I found this clip on YouTube the other day. A guy covers Dead Flowers from Sticky Fingers Live at Fonda Theatre and he really manage to play it in the style of Charlie. In fact, it's the closest to Charlie I've ever seen.

Take a look!


YouTube - Dead Flowers drum cover

Quote
The Worst.
Jumpin' Jack Flash from Beacon Theatre 2006.

[www.youtube.com]

Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Keith! Nice wrong chords! Nice bit there 37 seconds in.

It's a bit slower sounding than the movie.

Monkey Man with Charlie Watts
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3FUA0Hj7fI

Charlie Watts / All Down the Line
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiswNgUYD4M

Reading about Charlie not playing the hi-hat on page 2 is hilarious.

The style of playing that made the Stones so huge started with We Love You and on through TSMR to IORR's Dance Little Sister, that double kick beat behind the snare - or in front of it. The way he drummed on the 1969 tour on Jumpin' Jack Flash is a great example. That carried some of their best tunes. He didn't do it on everything - but it's one of those styles that when I hear it it's Charlie Watts.

2000 Light Years, Jigsaw Puzzle, Let It Bleed, Bitch, Dead Flowers, Rocks Off, All Down The Line, Stop Breaking Down, Dance Little Sister, Short And Curlies.

It changed after that to a bit more laidback on BLACK AND BLUE and then oddly tightened up from SOME GIRLS onward, especially on EMOTIONAL RESCUE and UNDERCOVER.

From what I know the not hitting the hi-hat started during the SOME GIRLS sessions. On a side note, from what it sounds like anyway, he got the China crash at the end of the 1977 SOME GIRLS sessions. It seems like it anyway, because only one song has it. It's not on Start Me Up or Miss You but it is on Some Girls. That's it! It's on one song on SOME GIRLS! Which leads me to believe that a majority of the album was culled from the earliest sessions because it's on Summer Romance.

Quote
GasLightStreet
Reading about Charlie not playing the hi-hat on page 2 is hilarious.

The style of playing that made the Stones so huge started with We Love You and on through TSMR to IORR's Dance Little Sister, that double kick beat behind the snare - or in front of it. The way he drummed on the 1969 tour on Jumpin' Jack Flash is a great example. That carried some of their best tunes. He didn't do it on everything - but it's one of those styles that when I hear it it's Charlie Watts.

2000 Light Years, Jigsaw Puzzle, Let It Bleed, Bitch, Dead Flowers, Rocks Off, All Down The Line, Stop Breaking Down, Dance Little Sister, Short And Curlies.

It changed after that to a bit more laidback on BLACK AND BLUE and then oddly tightened up from SOME GIRLS onward, especially on EMOTIONAL RESCUE and UNDERCOVER.

An early or proto version of that rhythm can be heard on Talkin' Bout You from Out of Our Heads.

Luv Charlie's kicks on Thru and Thru!

[youtu.be]

His drum sound on Thru and Thru is MASSIVE...I love how heavy the kick is when he comes in at the end.

Quote
flacnvinyl
Lifting the highhat on the snare hits is the key to his sound. She's So Cold is the quintessentially example. This clip is killer.

I was lucky enough to be at the Beacon shows and loved it! The problem with Shine A Light is the sound mix. That's a whole post in itself. The snare is mixed poorly so it sounds thin regardless of the tuning.. guitars go from being inaudible to very loud (for sonic/visual effect and very stupidly).. Jagger's vocals should have a low end rolloff at 80-120 MINIMUM.. instead sometimes his vocals end up being in the same sound spectrum as the dang kick drum!

I think a song like "Start me Up" with it's isolated snare hit, which is vital to the song begs for that type of snare hit: alone and pure. No Hi Hat. Wasn't it around 81 he started doing it anyway?

Is it actually hard to do? I'm no drummer but it's probably more of a readjustment when you've always done it the other way around, right?

From the Stones Facebook page, today is Charlie's 54th anniversary with the Stones! They couldn't have done it without darling Mr Wang Dang Doodle. Happy Anniversary Charlie! Thanks for the beat.

Quote
Doxa
I guess the thing with the Rolling Stones members typically is that they they are pretty hard to 'judge' objectively as players, since they just happen to make so incredible music together, which we Stones fans love so much. The key players of their sound - Keith, Bill, and Charlie - all of them have a certain signature style, that is pretty much suited to serve the music of the Stones, but outside of that scheme, they all are rather mediocre players technicalwise (and the Stones music doesn't need much technical skills).

I agree with this. It's kind of amazing that this particular combination of musicians was able to create such truly great work, and at the same time their efforts outside the band are almost entirely unremarkable.

Quote
MacLaurens
I found this clip on YouTube the other day. A guy covers Dead Flowers from Sticky Fingers Live at Fonda Theatre and he really manage to play it in the style of Charlie. In fact, it's the closest to Charlie I've ever seen.

Take a look!


