A friend of mine worked for Phil Ramone at A&R off and on and was working the day Simon recorded "50 Ways . . . " According to him, Simon had the song but hadn't figured how it would sound best. They tried several different takes but Simon wasn't happy with any of them. He and Ramone decided to break for lunch to see if inspiration struck. When they came back from lunch, Steve Gadd was warming up with a pattern he'd learned in high school, supposedly. Simon and Ramone heard that and immediately knew it was the right sound for the song. Can't verify it; I wasn't there but my friend is pretty reliable.
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
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50 ways gets all the press among drummers, but Steve was doing this stuff way before. Check out Jim Croce’s “workin at the car wash blues”. Great track by Steve, also with a marching band style. And I just have to add- all these You Tube drum cover stars- I remember when playing along with records was step one in learning drums. Now it’s an end goal. So be it. The world changes, but as all of you drummers know, there is a BIG difference between playing with a record and playing with a band. |
"Among my many Simon & Garfunkel favorites was the ditty "At the Zoo"." @jetter , I can't get past him singing 'oragutang'... |
@chayro Sorry, but no. Just…no. There’s no comparison whatsoever between car wash blues and 50 Ways other than they’re loosely based on a marching theme. Any halfway competent drummer can listen to car wash blues and figure it out fairly quickly — can’t do that with 50 ways cause the sticking, playing open, and the interplay of 16th notes between the stick and closing the hat make it near impossible to figure out by listening and much harder to play. It’s also what makes this iconic. Makes me think you don’t have an understanding of how the underlying groove is actually played. In case you missed my prior link, here’s how it’s played…
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