Keith is such a nice dude. Met him at a clinic and found out our daughters are the same age, she drew him a picture and he said he'd put it on his wall at home, made her day. Legend ❤
Keith Carlock's playing is insane. I saw him at a drum clinic and his playing just made me have a goofy grin on my face from ear to ear. His deep sense of groove is what sets him apart from other players. The way he plays his hi-hats like two spinning plates in perpetual motion whilst he reciprocates with his hands and feet is incredible. His use of traditional grip is instrumental to the way he plays. His timing is impeccable - that is key to his deep sense of groove. You don't just hear his playing, you feel it.
I don't know if it's your E. Coast eccentricity or what, but having been studying 47 years, I've seen my share of videos, master classes, even a couple of music schools, but your videos just keep me coming back or more. No hype, in fact quite the opposite, you just lay it out for the taking. And do it with a bit of that E.Coast sarcasm we've all grown to love. Keep it coming..
Keith is the truth. I've seen him with Krantz in a jazz club and at an amplitheater with Steely Dan. He can wild out with the best of em, but his grooves are what truly move folks. There's a reason why he's been drumming with Steely Dan for 20 years. The real secret to his playing is his doubles. I can be a challenge getting them loud enough to be heard (especially from a larger stage), yet still clean and clear. That's where the stick heights come in.
For people that know golf, I've always thought as Keith as the Jim Furyk of drummers. It doesn't matter what it looks like, only what the results are. And his results are freaking fantastic. His feel and groove, never mind all the fancy licks... Undoubtedly someone who carved out his own sound and style long ago...
Great Job Nate! I love Keith, he's such a killer player. His grip is super loose!! it looks like those sticks are going to fly right out of his hand. It speaks to his approach and his "Relaxed Intensity", the man is so chill back there always, but looks like he just ran a marathon on 6 red bulls , after an all night bender at a rave!
Awesome video - thanks for these tips - loving your content The thing about Keith’s style is you need the wide open sound to glue it all together. Your snare and kick sound are too staccato for the Carlock style (but sound just great otherwise❤). I have been tuning my Kick wide open like Keith does and it’s a completely different feeling to kinds of phrases he plays.
I took a lesson with Keith back in the early 2000's... He charged me 75.00 😮.. Big take away.. Give notes their "full value".. He used "The Chicken" as an example, how a lot of people rush the hits at the end of the form.. You want good feel, work on your subdivisions.. It's WAY more than just chops for Keith, his pocket has that swampyness that makes Bonham so great
I won a contest held by him years back, ever since his sound has been a huge influence on my sound...especially growing up with guys like Dana Hawkins playing like this too
Oh I remember my Dutch drum teachers talking shit about him. They walked out of his gig 15 min into the show in Rotterdam… they really thought they were hotter shit than him 😂😂😂 Good lord!
I sit here looking at my signed drum skin by Keith from a 2010 clinic. Really nice guy and one of the GOAT! Very hard to replicate. I don't think you mentioned his drum line background unless I missed it. That plays a big part in his playing style and also his love for new orleans grooves.
Love Carlock’s playing with Wayne Krantz & Steely Dan. Instantly recognizable!! I must add that his predecessor in the Krantz trio - Zach Danziger - is an equally interesting & technically amazing drummer…
As a rock and metal drummer, the Carlock Hemiola still has a TON of utility in the vocabulary of music I regularly play. Super duper cool to see something that transcends across music from jazz to rock [I suppose that’s why they call it fusion 😂]
Awesome video, I missed his doubles as a trademark of his playing which I think stand out. Listen to his cymbal work on Aja when they played it live for instance... So subtle!
Some good information here. Missing some important details about the hands though. Keith has his left hand really far back on the stick, and the right hand really far forward. The right mostly comes from the elbow (at least for the 8th notes, fingers come more into play for 16ths) with a lose fulcrum when Carlock is on the ride, and it produces a distinctive sound. The left meanwhile is set up for these massive, resonant backbeats. Of course, setting your hands up in that sort of non-standard, very oppositional way is very difficult to recommend generally. And you can probably sound decently Carlock-ish without that part. One big difference I noticed between Carlock's playing and your impression of his playing, besides the obvious higher stick heights and powerful left hand, is that Carlock generally plays those eighth notes on the ride very consistently (ditto Louis Cole), and that's a *big* part of the sound, whereas when you're emulating him you still have a ton of variance on the ride--mostly noticeable when things start to get busy.
Keith gets too little attention these days. If you got tired of all the fast linear stuff Keith is a really good palette cleanser. He`s a runaway freight train on the drums.
