Original subtitles

While she leads backing up Prince,

she also continues her successful solo career.

The top percussionist who has played

for Prince, George Duke, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock,

and myself, amongst others.

Just wait till you see Shelia E!

[CHEERING]

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, THE GLAMOROUS LIFE]

Come on!

Clap your hands!

(SINGING) She wears a long fur coat of mink,

even in the summertime.

Everybody knows from the coy little wink.

SHELIA E: The role of music in my house was everything.

(SINGING) She's got big thoughts.

SHELIA E: Life, water, food.

I don't think I had a choice other than to be a percussion

player.

(SINGING) What I think this girl, she really wants--

SHELIA E: Through my experience of ups and downs

has come great success, confidence, power, beauty,

love.

(SINGING) A man's touch.

SHELIA E: And I think the biggest gift is

knowing what your passion is.

(SINGING) Without love, it ain't much.

SHELIA E: Because when you know what that is,

no one and nothing can stand in your way.

I know that I'm the baddest drummer out.

And once I get on stage, it's my house, nobody can mess with me.

[GIGGLES]

SHELIA E: I grew up in Oakland, California,

I think one of the best places to be born because of music.

My dad at the beginning saw that I was interested in music.

And I think I was maybe 9 years old,

he said to me, why don't you go play violin instead

of like, playing congas and percussion.

And I looked at him like, violin?

Are you kidding me?

That is so corny.

My dad is the legendary Pete Escovedo, Latin percussionist,

who is known as the Mexican Frank Sinatra.

He's won numerous awards, and he plays all over the world.

And he's a fantastic timbale player

and the best-dressed timbale player.

Growing up, there were celebrities

coming to the house, like Tito Puente, Carlos Santana, Eddie

Palmieri, and Mongo Santamaria.

And I just took it in and soaked it in

and just like, wow, look at them playing, that sounds amazing,

wow, that's incredible.

And I think that was the great part of my parents bringing

in different genres of music.

They wanted us to learn everything.

My dad had a band called Azteca, and they were signed to CBS.

And they were opening for The Temptations and Stevie Wonder

and Earth Wind Fire.

And his other percussion player got sick,

so I said, come on, Daddy, let me play, I know all the songs.

And he said, yeah, no, you're 15, no, you can't do it.

I said, come on, please, I know all the songs.

No, no, no, you can't.

So I went to my mom and I said, Moms, Daddy won't let me play.

She went and spoke with him and I was able to play.

So I played the show--

San Francisco.

You know, you're thinking, OK, no big deal,

I know my dad's music.

However, this is now an 18-piece band with adults

that the musicianship, the level was like, way up here.

And I had to rise to the occasion.

I didn't realize like, how intense it was going to be.

So we started playing, and next thing I know my dad

turned to me and he looked--

I was on this side, he looked and he said,

I want you to take a solo.

He's playing and he's like, go take a solo.

I'm like, a solo?

OK.

All of a sudden, I didn't even know where I was.

My eyes were closed, and I just went into a place

that I had never ever experienced.

[DRUMMING]

I saw myself leave my body, and I

was watching myself play with my dad's band

and watching the crowd.

All of a sudden, I hear the roar of the audience

and I started to open my eyes.

And I'm playing, and I just went like, what the heck?

Where did I go?

And I just went, [TRILLS TONGUE] and I just

played faster and faster and just went into it.

And I was shaking--

I just started shaking.

My whole body was shaking.

And I looked at my dad and I just--

I was like, I don't know what happened.

And they're still playing, ba-da-da!

So we went backstage and I hugged him.

I was like, Daddy, this is what I want

to do for the rest of my life!

Oh, my god!

I want to go out on tour with you.

This is it, I know this is it.

This is what I want to do!

I want to play percussion with you.

And he's like, no, no, no, are you kidding me?

And that one moment changed my life.

[DRUMMING]

Give it up for Sheila E!

SHELIA E: I'm honored to share just a little bit of me

with you to inspire you to be your best.

In this MasterClass, I'm going to do percussion

and drumming, how to play beats and make loops,

and how to perform with a band.

And also, I'd like to introduce you to the Escovedo family.

Even if you don't choose this as your career,

pick up an instrument, do something and play,

and enjoy yourself and make it fun.

If you want to be a drummer like me,

a percussion player like me, maybe singer, drummer, dancer,

percussion player, drummer like me, this Masterclass

is for you.

I'm Sheila E, and this is my MasterClass.

Rhythm is something that everyone has,

whether you're aware of it or not.

[HEARTBEAT]

When you listen to your heartbeat, it has a rhythm.

That is rhythm it's a timing.

It's a swag.

It's something.

It's a rhythm.

And everyone has rhythm.

Rhythm is a movement.

And you can do it with your hands, on your lap,

on the table.

Just practice to a metronome.

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

And you learn about rhythm.

You try it.

Ready?

1, 2, 3, go.

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

Excellent.

You want to change rhythms?

You can go--

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

Then pace, just keep straight.

Let's try it with music.

And I think that we should do it with one

of your favorite songs.

Well, it's one of my favorites, "Glamorous Life."

Let's try it.

Here we go.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, "THE GLAMOROUS LIFE"]

You hear the tempo?

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

Here we go, 2, 3, uh.

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

(SINGING) She wears a long fur coat of mink even in the summer

time--

And so, for some of you who can't play that fast,

do halftime.

Just--

[CLAPS RHYTHM]

Just like this.

(SINGING) The girl's got a lot on her mind.

She's got big thoughts--

And for some of you who can't do that,

what if you walked in place like this?

Same thing.

(SINGING) What I think this girl, she really wants--

See?

It's a rhythm.

That is your rhythm.

(SINGING) She wants to lead--

Then-- no, I'm just kidding.

[LAUGHS] Here we go, like this, right?

(SINGING) --a man's touch.

She wants to lead the glamorous life.

Without love--

It ain't much.

Here we go.

Just keep walking it out.

It's like exercise.

Keep practicing.

Double time like this.

(SINGING) She saw him standing in the section marked--

There you go.

Good job.

[SHAKER]

[DRUMMING ON PAN]

Here's how you learn a little bit more about rhythm.

And if you can't afford or don't have drums or percussion

at your house, it's not a problem

because right here, we have a bunch of items

right from your house, pots, pans, a little bit of food,

water bottles, some drills.

Growing up, when I was younger, I started on pots and pans

because my dad's drums were a little bit too high,

a little bit too big for me.

So I did.

