Love this video. Another unique aspect of Johnny's playing that you didn't mention (but are using) is how even on the A string rooted barre chords, he still plays the 4th on the E string. This is a big contributer to the really fat sound Johnny achieves.
Johnny Ramone is the biggest musical inspiration to me and I have been examining and playing guitar like him for a while now and i have to say you have done an excellent job! Keep playing! GABBA GABBA HEY!
I've been a Ramones fan since I first saw Rock and Roll HS back in the day and was always amazed at how fast Johnny played. Thanks for the tip mate. Now I see how he was able to play so fast by not playing the 2nd beat - ahhh. I totally agree with you that they were much better when they didn't play so fast. A musician friend of mine (who never heard their records) saw them live and thought they were a total joke. Its unfortunate they had to play so fast, probably more so in the later days. If you heard their first 4 records and ITS ALIVE then you would really appreciate their aesthetics (ie the classic minimalist style less is more) Ramones R.I.P
FINALLY!!! I had considered making a video just like this. I'm glad someone finally set the record straight on Johnny's technique. Nothing drives me crazier than people who do the "Green Day" strum when playing the Ramones, or using massive gain when playing punk in general!! Great video!
+JJI6881 Well, if it sounds good, it sounds good, I think the Green Day way of playing it sounds pretty good, easier as well IMO, but nothing's really better than the original.
As a fellow Johnny clone guitarist, you're missing the most important part. Lifting your INDEX finger between chord changes. That way you don't have the "sliding" of the root note during the transitions. At least that's how I do it. \
I think you're absolute right as far as 1976-83 live speed. After that you gotta slide those barre chords or you'll get off while keeping up with the band as the tempo is super fast.
dude!! thanks!! I'm a bass player who's made several attempts at good guitar playing..lol.. your very helpful.. keep making videos and I'll just watch you play.. making it look easy bro.. thanks again.. would be awesome to jam out with you bro..
Very nicely done Mr. Slammer. I think you're very accurate about the pedal-less distortion, the strum pattern and the absent second beat of eight. Nice Rocket medley too!
I can play like this sitting down :) It's great that there is someone on youtube with some sense when it comes to playing like Johnny. It's funny when people assume that it's just powerchords, when it really sounds nothing like that. Anyways, awesome vid!
I never knew how he played exactly till I saw your video.....lots of people get the rhythm wrong, they think it's just da da da da da da da da, without the skip of the 2nd strum.
More downstrokes than I imagined. I don't think I have the wrist for all those down strokes (unless it's for wanking). I'll stick with the upstroke cheating.
Great tone from your Laney / "unknown guitar" rig! I've never heard of that guitar; is it New Zealand-made? This is coming from Texas, USA, so forgive my presumptuousness. :O I liked wot u said re: distortion. One doesn't usually need as much gain as they think they do. In fact, "Damned Damned Damned" by The Damned really has next to no distortion on the guitar, but that album is certainly not lacking in powerful sound. It used to floor me back in the 70s when hippies would want to jump me because they thought Johnny Ramone "sucked", LOL! Great post and very informative.
The guitar is Japanese; I bought it here in New Zealand because it was cheap and had a whammy bar. Plus you can lock the strings in tune so that they don't go out when you're whammying. Really though, any guitar will do; it's the physical technique and level of distortion which matter. And hippies didn't like Johnny or the Ramones because they weren't 'groovy'. You couldn't do that wiggly-woogly arms-flailing dance they like so much to 'Blitzkrieg Bop'...
In response to OTM3904, Gene-Pool is right on both counts - you need to use barre chords and you need to do 1x345678 as the base downstroking pattern. It's not the only pattern, but it's the most prevalent one. If you slow down some of his live videos from the early years, you should see Johnny has a long downstroke and covers up to all six strings. In terms of sound, you only really need to downstroke all but the high-e string, as the latter is not important at all. But stroking the major-third note is an essential part of Johnny's barre chord sound and just stroking the three power-chord strings in not correct. By the way, GP's downstroking technique looks very nice and ergonomic, thumbs up on that for sure!
Same here. I've always heard it and played it that way. Always thought of them as sort of "micro-rhythms" Also.great job by the OP demonstrating how to play Johnny Ramone style guitar properly and explaining the dropping of the beat thing.
he didn't always do it though...listen to the isolated guitar on blitzkrieg bop. he always switched it up. and dee dee did it too live (leaving it out), quite pronounced. you'll notice CJ does it less. CJ is a machine, straight up jackhammer.
Also in Cretin Hop he plays the D chord. Someone mentioned palm muting, great example is ,"Now I wanna be a good boy". It's Alive version. A tutorial I'd like to see is when they sped up so fast, Johnny couldn't play every one of those eighth notes. Not just skipping the first but, slipping all over the place. I hated that, but he did manage to keep timing on the changes.
That happened especially when CJ was the bass-player; they got so fast as to be virtually unlistenable. Marky had real problems with tricky things like 'Wart Hog' and 'Durango 95'.
Slammerworm1 Agreed, their fastest period is not my favorite. Joey didn't have time to sing properly, he sort of barks out as much of the lyrics as he can fit into the tempo often leaving out words or parts of words. "It's Alive" is my favorite live album of all time, "Loco Live" I don't even like that much.
Johan Lüning The journo Everet True states Its Alive as his fave LP but was`nt it all later re-recorded in the studio. Was`nt Loco mixed by Marky hence the drums are high in the mix!
I have bass up two-thirds, middle around three-quarters and treble up full. The overdrive is up around a third. You can play quietly and it sounds good but when you turn it up there's a 'natural' distortion which kicks in, and so it's best to keep the Drive at that relatively low level. I use only the treble pickup on the guitar, too.