Keith is great . I love his signature sticks too . Not too light but sht loads of rebound & do you say wide open tuning ? Keith said he had a drum corps background so his huge doubles orchestrated great a freaking huge flurry of drumset coolness . Love the vanish on his sticks too . 🤣 sorry .
That goes way back check out the song who’s who won John Scofield’s album Who’s Who with Steve Jordan. I look at that is as if Elvin Jones was playing.
I saw him at a clinic and was pretty blown away. Aside from his incredible skill on the kit, he was loud! It kind of opened my eyes to what can be done with traditional grip. I can play both traditional and matched, but I almost always play matched unless the volume needs to be really low. Not Keith! He gets tremendous sound out of his drums playing traditional. Another thing that made a big impression on me was how he had his snare and rack toms angled away from him. If I did that, I would have a lot of trouble playing, but it didn't slow him down at all. I noticed that in more recent videos he has his toms pretty flat. I'm not sure what his tom mounting rationale is.
I disagree on the stick height. I don’t think he slows down the stick at all, I think it is all volume, he plays really loud, that is how he can do those high stroke ghost notes because the accents are super loud.
I've always thought Keith plays like a power lifter, but manages to sustain that for hours instead of seconds. Odd thing is, he's also extremely subtle. He doesn't make any sense.
Doing ghost notes after rimshots has nothing to do with your grip. It is simply practice. I can do it in any grip, I can do it with my hands without any stick or bounce,
There's a big difference between drummers like this who can really play and those who were just popular but couldn't play nearly as good. Most would be pre-disposed to say the popular drummers were better than ones like this, but not those who know what they're actually listening to.
I generally love Keith’s playing. Exceptional feel with some brilliant technique! But: I watched him live with Sting in 2004 (without knowing who he was) and I absolutely felt that he butchered the gig with some wild overplaying. Lesson learned: even the greats sometimes forget the cardinal rules of drumming ✌🏻😅
I am not even a drummer to tell you how to play ... You already had shown everybody your technical skills, vast knowledge, and refined attention to detail as an observer ... but let's do an experiment about your playing ... Your posture seems to be a bit rigid or static ... Ok, that's a choice, nothing bad about having posture choices ... but just you alone, try this: relax the posture, make your spine, vertebrae, hip, and head to 'move and dance' with a groove or patterns of 1, 2, 3, 4 bars that you enjoy ... feel it and dance it, first in the spine before letting your arms (hand fingers included as arms ) and legs to touch the sticks or the pedals ... once you get the 'spine dance' let your extremities to flow as you already know, feel how the touch in the drumheads, stick pedals, cymbals ... how the sound is encompassed to that 'spine dance' ... Ok, you like your 'gentlemen military posture' it makes you feel sharp and centered in the sound ... don't worry, use the posture that you enjoy more ... but sometimes you can bring a balance between what you choose and what you research in the practice room ... let the groove to move the body ...
It is hardly rare for drummers to follow an accent with a ghost stroke. It's been going since pre funk,jazz,fusion. Rudiments drummers have been doing it for 100 years. There are books from the early 20th century that teach this. What are you even talking about???
Nice tuning... not really dude. You can have million subcribers, I will still be honest if toms doesn't sound right. how can you enjoy your snare with 2 moongels so close to the center dude, and so overused? Come on, do you not care about drumming and nice sound???
Keith is such a nice dude. Met him at a clinic and found out our daughters are the same age, she drew him a picture and he said he'd put it on his wall at home, made her day. Legend ❤
Keith Carlock's playing is insane. I saw him at a drum clinic and his playing just made me have a goofy grin on my face from ear to ear. His deep sense of groove is what sets him apart from other players. The way he plays his hi-hats like two spinning plates in perpetual motion whilst he reciprocates with his hands and feet is incredible. His use of traditional grip is instrumental to the way he plays. His timing is impeccable - that is key to his deep sense of groove. You don't just hear his playing, you feel it.
I don't know if it's your E. Coast eccentricity or what, but having been studying 47 years, I've seen my share of videos, master classes, even a couple of music schools, but your videos just keep me coming back or more. No hype, in fact quite the opposite, you just lay it out for the taking. And do it with a bit of that E.Coast sarcasm we've all grown to love. Keep it coming..
Hell yes. I wish more people knew just how sick a drummer Keith is. Absolutely one of my favorites ever.
Keith is the truth. I've seen him with Krantz in a jazz club and at an amplitheater with Steely Dan. He can wild out with the best of em, but his grooves are what truly move folks. There's a reason why he's been drumming with Steely Dan for 20 years.