I started out with these pots and pans.

I feel that I can take anything and make it music.

I have used these items on many albums.

I'm not going to tell you which ones.

You'd have to figure it out.

Everyone has keys in the house.

You put them together, make a shaker.

[SHAKES RHYTHMICALLY]

Just take your old keys.

It works wonderfully.

These are my favorite right here.

Say hello to my little two friends, OK?

[LAUGHS] Listen.

[RUNS DRILLS IN RHYTHM]

I love that.

It's amazing.

Also, we have two bottles over here.

After you have a little drink, pour some water.

Mm-hmm.

Like that.

Well--

[BLOWS]

One more.

Mm-hmm.

[ALTERNATES SINGING A NOTE AND BLOWING INTO BOTTLE]

Look, an instrument.

[ALTERNATES SINGING A NOTE AND BLOWING INTO BOTTLE]

Amazing.

It's so much fun.

[RHYTHMIC NOTE]

To take this to the next level, let's create

a loop, which is simply a repeated section of music.

We will record an eight-bar section

and create additional sounds by layering them

on separate audio tracks.

[PERCUSSION MUSIC]

At home, you can build a loop by using a basic recording

app on your phone or computer, adding

multiple layers of sound with whatever household items

you have, transforming them into music.

I'm going to demonstrate right now how we do this.

Take your water bottle right here.

We're going to play a click.

So I can play in time.

Be conscious of time.

Here we go.

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[PLAYS RHYTHM]

This, to me, is more like hitting

a kick drum, the low end, the bottom of what

I'm going to create.

So I use this because it has a low sound.

So let's add something on top of that,

but let's make it first because I might want a shaker.

Well, I don't have a shaker.

Let's make one.

At home, you have rice, beans.

Rice is going to sound a little bit lighter.

Beans are going to sound heavier.

And you can mix the two.

So we take some rice.

All right?

Maybe a little bit of beans, just because.

Rice and beans go together in my house.

I hope it does in yours too.

All right, got a shaker.

All right?

Let's play back.

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[SHAKES RICE JAR IN RHYTHM]

That was our shaker added to the water bottle.

Let's go for a sound a little more metallic,

which would be the pots and pans we would use as a gogo bells.

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[PLAYS RHYTHM]

Next part, let's try the drills.

All right, here we go.

[LAUGHS]

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[RUNS DRILLS IN RHYTHM]

There you go.

Let's try a cleaner.

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[SPRAYS CLEANER]

[PERCUSSION TRACK PLAYS]

[SPRAYS CLEANER RHYTHMICALLY]

OK.

Now, let's try keys, OK?

This will be a little bit different than the shaker.

It'll be shaker, but more metallic, metal sounding.

And by the way, when you are recording, or playing to loops,

or making your own loops, or playing to music,

you know, on your phone in your house,

the point is to have fun.

And I love dancing and playing, so if you start moving,

that's a natural thing is to move when you play.

It feels good.

So don't be afraid to move.

It actually makes you sound better.

[PERCUSSION TRACK PLAYS]

[SHAKES KEYS]

So what you do with this water bottle, you pour water in it.

[BLOWS ON BOTTLE]

Try to make a sound.

[BLOWS ON BOTTLE]

You make a note, and then you blow in the sound. (SINGS) Hoo.

[BLOWS]

Hoo.

[BLOWS]

Hoo.

[BLOWS]

Hoo.

[BLOWS]

The more water you put in, the higher the pitch.

The less water, the lower the pitch.

Hoo.

[BLOWS]

But I'm going to keep it at this pitch for this loop.

[METRONOME CLICKS]

[PERCUSSION TRACK PLAYS]

[ALTERNATES SINGING A NOTE AND BLOWING INTO BOTTLE]

Very last thing--

I did this on one of my records.

I had a snare drum that I needed more punch, more bite.

[LAUGHS] More bite, yeah.

I actually took an apple.

I bit the apple, and sampled it, and put it on top of my snare.

Sampling means I took this.

I played it back so that every time my snare played,

it sounded like this on top.

Chh.

Chh.

[BITES APPLE]

Now, that we put this all together,

let's play it back and see what we've created.

[PERCUSSION TRACK PLAYS]

Now, if that doesn't make you dance, I don't know what will.

That was amazing, right?

Didn't you have fun doing that?

I did.

So go ahead and create at home.

Pick up your items.

Do whatever you need to do.

Have fun.

Dance.

Laugh.

Live your life.

SHEILA E: Drummers are the drivers of the band.

We're the time keepers, the foundation.

I'm super excited to teach you how to play

this powerful instrument.

Grab your sticks and let's get started.

If you only have a pair of drumsticks

and you don't have a drum set, what I'd like for you to do

is just practice on a pillow, a chair, your couch.

The floor is very cool, on a rug even.

And all you do is do single strokes like this.

And then just try to do faster and faster

but be consistent so that they both sound the same.

The way you hold the stick, again everyone

is a little bit different.

Sometimes people hold it too close in the middle, which

is going to feel weird.

The balance is wrong.

You can't get the power.

It doesn't feel right.

If you can, hold the stick further back,

where the butt of the end of the stick

is, so that you can play like this.

It feels better.

It feels more natural.

If you move it up here, it's harder to control the stick.

You're supposed to play this way and use your wrist so

that you don't hurt yourself.

If you're wanting to practice like this, more

like a snare drum, you can do this as well

and play like this.

It's almost like using chopsticks,

a little bit different.

The pieces of the drum set, high hat.

Right here, it's a pedal that opens and closes two cymbals

together.

This is a pedal, the second one here, is a kick drum pedal.

I actually play two of them together.

And most drummers play with this pedal on the inside.

But I play it on the outside because I like to sit straight.

Snare drum.

This is the snare drum.

This is tom 1.

This is tom 2.

This is tom 3.

These are cymbals.

And they're different sizes.

And you can pick whatever you want.

Right now I have a 17 and an 18.

And this is a ride cymbal.

This is a 20 inch ride cymbal.

This is we call a splash or China pang.

And it looks like it's upside down.

And it is, because that's the way it's supposed to be.

But you don't have to play it like that.

I have a cowbell here.

And it's mounted to the kick drum.

And this is what I use a lot in most of my shows.

And that's it.

If

You saved up your money and you want to buy a drum set,

there are many ways of putting together your kit.

You can buy one that comes together like this.

You can choose different sizes.

This is a 8, a 10, and a 16 or 18.

They're different sizes, meaning different tones.