Got the Roxy show on vinyl from a radio station in Boston.. Side a them, Martha reeves side b.. I've seen what he does.. But I'm tellin ya, after Ritchie left and Mark came back, the tempo for a lot of the early tunes had sped up to where it's impossible to keep the hi hats closed and play every 1/8th note. By the way I should mention that I appreciate the your appreciation for the band! Lol All hail the Ramones
Jason, I think Richie "cheated" a little bit in some fast songs by not playing all notes and not playing the hihat altogether with the snare. And so did Marky in some fast songs were he would loose the hihat and play any number of notes keeping the tempo just with snare and floor tom. Well, I may be wrong but that's what it seems. But sometimes Marky did play 8th notes on fast songs, you can hear that on bootlegs like Wart Hog (from 1991) or when he played Tomorroy She Goes Away in the following tour (1992). In even faster songs like Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment or Cretin Hop he used a closed hihat over the 22" cymbal: ua-cam.com/video/KZrdW3f1CZ4/v-deo.html
+BACA TOOL This is probably the best comment I ever read anywhere about the Ramones live shows. I can almost see Dee Dee getting crazy on Clem! Thank you for sharing this experience, you are fortunate!
I use a Laney TF100 amp with the 'drive' up around 4 or 5, treble on 8, middle on 5 and bass on 7 to give it some 'oomph'. That's an EKS 'Cyclone Heartfield' guitar I'm playing, with medium gauge strings. Whatever set-up you use though, the crucial thing is to be able to hear each strum; too much distortion and it just sounds like a lawnmower and you might as well be playing 'upstrokes'. It's part of what gave the Ramones their distinctively intense 'rhythm machine' sound (remember that Dee Dee was also doing the same patterns on bass as Johnny was on guitar). Have a look at the following Green Day video and you'll see how NOT to do it. It's like they're trying to run a tank on an automobile engine. Green Day Performs "Teenage Lobotomy," "Rockaway Beach" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" in 2002
Thanks for the tips. I am using a Tele (single coils) with a VHT tube amp and have some distortion effects. I realised, as you say, one should not exceed with distortion. I will increase the bass as now I keep it around 3-4. I also note the nice wrist swing you have, with a fluid motion. I will practice that too. Finally, I agree that Green Day should stick to their music. Thanks again Slammerworm1!
True about Ritchie... Oh well, hind sight's always 20/20. Those upstrokes were used in demonstrations, and sometimes in short spurts.He couldn't keep that up in any shows I've seen during the 90s. He held the sticks normally doing a Charlie watts kinda thing in the shows I've seen.
Downstrokes, I should have suspected that. Whenever I play something correct and it don't sound right, it winds coming down to downstrokes -same thing happened with BB King. Skipping the second beat is interesting. Thanks - I can't wait to visit your awesome country btw.
Me too; but the ultimate Ramones song (and therefore the ultimate punk rock song) would have to be 'I'm A Nazi' AKA 'Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World'.
Great job, buddy. I think in the early days 76-77 he did almost all the eighths without skipping a single beat while downstroking but stopped in 78 once Marky joined and started to speed up.
And then Ritchie was faster still, so that Marky himself had to speed up to match him, and so by the end Johnny was reduced to doing triplets to keep up; it was a bit sad. Didn't do the music any favours, either.
@@AgusVilla1. Tommy's drumming was like Johnny's guitar; it had that 'so simple, is it maybe a put-on' 'poker-faced' thing about it. It sounded like an arty 'garage-band' joke. Marky had already drummed for the Voidoids and was a surprise for the Ramones, since he was so versatile. Plus he had a very 'rock'n'roll' propulsion (he plays from the foot-pedal), which irrevocably altered the band's sound.
@@AgusVilla1. In a word, no. Marky couldn't get those very rapid rolls/timings you hear Ritchie do in 'Durango 95' and 'Wart Hog', and although he had played on the original recording, Marky also had problems playing 'Psychotherapy' at the greatly accelerated post-Ritchie tempo. On the post-Ritchie live recordings Marky sounds almost fossilised on the faster songs, turning over a 'sewing machine' beat for the fast-song medleys. He and the Ramones were arguably always an incorrect fit; their music's deadpan 'artiness' was gone and although he was an excellent rock drummer, he was asked to play 'by the numbers' live, when all the band were vastly inferior musically in the pursuit of being 'the first and fastest'. Ritchie had that 'adventurous' streak in spades, and the live recordings with him playing are very fast, but not yet the stuff of the 1990s. He also wrote and performed vocals. They should have given him that T-shirt money.
One thing that is missing from Ramones tutorial is how Johnny does the `Palm muting` on songs like I wanna be sedated and Beat on the brat. Only he does that style and is kinda tricky to pull off. So maybe you mant to cover that in your videos. Cool video btw.
Getting the ‘palm muting’ sound is really only a variation on the whole ‘Ramone strum’ basis. You’re still using your wrist to play the individual beats and your elbow and shoulder to mark the bars, it’s just that instead of doing entire six-string strums you’re ‘impeding’ or ‘damping’ the sound by holding the side of your palm opposite your thumb (it’s called the ‘hypothenor’; yeah, I had to look it up. The more rounded ‘thumb-side’ bit is called the ‘thenor’) against the strings and primarily playing the top three (E, A and D) strings to get the urgent, rhythmic ‘pulsing’ effect which you can hear on songs like ‘Beat on the Brat’ and ‘Sedated’. When a further rhythmic emphasis is needed you can strike further downwards, taking in the other ‘dampened’ strings, as in ‘Beat on the Brat’ for instance, where a ‘one-and-TWO-and-one-and-TWO’ pattern is used, effectively approximating (and therefore emphasising) the drum-pattern. It’s not an effect JR used often (especially live, although the verses of ‘Rock and Roll Radio’ spring to mind), but it’s a key part of the ‘Johnny Ramone sound’ and thank you for pointing it out. Cheers!
