptions Of John Henry :unsure: :idea1:
 
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vintagemore2000 said:
If you don't get no words are going to explain it??? He took from the great jazz drummers and came up with his own cookbook.Innovator, genius, Pioneer!! are all good descriptions Of John Henry :unsure: :idea1:
Click to expand...

that's ok. there are plenty of drummers who don't get Ringo either.
 
OK, fair enough, What did J Bohnam do, he was musical, same with Ringo, K moon C Watts. You just can't put your finger on it, it is just there.

Chops are nice but playing for the song is king....he did it in spades.
 
"Good Times, Bad Times" was the one that first hooked me. Off to the races after that. I could try listing all the fills, feels, and beats that slay me but I'm typing on my phone and it could take some time.

I didn't "get" Zepp at first, but my friends played a lot of their music, not just the popular stuff, and I began to appreciate the diversity of the band.

Do it the old fashioned way. Grab one disc and digest the whole album. It's worth it.
 
Greetings Everyone, Bonham did stuff with one bass drum pedal that I can`t do with two! Listen to the first few albums.
 
Its okay some do some don't...I don't think it makes you a better or worse drummer. I don't think Charlie Watts or Buddy Rich are drum gods either though I admire and respect who they are.

RIngo, Bonham, Levon, Keltner, Gadd... these guys can just make musice sound better that they are playing, and they make me not be able to imagine the music being the same without their take and feel on the music. I think they approach the music as a musician and not a drummer. That's the best I can do... now I'll sit back let everyone yell at me about my comments on CW and BR :)
 
Innovation, a great overall sound and a beautiful sense of time...those are the Bonham attributes I admire. There are popular players I don't "get" either...it's all in the ear of the beholder.

Chris
 
I remember when I was a teenager in the 70's I never thought much of John Bonham or Ringo ,but once I tried to play some of their grooves with their feel and inflection it was like the clouds parted and a beam if understanding shone in me.I have been a huge fan of each ever since. Their grooves may not sound like much to the casual listener, but try playing it like them and with their feel and it is something to be truly appreciated and admired.
 
Polska said:
"Good Times, Bad Times" was the one that first hooked me. Off to the races after that. I could try listing all the fills, feels, and beats that slay me but I'm typing on my phone and it could take some time.

I didn't "get" Zepp at first, but my friends played a lot of their music, not just the popular stuff, and I began to appreciate the diversity of the band.

Do it the old fashioned way. Grab one disc and digest the whole album. It's worth it.
Click to expand...

+1

Watchin 'The Song Remains the Same' now and was inspired to chime in on this thread.

His playing was just superb. Jimmy was such an accomplished musician from his teens and had to have a band that could keep up with him. Bonzo did that in spades!
Hard for younger people to put in perspective music but I`d imagine the first song off of their first album changed everything back then.
 
Watch the 1970 Royal Albert Hall concert that is on the Led Zeppelin DVD that came out 5-6 years ago, and you'll understand a little better, perhaps. Brute force at times, combined with delicacy and taste. A slightly swung feel with a lot of internal dynamics, snare slightly behind the beat a lot of times. A gift for tuning the drums, and then extracting the maximum that the drums had to offer, along with a sound unique to him (with a big assist from Jimmy Page's production skills). Uncanny ability to come up with memorable drum parts, and an intuitive partnership with John Paul Jones as a unique and powerful rhythm section. His influence on at least two generations of drummers, who have tried to emulate him and generally failed miserably (myself included).
 
I'd say for his time, he really was an incredible breath of fresh air.

Good Times Bad Times... 1969.... NO ONE EVER played a kick pattern like that.
Seriously... when i heard that for the first time, i thought ...that is IMPOSSIBLE.

now, by todays standards, he didnt do 32 notes w 1 foot or 1 hand at 120 bpm....

but Zeppelin was not just a band...they were a force of nature

back in the day... bands and musicians were not human...they were other wordly....bigger then life... the 70s made sure of w the culture of excess....

but he excelled at playing w Page, Plant and Jones...just like Moon excelled at playing w Pete, Rog and John.

all the non jazz guys that were the biggest influences on me... Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Michael Giles, Bruford, Moon, Bonzo.... they went technical geniuses... they didn't have blazing jaw dropping chops...but the stuff the did play was jaw dropping none the less...because no one EVER played like they did... and you could tell who it was as soon as the needle dropped onto the vinyl

if i heard a recording of Thomas Lang, Virgil Donaiti..etc... i really couldnt tell you who was playing.

put any of the other guys on...and i'll tell you who, what year, and what their kit config was at the time
 
I'm like that with Ringo and Charlie Watts, but I 'get' Bonham.

I'd describe it as 'heavy groove'. He just made everything sound big and powerful, but it had a very specific groove and feel to it as opposed to just a power hitter.

He also had a pretty wide palette to paint from - listen to Good Times, Achilles Last Stand, and Fool in the Rain back to back.. it covers a lot of ground.
 
I do understand alot of what you guys are saying and its not that i dont like him i think hes got great vibe to his playing i lile what you said about his snare drum being a little behind in his playing i have used that grove alot in my playing. I guess what i was looking for was someone to point me in the right direction and give me a link to something maybe i havent heard him play before.
 
He's not the flashiest player for sure... though some of the tunes that he recorded did have a fair bit of flash, like "Good Times Bad Times." What made him special was as others have said, is that really heavy feel. He was funky in a way that other hard rock drummers really weren't, as evidenced by the fact that lots of hip hop folks have sampled his beats. I really think that's a lot of what he brought to the table: a very funky feel within the context of heavy rock music. His drum parts we just really well designed too. Not always fancy but just right.... the way that he sets up different parts of the song, changes feel from one part to the next and the syncopations that he uses... which are often not the most obvious path to take in any given song but end up really enhancing what's going on. He's a really great example of a "composing drummer" I think, meaning that the creative choices that he made were equally important as the skills that he showed playing them.
 
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