YouTube - Dead Flowers drum cover

Certainly a nice Charlie imitation.

However, I always wonder about people who try to so closely mimic their heroes. I mean, this guy isn't just playing like Charlie; he's copying his technique, posture, and quirky head turning motions.

If that's what you want to do, that's fine, but it's VERY limiting if you want to be a musician and develop your own identity...and for a drummer, copying Charlie will SEVERELY limit your growth and you'll develop a lot of bad habits from a technical/technique perspective.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-13 04:31 by keefriff99.

Quote
keefriff99

Quote
MacLaurens
I found this clip on YouTube the other day. A guy covers Dead Flowers from Sticky Fingers Live at Fonda Theatre and he really manage to play it in the style of Charlie. In fact, it's the closest to Charlie I've ever seen.

Take a look!


YouTube - Dead Flowers drum cover

Certainly a nice Charlie imitation.

However, I always wonder about people who try to so closely mimic their heroes. I mean, this guy isn't just playing like Charlie; he's copying his technique, posture, and quirky head turning motions.

If that's what you want to do, that's fine, but it's VERY limiting if you want to be a musician and develop your own identity...and for a drummer, copying Charlie will SEVERELY limit your growth and you'll develop a lot of bad habits from a technical/technique perspective.

Yes, of course. I fully agree with you. It is necessary to create and develop a personal style and identity. This is clearly an imitation of Charlie and it is good to stress that. But one can learn by copying and watching other people play, just as Charlie did back in the days.

He's not unique in this...but its important to remember that Charlie's heroes & influences were Jazz players.

It's a bit of old cliche to describe Charlie as a Jazz drummer sitting in with a Rock N Roll/ R&B band...but there's much truth in it and its certailnly a significant factor in defining the band's unique groove & feel.

Quote
MacLaurens
I found this clip on YouTube the other day. A guy covers Dead Flowers from Sticky Fingers Live at Fonda Theatre and he really manage to play it in the style of Charlie. In fact, it's the closest to Charlie I've ever seen.

Take a look!


YouTube - Dead Flowers drum cover

No China crash but whatever. Does Charlie really hit the crashes that much?

Quote
Palace Revolution 2000

Quote
flacnvinyl
Lifting the highhat on the snare hits is the key to his sound. She's So Cold is the quintessentially example. This clip is killer.

I was lucky enough to be at the Beacon shows and loved it! The problem with Shine A Light is the sound mix. That's a whole post in itself. The snare is mixed poorly so it sounds thin regardless of the tuning.. guitars go from being inaudible to very loud (for sonic/visual effect and very stupidly).. Jagger's vocals should have a low end rolloff at 80-120 MINIMUM.. instead sometimes his vocals end up being in the same sound spectrum as the dang kick drum!

I think a song like "Start me Up" with it's isolated snare hit, which is vital to the song begs for that type of snare hit: alone and pure. No Hi Hat. Wasn't it around 81 he started doing it anyway?

Well, technically, 1977. At least according to Chris Kimsey. Sometimes when I listen to Start Me Up I hear the sound of BLACK AND BLUE more than SOME GIRLS with the drums, which they supposedly worked on in 1975.

"Charlie Watts / All Down the Line / You aren't too old, Charlie !"
[www.youtube.com]

Quote
Palace Revolution 2000

Quote
flacnvinyl
Lifting the highhat on the snare hits is the key to his sound. She's So Cold is the quintessentially example. This clip is killer.

I think a song like "Start me Up" with it's isolated snare hit, which is vital to the song begs for that type of snare hit: alone and pure. No Hi Hat. Wasn't it around 81 he started doing it anyway?

SOME GIRLS.

"Charlie Watts skips the high hat when playing the snare drum!"
[www.youtube.com]

right about 1:00 , a minute in; a cool simple example of the standard beat and then Charlie's approach...clear overhead cam shot and etc...


so elementary and simple, sublte seeming at first but a huge difference really; opens up quite a space; in protypical rock music with original country swing blue elements all in the stew, the stand up bass, later in some enlightened cases like Wyman; the electric bass, would be more the moving element, even four or eight to the bar w various melody and punctuation, as the rhythm guitar too at times, ala Keith, Chuck and so many, becomes mainly in some ways the steady rhyhtm instrument element...as impactful as the complementary drums and percussion; somewhere in all this comes, if we're lucky and the players are naturally w it, that 'swing'...that magical 'loping' kind of thing explained so many different ways by so many singers and players thruout so many decades going back to early jazzers....space is created for interaction; there's a natural tension almost 'ready to spring' kinda ambiance created in the best combo players...
....that sometimes almost even not discernable difference betweeen some exciting and eruptive and something more staid and locked in more mechanically...
i'm not a drummer; so certainly no expert at any of this; just observations.,..i've played some piano and guitar; mostly rhythm; but am no pro or anything....these are just my impressions from listening and caring and relating to the music...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-03-27 20:19 by hopkins.