Slammerworm1 Thanks for the cool feedback. I think a demo video of his palm muting has to be done. You interested in putting one up here? I`m sure it will be a first! ;)
***** Thanks, but I don't think I'll make one for damping. It's a well-known guitarist's option, and the technique is pretty much the same for metal as it is for hard rock or punk. The only real variation with the Ramones is the tempo, which is faster than most music.
Slammerworm1 I had to read your description of palm muting carefully, as there's a lot of good stuff there. It would be fantastic if you could indeed make a UA-cam video on this. I notice that Johnny has many variations on a theme of palm muting, depending on the song.
Do you really think i have to sit down....cuz i got small hands....i been downstrumming a long time....the thing i seem to struggle with johnnys thing. Is really just sometimes like blitzkrieg e.g is i hear him sustaining chords like dotted eiigth notes in the D n E chords....i dont really have a problem downstrumming but i do struggle playing a shape bar chords standing up.....hmmm well ill try it thanks.... you do sound accurate so... ok i get it you drop the 2nd beat ...makes sense...cool
It's a lot easier on your wrist if you use your elbow; if you notice, Johnny would mark that 'dropping of the beat' with an elbow (and shoulder) movement. Stand up, sit down, not a problem; it's just that it's a lot easier to bring your entire arm into play whilst standing up.
Alot of people who use extra hard picks say they switch to medium style picks because you tend to drop rigid picks much more. Especially with a string collision/trip. Harder picks seem better suited to bass.
true that. And with constant playing a metal pick can develop a 'lip' on one side which sometimes catches on a string and pings your pick right across the room
Nice clip. I am always trying to perfect Johnny's technique. I play in Ramones tribute band Carbona not glue. Check out our clips on UA-cam. Babysitter is one of my fave songs but the bassist hates it.
It's an EKS 'Cyclone Heartfield' guitar; they're Japanese and a great inexpensive, basic tool for punk/hard rock chording and solos. I bought it for the whammy bar and the string-locking function (not that either helps with Ramoning). Really though, any guitar will do; it's all down to the degree of distortion and the downstroke-only playing technique.
Yer right.. I know that there was complete vocal tracks redone.. Some parts were punched in. Same with guitar.. Also harmonies that were never even attempted live. ( judy is a punk) re listen if you don't remember. Also on loco live, check out the high hat on Shock Treatment. I'm a drummer also and have been playing 1/8 th notes for ever. I say good luck to anyone trying to play along to the high hat on that version of shock treatment.. Just for the hell of it, try just tapping your finger along with it see if you can! Lol I'm suspicious about this. Check it and tell me what you think..
Marky had his tricks...He'd rest the end of the stick against his palm and 'waggle' it between his thumb and forefinger to get the 8-count in on the hi-hat. And try this; no overdubs on this one...RAMONES - BEATING BRATS IN L.A. '76 FULL ALBUM - LIVE AT THE ROXY 1976 LOS ANGELES - FULL CONCERT
Yeah, it won't matter so much, the main thing is that you gave great tips how to play and sound like Johnny Ramone. I´m thankful for that and you also made one very important notice. don't too much distortion because it kills the sound and doesn't give anything extra and we don't hear Johnnys right hand downwards technique and how he touch the strings very sensitively, not just banging like mad those. And same thing with the chords he kept the rhythm by squeezin fingers right after chord is played ready for the nex chord.
If you really want to play and have the attitude of Johnny Ramone then you've gotta have your guitar hanging nice and low like Keith Richards and Johnny Thunders. If you have your guitar strapped high like the Beatles did then you are doing it wrong. Learn to play with that swagger and you are officially a badass guitar player
Low is proper, if you can do everything right while playing with that guitar hanging low then it's a 100% in my book. I'm not disagreeing with you at all but I just love when people like Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards or Johnny Ramone for example play with that swagger
Oh no they're not! I've got fingers like just-cooked sausages and once upon a time there was a chap named Hendrix with hands like two bunches of bananas (seriously; check out a photo and just look at those giant hands of his. They dwarf the guitar neck!)...Not that there's any comparison talent-wise between us two, but you get the gist. Not only could Hendrix play the barre chords, but he's the best lead player who ever was.
The tempo was Mark's thing .. Ritchie brought them to a new level of speed. He was the fastest.. He played way more eighth notes straight out without cheating with the loose hi hat.. Durango and wart hog were off too tuff remember, that was ol Ritchie.. Ya Mark did sound a bit sloppy, definately not true to the lp.
Agreed; Ritchie was the only Ramones drummer who could successfully pull off 'Durango 95' and 'Wart Hog' (not to mention singing backing vocals as well!). Yep, Marky had a loose hi-hat, but moreover instead of using his wrist and arm to play the eighth-beat style at high speed he merely 'wiggled' the stick between thumb and forefinger, kind of 'bouncing' it. In drummer's terms that's a bit 'upstroke'...They really should have given Ritchie that T-shirt money and kept him on.
@@sensacionsombria5125 Capo? I've never used a capo in my life! Seriously, 1) how could I be playing the lower E chord in 'Cretin Hop' if I had a capo (check the original; I'm playing all 3 songs in the same key) and 2) exactly how would using a capo help anyone play Ramones songs? Capos change the pitch (and therefore the key) of your instrument, and the Ramones used standard or 'concert' pitch, i.e. no capo. I learned to play guitar by playing along with the Sex Pistols, Lou Reed, David Bowie and first Ramones album; all concert pitch guitarists (although Mick Ronson may have used a capo during the 'Ziggy Stardust' era live shows, where there would be an acoustic bracket). And yes I do wonder about these wonderful 'ten kids' who supposedly play so brilliantly... Does CJ Ramone know about them? Because frankly, he knows about me...
