Joe Farrell / Jimmy Madison / “Upon This Rock” / Artifacts / Black Sheep Tribute

* If you’re not into the nerd nuts and bolts of music DNA, skip the long caption below and enjoy the music!

Joe Farrell’s “Upon This Rock” is my jam not only because of all they classic breaks, but the insane guitar work (Joe Beck) and the way Jimmy Madison (the drummer) swung his ass off (check his discography). Whole band smokes. Obviously this song has been sampled a billion times yadda yadda so I cut up the other elements from a few of my personal favorite uses of it and put em underneath me playing through all the different breaks in the song.

This sounds nothing close to the original sonically and here’s why: I always thought the first part (Artifacts section) was a ride cymbal groove but after picking it apart, it’s actually a 16th hi-hat being smothered by the long sustain of a riveted cymbal that was hit on the downbeat before the loop (and probably compressed by overheads). That’s where the wash is coming from, with the harder attack of the hi hat underneath, so it’s impossible to get it exact without a riveted cymbal. I used the ride cause well…I don’t have a riveted cymbal (or one with that kind of sustain) so…dassit. Only RJD2 and like 6 other people on this entire Earth would be fascinated by that shit and those psychopaths are probably following this account, but I figured someone would note in the comments would eventually note it.

P.S. – Also, I get a lot of feedback about camera angles. Can’t see my left hand much here. My bad, I’m not a “content creator” so I never think about that! Not much left hand action on this one anyway besides a few ghost notes in the first part. Next time! Here’s the original tunes in the medley: