50 ways to leave your lover


So, decades ago a bunch of drummer friends and me — well before the interweb — struggled to figure out this classic drum riff and none of us got close.  Years later I saw a local band play it and I knew right away the drummer had no idea what he was doing and was just mailing it in and it pissed me off because it’s such an integral part of the song.  Right after the “performance” I went home determined to learn how to do it right.  After consulting the Google machine I learned how to do it — it’s not all that hard but it ain’t easy, and the amazing thing is that Gadd even came up with this and how it ultimately ended up defining the song.  The drummers out there will especially appreciate this I think, and I challenge you to learn it because it’s pretty rewarding to be able to play.

https://youtu.be/Ou70vvjE8k4?si=2yfPiHB4Oems22-C

soix

The drum part is based on an Army funeral drum pattern, only played at a faster tempo

@clydeactor Maybe, but this is played by one drummer coordinating 16th notes between his left foot and left hand while playing other stuff with his right foot and hand. If you don’t understand the genius of that, you just don’t get it at all. I’d suggest you try to play it yourself and then just dismiss it as an “Army funeral drum pattern, only played at a faster tempo.” You’re sorely mistaken, sir. Again, forget the fact that you would’ve never, EVER been able to come up with this iconic riff, you can’t even play it. Leave your uneducated armchair quarterbacking at home please, because it adds nothing here.

This was not uneducated quarterbacking, Steve Gadd mentioned this in an interview years ago, also discussing his time in the U.S. Army Band.

@clydeactor

Happy holidays! I thought the song was OK but by far not my favorite by Simon.  

This was not uneducated quarterbacking, Steve Gadd mentioned this in an interview years ago, also discussing his time in the U.S. Army Band.

@clydeactor I know, and that’s fine for him to say it but not you.  The way you said it here belittled the riff’s significance and innovativeness, and that needed to be called out because you are just an armchair quarterback in the scheme of things.

tunefuldude: I am a big fan of Paul Simon (also Garfunkel).  I have always been an avid concert goer having attended hundreds of concerts and mentioned in one of my posts (maybe on a different site) that if someone could grant me a wish to go back in time and attend a concert of my choice it would be Simon & Garfunkel-The Concert in Central Park!