@@Slammerworm1 what? who even said anything about capos? I think you translated the whole thing wrong. In fact, I was saying that you play Ramones perfectly with barre chords and downstrokes. Also I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend is the only Ramones' song played with a capo and open chords. But that has nothing to do with this talk
Why would you like to play exactely like Johnny Ramone? Why would anybody? So you use both downstrokes and upstrokes to play those three standard chords? So what? Does that noise sound much different because of that? He probably used only downstrokes because he couldn't do anything else. Born out of limitation rather than skill.
It's the musical equivalent of the Daytona 500. You have to negotiate the chord-changes whilst keeping up the speed of the down-strokes for 2-3 exhilarating minutes. Yes, the sound is different when played strictly downwards; it imparts a 'percussive' quality which makes the music more powerful overall. Johnny Ramone was no Hendrix, but he made that down-stroke 'chainsaw' style his virtuosity, because frankly it is not easy to accomplish. Why do it at all? Because we love the Ramones.
Slammerworm1 So it’s more an excercise in endurance than anything else. Ok I get it. It may sound a little bit different when also using upstrokes, it’s bound to, but who cares? Make it your own that way. Love the Ramones? Obviously you do if you want to copy the ‘technique’ of a not so proficient three chord ‘wonder’. But if you like it you like it. And that’s all there can be said about it.
CJ seems to think it is..? Seriously though, I play 'classic' (early) Ramones style, not the later too-fast live blur-thrash, for which Johnny had to significantly change his playing-style. In order to increase the songs' speed he drastically reduced the amount of strums from seven per beat (dun-dadadadadada/dun-dadadadadada) to three (dadada/dadada/dadada/dadada). To me, the earlier live band had a hard-rocking swagger which the later live band had lost, and if one got into the later live Ramones first, then the early band can sound almost 'slow'. So yeah; actually you're right. That's not how he plays. It's how he played. (yes he is no longer with us, but you know what I mean).
I'm kinda baffled that this video and others like it even exist. It's fucking STRUMMING, people... STRUMMING... Ramones fans are easily impressed apparently lol. Not even kidding, Ramones were one of the worst bands to ever perform on stage.
So I take it that you won't be making use of the information contained in this video then? That's okay. We Ramones fans occasionally come across an 'unbeliever' or two. Enjoy your Ramones-free world...
Yep, I am 'Jake-Paul Belmondo', the REAL 'Gene-Pool Belmondo'! The one you see here is my nere-do-well evil twin 'Jake-Paul'; and moreover, I've been in a dungeon in an iron mask for going on a decade now...
Love this video. Another unique aspect of Johnny's playing that you didn't mention (but are using) is how even on the A string rooted barre chords, he still plays the 4th on the E string. This is a big contributer to the really fat sound Johnny achieves.
Johnny Ramone is the biggest musical inspiration to me and I have been examining and playing guitar like him for a while now and i have to say you have done an excellent job! Keep playing! GABBA GABBA HEY!
I got here because CJ Ramone talked about your video in a recent interview.
Jens Mikkelsen Hey cool! Which interview and where can I get a copy? That's made my day!
+Jens Mikkelsen Please do tell us where this interview is.
+Slammerworm1 It's a long interview so you're gonna have to listen to it all to find it.
+Jens Mikkelsen OK, so where is this interview, Gene-Pool?
+Bearista Bear Damned if I know. I thought someone would post a link or something. I'm as in the dark as you...
I've been a Ramones fan since I first saw Rock and Roll HS back in the day and was always amazed at how fast Johnny played. Thanks for the tip mate. Now I see how he was able to play so fast by not playing the 2nd beat - ahhh. I totally agree with you that they were much better when they didn't play so fast. A musician friend of mine (who never heard their records) saw them live and thought they were a total joke. Its unfortunate they had to play so fast, probably more so in the later days. If you heard their first 4 records and ITS ALIVE then you would really appreciate their aesthetics (ie the classic minimalist style less is more) Ramones R.I.P
Rock for da win
They mentioned when they got Richie into the band that their sets got faster
FINALLY!!! I had considered making a video just like this. I'm glad someone finally set the record straight on Johnny's technique. Nothing drives me crazier than people who do the "Green Day" strum when playing the Ramones, or using massive gain when playing punk in general!! Great video!
+JJI6881 Well, if it sounds good, it sounds good, I think the Green Day way of playing it sounds pretty good, easier as well IMO, but nothing's really better than the original.
Green gay
@@frankgrimes7388 Cool guy.
As a fellow Johnny clone guitarist, you're missing the most important part. Lifting your INDEX finger between chord changes. That way you don't have the "sliding" of the root note during the transitions. At least that's how I do it. \
I think you're absolute right as far as 1976-83 live speed. After that you gotta slide those barre chords or you'll get off while keeping up with the band as the tempo is super fast.
best Ramone guitar cover lesson I seen on youtube
I've never personally wanted to play like Johnny but that is really great playing...seems as close as you can get i think personally. Great job!
Very cool, great to see it broken down so well, thank you.
the strap has to be lower!!!!!
You sir, are an inspiration.
dude!! thanks!! I'm a bass player who's made several attempts at good guitar playing..lol.. your very helpful.. keep making videos and I'll just watch you play.. making it look easy bro.. thanks again.. would be awesome to jam out with you bro..
Very nicely demonstrated, love the accent too.
Very nicely done Mr. Slammer. I think you're very accurate about the pedal-less distortion, the strum pattern and the absent second beat of eight. Nice Rocket medley too!
Makes a bit more sense now...Thanks! Well done!
GREAT VIDEO BROTHER. YOU KNOW JOHNNY'S STYLE WELL.
Never clocked that he always left out the second strum of each bar. Excellent tutorial!
I can play like this sitting down :) It's great that there is someone on youtube with some sense when it comes to playing like Johnny. It's funny when people assume that it's just powerchords, when it really sounds nothing like that. Anyways, awesome vid!