The smaller ones are going to be higher pitch.

The lower ones, bigger and lower.

So you can choose and pick this kick drum

as a 20 inch kick drum.

But they have smaller ones that are 18.

Or you can go to a 22.

Sizes are different.

It just depends on what you're looking for.

I sometimes add different percussion instruments

as part of the drums as well.

Just get the simple things, really.

If you're going to start playing, start with high hat,

kick, and snare.

Because that's the most important thing.

That is the foundation of playing

the drums is to learn how to play the high hat,

kick, and snare.

And just practice time every single day.

You have to practice.

That means warming up, you know, 20 minutes, a half an hour

before you play or record or go jam or whatever.

And it's just really just loosening up.

Every single day, try a chair, a pillow, couch.

And you just start warming up.

Just loosen up your limbs.

I want to show you three basic rudiments

but I call them warm ups.

And it would be singles, doubles, and paradiddles.

Singles.

Doubles, which is two on each hand.

But start slow and make sure that they both sound the same.

And also that it looks the same.

Because it's normal that one hand,

one arm is going to be weaker than the other.

So you have to strengthen them both.

And do that to a click track, a metronome, whatever

you want to do, even to songs.

If there's a song playing, [HUMS]

Single.

Single.

Dat, dat, dat, dat, dat, dat.

Double, double, two on each.

And you just practice the songs.

And you keep doing that.

My thing is I'll do doubles until my hands sound the same,

till each hand sounds the same.

And it usually takes my left hand longer.

It takes longer for my left hand to warm up than my right hand.

And once I do that and it starts to loosen up,

I can tell, like within five to 10 minutes,

how much it has loosened up.

And it just feels natural without me trying to do this

because I'm not warmed up.

It's really important as well to stretch.

You have to stretch.

Stretch your arms doing this, pulling

this to make sure that everything is kind of loose.

There's different exercises that you can do.

I mean, I actually get on the floor

and do some of my stretches that I

would do when I used to run track, all the sprints,

stretching my legs, and my back, and whatever

I can do to loosen up so that when I go on stage,

it's not foreign to me.

I'm not going on stage and everything is cold.

Everything is warmed up by then.

Some of you might know paradiddles

and right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left.

Paradiddle.

Paradiddle.

But let's do it like this.

If you say, I can do it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

Or if you want to say it like this, right can do it,

left can do it, right can do it, left can do it.

Practicing singles, doubles, and paradiddles

will help you to discipline your rhythms, learning, consistency,

learning what your left hand and right hand should do evenly,

which is really important.

And it'll allow you to create.

SHEILA E: In this lesson, I'm going

to show you some other drumming techniques that

are a little more challenging.

These include some of my favorite rhythms, funk

and Latin.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

A basic beat would be 2 and 4.

So if you were counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1,

2, 3, 4.

So what I'm doing-- start with the hi-hat.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Right?

And the snare is on the 2--

1, 2-- and then the 4--

3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Kick drum on the 1.

1, 2, 3, 4.

So 1 and the 3.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

So that drum beat, that very simple basic drum beat,

2 and 4-- that's what we call it, 2 and 4--

plays and being played on a lot of songs.

It's great for just keeping time for a band.

And I'll show you, when you really dig in,

this is what it sounds like.

And you just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

That beat you can play forever with anyone,

even if it's faster.

1, 2, 3, 4.

That's 2 and 4, same thing.

You can add the hi-hat to do--

instead of like this--

2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

I dare you, I dare you to play that beat, 2 and 4.

Just play it for like five minutes straight.

Don't play-- don't touch anything.

If you have a drum set, don't touch anything else.

This doesn't matter right now.

The basic is to keep time.

Have a click track or your metronome on your phone,

and just practice that 2 and 4 where it sounds so amazing.

It sounds even.

It sounds smooth.

It's clean.

It's consistent.

That 2 and 4 is like, you know, a funk beat.

Some funk beats can be a little more complicated.

Well, for one thing, we did 2 or 4,

and you can do 4 on the floor.

Like, disco music was 4 on the floor, like this--

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2.

Right?

And that's just 4 on the floor.

1, 2, 3, 4.

You know?

That's dance music.

Funk music, it's hard to kind of play

a funk beat because funk has to do

with syncopated rhythms, everyone playing

in and out of syncopation.

Syncopation means that instead of just emphasizing downbeats

on your pattern--

1, 2, 3, 4--

you add emphasis on the offbeats.

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.

And it's still all in time.

It's not a different time signature.

It's all just 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2.

It's still in time, but it makes it funky.

Now, that's one type of funkiness,

like Tower of Power funky.

The other part is just playing funky means like the 2 and 4.

And it depends on what the other players are playing.

If you just play that straight, the funkiness

comes from not playing anything else.

It's the air and the space in which no one plays makes it

funky.

So if everybody's playing on that 2 and 4,

the space that's not being played is funky.

That's another definition of funkness, I should say.

[DRUMMING]

There's some different types of Latin beats,

and I should say Latin, Brazilian, African,

like a samba.

And I don't play a traditional samba, by the way.

A samba you play--

right, a double kick.

But again, when I first started playing,

I didn't know how to do this.

So I used a low tom to kind of--

it sounded like I was playing it.

Right, instead of-- so it sounded like--

And that's my version of a samba,

but it's not like totally correct technically.

But it has a nice feel, and it sounds the same.

But again, this is a walking situation here.

Everything that you do when you first start playing

is just like walking, just like this.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Samba is faster.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Same thing, I'm still walking.

You want to run--

I'm running.

And if you want to run with two pedals--

or you run fast--

you can do that.

[DRUMMING]

Like I started with the 2 and 4--

it's a movement, 2 and 4, right?

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2.

Basic beat.

And a samba.

Same walk, just a different pattern on the drums.

And that pattern would be this--

right?

It's just this.

But what the difference is is where I'm accenting.

I'm still doing this regardless.

And my hands are going back and forth,

just single-- left, right, left, right, left, right, right?

And that's all I'm doing, but it's how I'm accenting.

I'm not changing the rhythm at all.

It's basically how I'm going to accent.

So if you go--

right?

So-- it's still all--

but you're accenting-- some soft, some loud.

So you start walking and accenting.

And you can just start on the snare.

Then you add a tom.

Add a second tom.

Now you try it, and I'm going to keep time for you.

1, 2, 3, uh.

Come on.

Come on.

OK, I heard you say it was too fast.

Let me try a little bit slower.

