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Has Frank gotten worse?


UsedYourIllusion

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I know this has been discussed in some of the NITL tour threads, but i'm wondering if someone with actual music composition understanding could help me understand. It seems like Frank has just gotten worse. Maybe he's playing the same and i'm just tricking myself, but he sounds so different to me from the 2009/10 tour, the 11-13, 14-15 tours. I'm not sure what it is, it seems like his speed, fills, tone, and lack of vibe with Fortus and Duff. No matter what you felt about Sorum, it seemed like he had a connection with Gilby/Izzy and Duff. Brain seemed great with Tommy and Fortus. Frank seemed fine to me early on from 2009-11. Maybe i'm wrong, but it seems like his connection with the band has diminished. I understand the first run of the tour it may be tough adjusting to no Tommy, no Robin or Ashba, or Bumble. But you would think after nearly 2 yearssss of touring things would sound better. But for most of the shows i listen to, Axl sticks out, either singing well or not, along with Frank playing like shit..

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No. It’s pretty obvious that he’s playing the songs the way they want him to. If you are nitpicking issues it’s prob more of Duff/Slash thing. They are trying to pace the show for 3hrs and Frank is doing his part to fit in there and give them space to play. No one is there to see him, or to try and replicate the other former members sense of swing/timing. That’s not what they are trying to do in a arena show in 2018. The focus is on the Big 3 and it’s their show 

He’s a good drummer. He can play to a click as that’s the way they want to run things these days. There’s a lot going on outside of Franks playing between his sticks and what you hear out of the PA or soundboard. 

Maybe if they’d brought in Matt, he’d be more vocal about how he’d like things. However that seems to be a sense of conflict going back to the VR days. Maybe Steven would give them that swing. However that may detract from what they want to do on a stage show level with video, lighting, pyro etc...Not to mention the other issues 

Seems like they’re just at the point of wanting to play with who they like. Not who the fans or the message boards believe they should be working with. As well it should be. It’s their band and that’s the way things have been throughout their history 

Edited by guitarpatch
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7 minutes ago, guitarpatch said:

No. It’s pretty obvious that he’s playing the songs the way they want him to. If you are nitpicking issues it’s prob more of Duff/Slash thing. 

This argument is invalid as Slash plays GNR songs with another drummer and everything sounds much better.

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He did, numerous times. Brent has Adler's feel and Sorum's technical abbilities. I wouldn't say Todd is better than Duff and Frank Sidoris better than Fortus, but I must say that Brent is totally outperforming Frank and I know plenty of people here will agree. I'm also 100% sure that if something happens to Frank, Slash will call Brent to fill in. 

It's not about Frank being bad drummer, he's great. He's just not gravitating towards Steven's or Matt's style and that kind of drumming he provides doesn't fit AFD/UYI songs. His drumkit sounds weird and he makes too much fills, especially on November Rain and Estranged. I bet he'd be great at some swing/jazz stuff, GNR though? I don't know, he should change his way a bit. And it has nothing to do with Slash/Duff coming back to the band. 

Edited by Ralphelmo
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36 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

He did, numerous times. Brent has Adler's feel and Sorum's technical abbilities. I wouldn't say Todd is better than Duff and Frank Sidoris better than Fortus, but I must say that Brent is totally outperforming Frank and I know plenty of people here will agree. I'm also 100% sure that if something happens to Frank, Slash will call Brent to fill in. 

It's not about Frank being bad drummer, he's great. He's just not gravitating towards Steven's or Matt's style and that kind of drumming he provides doesn't fit AFD/UYI songs. His drumkit sounds weird and he makes too much fills, especially on November Rain and Estranged. I bet he'd be great at some swing/jazz stuff, GNR though? I don't know, he should change his way a bit. And it has nothing to do with Slash/Duff coming back to the band. 

That’s Slash’s band. Duff has not much to say about how the song is rehearsed there. GNR today plays to a click and it’s all synced to video, pyro, etc.. they also have different FOH engineer and production across the board. It’s purposely paced for their time slot.  It’s just not comparable and a completely different show with different hierarchy 

if you want to nitpick on fills and that they don’t sound completely like the original, that’s on you. It’s a live show.  

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Dude you're delusional, srsly... Freakin' pyro affects how Frank is playing. I don't know if I've read something that silly here. Same if it comes to production and other irrelevant shit. That's just the way he plays, simple as that. And people have the right to don't like it.

Edited by Ralphelmo
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11 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

Dude you're delusional, srsly... Freakin' pyro affects how Frank is playing. I don't know if I've read something that silly here. Same if it comes to production and other irrelevant shit. That's just the way he plays, simple as that. And people have the right to don't like it.

If the pyro/screens/lights/etc are set to specific times, and Frank has to play along to the click track so that those effects are in sync with the music, how can you argue that those things don't effect his playing? He does have to play 'a certain way' to go along with the stage-show. Those things can be changed or dictated by other band members but it seems to me that the big 3 decided how to play the songs, what goes on on-stage, and Frank plays how he's told to. That's not getting into the unnecessary fills he throws in, but in general, his playing is somewhat dictated by how the others decided to do the shows.

Frank's good for what he is. :shrugs:

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5 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

Big three decided, Steven filled in and nailed Frank. I guess he wasn't forced to play to the click. 

 

No pyro/screens/lights etc. at the Apollo show. Sorry guys, what you're trying to say is so far from the truth that I won't even bother explaining it anymore.

Steven didn’t play to a click. They wouldn’t force him to in that situation. That’s if Steven could even play to one to begin with. Guest spots are a bit different and they adjust

The Apollo show doesn’t mean they throw out how they’ve performed/rehearsed 100’s of shows beforehand. It would be idiotic to do something different than their normal routine in that space. They simply played their rehearsed set. That’s the show 

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32 minutes ago, Ralphelmo said:

Big three decided, Steven filled in and nailed Frank. I guess he wasn't forced to play to the click. 

 

No pyro/screens/lights etc. at the Apollo show. Sorry guys, what you're trying to say is so far from the truth that I won't even bother explaining it anymore.

Like they're gonna drastically change what they've been rehearsing for a one-off theatre show. :facepalm:

I agree that Steven sounds better with the band, but that's irrelevant in this discussion. He played with the band for less than 10 minutes per show.

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A click track should not be a hinderance to a professional drummer - certainly not a replacement player in GnR. 

Also Frank said in a Modern Drummer magazine interview that he doesnt always use the click.

MD: What are your thoughts on using a click?

Frank: I love click tracks. My biggest concern as a drummer is tempo and making sure that the pocket is as deep as possible. Once you’ve got the tempo locked, you’re free. There’s a lot going on live, so we play the newer songs to a click. But I’m in and out. I use some clicks for groove, to get into the song, to get out, even the middle.

https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/january-2017-frank-ferrer/

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2 hours ago, guitarpatch said:

That’s Slash’s band. Duff has not much to say about how the song is rehearsed there. GNR today plays to a click and it’s all synced to video, pyro, etc.. they also have different FOH engineer and production across the board. It’s purposely paced for their time slot.  It’s just not comparable and a completely different show with different hierarchy 

if you want to nitpick on fills and that they don’t sound completely like the original, that’s on you. It’s a live show.  

I wish the guy in the video wasn't singing:max:

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