Great vid, thank you so much!
New Zealand rock and roll represent, cheers mate
Thanx for sharing your advices !
thank you very much. I'll try to get it out.
Great tutorial. Sure got it right, mate!
Great video. Thank you!
Thanks for doing this!
Cheers
I never knew how he played exactly till I saw your video.....lots of people get the rhythm wrong, they think it's just da da da da da da da da, without the skip of the 2nd strum.
Barre chords don't hurt.. at least not anymore ;)
Brian Tortise anymore lol...
Well done
Goddam I wish I could have you as a teacher for just a few hours!!!!!
Bravo!
Cool! Thanks!
Nice video mate, this has helped me a lot.. with my cretin lobotomy..
Teenage hop
muy bueno gracias !!
dude! You rock.Really.
Pure fun .great stuff .
More downstrokes than I imagined. I don't think I have the wrist for all those down strokes (unless it's for wanking). I'll stick with the upstroke cheating.
Great tone from your Laney / "unknown guitar" rig! I've never heard of that guitar; is it New Zealand-made? This is coming from Texas, USA, so forgive my presumptuousness. :O I liked wot u said re: distortion. One doesn't usually need as much gain as they think they do. In fact, "Damned Damned Damned" by The Damned really has next to no distortion on the guitar, but that album is certainly not lacking in powerful sound. It used to floor me back in the 70s when hippies would want to jump me because they thought Johnny Ramone "sucked", LOL! Great post and very informative.
The guitar is Japanese; I bought it here in New Zealand because it was cheap and had a whammy bar. Plus you can lock the strings in tune so that they don't go out when you're whammying. Really though, any guitar will do; it's the physical technique and level of distortion which matter. And hippies didn't like Johnny or the Ramones because they weren't 'groovy'. You couldn't do that wiggly-woogly arms-flailing dance they like so much to 'Blitzkrieg Bop'...
It's called buzzsaw guitar
Legend
In response to OTM3904, Gene-Pool is right on both counts - you need to use barre chords and you need to do 1x345678 as the base downstroking pattern. It's not the only pattern, but it's the most prevalent one. If you slow down some of his live videos from the early years, you should see Johnny has a long downstroke and covers up to all six strings. In terms of sound, you only really need to downstroke all but the high-e string, as the latter is not important at all. But stroking the major-third note is an essential part of Johnny's barre chord sound and just stroking the three power-chord strings in not correct. By the way, GP's downstroking technique looks very nice and ergonomic, thumbs up on that for sure!
i've always notice he leaves out the 2nd strum in a group of eighth notes but ive never heard anyone else say it until now
Same here. I've always heard it and played it that way. Always thought of them as sort of "micro-rhythms" Also.great job by the OP demonstrating how to play Johnny Ramone style guitar properly and explaining the dropping of the beat thing.
he didn't always do it though...listen to the isolated guitar on blitzkrieg bop. he always switched it up. and dee dee did it too live (leaving it out), quite pronounced. you'll notice CJ does it less. CJ is a machine, straight up jackhammer.
Thanks much!
this guy knows what going on !!
Well done good sir.
very good ! like Ramones !!!...
Also in Cretin Hop he plays the D chord. Someone mentioned palm muting, great example is ,"Now I wanna be a good boy". It's Alive version. A tutorial I'd like to see is when they sped up so fast, Johnny couldn't play every one of those eighth notes. Not just skipping the first but, slipping all over the place. I hated that, but he did manage to keep timing on the changes.
That happened especially when CJ was the bass-player; they got so fast as to be virtually unlistenable. Marky had real problems with tricky things like 'Wart Hog' and 'Durango 95'.
Slammerworm1 Agreed, their fastest period is not my favorite. Joey didn't have time to sing properly, he sort of barks out as much of the lyrics as he can fit into the tempo often leaving out words or parts of words. "It's Alive" is my favorite live album of all time, "Loco Live" I don't even like that much.
Johan Lüning
The journo Everet True states Its Alive as his fave LP but was`nt it all later re-recorded in the studio. Was`nt Loco mixed by Marky hence the drums are high in the mix!
Their fast period is actually my favorite of theirs haha.
Hi, very good sound. How do you equalize the Laney amplifier to make a sound like this?
I have bass up two-thirds, middle around three-quarters and treble up full. The overdrive is up around a third. You can play quietly and it sounds good but when you turn it up there's a 'natural' distortion which kicks in, and so it's best to keep the Drive at that relatively low level. I use only the treble pickup on the guitar, too.
Slammerworm1 h
Thx for the links !!
Got the Roxy show on vinyl from a radio station in Boston.. Side a them, Martha reeves side b..
I've seen what he does.. But I'm tellin ya, after Ritchie left and Mark came back, the tempo for a lot of the early tunes had sped up to where it's impossible to keep the hi hats closed and play every 1/8th note.
By the way I should mention that I appreciate the your appreciation for the band! Lol
All hail the Ramones
Jason, I think Richie "cheated" a little bit in some fast songs by not playing all notes and not playing the hihat altogether with the snare. And so did Marky in some fast songs were he would loose the hihat and play any number of notes keeping the tempo just with snare and floor tom. Well, I may be wrong but that's what it seems. But sometimes Marky did play 8th notes on fast songs, you can hear that on bootlegs like Wart Hog (from 1991) or when he played Tomorroy She Goes Away in the following tour (1992). In even faster songs like Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment or Cretin Hop he used a closed hihat over the 22" cymbal: ua-cam.com/video/KZrdW3f1CZ4/v-deo.html
+BACA TOOL This is probably the best comment I ever read anywhere about the Ramones live shows. I can almost see Dee Dee getting crazy on Clem! Thank you for sharing this experience, you are fortunate!
André Folloni Marky always played every note on the hi hat. He is the best in the world at it.
