How did Ron Bushy keep making the pitch of his drums go down in his "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" drum solo?
by 
Roger Kovaciny
ANSWERS: 5
-
Are you going to force me to dig that old chesnut of a record out and play it again? I much prefer Zappa's "In-A-Gadda-Stravinski". A drum's pitch is changed by adjusting the tightness of the drum head. The tighter the head the higher the pitch, the looser the head the lower the pitch. The drum head is held against the edge of the drum body with a metal hoop. Bolts around the hoop attach to a hoop on the other end of the drum or to anchors on the drum body. The bolts are adjusted with a key or wrench. A drummer can change the pitch during a song by playing the drum with one hand, while adjusting the tuning of the drum with the other. This could also be done in a studio by a second person when both of the drummer's hands are occupied. Most drums have between four and ten bolts around the head and adjusting even one of them will change the pitch.
-
I made my own drum heads using a dot in the center of the head, using contact cement (rubber base) on both the round mylar dot and also the head. I used only one head no bottoms. This gave them a jungle tabla sound which was unique, it got to the point I didn't have time to make my heads; so I went to REMO and asked if he could make them, he said sure. Well all I can say REMO ripped me off for the Black Dot head, I saw them in the stores 2-3 months later. But the Black Dot head, did not sound the same, because REMO didn't use my process, he used heat and hi pressure to laminate the dot to the head. RON BUSHY (drummer) IRON BUTTERFLY
-
I am a professional working drummer whom has played for over 20yrs. I am a bit confused by Mr. Bushy's reply, I am not sure how rubber cement and mylar dots could create the actual change in pitch during the performance. Also while RedJohn's explanation is the obvious one, I doubt it is accurate either. The Rototom explanation is even less satisfying to me. All said and done I think the aforementioned pitch changes are the result of the loose dotted heads, with no bottom heads, and a lot of accoustical good fortune. (So I guess I agreed with Mr. Bushy anyways, but want to emphasize the need for many factors??) Further, While it was Buddy Rich battling Animal on the Muppet Show who originally inspired me to play drums, I can say that Ron Bushy has had more of an influence on my actual playing and ability to make a drum part interesting to the masses. I was deeply inspired by Mr. Bushy at a very young age and he is a real treasure to the drum and music community as much as Buddy Rich, Steve Gadd, Elvin Jones Etc and some of the other celebrated drummers.
-
I've played this solo a few times and twice on stage to get Bushy's effect i just played closer to the rim with the head tightened evenly just tight enough to get a good throaty sound and the pitch will change [close to the edge]
-
Their called tension rods. Effects can help w/pitch, and Animal vs. Rich was also my catapult into the drum world. Rock on!!!
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC