I searched the internet for a long time to see if anyone had transcribed the fills and I couldn’t find one.  Either there were drum covers on YouTube that were adding their own fills on top of the original or they were only close to playing the actual fills but it wasn’t entirely accurate.

So after all of my searching I decided I needed to figure it out, so I slowed it down and transcribed it!  I think I’m pretty accurate on the rhythms and the orchestration of the fills.

This transcription is definitely a good exercise for moving around the kit, playing linear patterns, playing at a fast tempo, and inverted paradiddles/alternating between inverts and singles.  Plus there is some pretty awesome stuff in here to keep in your arsenal.

(Sorry about that big gap, I couldn’t export the image without the rest of the page.)

Here is a link to the PDF

Enjoy!  Feel free to drop a line if you have any questions.

Thomas Pridgen is a professional drummer who has played with the likes of Christian Scott and Juliette Lewis. However, he is mostly known for his stint as the drummer for The Mars Volta, which includes winning a Grammy for ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’ with the song ‘Wax Simulacra’ from The Mars Volta’s 2008 album, ‘The Bedlam in Goliath’. I got the chance to speak with Pridgen on his new musical project.

Jordan Leman: Word on the street is that you have a new music project called The Memorials. Can you tell us a little about this new musical endeavor of yours?

Thomas Pridgen: Yeah we’re about a year old now. We’re about to put our first record out. The music is like progressive soul rock. Hard to put in words honestly, but I’m making music with a fun bunch of people.

JL: From playing in The Mars Volta for around three years, what are the most discernible aspects of being musician that you have picked up in working with those guys?

TP: I dunno. I’m glad I played in that band, I’m also glad I’m not playing in that band. I totally did a lot for those [guys], [and] to be under-appreciated and not paid for my services; I treated those guys as family/homies. I brought them to my hood. I totally opened myself to them. Told them things that i didn’t tell people, and then in the end it backfired in ways that I wasn’t ready for. Parting ways is one thing, but getting screwed over money, that’s unforgivable. Getting lied on and snitched on by a band mate to the police and [expletive]. C’mon homie that doesn’t play out well where I’m from.

JL: What is it like now, having a lot more creative control over the band you play in?

TP: I totally put a lot of my passions in the creative ideas of this band. I’ve always been someone that [with] people I was working with would listen to. I’m from the Bay Area. Its a lot of creative people here. Before I didn’t care if people knew I did it or put the idea in someones ear. So I guess it’s not too different, just more a known thing now that I’m somewhat of a leader.

JL: Other than The Memorials, are you in any other projects that you can tell us about?

TP: I got called for some pretty nice gigs, but I’m really determined to kill it with The Memorials. I love these guys on more levels than money and fame. I’ve been playing on records though. I did a record with Curren$y the spitta, I played on Foxy Shazam’s record. I did a record with Jordan Ferriera called ‘Elixir on Mute’. I also did a record with a guy by the name of Jon Reshard, and The Memorials album.

JL: Who are some of your biggest influences on you as a musician? From the numerous projects you have played in, you show a knack to play different styles at such a high level.

TP: I’m influenced by Tony Williams and Vinnie Coluita and Dennis Chambers and all the other greats that every drummer in the world talks about.

I got my idea to learn every style from my grandmother. She felt like I should learn all aspects of music and I just tried to keep it authentic and keep it me. I’m a total free bird.

JL: Who are some of the artists/bands that you have been listening to lately that some of us should know?

TP: Fela Kuti, Lamb of God, Venitian Snares, [expletive] people give me. I listen to a [expletive]-load of hip-hop and rap. I love Squarepusher and Portishead and System. And everything good. I’m a music lover.

JL: When can we expect the debut LP from The Memorials to drop?

TP: January 18th. We pushed it back. I was kinda on the fence about it, but now I’m just embracing it. I know when it comes out everyone’s going to flip out. We wrote and recorded the music in a week. I’m really proud of that.  Hopefully people will see me and my band for what we are, real musicians.

JL: What is the name of this aforementioned album?

TP: The record is self titled. It’s our first one, and we feel like our name speaks for itself. We didn’t just name our band The Memorials because we saw the word on a sign or on a monument.