1, 2, 3, uh.

There you go.

Keep walking.

Keep playing.

Now speed up a little bit.

There you go.

Good job.

[DRUMMING]

We, as drummers, are the timekeeper.

And that's really important.

So say, for instance, we're playing a beat, right,

and all of a sudden you decide to speed up

because you got excited.

So you kind of lose control, and you start speeding up.

The band's going to follow you.

That means they're all going to speed up because you

started speeding up.

If you start to slow down, and you're playing,

and you start to slow down, not even realizing

that you're slowing down, the band's

going to slow down with you because they're following you.

So it's really important in playing to a click track,

to a metronome.

And practice different speeds, beats per minute, BPM,

beats per minute.

That means, you know, maybe 60 beats a minute.

And just keep playing like for 5, 10 minutes the same

beat over and over.

And just practice being consistent and trying

to hit every single beat.

[DRUMMING]

What if I said I want to play something Latin?

My drummer, this chair has to be able to go there.

Now, not all bands are like this,

where they're going to call different genres of music.

But in my band, I want you to play.

So what if I say play something Latin, and if you play time,

I want to take a solo on top of what you're playing?

They would play something like this.

Just a little Latin beat, but they

have to be able to play that.

So you want to be very versatile.

You want to be open about listening

to different genres of music and practicing, not unless you

don't want to do it.

You just want to play rock and roll, and big hair,

and big cymbals, you can do that.

That's fun too, because I always wanted to be the rock and roll

drummer in a band.

I really did.

And so now I get to do that.

All right, so I'd like to introduce

to you some members of my band.

On guitar, my godson, Mychael Gabriel.

[LAUGHS] Yes.

On bass, Raymond Deacon McKinley.

Mm.

And on keyboards, Bertron Curtis.

[LAUGHS]

I like drummers that don't overplay.

I respect drummers with discipline and pocket.

My drummer Wes McVicker is one of those guys.

Playing in the pocket means that we're playing together.

It's so tight that you would think

that it was a drum machine, like everything was so precise.

And it's a feel.

It's like we're all feeling the same thing together.

It's a movement.

And it's something that is an experience.

It's not like we're playing, yeah, we're

reading these notes, we're playing this.

This feels good.

You're thinking, again, it's in your heart.

It's like-- it's a movement.

We're all walking the same way.

And when you get into that place where musically you just flow

effortlessly, it's amazing.

It's a beautiful place to be and feel because then you're just--

like everyone's in the same place.

And you just go, oh my god.

It can't get any better than this.

Dynamics means volume and how loud

and how soft the music is being played.

You break it down.

It gets softer, and softer, and softer,

where musically we all go to the same place.

You can't break it down.

One person breaks it down, and the guitar still playing loud,

it doesn't match.

We all have to do it together.

So if I go into a beat and then break it down,

you'll see the difference in what that is.

That is so funky right there.

I can't stand myself.

Play it.

[LAUGHS] Whoo.

But it's ridiculous because I'm able to talk.

This is when we break it down, and you

might want to introduce someone, might want to go get

some water.

I don't know.

But this is just like dynamical.

Then you want to go--

bring it up.

You want the song to move dynamically,

so in breaking it down for the verse

so that you can hear what's happening

by the time you move it up to the chorus, which

is the highlight of the song.

And it's something, most of the time, that you can hum or sing.

When you get to that part, it's usually the time

that the whole band plays a little bit louder.

There are some songs that we don't break down the verse.

But when, you know, sometimes I'm in the front calling cues

or whatever, the band follows me.

I just call cues, and I'll just do this.

They know on the next turnaround just to break it down or break

it down right here.

As soon as I give the cue, that means break it down.

And we'll go right to that place.

Now we want to illustrate the all-important relationship

between drums and bass, which is the backbone of most

popular music.

So if we were playing the beat 2 and 4--

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

I made it a little bit simpler.

And once he started hearing that beat,

he started playing something.

And it's just creating.

It's-- you know, we don't know what we're going to play.

So say, for instance, we're going to play a song,

we would just call what key it is sometimes or maybe not.

And if I feel something that I'd like to play,

he follows along to, again, something

that feels right for him and then complements the drums.

When it's time for you to take a solo,

it's because that section of the song allows you to do so,

or it was arranged or set up for you to take a solo.

Improv, you're kind of playing and creating.

It's not really a solo.

You're adding different elements here and there,

a tom here, a fill here, you know, playing a different beat.

That's creating improvising.

But a solo is a section that is set up.

Everyone's going to know, here comes the drum solo.

Then it's all about you.

There are a lot of drummers that are fantastic,

fantastic soloists, amazing soloists.

They can't play a beat in time to save them.

Soloing is a gift.

It really is a gift.

Not everyone can do it.

And it's OK that you can't.

Not everyone can solo.

But I'm telling you, if you want to learn how to solo, it's

a gradual thing.

It's you finding your voice.

And that's the fun part about it is just going for it,

not to be afraid, not to live in, ah, I'm not really sure,

and be timid about it.

If you're going to make a mistake,

make a mistake big and loud.

And then do it again, because then it's not a mistake.

Sometimes we all tend to solo and give you everything

we have in two seconds.

It's like-- and then there's still time for you to play,

but you've burned yourself out at the beginning of the solo.

A good solo is supposed to gradually happen and build.

So you start slow in your solo, and you build.

You get more complicated, nicer, cooler stuff to play.

And by the end, it should just be big.

[DRUMMING]

A fill is a set up to the transition.

It's like 1, 2, 3, the verse, uh.

Instead of saying 1, 2, 3, I would play--

You kind of always do something that everyone knows, hey,

something's getting ready to happen.

Here's the verse.

Here's the chorus.

Here's a bridge.

So the intro of "Love Bizarre," if I play it,

we play it together, I didn't do a lot of fills in that song,

but this is one in the intro.

So it's like counting something out

to let people know something is getting ready to happen.

If you want to practice fills at home, do it slow.

Start slow.

And a fill, you can practice like what I did on

"Love Bizarre," the intro.

You can do that.

But every time you do something, make sure it's in time.

Like if you do something--

if this is the time, do a fill.

Just make sure in time with the click.

And just experiment on different feelings

and how you feel to set up the next section.

When you set up your fills in practicing,

take like-- sometimes you don't know what four bars might be,

but it's 1, 2, 3, 4.

Wait four bars before you do the next fill.

Don't just rush in to fill, fill, fill,

because then it's going to start sounding like a solo.

So you really want to think about, you know--

You can do it like that, or you can make more space.

Fills are complementing what is happening.

It is your voice.

It's communicating, where would you like to speak?

So it's placement.

You have to find what that really means.

Don't just do a fill in the middle of when

someone else is making a point.

So it's a give and a take.

You really have to pay attention.

And it's a conversation that needs to happen.

It's a back and forth.

But fills are not something that you do all the time.

Sometimes, like "Love Bizarre," there

might be one or two fills in that song,

and that's it because that's all that song needs.

You just have to be creative and feel out what really

makes sense for the song.

[DRUMMING]

I think it's important to know when not to play.

As I've said, sometimes you have all

of this equipment around you.

Does it mean that I have to play every single thing that

is here?

If I just keep time for longer than four bars

playing the same thing, I have to drill it into your head to

just--

just stay right there, and just play.

It creates this movement, even for them,

just playing in the same place, the same groove,

the same pocket.

It all of a sudden grows on its own.

When I was playing with Marvin Gaye,

that's when I learned early on when not to play.

One of the beats that I learned on the congas

was that beat in "What's Going On."

And I'm playing that beat, and I'm thinking,

oh my god, I'm in this 26-piece band.

And we're all playing together.

And it was me, my brother, and a friend.

And we had three sets of everything,

so that's a lot of gear.

So you're playing, and you're like,

man, we're playing with this artist

that we grew up listening to.

Like, this is really happening.

And I'm playing that beat.

And then we started dancing.

And, you know, automatically we go into this thing.

And it's like, oh, everyone starts doing it.

So we start dancing, and we're playing.

And it felt good.

And I'm just playing exactly what I know, that beat.

But I ended up hitting another drum as I played.

And I hit that other drum.

And Marvin Gaye's a very soft-spoken guy.

And, you know, I'd never heard him yell or anything.

I didn't even know him that well.

His back was to us.

And he just said, hold on.

Stop.

And everyone-- all you hear--

like, what the heck happened, you know?

And they're like, what?

And he turns around.

His back was to us.

He turns around.

And he said, someone played an extra beat.

And I was frightened.

Like, you could hear my heart beating.

And I'm going, oh my god, I'm fired.

I didn't even-- oh, this is horrible.

So I raised my hand, and I said, sorry, Mr. Gaye.

My brother won't ever do that again.

I blamed it on my brother because he owed me

because I got him the gig.

So my brother raised his hand and said, yeah, I'm sorry, sir.

I'll never do it again, you know.

And I just thought, wow, play exactly what's

supposed to be played, and don't play.

It doesn't mean because we had a roomful of equipment,

nice stuff, doesn't mean that you have to play everything.

Just play what is needed for the song.

And that is discipline.

And I say again, discipline is very hard to do for people.

[CHEERING]

You want me to play some more?

[CHEERING]

[DRUMMING]

I think that it's important to try to do something

different every time.

However, that rule doesn't always apply.

There are songs that we've heard over the years

that you go to see the artists--

and it might not be the drums.

It could be a guitar solo or a keyboard solo.

The guitar solo on a song, you want

to hear that same guitar solo.

And they didn't play it, and you're

like, that's not the solo to the song.

Prince, the same thing-- he would almost

play "Purple Rain" the same way, but then he

wouldn't because then he wants to take it somewhere else,

to another level.

I think playing something and being creative, and open,

and improvising, you want it to change a little bit.

I mean, you might want to stick to some part of the foundation

of your solo to get to the next level, but I love to improv.

So now I'd like to demo what I would play on a Latin rhythm

montuno.

Montuno is what the piano's playing.

And I'll just solo as we play this rhythm.

All right.

That was an attempt to play a solo.

It wasn't quite what I wanted, honestly,

because this, again, goes back to warm up before you play.

I didn't warm up before I played, so I was cold.

So I was struggling trying to find where the one was.

So if I actually tried to do this again,

I would warm up 15, 20 minutes.

I'd feel loose.

It'd feel better and then would just be amazing.

[ALL SINGING]

Then double time pop solo.

Oh, so it'd be like third verse would be a solo.

Yep.

SHEILA E (VOICEOVER): I love being a bandleader.

But it's not easy.

One of the biggest challenges is making

sure everyone is prepared for the show.

Is Damien on that side?

He's on this side.

Damien!

SHEILA E (VOICEOVER): Communication is the key.

And if you don't practice together,

you're not going to get it.

I need snare and--

Even though they do their homework at home,

the time that we get together is most of time doing soundcheck.

And we're like, OK, let's kind of talk it out.

Now let's play it.

Let's attack it as if we know it.

And then we start arranging it or changing some things

or some sounds here and there to make it work.

But we're only able to do that in a short amount of time

at soundcheck because they've done their homework.

So we can come in and say, let's change the first five

songs of the show tonight.

Well, I want to change five or six songs, yeah, OK,

we got to do this at soundcheck.

Well, you only have an hour and 15 minutes

to change five songs.

All right.

Well, we'll do it.

And we're forcing ourselves to be ready and be prepared

so that that night, we've changed

the whole intro of the show.

I love to create while we're on stage right in front of you.

What you want to do to bond with your band

is be honest and truthful, respectful,

as if they're family even if you just met them.

It's a relationship.

It's fellowship.

There are other artists that we know that really don't even

communicate with their bands, they don't hang out with them,

they don't stay in the same hotel.

They don't eat together.

All of those things do not apply to this band, to my band.

We eat together.

We have fun.

We hang out.

That bond is important because if we have that

off stage, when we get to stage you're

going to feel the same love.

I don't want to be different than what we are onstage,

offstage.

It has to be the same.

It has to apply both ways.

Now at one point I was different offstage than onstage.

And I didn't like that person.

He was there.

I didn't like that person.

It was hard.

I mean, Raymond can speak on how difficult and challenging

it was for these 12 hour rehearsals

to gel so that we can, onstage, be a family.

Go ahead.

Don't lie.

Well, this was for the album "Sex Symbol."

And we were rehearsing for the "Sex Symbol"

to do some promo dates for that particular album.

And I think there were two songs that we were mainly

rehearsing for TV shows and some promo radio shows.

But those two songs were like, we were rehearsing

for an eight month tour.

But when we look back at the TV shows

and how tight everything was, from that point on, I was like,

it has to be at this level, at this standard, all the time.

It's a boot camp.

But at the end of the day, at the end of boot camp,

you're a better musician, you're a better person.

