Vinnie Paul Quotes

The musical training taught me to focus my mind, before playing in an orchestra taught me how to truly concentrate. If you miss your moment in an orchestra, there is no forgiving.

Many classical musicians lack pulse and rhythmical strength and precision, so for us it was very important to acquire and learn those.

Then I tried out for the Fontana High School drum line, in Riverside, and I did really well. I got second chair, and played snare in that drum line for three years.

I got my first set of drums when I was around 3. I went from band to marching band to Latin jazz band - it's like riding a bike.

I'm not good enough, technically, to be a classic musician. I lack discipline.

There were so many specific things from high school jazz band that I remembered: the conductor searching out people who were out of tune, or stopping and starting me for hours in front of the band as they watched.

It's certainly no coincidence that big bands became the entertainment of the army in WWI and WWII, and that jazz drumming style is very military influenced. The snare drum comes from the military and becomes the core kind of sound of jazz drums.

Age 10. I joined the school marching band as a drummer.

I'm a freak, everything has to be totally flat when I play. Ed Will, my jazz teacher, set up everything completely flat, and then you'd tilt your snare drum away from you, so I do that too. So my snare tilts away from me.

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.

Even though I'm a jazz-trained drummer, I cut my teeth playing rock.

So, first you have to be able to play with a metronome. Then you take your freedom. If you play in an orchestra, you got to watch the conductor, he is like a metronome, but it is more difficult because he can change rhythms.

Well I had a musical background, but I still didn't know a lot about drums at the time.

Session work makes you more strict. You can't hit notes all over the place. You've got to make each one really count.

I started playing piano with a little band in high school. I was terrible. I thought I had absolutely no talent. I couldn't keep time. I only got into McGill, which was a lousy music school, because they were taking American music students.

From time to time, the Vienna Philharmonic could play without a conductor because they are so good.

The music stuff has been very difficult. It's got to be right, and even then, it better be on key.

I can play a bunch of instruments but drums? My brother's a drummer and I've always been jealous that he's such a good drummer. I always try to play but it's always kinda just bashing. I can keep time but no one really wants to hear me play drums.

I was always pretty decent at fast stick work or doing stuff that seems impressive that's not really; I was pretty tasteful and had good ideas musically. But I had a terrible sense of tempo, which is like being a blind painter. The conductor would just rip into me, and it lasted for years.

I suppose I am more comfortable with jazz because I have been playing it that much longer, and also because classical music is a much more disciplined genre.

To me, there's no question that using a metronome develops your speed and accuracy. If you're learning scales or you're jamming on parts that you can't quite pull off, it's a must.

One that really caught me was Joe Morello. He was the first drummer I ever saw that could do a roll with one hand. He would turn his hand over and use his fingertips to get the stick bouncing. He could sit there with his right hand doing stuff on the cymbals and tom-toms while he was doing a roll with his left on the snare drum.

We all want to play great music all the time, but if that is not possible, you have to hit as many right notes as you can.

You can't compete with Sweets' sound and time feel. It's impossible.

Basically, if you work hard and practice an instrument every day, you'll learn how to play like a professional. You'll get better and better each day. And that's how it works for me. I wasn't magically inclined to play. I had to keep practicing and practicing to train my fingers.