The Memorials:

Definition:

Something designed to keep the memory alive.

“Music are memorials. Songs can bring back the feelings of certain memories; such as a first love, a vacation, the music your parents played while you we’re growing up, making love and babies, etc. Lot’s of things are memorials to mark the time, place, and feelings you’ve had in life such as your first car, or your first guitar(drums!!). Music definitely implies the same mark! Just like Jacob, who fought the angel in Genesis, named the place where he fought to commemorate the date and place where he wrestled God and God did not prevail. Music can mark not only our feelings at a time, but it can also show us our tenacity, our sense of self-worth, our imagination. The music The Memorials makes is both thought compelling and it will etch out a place for the band to leave it’s mark, telling the world we were here!”

I think its important to have some kind of a message. I totally play drums for a reason. I hope my drumming sounds like it all makes sense. I want this band to be about something and I wanted each song to mean something. I want this band to be memorable.

JL: What label are you signed to for The Memorials?

TP: We got lucky and it took a while, but we have our own label with major distribution.

JL: Do you guys have any upcoming shows?

TP: Yeah. We’re planning a tour for late January and all of February. I’m trying to go conquer the world.

JL: What are your aspirations for your new band The Memorials?

TP: Just to keep having fun, making music and touring the world. I’m happy doing what I’ve always been happy doing.  That all the other BS is just extra.

Along with Thomas Pridgen, The Memorials consist of:

Lead singer – Viveca Hawkins

Lead guitarist – Nick Brewer

Bass guitar – Uriah Duffy (formerly of Whitesnake)

Organ/mellotron – Nehemiah Johnson

Keys – Michael Aaburg

Percussion – Marquinho

Percussion – Valentino Peeps

DrumChannel.com and Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music hosted the Second Annual Drummer’s Reality Camp June 29 – July 2, 2011. Guest artists included Alex Acuña, Kenny Aronoff, Terry Bozzio, Jim Keltner, Cobus Potgieter, Gil Sharone, Thomas Pridgen, Cobus Potgieter and LA Music Academy’s own Ralph Humphrey, Dave Beyer, Aaron Serfaty, Tony Inzalaco and Joe Porcaro. The four-day event took place at LA Music Academy in Pasadena. Campers were treated to workshops, lessons, master classes, special performances, meet & greets/autograph sessions, a DW Drums factory tour and in-studio, live clinic by Terry Bozzio at DrumChannel.com studios. Drummer’s Reality Camp will return again in 2012.

-LAMA Staff

JR Robinson guides a student from DRC 2010 to max-groove-potential

Second Annual Drummer’s Reality Camp starts tomorrow at LA Music Academy College of Music. You can follow @LAmusicacademy on Twitter for daily updates and photos from camp! Spots still available — sign up for the whole week or for individual days here: http://bit.ly/fGEpk8. The school is really excited to be hosting this in conjunction with DrumChannel.com — give them a visit if you haven’t checked out the site. Remember, everyone who signs up this year gets a free DrumChannel.com subscription for one year! Check out this awesome schedule of events:

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29TH

10-11:15am – Playing Techniques w/ Ralph Humphrey

11:30am-1pm – Ensemble Workshop w/ Ralph Humphrey

1-2pm – Lunch Break

2-3:15pm – Thomas Pridgen Clinic

3:30-5pm – Gil Sharone Clinic

5-7pm Dinner Break & Private Lessons

7-9pm Roundtable (featuring Jim Keltner, Matt Chamberlain & special guests)

THURSDAY JUNE 30TH

10-11:15am – Jazz Drums Lecture w/ Joe Porcaro & Tony Inzalaco

11:30am-1pm – Jazz Ensemble Workshop w/ Joe Porcaro & Tony Inzalaco

2-6pm – Tour of DW & Drum Channel & Terry Bozzio Show/Clinic (Transportation NOT provided)