And you can take that and put it in any other band situation

and you will be able to stand on the foundation,

and say, OK, you're on time, you do your homework,

you play your part, you respect everyone in the band,

and you'll get a callback.

So are we going to the F or 2D, depends on

if he's going to keep playing.

SHEILA E: Yeah.

I want you to keep playing.

[PLAYS BASS]

Your count.

Sorry.

[PLAYS KEYBOARD]

Put that--

Sorry.

Same changes?

OK.

[SINGS RHYTHM]

Oh, take it fours?

Yeah.

[PLAYS LATIN TUNE]

Got it.

Uh.

Yeah, but keep playing.

[HUMS]

And then play [HUMS].

Let him just play through so the time's still staying.

No, just him.

And play the change.

Then him.

Oh, you know what?

But you don't have your-- you stay [HUMS] Yeah.

Don't play the change.

Stay in that place so it's like a solo section.

[HUMS TUNE]

[PLAYS LATIN TUNE]

That sounds better.

Then play that bump, bump, then bump, bump.

Yeah, and there's a ding--

there it is.

[PLAYS LATIN TUNE]

There it is.

OK.

We got it.

Here we go.

[SIGH]

SHEILA ESCOVEDO: Musicians, we're like athletes.

Think about the things that they have to do,

strengthening their muscles, the training,

practicing over and over and over again to be better.

I think it's really important to run,

to exercise, and do as much as you can, drink a lot of water.

Eat well is very important, because there

are a lot of foods that kind of make you sick

and you don't even realize it.

And it slows your playing down.

It's really prevention and also the recovery.

Later, when you get older, the recovery takes longer.

So you really want to be aware of what you eat

and what you drink.

Make sure you drink tons of water.

And you gotta get rest.

I know these are simple little things.

Definitely, it's like back in the day,

I would stay up all night.

Who cared if I drank a glass of water.

But now, I'm drinking a gallon of water a day or more

than that.

And I'm eating better, because recovery is harder.

And when I get tired, and I'm injured, you know,

the recovery has to be faster.

So you've got to train your body.

Whether we're doing soundcheck or rehearsal,

it's important to play full out so that you're training

yourself to be ready for stage.

Say, for instance, you're not training,

you're not playing hard and full out,

then when you get to the stage, you're not prepared.

Because now you're winded.

You're not ready to move from here to there.

You're kind of not really--

now you're thinking.

And I don't want anyone to really think about what they're

playing when we get to stage.

I want you to play from your heart.

That allows you the freedom to create.

We're not thinking about what we have to play.

We're just playing it, because it feels good.

We already know the parts.

We've done the homework.

Now that allows you to create and come up with other stuff,

because we've done the homework.

I feel that if I'm going to give you 150%,

I'm expecting him and him and him and the singers--

I'm expecting everyone to give the same level of 150%

that I'm giving.

I don't expect anything less.

They know that and understand that.

So as a team, if they're not rising to that occasion,

then they shouldn't be in the band.

When I first started playing drums,

because I wanted to be a rock and roll drummer,

I had cymbals way up here.

I had about eight or 10 cymbals.

And they were up here.

This cymbal right here was behind me.

So I would play like this.

And I had about eight or 10 toms.

So the kit-- this drum kit was huge.

So I wanted to play like this.

And I wanted to be big.

And so I was coming way back here and playing.

And everything was like this.

And then I tore this muscle right here,

rotator cuff was like not working.

And then, playing so hard and turning the wrong way,

both of these thumbs were in a semi, little cast.

Early on, in my years, I played in heels all the time.

And when my feet were up like this, at an angle with my heels

on, it shorted my calf muscle.

And then my back gave out.

And so I started changing the way that I played.

I started lowering my cymbals.

I started putting the drums in front of me

so that I didn't have to reach so far.

Now I need to sit straight as opposed

to being all over the place and have

more control of my playing.

So it is important to adjust your drums

so that you feel comfortable, and you

don't have to reach so far.

You know, because later on, you're

going to hurt yourself as I have a kazillion times

and learned from my mistakes.

And as you see right here, this, is called a five piece, 1, 2,

3, 4, 5 is the kick drum.

When drummers talk about a five piece,

we don't include hi-hat or cymbals,

because they're not drums.

And this five piece is all I really need right now.

And it's set up very close and tight

so that I don't have to move around a lot and twist my back

or, you know, you want to be able to just do things

right here, very close, because it'll save you from injury.

Some people play their snare drum flat, some tilted.

I think trial and error, again, is how tall you are

or how short you are.

There are some people that sit really low.

And when they sit low and your knee is above your hip,

it's going to mess with your back.

And I think you'll have more back pain.

So again, for me, this is more comfortable.

And I've been able to save my back, my arms, my wrists,

my fingers from less injury by pushing everything in.

[PERCUSSION PLAYING]

When I warm up before each show, I'm playing some soft music

sometimes.

It depends on what mood I'm in.

But I'll warm up on the pillow or on the couch.

And I just want to be alone.

I want to be quiet.

I want to get into the, as they call, the zone.

I just want to be in a place of let me clear my head.

I'm ready to do the show.

I'm getting excited.

There's 15 minutes left.

And you got to get it together.

And I like to just stay in that place of just,

this is going to be exciting.

We're going to play for new people.

And we're going to have a great time.

And we're going to change people's lives.

And right after I come out of my dressing room, then

the whole band, we all get together, we pray.

Amen.

When we go out on stage, the band goes out before me.

And I stand on the side.

And even though we just prayed, I

stand there sometimes with my eyes closed.

And I just go, thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, God.

This is going to be such an amazing time.

And I'm so grateful for the gift that you've given me.

That is my ritual.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, "A LOVE BIZARRE"]

That's what we are.

We all want a love bizarre.

That's what we are.

We all want a love bizarre.

The moon up above, it shines down upon your skin.

SHEILA E: Back in the day, Prince and I

wrote the song "A Love Bizarre".

Now, I'm going to play it with my band, to bring together

all the techniques and the skills you've just learned.

As we demo this song, I want you to listen

to the different places and where I

play hi-hat because of a verse.

I play the ride cymbal because of a chorus.

I break it back down.

Just listen.

Tune in to when I'm playing.

One, two, one, two, three, four.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, "A LOVE BIZARRE"]

This song required me to play very straight,

so four on the floor, which means, one, two, three,

four, right?

And just keep that going, adding the snare and the hi-hat.

I don't even think I hit the toms at all.

I don't even think I touched them because it didn't need it.

I hit the cymbal like every four bars.

When the intro came in, I played on the ride.

When the verse came in, I played on the hi-hat

because it's a part where there will be vocals.

And just complementing the song and not

playing a lot, just playing time because that's all the song

needed.

I have the bass accompany me, I wanted

him to play pretty close to what the kick drum was playing,

which is four on the floor.

So I'll demonstrate.

We're going to play it slower than the actual song,

just so you can see how the bass comes in with the kick drum.

One, two.

What I've demonstrated is four on the floor.

The bass was playing almost the same thing,

but at the tail end of that phrase,

he ad-libbed a little bit to make it

a little bit more funkier, which is really nice to have.

Sometimes you just play it straight, it's OK.

He's just improvising on the last phrase of that rhythm.

On "Love Bizarre" the guitar was really important.

And of course, in collaborating with Prince on this song,

he played the guitar.

There's a thing that we call chicken grease.

Michael set up a little bit of the chicken grease.

He's playing the part.

And everyone plays chicken grease a little bit

differently.

And the way that prince played, no one

can really duplicate what he did.

But a little bit of influence from listening to what he had

played definitely is the part.

First of all, I want to clear up a rumor.

In "Sister Fate," there is in the video

there's a mystery lover.

Now, right here in front of millions of people,

you will reveal, is that or is that not Prince?

Yes.

[CHEERING]

The truth will out.

The story on how I met Prince was 1977, I think,

right before his first album came out.

My dad was in Carlos Santana's band.

And he came back from the studio and said,

there is this guy in the studio playing.

He's really young.

He's like a kid, and he's playing all the instruments,

and he's probably producing it.

And they were all amazed.

And his name was Prince.

Like, this is crazy.

We never heard of him before.

Next thing I know, I see him at an Al Jarreau concert.

And I'm listening to Al Jarreau right here,

and then I turn and look, and I saw him,

and I'm like, oh my god.

He is fine in person.

I mean, of course, but that's really what I was saying.

And I couldn't believe it.

And he just stared at me, and I stared at him.

And I'm like, hi.

And he's saying, hi.

Over Al Jarreau playing, like, no one else existed,

and we just looked into each other's eyes.

And then the next time I really met him in person

to say hello and introduce myself, he performed

at a theater called, Circle Star Theater, in San Francisco.

And I heard that he was in town his first time performing.

So I was like, we gotta go see him.

So I went backstage to meet him.

And I pulled the curtain open, and he was in the mirror,

combing his hair.

And he saw me coming, and he turned around, and I said, hi.

I said, I finally get to meet you.

I just want to introduce myself.

And he goes, he put his hand out,

he said, I know who you are already.

And I was like, oh.

He said, I've been following your career with Joyce Duke,

and I saw you on "Midnight Special,"

and I saw you-- he started naming all these television

shows that we performed on.

And I said, oh, well, thank you.

Nice to meet.

I said, god, I love your music.

And he said, how much do you make?

I mean, he just cut to, how much do you make with George Duke?

I'm like, I don't even know what it was, but I just told him.

He said, oh.

I'll never be able to afford you.

And he just put his head down.

I was like, no.

I said, you know, things change.

Don't worry about it.

Anyway, we started talking.

We traded numbers.

And he started coming to the Bay to visit me like every weekend

just about, or every couple of days,

and I just show him all of the Bay area

as much as I could show him, you know.

And then introduced him to my family,

and had him to come and watch the Escovedo's play Latin jazz

music.

He was completely blown away by not just

the music, because he had never heard it before,

but the ability for me to be able to play

with my family, which is what he wanted with him and his dad.

He wanted that so badly.

For him to hear that music and see us together,

he was overwhelmed, and loved it,

and fell in love with the family,

and that's how we became friends.

So I met him before, he was really famous, actually.

Back then, I was touring and recording, and playing

with other artists, like Herbie Hancock, Ashford & Simpson,

and George Benson, and started jamming with Marvin Gaye.

After Marvin Gaye, I met Lionel Richie.

I was playing with so many people

and Prince kept coming out to see the shows and everything.

And he was just amazed by, OK, you

keep playing behind all these people.

So he said, you know, to me one day,

don't you want to do a record?

And I said, absolutely, I do.

He said, OK, well, let's do it.

Prince had his own production company.

He was signed to Warner Brothers,

so he was able to sign other artists.

And at the time, he had already signed Vanity 6 and The Time.

Being a solo artist to me was going

to be completely different because people knew me

as Sheila Escovedo.

And I knew that if I wanted to do my own record,

I wanted to change who I was, like basically, what

I look like, what I wanted to do,

like, this was my opportunity.

I get to be someone.

This is my own record.

And I'm going to call the shots.

OK, I'm going to change my name because everyone

got Sheila Escovedo wrong, and they would mess it up.

So I was like, let's shorten it to Sheila E. Plus back

in George Duke days, the drummer would always call me E.

So I was like, OK, let's do Sheila E. Sheila E works, OK.

Prince and I working on the "Glamorous Life" record

was amazing and a blur because we always

tried to stay up and see who could stay up the longest,

you know.

Even if we drank coffee, it didn't matter.

After you drink coffee, it doesn't work anymore.

So we would just work until we got tired.

So doing the "Glamorous Life" record was like,

you know, coming up with ideas, and we just kept going.

We were having so much fun.

We were laughing, and we'd take breaks go into the courtyard,

play basketball, come back in, and do some vocals, and then

more percussion.

And we just had a blast.

Seriously, it was so easy to do.

Like, I would barely set up the timbales or the drums,

and he'd say, OK, you ready?

And I'm like, yeah.

But I was used to people saying, oh, we

got to spend an hour, two hours getting the jumps out.

We don't have time for that.

The drums are supposed to sound like what they sound like.

And that was what was great about his recording

because he wouldn't take away the nastiness of what

that sounded like.

If his bass had a buzz to it or a weird frequency,

he would leave that because if you clean it up,

then it's going to sound funny and it takes away

the funkiness of what he wanted to create, you know.

And if you start cleaning everything up,

then it becomes, as he said, the LA Sound

where there's no movement, there's nothing.

Everything's just right here.

His songs did this, they moved.

He took you on a journey.

And it was interesting because it happened so fast.

The record, you know, was put together,

we recorded, it was done really quickly.

Basically in a week, it was done,

and we went and took pictures at Burbank Studios.

Did the cover of "Glamorous Life."

