Deep Purple -- My Woman from Tokyo

Deep Purple has always been one of my many favorites when it comes to rock music. Rather than doing Smoke on the Water, which is a great song, I chose My Woman from Tokyo because I feel that there are enough versions of the other song out there.

This track is also one of those that I have always wanted to play in the cover bands that I have been in but none of them ever had it on their set list. So if the song won't come to me, I must go to the song and so, I decided to publish it on YouTube.

This video is by no means intended to be a 100% copy or anything. I am simply jamming the song and am trying to remember the fills that Ian Paice (the original drummer) makes, but that is quite difficult for an old man like me. Memory has never been my strong side so I must do the best I can.

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do, although I am making noise along with it.



Incidentally, this video was made as a tribute to a YouTube friend named Roberto (user name is roby62gtr on YouTube). In a comment, I made on one of his clips, I promised to take my hat off for him in my next video, so that is why I take it off and say “Roberto” at the end – just in case you wonder.

The Sweet -- Ballroom Blitz

I am a little late posting this entry because I released a video of me drumming along with Ballroom Blitz the day before I went to Spain (Wednesday, September 17, 2008). I suppose that I must have been busy with packing and other things before I went.

Ballroom Blitz is a track that hit the charts back in 1973 and made The Sweet very popular. The drum groove is a little tricky to play at first but once you get the hang of it, it turns out to be fairly easy because it feels really good.



I may have to do a video explaining how I play this groove because I have already had a few private messages with that question... It may be a little hard to explain but I will have to do my best.

Islands in the Stream

I decided to make one more country video before going to Spain. I decided to drum along with Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. The reasons for choosing this particular song were threefold:

1. I really like the song.
2. The original drum track is great.
3. I want a few country songs on my channel.

At first, the drums seemed very simple and in fact, they are. However, being such a tight and controlled groove, it is very hard to play it in a relaxed and accurate manner. I did a few test recorings (audio only) and managed to play the song perfectly (without the camera) but in the end, I could not manage to play it perfectly on the published clip. I only practiced it for an hour or two before shooting this version but it is tiresome to play the song over and over. Had I waited a day to record the release version, I would have made it perfect. I simply wanted the video out so I settled for the result I had.

The song became a major country hit after its release in 1983. To the best of my knowledge, the Gibb brothers wrote it but I do not know whether they have ever recorded a version of the song themselves.



I hope you enjoy it and foregive me for not being perfect. I am not a professional drummer, although I do get paid to play.

Merle Haggard -- Lonesome Fugitive

Having set up my drumkit yesterday and even made a clip from it that I posted on YouTube, I decided that it was time to sit down and practice a little drums. It was Friday night, so I got a few brewskies and let iTunes play some random songs that I could drum along with. After a while, I came across Merle Haggard's old hit "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" and I instinctively fell into a bossanova sort of groove.

When I woke up this morning, I kept hearing that song in my head. I have always loved the song and it makes me feel compassion for that Lonesome Fugitive. I think it is very sad when the words I am on the run. The highway is my home. come out of the speaker.

I decided to practice a little drums after breakfast and laundry so once that was out of the way, I played this song and jammed along with it. Today, I took a more focused approach to the groove than last night. After playing the song 3 or 4 times, I had worked out a basic groove and had the tempo right as well. I made a test video first but messed up in the 2nd bar of the song. The test clip came out really well and after practicing the groove for a little while without any music, I felt it was pretty close to being acceptable.

I then made the recording and although there may be one or two hits that are not on the money, almost all of them are, so I posted the video.



Merle Haggard is a country musician that spent some time in prison but eventually turned around his life and focused on his singing. It is a good thing that he did, because some really good music came out of that. My dad is the one that owns credit for introducing me to Merle Haggard. He likes a lot of old-style country from the 60ies and during my childhood, a lot of his music spoke to the musician within me.

I didn't know it at the time, but I was a musician and there was something good about many different songs. Only later did I discover that I like a steady beat and a good tune.

New Video -- Setting up Roland TD-12

I was playing with a digital camera yesterday and while surfing around in the menu system, I came across an option called Time Lapse. I wanted to experiment with that option so I set the interval to 1 second. This meant that the camera would record one frame or so per second. All I needed to test it was something to record and preferably something that took a while.

I had just returned from the summer house and my Roland TD-12 kit was all over the floor unassembled so hey why not film the assembly of the kit? That's how I got the idea for my new video, which is not a drumming video as such -- simply a camera test, but I thought it was kinda fun, so I decided to put it on YouTube.



As already mentioned, I am considering making some instructional drumming videos containing tips, technique, and things like that. The only problem is the following list:

• I need some more sound equipment.
• I need an additional camera.
• I need at least two camera stands.

Perhaps I will go country in the next video. I heard an Alan Jackson track and although the drums are pretty much the same all the way through the song, they are somewhat challenging because they must be played very precisely. They are not technically difficult to master but they can be somewhat of an endurance test.