Iván

 

 

Needless to say, a lot of Prog-Metal is hard to play. I'll single out the obvious: Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation. For a good example of each: DT's "Dance of Eternity" and PoS's "Ideoglossia."

 

Otherwise, "Isle of Everywhere" by Gong gets so crazy, you'd have to be at the top of your game to play it well.

 

Similarly, much of Crimson, Yes and Genesis are difficult due to odd/shifting time signatures and the presence of Bruford or Collins.  Re Genesis, I have always found the instrumental break in Robbery Assault & Battery to be particularly difficult due to each measure being a different time signature (moreso even than One for the Vine).  I also love the way they groove in 7/4, which almost every Genesis-influenced and/or neo-prog band (Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Porcupine Tree et al) does homage to.  Re GG, they don't actually use odd time signatures all that often, they just have a way of throwing things together that can be difficult to play.

 

These days, the stuff that Portnoy does (both with DT and Neal Morse) gets about as difficult as it is possible to get.

 

The most common "odd" signatures used in most classic prog are 7/4, 9/8 and 13/8, all of which can be a bitch depending on how they are broken down.

 

Peace.

 

Maani,

 

Good to see you back but if you think that you need to see a band close to NY called IZZ with two drummers.  TYhey don't blow you away with power but at the end of the evening when you think back on them you will be amazed. 

 

 

 

Actually, it's pretty easy. The song is in 4/4, but in the verse Bruford/White play a 5/4 over that; that is, the snare gets hit once every five quarter notes. It's simple really, as it's only hi-hat and snare, with the occasional accents on the bass drum.

Most of the classic Yes/Genesis/VdGG/even Kc drum parts are not very difficult to decipher, and therefore they can be played, if you have the necessary skill of course. I think the most difficult things to play are those that actually take a longer time to properly understand: a lot of jazz and fusion stuff, Zappa tunes, and basically every RIO band (Chris Cutler or Dave Kerman are almost untouchable, to my ears at least).

That being said, it isn't always how intricate your parts get, but rather how well you manage to make them fit in the context of that particular piece of music, in a way that complements it and enriches it.