DrumFaster

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Mark Guiliana

Documented by Drum Faster

The drummer on David Bowie's Blackstar, and the man who worked out how to make an acoustic kit sound like a drum machine. A famously compact Gretsch setup — one rack tom, one floor tom, one ride, one pedal — with the damping doing most of the work.

2024 — Mark

The solo album that took Drumeo's Contemporary Drummer Of The Year. Same small kit, same philosophy: muffle everything, hit it in unusual places, and treat the acoustic drum as something to be processed physically rather than electronically.

Bass drum — Gretsch kit 22"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 12"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 8"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 14"Snare — Gretsch Brooklyn 14"x5.5" chrome over brass snare 14"Hi-hats — Zildjian K Custom 14" Special Dry Hi-hats 14"Ride — Zildjian K Custom 20" Crash Ride 20"
The 2024 kit at a glance. Tap a piece to find it below; sticks, pedals and hardware aren't drawn.
Gretsch kit 12"x8" rack, 14"x14" floor ⤷ who plays this
Gretsch Brooklyn 14"x5.5" chrome over brass snare ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 14" Special Dry Hi-hats ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 20" Crash Ride ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 22" High Definition Ride ⤷ who plays this
Vic Firth 85A sticks ⤷ who plays this
DW 9000 series hardware ⤷ who plays this
Remo Coated Emperor ⤷ who plays this

2016 — Blackstar

Bowie's last record, made with a band of New York jazz musicians, and Guiliana's drumming is its engine: skittering, broken, propulsive and audibly human. By some distance the most widely heard jazz drumming of the last twenty years.

Bass drum — Gretsch kit 22"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 12"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 8"Rack tom — Gretsch kit 14"Snare — Gretsch Brooklyn 14"x5.5" chrome over brass snare 14"Hi-hats — Zildjian K Custom 14" Special Dry Hi-hats 14"Crash — Zildjian K Custom 19" Hybrid Crash 19"Ride — Zildjian K Custom 22" High Definition Ride 22"
The 2016 kit at a glance. Tap a piece to find it below; sticks, pedals and hardware aren't drawn.
Gretsch kit 12"x8" rack tom, 14"x14" floor tom, modest kick — that is the whole kit ⤷ who plays this
Gretsch Brooklyn 14"x5.5" chrome over brass snare crisp and articulate, and dampens into a completely different drum ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 14" Special Dry Hi-hats ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 22" High Definition Ride ⤷ who plays this
Zildjian K Custom 19" Hybrid Crash ⤷ who plays this
Vic Firth 85A sticks light and thin ⤷ who plays this
DW 9000 single pedal ⤷ who plays this
Remo Coated Emperor tom heads heavily damped — attack with almost no decay ⤷ who plays this

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