Nice video.
yeah, noice - any suggestion on how to get that tone? How to set the EQ? any special effect? which amp? THANKS
I use a Laney TF100 amp with the 'drive' up around 4 or 5, treble on 8, middle on 5 and bass on 7 to give it some 'oomph'. That's an EKS 'Cyclone Heartfield' guitar I'm playing, with medium gauge strings. Whatever set-up you use though, the crucial thing is to be able to hear each strum; too much distortion and it just sounds like a lawnmower and you might as well be playing 'upstrokes'. It's part of what gave the Ramones their distinctively intense 'rhythm machine' sound (remember that Dee Dee was also doing the same patterns on bass as Johnny was on guitar). Have a look at the following Green Day video and you'll see how NOT to do it. It's like they're trying to run a tank on an automobile engine. Green Day Performs "Teenage Lobotomy," "Rockaway Beach" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" in 2002
Thanks for the tips. I am using a Tele (single coils) with a VHT tube amp and have some distortion effects. I realised, as you say, one should not exceed with distortion. I will increase the bass as now I keep it around 3-4. I also note the nice wrist swing you have, with a fluid motion. I will practice that too. Finally, I agree that Green Day should stick to their music. Thanks again Slammerworm1!
True about Ritchie... Oh well, hind sight's always 20/20.
Those upstrokes were used in demonstrations, and sometimes in short spurts.He couldn't keep that up in any shows I've seen during the 90s. He held the sticks normally doing a Charlie watts kinda thing in the shows I've seen.
Downstrokes, I should have suspected that. Whenever I play something correct and it don't sound right, it winds coming down to downstrokes -same thing happened with BB King. Skipping the second beat is interesting. Thanks - I can't wait to visit your awesome country btw.
Nice.....
T/y big fan
I like Loudmouth, it's like a lightning bolt shape on the neck when you play it.
Me too; but the ultimate Ramones song (and therefore the ultimate punk rock song) would have to be 'I'm A Nazi' AKA 'Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World'.
Great job, buddy. I think in the early days 76-77 he did almost all the eighths without skipping a single beat while downstroking but stopped in 78 once Marky joined and started to speed up.
And then Ritchie was faster still, so that Marky himself had to speed up to match him, and so by the end Johnny was reduced to doing triplets to keep up; it was a bit sad. Didn't do the music any favours, either.
@@Slammerworm1 Yeah even though I love those tempos after Rocket to Russia it wasn't the same for him and the rest of the band...
@@AgusVilla1. Tommy's drumming was like Johnny's guitar; it had that 'so simple, is it maybe a put-on' 'poker-faced' thing about it. It sounded like an arty 'garage-band' joke. Marky had already drummed for the Voidoids and was a surprise for the Ramones, since he was so versatile. Plus he had a very 'rock'n'roll' propulsion (he plays from the foot-pedal), which irrevocably altered the band's sound.
@@Slammerworm1 In your opinion as a musician, do you think Marky did a better job than Richie after 1987 when he came back?
@@AgusVilla1. In a word, no. Marky couldn't get those very rapid rolls/timings you hear Ritchie do in 'Durango 95' and 'Wart Hog', and although he had played on the original recording, Marky also had problems playing 'Psychotherapy' at the greatly accelerated post-Ritchie tempo. On the post-Ritchie live recordings Marky sounds almost fossilised on the faster songs, turning over a 'sewing machine' beat for the fast-song medleys. He and the Ramones were arguably always an incorrect fit; their music's deadpan 'artiness' was gone and although he was an excellent rock drummer, he was asked to play 'by the numbers' live, when all the band were vastly inferior musically in the pursuit of being 'the first and fastest'. Ritchie had that 'adventurous' streak in spades, and the live recordings with him playing are very fast, but not yet the stuff of the 1990s. He also wrote and performed vocals. They should have given him that T-shirt money.
One thing that is missing from Ramones tutorial is how Johnny does the `Palm muting` on songs like I wanna be sedated and Beat on the brat. Only he does that style and is kinda tricky to pull off. So maybe you mant to cover that in your videos.
Cool video btw.
Getting the ‘palm muting’ sound is really only a variation on the whole ‘Ramone strum’ basis. You’re still using your wrist to play the individual beats and your elbow and shoulder to mark the bars, it’s just that instead of doing entire six-string strums you’re ‘impeding’ or ‘damping’ the sound by holding the side of your palm opposite your thumb (it’s called the ‘hypothenor’; yeah, I had to look it up. The more rounded ‘thumb-side’ bit is called the ‘thenor’) against the strings and primarily playing the top three (E, A and D) strings to get the urgent, rhythmic ‘pulsing’ effect which you can hear on songs like ‘Beat on the Brat’ and ‘Sedated’. When a further rhythmic emphasis is needed you can strike further downwards, taking in the other ‘dampened’ strings, as in ‘Beat on the Brat’ for instance, where a ‘one-and-TWO-and-one-and-TWO’ pattern is used, effectively approximating (and therefore emphasising) the drum-pattern. It’s not an effect JR used often (especially live, although the verses of ‘Rock and Roll Radio’ spring to mind), but it’s a key part of the ‘Johnny Ramone sound’ and thank you for pointing it out. Cheers!
Slammerworm1
Thanks for the cool feedback. I think a demo video of his palm muting has to be done. You interested in putting one up here? I`m sure it will be a first! ;)
***** Thanks, but I don't think I'll make one for damping. It's a well-known guitarist's option, and the technique is pretty much the same for metal as it is for hard rock or punk. The only real variation with the Ramones is the tempo, which is faster than most music.
Slammerworm1 I had to read your description of palm muting carefully, as there's a lot of good stuff there. It would be fantastic if you could indeed make a UA-cam video on this. I notice that Johnny has many variations on a theme of palm muting, depending on the song.
ace
Do you really think i have to sit down....cuz i got small hands....i been downstrumming a long time....the thing i seem to struggle with johnnys thing. Is really just sometimes like blitzkrieg e.g is i hear him sustaining chords like dotted eiigth notes in the D n E chords....i dont really have a problem downstrumming but i do struggle playing a shape bar chords standing up.....hmmm well ill try it thanks.... you do sound accurate so... ok i get it you drop the 2nd beat ...makes sense...cool
It's a lot easier on your wrist if you use your elbow; if you notice, Johnny would mark that 'dropping of the beat' with an elbow (and shoulder) movement. Stand up, sit down, not a problem; it's just that it's a lot easier to bring your entire arm into play whilst standing up.
What type of guitar pick do you recommend?
I like rigid picks; any bending seems to upset the rhythm.
Alot of people who use extra hard picks say they switch to medium style picks because you tend to drop rigid picks much more. Especially with a string collision/trip. Harder picks seem better suited to bass.
true that. And with constant playing a metal pick can develop a 'lip' on one side which sometimes catches on a string and pings your pick right across the room
Hello. Gene Poole.
Well hello there, A Hally(e)!
Nice clip. I am always trying to perfect Johnny's technique. I play in Ramones tribute band Carbona not glue. Check out our clips on UA-cam. Babysitter is one of my fave songs but the bassist hates it.
There are 4 beats to the bar if its a 4/4 time sig as most Ramones songs were. There are however 8 8th notes to the bar.
I stand corrected!
👍😎🍺
thanks , name of the first song ??
+James Marshall Hendrix 'Babysitter'
What guitar are you playing?
It's an EKS 'Cyclone Heartfield' guitar; they're Japanese and a great inexpensive, basic tool for punk/hard rock chording and solos. I bought it for the whammy bar and the string-locking function (not that either helps with Ramoning). Really though, any guitar will do; it's all down to the degree of distortion and the downstroke-only playing technique.
Okay, found the CJ Ramone video and here's the relevant spot...ua-cam.com/video/IiiuWYtOGkw/v-deo.html
+Slammerworm1 Awesome!
great!
MY APOLOGIES TO GENE, I SAID HE WAS FROM AUSTRALIA WHEN HE IS, IN FACT FROM NEW ZEALAND!!!
kingcobra65 That's cool, mate. Thanks for the recognition!
NOT OFTEN I COME ACROSS SOMEONE WHO PLAYS OUR STYLE PERFECTLY. BEST OF LUCK.
Where do you get the drums from?
+Isak Ingvarsson Its a free drum program called 'Hydrogen' you can just get over the Net. Its great.
+Slammerworm1 thanks man, great vid!
Also don't forget th skinny jeans with the back pockets torn off.
Yer right.. I know that there was complete vocal tracks redone.. Some parts were punched in. Same with guitar.. Also harmonies that were never even attempted live. ( judy is a punk) re listen if you don't remember.
Also on loco live, check out the high hat on Shock Treatment. I'm a drummer also and have been playing 1/8 th notes for ever. I say good luck to anyone trying to play along to the high hat on that version of shock treatment.. Just for the hell of it, try just tapping your finger along with it see if you can! Lol I'm suspicious about this. Check it and tell me what you think..
Marky had his tricks...He'd rest the end of the stick against his palm and 'waggle' it between his thumb and forefinger to get the 8-count in on the hi-hat. And try this; no overdubs on this one...RAMONES - BEATING BRATS IN L.A. '76 FULL ALBUM - LIVE AT THE ROXY 1976 LOS ANGELES - FULL CONCERT
Muy bien estudiado no como otros que blasfeman decir q tocan como johnny
Gracias. Solo una forma de hacerlo!
what's a good guitar for this sound?
Pretty much any guitar will do; it's 1) the physical strumming technique and 2) the degree of distortion that's important.
Johnny played a Mosrite if you want to know the exact same type, (although I agree with Slammerworm1.)
godfatherNYC Johnny did put a dimarzio FS-1 in the bridge pickup of his moserite if you care to know
Nothing about Europe about how he tuned his guitar was it open G was it G
Johnny Ramare.
He has really nostalgic eyes
Not so much 'nostalgic' as 'old'...
I could say, never too old to rock!
Johnny learned it from Mick Ronson
that looks like a quality beer there -what is that?
It was a Budweiser. They had 'em for NZ$19:99 a dozen down at the local supermarket. I likes me a Bud.
Slammerworm1 20 bucks for a 12-pack of Bud lol
Captain Freedom he said $20 in New Zealand dollars...that's less than $14 American dollars
Not quite. Johnny always played with his amps set on 10.
im from nz
Hail and well met!
Jhonny Ramone en el peor de sus días haahahahha
More like Johnny's silly old uncle Gene-Pool...
Nice tutorial but picture quality is like shooted by potatoe or turkey.
Yeah, I know. You could pretty much do without the visuals and the information is still there...
Yeah, it won't matter so much, the main thing is that you gave great tips how to play and sound like Johnny Ramone. I´m thankful for that and you also made one very important notice. don't too much distortion because it kills the sound and doesn't give anything extra and we don't hear Johnnys right hand downwards technique and how he touch the strings very sensitively, not just banging like mad those. And same thing with the chords he kept the rhythm by squeezin fingers right after chord is played ready for the nex chord.
If you really want to play and have the attitude of Johnny Ramone then you've gotta have your guitar hanging nice and low like Keith Richards and Johnny Thunders. If you have your guitar strapped high like the Beatles did then you are doing it wrong. Learn to play with that swagger and you are officially a badass guitar player
You need your wrist, elbow and shoulder to do it properly...
Low is proper, if you can do everything right while playing with that guitar hanging low then it's a 100% in my book. I'm not disagreeing with you at all but I just love when people like Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards or Johnny Ramone for example play with that swagger
You also need to strum over the neck and not the pickups....Johnny and Dee Dee both did that...
at 4:06 "if you can get this one you pretty much....... what?
