The Mystery Of Freddie Gruber
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- Опубліковано 23 вер 2024
- Here is a compilation of all the videos I could find of the legendary Freddie Gruber playing a pad or a kit, or sitting behind one. It’s taken me years to find just these.
Was Freddie actually able to play the drums? Or just supposedly teach? Make your own conclusions.
I studied with Freddie for 30 years. I started with him on April 2, 1969 when I was just 18 and I think I had my last official lesson with him in like 2007 I would hang out with him when nobody else would, especially towards the end of his life And we would review stuff that he taught me decades before he would correct any mistakes or misconceptions. I had thank God I was able to get him to do that before he passed. And yes he did use a lot of books. I did a count of all the books I studied out of With FRED over the decades and I was like 35 books we went through together and yes, he did kind of shift still talk technique to me and others as well, but got more into the philosophy of body, motions, and natural motions. Of course he talked about that from the very beginning from my very first lesson, he hipped me to that
And that was a long time ago! Man that was a long time ago, Mark!
Yes, I’ve seen this video. This was the CLINIC he did at drummers collective in New York City several years ago I do remember this.
Where can we find the whole video?
Freddie passed away in 2011. We know he taught generations of successful drummers. That’s a laudable accomplishment. I know Freddie could play and witnessed it multiple times. One of the people who talked about Freddie’s playing was Jim Chapin. He mentioned Freddie being way ahead of his time playing polyrhythms. I don’t have a desire to defend the fact that Freddie actually played the drums because I find the topic and trolling of this attempted cause celebre juvenile and inconsequential to the love of this instrument. That being said, Freddie was someone that a lot of us cared about. This reverence and love we had for Freddie had nothing to do with press rolls or whether he could play three camps. It’s not something you could quantify in an instagram post or a derogatory comment on UA-cam. I truly hope that, at least once in your life, you have a relationship with someone who shows you the love and meticulous care Freddie demonstrated in the manner he taught us drums. Beyond that, let my friend and teacher rest in peace.
I apologize if this video has caused you any pain or suffering. That certainly wasn’t my intent. I envy that you were able to witness Freddie play. In all these years I’ve heard of Freddie through Neil Peart, all I’ve ever wanted was to see him actually play but all searches have been almost completely fruitless.
I believe you that he was a good friend and I probably would have gotten along with him quite well if I had met him.
@@unclerhombus ; yes, as a weekly, Freddie GRUBER student for many years I saw him play hundreds of times, and he could play! But that wasn’t his thing he converted to teaching and he was a master it way ahead of his time. Just ask joey herrick
All I'm saying is, you students who studied with Freddie Gruber for years, could a couple of his students post some video of Gruber in his prime, tearing it up? I'm just curious to see it, that's all. The same can be said for Gary Chester. Why isn't there a lot of video of Gary Chester tearing it up, in his prime, as well?
I am NOT knocking them, whatsoever. I'm just curious to SEE video of them, in their prime, driving a Band, period.
@@markevans2814 : I would, but I don’t have any videos of him playing by the time I got with him back in 1969. He was already pretty much teaching full-time and not really playing anymore with anyone but he has the teaching chops man he had those teaching chops and he never lost them. That’s the thing you have to try to remember, and you only have known that if you studied with him if you hadn’t studied with him, there’s no way you could’ve known that just sayin
@@markevans2814 I’ve been asking and searching for *years.* Absolutely no one can provide a single thing except for what I’ve found here in this video, and it’s plain to see he wasn’t a drummer.
Great compilation, but you forgot the all-important video of him playing with ice-cream scoops in an ice cream parlor. He was in rare form that day, really shredding it.
lolllll 😂 It was too cringe to include, even for Gruber!
Respect!
Seems like there are some trolls in the comment section eager to diss Freddie's legacy. Everyone agrees he was left of center and a character for sure but check out the hands of the guys that studied with him and look at the level of player he taught. Yes there seem to be no videos of him playing in his prime but my guess is that's more likely a result of him not being an active player for the larger part of his professional life and likely wasn't successful enough in his early days like Buddy to have any footage captured. I took about five or six lessons with him in the 90's and he definitely helped me with my hand and body mechanics. Think of his teaching style similar to being more like a mechanic and less like a race car driver. RIP Freddie!
There are no videos of him playing *period.* Absolutely nothing.
All of the celebrity drummers who studied with him were *already amazing* drummers when they began lessons with Gruber.
Take a look at Dave Weckl in the 80s, for instance. He was a monster player with smooth strokes and great chops, long before Freddie.
@@unclerhombus Yeah they were already legends for sure, but I bet it was more about giving them better technique to continue playing at such a high level as they age. I saw Neil on the last Rush tour and he was still executing everything perfectly in his mid sixties for a show that was something like two hours. I also saw Weckl last year and he's still clearly at the top of his game in his sixties. Some can get away with weird posture or holding the stick not from the balance point or whatever when young but playing on such a high level and as often as these legends have played, issues with any sort of bad mechanics can take a toll.
Gruber always seemed like a cult leader, and many fell under his spell. All of the real greats had endless performances caught on film from the old days, and there is nothing from him. I agree, a complete mystery.
Yup. Every drummer who studied with Gruber was already an *amazing* drummer when they signed on with him. I understood his need to reinvent, but Peart’s playing lost originality and ferocity after lessons with him, imo.
It took me *years* to find just the footage I’ve posted here, and my suspicions were confirmed - while although he could apparently teach, Freddie had zero playing ability.
@@unclerhombus Actually there's a video on You Tube of the young Freddie Gruber soloing and it's pretty good. As for his teaching he was a very good, very important teacher.
@@vincentnicosia5374 where can I find this video?
Hmm enter Freddie Gruber solo. Also Jim Chapin spoke about Freddie’s playing on another video on you tube. Freddie got addicted to heroin and that screwed up his playing career.
By the why when I first heard of him I thought he was full of shit but watching vids of guys who studied with him changed my mind.
How does one explain then the glowing testimony of renowned drummer/educators like Bruce Becker who were long time students of Freddie (not to mention Peart, Steve Smith, Weckl)? These type of high level players would not put up with bs. In fact, Becker even says in the early days of Gruber’s teaching, he was pretty much an old school drum teacher (using books, etc) and later became more of a Body movement guru type. Regardless, I think the “mystery” part of it makes it fascinating. Maybe Gruber was a bit like The Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. If so, that’s hilarious and enchanting to me.
Their testimonies mean they must have certainly learned something from him related to drumming, but my solid opinion is that, while Freddie could apparently *teach,* he definitely could not *play.* And that’s fine - there’s nothing wrong with that.
I was simply shocked once I discovered this, as I expected Gruber’s drumming to be right on par with the others of his day - Krupa, Bellson, Jo Jones, Rich, Roach, etc. But the clips I’ve found clearly demonstrate that he hasn’t the ability to play even thee most basic beats on drums which was very confusing to me at first.
All that being said, I would love to be proven wrong by anyone out there with footage to the contrary. All that is needed is a short video of him performing even rudiments on a pad to show that he could play. But no such footage exists, and the only footage that does exist is what we see here.
& Buddy Rich too!!!
@@unclerhombus This only further adds to the mystery:
ua-cam.com/video/IrUNszuWbEM/v-deo.htmlsi=_6R39Jk1D8KSocU5
@@unclerhombus I studied with Freddie and I can tell you firsthand that he's a philosopher of drumming, not a practitioner. Nobody goes to Freddie to learn chops or particular styles but instead to make what skillset you already have work for you in a more effortless fashion. He was by far the strangest teacher I've studied with but also the most important in terms of endurance and longevity on the instrument.
@@dankenton Sounds like a guy who could instruct carpentry to carpenters but he himself could not operate a fucking hammer. Cmon man. Dude was a snake oil salesman. If a bunch of respected people defended you as a great chef….but you never actually cooked anything…..but they swear in unison that you are a great chef….no proof needed! You are a great chef….but you can’t cook.
There's a saying - "Those who can't do teach," and I've always felt that could have been applied to him.
That is probably accurate in the case of Freddie.
@@unclerhombus : NO… Freddy could also play don’t kid yourselves
@@nealsausen4651these clips of him behind the pad and the kit prove otherwise.
@@unclerhombus : what are you trying to say about Freddy be specific? Are you pro or con Freddy’s abilities because he certainly had abilities on the drum set AND he could teach!
Please clarify your last comment about otherwise about otherwise
@@unclerhombus : it proves nothing otherwise except the only thing it does prove is that a lot of you naysayers are ignorant of Freddy’s abilities as both a player and a teacher I saw him at witnessed him hundred times playing behind a drum kit and he had some shit happening man I studied with him every week for over a quarter century I think I should know something about it. Let me ask you a question did you ever study with Freddy did you ever put any time in with him? Did you actually ever even meet the guy, at a NAMM show or at a PAS convention?! If you did not if you never spend time with him then how can you say anything about him it’s all hearsay on your part and that’s very dangerous. Nice video though.
I wonder what Neil would have to say about all of this? Did he know Freddie wasn't really a player? And for the drummers out there, how much of a lasting influence did his teaching have on Neil? It seems Neil went back to match grip on later albums and tours. I know Neil went on to a different teacher Peter Erskine as well. Did Freddie really have a long term influence on Neil's playing?
Freddy Guru ber made Steve Smith and Neil Peart great....after they were already great!. Well respected man. Give him that.
Joe Morello, my teacher, used to talk about Freddie this way: “How can someone teach drums who doesn’t PLAY drums ?” He loved to make fun of him. I believed Joe because he was such a skilled player. One of the best, IMO.
@@U2WB it’s true, is it not? How was he such a sought-after teacher when he couldn’t even play!
It blows my mind.
I dont know much about this guy but I'm gonnna throw in my two cents.
Alot of people saying it's mind boggling that there's no videos of him playing when he was young.
Well, let's think about this a sec. When he was a youngster, there was no budget way of filming. Anything on film back then would've been a production done by a professional crew.
Freddy wasn't a big name back then. Think of all the musicians who were playing small random gigs. Only a small percentage of them wouldve been filmed. You were most likely a big name to warrant a camera crew. There were masters of their craft who were never recorded whos sounds have been lost to the ether with no one left alive who remembers them.
Yes the Buddy Rich's and the Gene Krupa's got on camera.
The guy playing in the house band down on the corner didnt.
@@vegetablelomein1111 I understand all of what you’re saying, but the clips here of him behind a kit and on a pad clearly demonstrate that he was unable to play.
This is like the portlandia of drumming
I don't know, seems to me like a scam. How come there's no vids of him actually playing, ever!?
Nothing at all! It’s incredibly bizarre.
Thanks for doing this - although it such sparse pickings! 😲
Please let me know if you find any more clips!
And if we get the pleasure of ever seeing him do a drumroll 😮😂
@@williamperri3437 after seeing his pad work and his “groove” behind a kit in these videos, I honestly doubt he was able to play a drum roll at all.
@@unclerhombus but watch Jim Chapin in the drum set on UA-cam at the musicians institute! 😯 Very special player and very humble.
@@unclerhombus- That last clip sounds pretty horrible - but because it has no context I wonder if he was trying to demonstrate some odd polyrhythm or something. (I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt) If so, that is a very unfortunate legacy to leave behind! It is odd that he was still playing in the 1990s and maybe later and yet there is no decent footage. That isn’t all that long ago - there were plenty of video recorders around then, it isn’t like the Chick Webb era where you only got filmed if you were literally in a professional film studio making a movie. Many years ago I found an obscure jazz album where the drums were credited to Freddie Gruber. The drumming didn’t leap out as anything amazing, but it wasn’t bad, either. Maybe it might be fruitful to search out any recordings he made, rather than try to find video clips, if we want to hear him play?
Why is it that you can NEVER see any video available of Gruber as a young man shredding? Like 95% of the stuff you see, is just him doing a stroke exercise. Meanwhile, there is TONS of video of Buddy, Louie Bellson, Art Blakley, Philly Joe Jones, Tony Williams, Cobham, etc. Where is all of this vaunted film of him tearing it up, when he was in his prime? I'm not being disrespectful, but I am curious. I mean, there's GOT to be some film from the 70's, right? I find that it's similar with Gary Chester. where's the film on Gary Chester tearing it up?!
Snake oil all day. He simply shows how physics work and one can’t argue with that. Fluid playing and not fighting the stick
So basic physics.👍
That’s such a great question - one that I’ve been asking for nearly an entire *decade* now.
And never mind video (although I’d love to see that)…there isn’t even a single vinyl pressing of a single song Freddie has ever drummed on.
Simplest answer is that, while he could apparently *teach,* he could not actually play drums. But people simply take his word that, “back in the day,” he was some drumming god, with zero proof of this claim.
He’s just like the so-called “ancient Kung-Fu masters” who claim they can take down 50 men without even touching them, only to find their skills are completely nonexistent once an actual fighter challenges them in a sparring match.
Jim Chapin on Freddie Gruber’s drumming:
ua-cam.com/video/IrUNszuWbEM/v-deo.htmlsi=MpblNiPoMFvv8wnE
Another question I have is, how did so many drummers become disciples of Freddie if he really didn't have an impressive resume of drumwork, albums, video to show them that he was the real deal back in the day? Did they really just take all of that on faith and reputation? Where'd the reputation come from?
I do not know, and I can’t figure it out.
Neil himself said in an interview that, during lessons with Freddie, they “never actually *played* the drums,” but rather spoke “philosophy” and things of the like. At the end of the day”lesson,” Freddie would give him exercises from some book and that was about it, I suppose.
@@unclerhombus I also remember Neil saying something to the effect, that Freddie obviously didn't teach him how to play drums. I mean he's Neil Peart. He likened him to a golf pro teacher, who would watch him tee off/putt, and make helpful suggestions on changing his grip and other nuances. Most of the people I've heard defending Freddie either say, how could all of these great drummers sing his praises if he wasn't the real deal? or what a great guy he was. No actual evidence is ever produced. Seems a bit like a cult of personality to me.
These videos, the pronouncements intended to sound mystical while imparting nothing...even down to the way he holds the sticks...it all looks like someone who can't play at all.
I couldn’t agree more - that’s why I chose the title I did for this video. All these great drummers singing praises to this guy, but then we see actual video of him in action and it is *blatantly* obvious this man wasn’t a drummer, and had absolutely no clue how to play.
It’s truly a great mystery.
Behold ... the biggest non-politician con man of all time.
All someone has to do is provide any small shred of proof that Freddie could play even thee simplest of beats or grooves. Until then, I am convinced Gruber could not actually play drums.
@@unclerhombus yeah. We live in a world where you can obtain grainy archival footage of some African tribe playing complex bongo beats somewhere in the middle of the sub-Sahara in the early 1900s. But you still can’t get a single video clip of Freddie Krueger - sorry, Gruber - playing a paradiddle on a practice pad. It’s absurd.
@@BDizDaBest right. And the footage posted here - the only time I’ve EVER seen Freddie on a drum pad - clearly demonstrates he couldn’t play a thing.