Another generation of bonhams Cool1. But looks as if He's got aways to go!! I know he's young!!

This is a tough one to watch. I love the attention that a dad would devote to the son, but it just feels strange. Why the focus on one artist? The child has not developed a feel as of yet. That much is obvious. Why not allow space for the natural drummer to surface? I don't get it. I realize this is just one snippet of time. I understand that. But, I'm looking at the dad's history of drumming and can see that same unnatural devotion to the grandpa's drumming style.

I guess what I'm seeing (what appears as truth to me) is a bit of stifling of the natural creative growth of an artist. I watched Jason grow with an unnatural fixation on his dad's drumming. He's tried his whole life to emulate that style, with varied success. It appears (though cannot be conclusive) that he's doing the same thing with his son. That would be tragic. There may or may not be an artist within that child. If what I think is going on is actually happening, that potential artist will never surface. Instead, what will appear is another imperfect xerox copy of a true artist.

John Bonham did what he did. Gene Krupa did what he did. Buddy Rich did what he did (that no one else could ever hope to do). Steve Gadd did what he did. ...and on and on. The point is, it's been done. Art should progress. Why would we want to see another artist paint like Dali? It would make no sense. Dali painted what was inside of him (sometimes it looked like entrails on a canvas:D). That's always been a glaring flaw in music to me.

Inspiration is great. Duplication is not. Originality, ingenuity, creativity, and conviction are some of the more important variables that help define a true artist.

Anyway, that's how I see it.

Well to me it's more like family tradition being handed down through the generations. He'll grow in time and with practice he'll learn. ;)

I agree with this statement to a good degree. As a second generation drummer who's dad has left this world in recent years, I can tell you that my dad was a legend on the local blues/R&B scene here. Almost everyone I have run into that he knew always tells me how much of a great guy he was and what a great solid in the pocket shuffle drummer he was. This I know. Then the dreaded question comes about: "Are you still playing? Gotta keep that family legend alive ;) "

Well, yes I do still play and while not as much as I used to, I know that I can't play half of what he could. And I try to tell these guys that. I'll sit in with some of them occasionally, and I get the "man that was great, but I like the way your old man would groove that too." They seem to forget the notion that I'm me and I play the way I play, and he played the way he did. I'm a simple groove Al Jackson Jr type of player. I can swing it, but shuffle....not my forte'....that was the old man's thing. I mean he played for 50 years every weekend for cryin' out loud! LOL! My left hand capability has been and still is limited in what I can get my mind to tell it to play LOL!

Anyway, I can agree with Michael that you gotta be yourself....there was only one John Bonham (no matter how hard Jason tries to play like his dad, he still does his thing with it) and the idea of Jason teaching his son to play, while great, should be more a lesson of how to play like he feels, and not like his grandfather or father in this case.

Take it from me, I know from experience......while my dad was not anybody world famous like Krupa, Rich, Bonham, et al.....nobody can play like him, not even me. And if I tried, I couldn't do it justice.

I would like to see what your take on Ringo was when he was teaching Zak???? he sounds nothing like his old man, doesn't even play the same kit set up or music style??

Ringo didn't teach Zak. He's stated on several occassions that he showed him a basic groove and that was that. Zak grew into the drummer he is sans the ringo walls. It was evidently healthy. You are quite right. Zak plays nothing like his dad. He's an individual and was allowed to grow as one.

And so whats any different with jason showing his grandson a few beats, you saw one very short clip, and that's stifling his individuality??? I completely disagree sorry!

Please reread my original post. This discussion really doesn't need to take place.

This is a Quote from your post>