'home and hosed'. You done got it, in other words.
Great playing, but the video quality is crap man.
I know but fuck it; it is what it is...
What kind of guitar is that anyway?
A Cyclone Heartfield. It's Japanese.
Slammerworm1 It's really nice! It resembles an Ibanez.
My fucking hands are too big for doing barre chords :-/
Oh no they're not! I've got fingers like just-cooked sausages and once upon a time there was a chap named Hendrix with hands like two bunches of bananas (seriously; check out a photo and just look at those giant hands of his. They dwarf the guitar neck!)...Not that there's any comparison talent-wise between us two, but you get the gist. Not only could Hendrix play the barre chords, but he's the best lead player who ever was.
The tempo was Mark's thing .. Ritchie brought them to a new level of speed. He was the fastest.. He played way more eighth notes straight out without cheating with the loose hi hat.. Durango and wart hog were off too tuff remember, that was ol Ritchie.. Ya Mark did sound a bit sloppy, definately not true to the lp.
Agreed; Ritchie was the only Ramones drummer who could successfully pull off 'Durango 95' and 'Wart Hog' (not to mention singing backing vocals as well!). Yep, Marky had a loose hi-hat, but moreover instead of using his wrist and arm to play the eighth-beat style at high speed he merely 'wiggled' the stick between thumb and forefinger, kind of 'bouncing' it. In drummer's terms that's a bit 'upstroke'...They really should have given Ritchie that T-shirt money and kept him on.
En Florencio Varela hay 10 chicos al menos que tocan y sienten los Ramones con más espíritu que vos. Ramones es Argentina.
'10 boys' you say? And where are THEIR videos? And no sir, Ramones are not Argentina. Ramones are New York.
qué mala leche. Esos pibes tocaran, pero tocan con quintas y no cejillas como el tipo del video
@@sensacionsombria5125 Capo? I've never used a capo in my life! Seriously, 1) how could I be playing the lower E chord in 'Cretin Hop' if I had a capo (check the original; I'm playing all 3 songs in the same key) and 2) exactly how would using a capo help anyone play Ramones songs? Capos change the pitch (and therefore the key) of your instrument, and the Ramones used standard or 'concert' pitch, i.e. no capo. I learned to play guitar by playing along with the Sex Pistols, Lou Reed, David Bowie and first Ramones album; all concert pitch guitarists (although Mick Ronson may have used a capo during the 'Ziggy Stardust' era live shows, where there would be an acoustic bracket). And yes I do wonder about these wonderful 'ten kids' who supposedly play so brilliantly... Does CJ Ramone know about them? Because frankly, he knows about me...
@@Slammerworm1 what? who even said anything about capos? I think you translated the whole thing wrong. In fact, I was saying that you play Ramones perfectly with barre chords and downstrokes.
Also I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend is the only Ramones' song played with a capo and open chords. But that has nothing to do with this talk
Hello my name is Jake Paul?
Hello my name is Gene-Pool. I have a very strong Kiwi accent...
Merda pura
você é pura merda.
Why would you like to play exactely like Johnny Ramone? Why would anybody?
So you use both downstrokes and upstrokes to play those three standard chords?
So what? Does that noise sound much different because of that?
He probably used only downstrokes because he couldn't do anything else.
Born out of limitation rather than skill.
It's the musical equivalent of the Daytona 500. You have to negotiate the chord-changes whilst keeping up the speed of the down-strokes for 2-3 exhilarating minutes. Yes, the sound is different when played strictly downwards; it imparts a 'percussive' quality which makes the music more powerful overall. Johnny Ramone was no Hendrix, but he made that down-stroke 'chainsaw' style his virtuosity, because frankly it is not easy to accomplish. Why do it at all? Because we love the Ramones.
Slammerworm1
So it’s more an excercise in endurance than anything else.
Ok I get it.
It may sound a little bit different when also using upstrokes, it’s bound to, but who cares?
Make it your own that way.
Love the Ramones? Obviously you do if you want to copy the ‘technique’ of a not so proficient three chord ‘wonder’.
But if you like it you like it. And that’s all there can be said about it.
Funny, i don't remember Johnny Ramone standing like a bow-legged girl. 👧
Neither do I.
But … that’s not how he plays
CJ seems to think it is..? Seriously though, I play 'classic' (early) Ramones style, not the later too-fast live blur-thrash, for which Johnny had to significantly change his playing-style. In order to increase the songs' speed he drastically reduced the amount of strums from seven per beat (dun-dadadadadada/dun-dadadadadada) to three (dadada/dadada/dadada/dadada). To me, the earlier live band had a hard-rocking swagger which the later live band had lost, and if one got into the later live Ramones first, then the early band can sound almost 'slow'. So yeah; actually you're right. That's not how he plays. It's how he played. (yes he is no longer with us, but you know what I mean).
@@Slammerworm1 I thought u didn’t use downstrokes in the video. My bad
Thanks
For
The reply’
@@holyemperor5221 No downstrokes? Perish the thought!
@@Slammerworm1 hahahaha
I'm kinda baffled that this video and others like it even exist. It's fucking STRUMMING, people... STRUMMING... Ramones fans are easily impressed apparently lol. Not even kidding, Ramones were one of the worst bands to ever perform on stage.
So I take it that you won't be making use of the information contained in this video then? That's okay. We Ramones fans occasionally come across an 'unbeliever' or two. Enjoy your Ramones-free world...
not great
Did this nigga just say his name is Jake Paul?
Yep, I am 'Jake-Paul Belmondo', the REAL 'Gene-Pool Belmondo'! The one you see here is my nere-do-well evil twin 'Jake-Paul'; and moreover, I've been in a dungeon in an iron mask for going on a decade now...