FRIDAY JULY 1ST

10-11:15am – Latin Drums Lecture

11:30am-1pm – Latin Ensemble Workshop

1-2pm – Lunch Break

2-3:15pm – Danny Seraphine Clinic

3:30-5pm – Alex Acuna Clinic

5-7pm – Dinner Break & Private Lessons

7-9pm – Alex Acuna Concert

SATURDAY JULY 2ND

10-11:15am Rock Drums Lecture

11:30am-1pm – Rock Ensemble Workshop

1-2pm – Lunch Break

2-3:15pm – Cobus Potgieter Clinic

3:30-5pm – Kenny Aronoff Clinic

5-7pm – Dinner Break & Private Lessons

7-9 Kenny Aronoff w/ special guests

Here is a sampling of YouTube videos from some of our guest artists this week:

RALPH HUMPHREY

THOMAS PRIDGEN

GIL SHARONE

KENNY ARONOFF

COBUS POTGEITER

-LAMA Staff

The following obituary appeared in San Antonio’s Express-News on November 22, 2010. My wife and I met in August of 1952 and married just four months later on a Saturday afternoon on the thirteenth day of December that same year. We were together for the next 58 years except for the twelve days remaining in November and the first thirteen days in December. We are still together and we will remain together throughout eternity, both in this realm and the next.

Janie Alta Dyer, age 78, an eleven-year survivor of ovarian cancer, died at her home in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday, November 18, 2010 from complications of that disease and kidney failure.

Janie was born on December 26, 1931 in Broxton GA, one of six children born to John James McLean and Wootie Pridgen of Pridgen GA. She met and married Hershel Mike Dyer of Columbus MS in 1952 in Douglas GA and is survived by him, her three daughters, their husbands and her grandchildren: Debra Janet Dyer and William Talbert of San Antonio TX and their daughter and son, Lauren Ashley Talbert and Landen Dyer Talbert, Cindy Dyer and Michael Schwehr of Alexandria VA, and by Kelley Dyer and James Brantley Saunders of Wylie TX and their son and daughter, James Brennan Saunders and Macie McLean Saunders.

Janie is survived by three sisters and one brother: Winnie Sapp of Hamlet NC, Evelyn Pridgen of Brunswick Ga, Christine Young of Fitzgerald GA and Charles McLean of Pridgen, GA. She was preceded in death by her father in 1954, her mother in 1985 and her brother John Herbert McLean in 1997.

Over the years Janie has expressed admiration and love for those involved in her health care, including the staff at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) and Wilford Hall Medical Center (WHMC), with particular affection for those involved in the chemotherapy clinic at WHMC and those in Oncology, Nephrology, Vascular Surgery, Interventional Radiology and Dialysis clinics at BAMC. She viewed them as angels placed on earth to guide her through perilous times.

Her family echoes her sentiments, and they also thank the staff of Odyssey hospice for their loving care and professionalism. Janie’s highest praise for others was that they were good persons, and her life echoes and exemplifies that expression. She was a good person throughout her life. She will be missed in this realm, and will be welcomed in another.

Memorial services will be at 11:30 AM on Monday, November 29 at Porter-Loring Mortuary North, 2102 North Loop 1604 East. Interment will be in Fort Sam Houston’s National Cemetery at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in her memory to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, P.O. Box 7086, Dallas Texas 75209, http://www.ovarian.org or the American Kidney Fund, 6110 Executive Blvd., Ste. 1010, Rockville MD 20852, http://www.kidneyfund.org

Postscript:

I intend to post letters to my wife in the future in order to keep her up to date on family feats and foibles. I know that she will be watching anyway, but I might be able to provide some minor details that she may have overlooked. If they don’t have computers there now, they will have when Bill Gates and/or Steve Jobs relocate from here to there.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

I managed to hang out with members of New Montgomery, Tracing Figures, Pine & Battery, Jealousy Curve, The Memorials, and Mars Volta all in one day. My friend and former drummer had his CD release show with Tracing Figures last night in San Francisco (photos to come), but I gotta say the biggest opportunity was taking a quick trip to an Oakland studio to do some promo work for ex-Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen and his current band, The Memorials.

Their upcoming record is a mix of hard rock with grungy riffs and female soul-style vocals, and is being independently produced with distribution from Universal Records.

The Memorials

Malia Movement Company presents an evening length program entitled “Where Hip-Hop Culture Embraces Contemporary Dance”. Featured artists include: Dazier Grego, Kumu Hula Michael Yamashita, Rashad Pridgen, DJ Oohchild, and Stephanie Powell. (Opening weekend @Eastside Arts Alliance, Oakland)

Malia leads a rehearsal for “Simmerdown” at Eastside Arts Alliance

Malia leads a rehearsal for “Simmerdown” at Eastside Arts Alliance

Members of MMCo rehearse “Breaths” at Eastside Arts Alliance

Members of MMCo rehearse “Journey to the One” at Eastside Arts Alliance (Daryl Edwards & Jhyl Reid pictured here)

Featured Guest,  Stephanie Powell rehearses at Eastside Arts Alliance

Prominent among the relatives and friends that attended the wedding was our niece Deanna, a comely young lady that came with her father Charles, my wife’s younger brother. They live in the small town of Pridgen in south Georgia—the state, not the European nation. Pridgen has a metropolitan population that fluctuates around twenty or so souls, all church-going hard-working folks that spend a lot of time praying for rain.

On their return home our niece sent us a very nice letter, an e-mail thanking us for everything. The purpose of this posting is to share her e-mail and \my response with all the friends, guests and relatives that found their way to the wedding, and also to share it with any visitors to my blog.

Her e-mail and my response follow. Her e-mail is in bold text and the italicized text is my response.

Hey, y’all,

Here’s  our “Hey, y’all” right back at you.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from a rainy South Georgia. Hoping for sunshine tomorrow.

And everyone here wishes the same Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of yours.

Daddy’s shirt made it safely home.

And Deb’s hoodie—hoody?—also made it back safely—she says thanks for sending it—our nights are dropping down to the forties and even the high thirties now, so she’ll probably be using it.

I can hardly believe a month has passed since we were in Texas.

Neither can we.

I really enjoyed my time there.

And we really enjoyed your being here—let’s do it again soon—not the marriage, just the visit.

Hope to visit again next year.

Next year, next month, next week or tomorrow, you’ll always be welcome—we’ll even leave the light on for you.

Thanks for making us truly feel at home.

You’re welcome—we felt the same way while you and your dad were here, and we felt the same way when we were with you and your dad at that impromptu reunion we had in metropolitan Pridgen.

The wedding was great and so glad I could be a part of it.

We agree—it was great, and we were glad you were here for it.

But for me it is these big moments in life that make the little moments even more special, like sitting around the table in your kitchen. Just talking about anything or really nothing at all.

And you thought I wasn’t listening while I was doing my kitchen chores—I heard everything—everything! Well, almost everything, except when I was watching TV and napping.

Uncle Mike, when I was little I respected you out of fear, but as an adult I respect you out of love.

And that’s probably the nicest and sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me—it stands at the very top of the list of other nice and sweet things that have been said to me—an extremely short list—in fact it stands alone. I printed out your e-mail for Alta to read and she came up with the phrase “nicest and sweetest,” and she agrees with me on the length of that list. Many times over my working years I heard this from those I had the misfortune to supervise: “That Dyer has a really sweet wife, but he’s a real p – - – k !

Oh, well —it may be lonely at the top, but the food’s better!

Tell Aunt Alta and everyone else Happy Thanksgiving and I love them.

I told Alta and I’ll tell everyone else as they gather today—I can assure you that everybody—they and I and all of us, love you right back. We will be thinking of you folks and wishing you the very best life has to offer as we tear into that 22-pound turkey now roosting in the oven—no, not roosting—I meant roasting.

And speaking of our neighbors—they are treating our family to three days at a posh resort just a few miles from home during spring break next year, just as they did this year—we had a great time. If you can time your next visit to that, you can join us—there’s always room for one more. You’ll need to bring your bikini, sunscreen and an appetite.

Signed:

Alta and Mike, Debbie and Bill and their devil cat, Lauren and Landen, Kelley and Brantley, Macie and Brennan and their new puppy, Cindy and Michael and both their cats, and Kathy and Kevin, our next door neighbors to the west of us, and their cat Ralph.