MASTER CLASS

ThreadsofLife- Unwoven

by Jason Bittner

CD TRACKS 03-14

Hi, I’m Jason Bittner, and I’m here at the beautiful Skyline Studios in New York City, hanging out with DRUMHEAD magazine. The first thing I’m going to show you today is the intro to the song “The Failure of the Devout,” off our latest album, Threadsof Life. It’s my favorite song on the album, because it’s got the most crazy drum parts in it. The beginning is actually based on a shuffle groove, which is the first time I’ve played something like that on an album. So it’s kind of interesting to bring a very different vibe into the heavy metal realm. I’m going to play the whole intro for you now, and then we’ll break it down piece by piece.

Bittner Ex. 1 – CD Track 03

Jason Bittner is the drummer for the Grammy-nominated artist Shadows Fall. He has been playing drums for over twenty-five years and teaching for almost fifteen years. His attended the Berklee College of Music in the late 1980s. In the last five years with Shadows Fall, he has toured the world extensively and has recorded/ released three albums and a DVD with the band. He is also an established clinician and can be found performing at drum festivals worldwide.

There is one disclaimer; this intro section is also based around splash cymbals and chinas that we don’t have set up right now, so I used the crashes instead to place the notes where they belong when I’m actually playing the part. The initial beat, or the initial groove, is a shuffle pattern. Obviously, some of you have heard the shuffle before. It’s played in various forms. Here I’ll play a simple one. Bittner Ex. 2 – CD Track 04