It is stunning to me - not just about Mike, but in general - how falsehoods and misunderstandings just KEEP getting perpetuated.
Mike P. said he doesn't practice IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE, doing skills and drills. He noted in that and in other interviews that he actually plays a LOT, and does a lot to learn new material and make sure he can do the gigs he's signed up for. In my book that is, loosely, "practice". I think we're grossly underestimating his abilities here; there is absolutely no doubt that he will bring the songs into his own style and make it work for him, and I certainly do not expect what we hear is going to be a replication of what MM played, but I think the knee-jerk negative assumption that it's simply because he CAN'T is unfounded and unproven.
I was looking for a place to write this anyway, but since you mention the social media response, I think this is as good a place as any: I recently expanded my presence (unintentionally) on Facebook, and it is STUNNING to me how much negativity there is about and around Mike Portnoy. I don't know if it's just normal social media ignorance and rudeness (which by "normal", I mean seems to be the normal course of business on social media; what a cesspool) or if there is something more, but most of it doesn't seem all that constructive, and rather comes off as gratuitous and/or petty. I found a lot of it unfair and unreasonable.
Right, except that is what is required in order to play the more advanced limb independence parts in the MM era, so unless it is already something in MP's wheelhouse - which it is not based on a very large body of work we all have access to - I am comfortable inferring it would take him a TON of traditionally defined practice in order to play them. It's not a matter of different definitions of the word practice. I think MP's own statement regarding the issue accurately captures the definition so no need for me to repeat it.
There seems to be this implied belief some fans have, that because you are a legendary drummer (which he is) you can do anything the next guy can do. That is not how technique works. If you have great technical ability you have developed it by meticulously drilling exercises over a period of time. There is no way around that. John Petrucci did not become a great alternate picker by just being generally an awesome guy. He drilled exercises for hours on end and used those techniques in the music we all love. You know the saying 'you are what you practice'? Musicians tend to sound how they practice.
How might tougher MM era songs come out if he even chooses to play them? One poster mentioned the Glen Monturi covers. I think that's a possible roadmap for MP. Glen is simplifying certain sections but the covers sound fine. But we may have a good clue to how this is going to go...when Mike was playing with Tony Macalpine, Billy Sheehan and Derek they did a cover of a Planet X song called Apocalypse. Here is the cover Mike posted on his YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Ysr2wYcEsI looked for the studio recording of Virgil playing the same part and found a live version with bad audio quality and a fan cover of a section that occurs 1:25 into Mike's cover. The fan cover of this one section is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQzp0ptQnM and the longer live version is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KCE4vWh2qE.
Now I am not going to pretend I have the drum vocabulary to tell you everything going on but in this section I think it is pretty apparent how different the two versions feel. If you compare Virgil's part to Mike's cover you can hear (and see) that the latter is very stripped down. Mike is playing it all with his hands and skipping the isolated rhythm Virgil plays with the right hand. If I am correct in analyzing the cover, in bar 1 Virgil is playing the snare with the left hand on the first beat of a 16th note grouping, then on a second and then on a third. The feet are playing the remaining notes in the grouping. At the same time the right hand is playing a steady quarter note rhythm on top. This is fairly advanced limb independence and there are many similar examples from the Mangini era. Portnoy does not play in this way based on any recording of him that I am aware of. Again, NOT saying the guy isn't a great drummer.
Maybe you like Mike's version better and that's cool. There is no rule that we have to all like the more complicated thing but I just think it's having blinders on to pretend that
when it comes to technical ability, MP is in the same tier as Mangini, or most of the guys brought into the audition for that matter. If he can't play the hard sections of X Y or Z does it mean he 'cant play the song'? You can decide for yourself. My view is 'not necessarily' but I think some of this stuff is just going to have to be very simplified like what we have here. I personally feel that many times when you simplify a part that was put there for a reason, you miss something but yeah, I get that I am in the minority here. And I am fine with that.
EDIT: more than happy for the drummers on the forum to chime in and offer their 2c, especially if they have a knack for learning/analyzing/practicing these types of parts
Topic: Mike Portnoy's DRUMEO video series (Read 21916 times)