The real secret to his playing is his doubles. I can be a challenge getting them loud enough to be heard (especially from a larger stage), yet still clean and clear. That's where the stick heights come in.
For people that know golf, I've always thought as Keith as the Jim Furyk of drummers. It doesn't matter what it looks like, only what the results are. And his results are freaking fantastic. His feel and groove, never mind all the fancy licks... Undoubtedly someone who carved out his own sound and style long ago...
I love Keith’s big open bass drum sound
Exactly - its part of the sound and the same beat just doesn’t sound very cool on a kit with a dry sound.
What a great video. It’s so nice to see Keith Analysis other than “The Lick” which is truly amazing, of course.
Thanks! Nate for helping me become a better drummer. For that reason, I endorse the 80/20 Coaching course. Recommended! *****
Great Job Nate!
I love Keith, he's such a killer player.
His grip is super loose!! it looks like those sticks are going to fly right out of his hand. It speaks to his approach and his "Relaxed Intensity", the man is so chill back there always, but looks like he just ran a marathon on 6 red bulls , after an all night bender at a rave!
I'ma save this and give it a whirl! thanks for the breakdown as always.
So many great resources in one lesson, thanks Nate!
great job breaking everything down
Awesome lesson about Keith!
Great video on one of the best beasts in the business!
Awesome video - thanks for these tips - loving your content
The thing about Keith’s style is you need the wide open sound to glue it all together.
Your snare and kick sound are too staccato for the Carlock style (but sound just great otherwise❤).
I have been tuning my Kick wide open like Keith does and it’s a completely different feeling to kinds of phrases he plays.
I took a lesson with Keith back in the early 2000's... He charged me 75.00 😮.. Big take away.. Give notes their "full value".. He used "The Chicken" as an example, how a lot of people rush the hits at the end of the form.. You want good feel, work on your subdivisions.. It's WAY more than just chops for Keith, his pocket has that swampyness that makes Bonham so great
Brilliant overview of an astonishingly talented player. Love it!
Thanks for the spotlight on Keith. He’s pretty good.
I won a contest held by him years back, ever since his sound has been a huge influence on my sound...especially growing up with guys like Dana Hawkins playing like this too
@@Ted_Swayinghill two of the greats
Fantastic video. Love Keith and I'll be coming back here for help with those fills.
Watching Keith play is like watching water flow. So much fluidity.
Oh I remember my Dutch drum teachers talking shit about him. They walked out of his gig 15 min into the show in Rotterdam…
they really thought they were hotter shit than him 😂😂😂 Good lord!
Great vid as always Nate, that snare is killing bro 👊
I sit here looking at my signed drum skin by Keith from a 2010 clinic. Really nice guy and one of the GOAT! Very hard to replicate. I don't think you mentioned his drum line background unless I missed it. That plays a big part in his playing style and also his love for new orleans grooves.
8. K.C.’s signature sticks V.F. Super fun to play accented doubles with these sticks. Almost effortless. Tips has short life span. 🥁 🥊
Love Carlock’s playing with Wayne Krantz & Steely Dan. Instantly recognizable!! I must add that his predecessor in the Krantz trio - Zach Danziger - is an equally interesting & technically amazing drummer…
He’s my all time favorite.
As a rock and metal drummer, the Carlock Hemiola still has a TON of utility in the vocabulary of music I regularly play. Super duper cool to see something that transcends across music from jazz to rock [I suppose that’s why they call it fusion 😂]
That was phenomenal. Well done
Another great video Nate
Great video. KC is the grooviest drummer I've ever heard.
Awesome video, I missed his doubles as a trademark of his playing which I think stand out. Listen to his cymbal work on Aja when they played it live for instance... So subtle!
Great job, Nate!!
You nailed em Nate! 🥁❤️
Some good information here. Missing some important details about the hands though. Keith has his left hand really far back on the stick, and the right hand really far forward. The right mostly comes from the elbow (at least for the 8th notes, fingers come more into play for 16ths) with a lose fulcrum when Carlock is on the ride, and it produces a distinctive sound. The left meanwhile is set up for these massive, resonant backbeats.
Of course, setting your hands up in that sort of non-standard, very oppositional way is very difficult to recommend generally. And you can probably sound decently Carlock-ish without that part.
One big difference I noticed between Carlock's playing and your impression of his playing, besides the obvious higher stick heights and powerful left hand, is that Carlock generally plays those eighth notes on the ride very consistently (ditto Louis Cole), and that's a *big* part of the sound, whereas when you're emulating him you still have a ton of variance on the ride--mostly noticeable when things start to get busy.
very useful, thanks
Check out the album Transformation by Tal Wilkenfield. The playing is unreal by everybody but especially Keith Carlock on the song BC
Keith gets too little attention these days. If you got tired of all the fast linear stuff Keith is a really good palette cleanser. He`s a runaway freight train on the drums.
convincing impression!
