training in Japan...

in the top photo you see me casually lounging aboard the Super Bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka. in the lower photo you see me and bill bruford playing the electronic drum duet for waiting man. somewhere between those two distant moments here's what transpired.

bill slid comfortably into the Bullet Train seat next to me
and began tapping out a rhythm on the arms of the seat.
"ade?" he asked, "is it possible you could learn this?
there's a little tricky bit to it, but I'm sure you could handle it."
he began patiently showing me the rhythm over and over.
the left hand and right hand each played the exact same pattern,
but an eighth note apart from one another.
that in itself was a challenge, but I soon learned the tricky bit
had more to do with the way the bass drum part
fell so oddly against what the left and right hands were doing.

what started as the thrill of a free lesson from a master
quickly turned into the task of perfecting
coordination one step beyond my ability.
though I play drums for fun on most of my solo records,
never has my background in drumming been more useful
(or better tested) than in my work with Krimson.

periodically bill would stop at my seat
to check on my progress or I would have
to ask him to demonstrate some part
of the pattern yet again,
but before we reached Osaka I was playing it
with some measure of confident fluidity.

bill complimented me by saying I had learned
to do it quicker than anyone he'd ever shown it to.
then he showed me how to add a variation which made
the pattern into what he played in waiting man.
the variation actually made the part much easier
because it evened out the pattern into something
more natural feeling.

for our next tour, this opened the door
for bill and me to play waiting man
in harmony live on stage as pictured above.
I have since used variations of that double-sticking
pattern in many things including this week's download.

thanks billy b.

*photos by tony levin from his book road photos.