Keith Carlock has a very nice open drum sound :D
Keith is great . I love his signature sticks too . Not too light but sht loads of rebound & do you say wide open tuning ? Keith said he had a drum corps background so his huge doubles orchestrated great a freaking huge flurry of drumset coolness . Love the vanish on his sticks too . 🤣 sorry .
Him with Oz Noy was insane
Keith is unique because he can incorporate all musical styles into his playing and very few drummers can do that😢
That goes way back check out the song who’s who won John Scofield’s album Who’s Who with Steve Jordan. I look at that is as if Elvin Jones was playing.
I saw him at a clinic and was pretty blown away. Aside from his incredible skill on the kit, he was loud! It kind of opened my eyes to what can be done with traditional grip. I can play both traditional and matched, but I almost always play matched unless the volume needs to be really low. Not Keith! He gets tremendous sound out of his drums playing traditional.
Another thing that made a big impression on me was how he had his snare and rack toms angled away from him. If I did that, I would have a lot of trouble playing, but it didn't slow him down at all. I noticed that in more recent videos he has his toms pretty flat. I'm not sure what his tom mounting rationale is.
He probably likes to catch a bit of rim from his rack toms too. That gives flam-based fills a whole new character.
If you haven’t heard it check out the tune Club Sandwich by Sean Wayland. Some amazing Carlock groove on there.
Great video! So the main lick is basically a paradiddlediddle with two kicks in front of it? Is that correct?
He’s got that New Orleans beat.
here for the secrets & the humor
NATE! Do a full vid on 55 bar fusion xx
Keith is a great drummer but he really reminds me of liam mcpoyle in the clips where he has the hamburglar shirt.
Keith Carlock and Steely Dan
I disagree on the stick height. I don’t think he slows down the stick at all, I think it is all volume, he plays really loud, that is how he can do those high stroke ghost notes because the accents are super loud.
I've always thought Keith plays like a power lifter, but manages to sustain that for hours instead of seconds. Odd thing is, he's also extremely subtle. He doesn't make any sense.
Questlove told me to tell you he wants his snare back
The flam (with Hihat) that he did in the Modern Drummer fest with Wayne is ilegal in 20 states
Doing ghost notes after rimshots has nothing to do with your grip. It is simply practice. I can do it in any grip, I can do it with my hands without any stick or bounce,
There's a big difference between drummers like this who can really play and those who were just popular but couldn't play nearly as good. Most would be pre-disposed to say the popular drummers were better than ones like this, but not those who know what they're actually listening to.
I generally love Keith’s playing. Exceptional feel with some brilliant technique!
But: I watched him live with Sting in 2004 (without knowing who he was) and I absolutely felt that he butchered the gig with some wild overplaying. Lesson learned: even the greats sometimes forget the cardinal rules of drumming ✌🏻😅
explanations way way way waywayway over my head. Enjoyed te topic though.
Sounding nice & choppy...
I am not even a drummer to tell you how to play ... You already had shown everybody your technical skills, vast knowledge, and refined attention to detail as an observer ... but let's do an experiment about your playing ... Your posture seems to be a bit rigid or static ... Ok, that's a choice, nothing bad about having posture choices ... but just you alone, try this: relax the posture, make your spine, vertebrae, hip, and head to 'move and dance' with a groove or patterns of 1, 2, 3, 4 bars that you enjoy ... feel it and dance it, first in the spine before letting your arms (hand fingers included as arms ) and legs to touch the sticks or the pedals ... once you get the 'spine dance' let your extremities to flow as you already know, feel how the touch in the drumheads, stick pedals, cymbals ... how the sound is encompassed to that 'spine dance' ...
Ok, you like your 'gentlemen military posture' it makes you feel sharp and centered in the sound ... don't worry, use the posture that you enjoy more ... but sometimes you can bring a balance between what you choose and what you research in the practice room ... let the groove to move the body ...
It is hardly rare for drummers to follow an accent with a ghost stroke. It's been going since pre funk,jazz,fusion. Rudiments drummers have been doing it for 100 years. There are books from the early 20th century that teach this. What are you even talking about???
Nice tuning... not really dude. You can have million subcribers, I will still be honest if toms doesn't sound right. how can you enjoy your snare with 2 moongels so close to the center dude, and so overused? Come on, do you not care about drumming and nice sound???