I turned it into the record company

at Warner's, and I said, you know, the record's done.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, "GLAMOROUS LIFE"]

The first time I heard "Glamorous Life,"

I was on Sunset Boulevard, and I had rented a red Mercedes,

and the top was down.

And I was turning left at the corner, and as I was waiting,

"Glamorous Life" came on, I'm like, oh my god.

My song is on the radio.

And the top is down, and I'm on Sunset, and we're in LA,

and it's Hollywood.

And I'm like, yeah, I made it.

Oh my god.

I'm just singing it.

And so I continue to turn, and bam.

A car hits me.

And I'm like, are you kidding me?

When I'm hearing my song for the first time on a radio.

This guy hit the passenger side.

And so I got out of the car, and I turned to the guy,

and he's getting out, he's like, oh my god.

I said, are you OK?

He's like, yeah, are you OK?

I said yes.

Hey, my song is on the radio right now.

That's my song.

Like, yeah.

It was so amazing to be able to hear something

that you worked on, that is your own for the first time,

and finally realize you have a solo album and a song

out for the world to hear.

It was just a dream come true.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E, "GLAMOROUS LIFE"]

SHEILA E (SINGING): She wears a long fur coat of mink,

even in the summer time.

Everybody knows from the coy little wink,

the girl's got a lot on her mind.

The thing is that shooting the video,

since I didn't have a band yet, I had no band,

but I wanted the video to come out.

I said, how I'm going to do this?

Well, of course, I'll call my family.

So I called both my brothers and my sister.

I had my brother play piano as one of the keyboard players.

He plays OK.

He's not really a piano player.

He's a percussion player.

I had my sister play guitar because she looked cute

and it would be awesome.

I had my other brother, Peter Michael, play saxophone,

except that instead of him using saxophone,

it looked better to use a soprano, which is straight.

And he would be able to do more things visually

and choreography.

So we went into a rehearsal space,

and I used my ex-boyfriend on drums,

and my sister's boyfriend on the other keyboard.

So it was a family affair.

It was like, we can shoot a video, no big deal.

So we go into rehearsal, and I started making up

steps that made sense for me to play and sing,

so it wouldn't get in the way.

It's not like you could say, oh, this was called,

the such and such dance.

There were no names.

I just made up things that made sense

for me to play, sing in the mic, turn, and do a specific dance

step.

So we shot the video, it came out,

and the record was a huge success.

SHEILA E (SINGING): And by the seventh wave,

she knew she had a problem.

So I got together with Prince's team because he had a team.

They did wardrobe, they did hair, makeup.

And I thought, well, with my sticks,

you know, I didn't have a stick holder,

but with my sticks, what if I'm playing timbales,

cause I'm going to front my band with a pair of timbales,

which no one had ever seen before.

So what if I have these pants that

are built with pockets on the side, like a holster,

and I put the sticks on the sides.

So if I lose one, I can just pull it out just like that,

and I'll be ready to go.

Before we introduce everybody else,

what inspired all of this?

The movie, "Amadeus."

Did you see the movie and said,

I want costumes like them?

Yes, yeah.

I thought it was important, if you're

going to present yourself on stage,

you have to look at it being bigger

than life, which means you have to be bigger than life.

When I became Sheila E, I just thought, I'm

going to be totally different.

Dress really, really sexy.

And just put a doily here, here, and here, and just be naked,

you know.

And I thought that that was cool.

And even Prince said to me, are you sure you want to do this?

And I'm like, yeah.

I'm going to be as sexy as I can be, like,

what am I not going to wear.

I was young.

I got offered so many things from drugs

to sex, to an airplane, to a hotel,

for real, with my name on it, which is ridiculous.

I couldn't go anywhere, and if I did, I was getting mobbed.

If I tried to go to the mall, they'd

have to shut half of the mall down, which was like,

how does that happen?

You know, I was living what I wrote,

living the glamorous life.

So fur coats and spending money on ridiculous things.

And you get to that point like, everything is crazy.

I come back from the "Purple Rain"

tour after doing a year and some change, 98 shows probably,

and I owed $990,000 at the end of the tour.

How can I be on tour for a year and owe

almost a million dollars?

Like, what happened?

I lost my mind, and I learned a huge lesson.

When someone tells you, don't put your hand in the fire

because you're going to get burned,

you kind of do it anyway just to see how painful it is.

You know it's just part of life to go through that experience

and figure out that was a mistake, I've learned from it,

so I can't move forward with doing something better.

Something was missing in my life.

I felt like I was not playing as much as I was singing.

Doing different things, but I wasn't playing.

And my heart felt a little void, there

was-- there was a little bit of emptiness where I wasn't being

fulfilled by the love and the passion of something

that I started with.

Then I decided, I would just want to play drums.

I want to play music.

I don't want to think about being up front.

And Prince kind of overheard me and said, hey,

you want to start a band together?

And that band became the "Sign 'O' the Times."

To be a drummer with Prince was pretty awesome

because I knew most of the songs,

but it was actually the first time I was ever

the drummer in a band.

We were constantly working and working, working.

In '89, I said, I'm tired.

I want to take a break.

And I actually want to do another solo record.

I did the "Sex Cymbal" record in 1991.

But then I wanted to play again.

I wanted to go back to some of my roots,

and play drums, and play percussion, and play Latin jazz

music mixed in with a little, you know, Funk and R&B stuff.

So I created a band called, "The E Train."

And it was a smaller band, sometimes six, seven piece,

and we would just play.

And I was able to just play drums.

And I felt like it was, like cleansing for me at that time.

It was what I needed to do musically.

It wasn't to be the big star singing

on stage and the outfits.

It had nothing to do with that.

It was just, I just want to play.

I just want to play, that's it.

And it fed my soul.

It really did feed my soul.

And then after that, you know, I started writing again.

And of course, always never really stopping with Prince.

We continued to write and work together, and play together.

(SINGING) She wears a long fur coat of mink,

even in the summer time.

Everybody knows from the coy little wink,

the girl's got a lot on her mind.

I think meeting Prince was the best thing that

ever happened to him.

[LAUGHS]

For real.

We became friends really quickly because of music.

The many times that, you know, we

tried not to go past the friendship,

it ended up going past.

So we were definitely together for a very long time.

Had a beautiful relationship.

I think that working with someone that you love

is a lot of fun, and sometimes, it's stressful,

and it's challenging at times.

But at the end of the day, even when we weren't together,

we were together.

And we knew that we were meant to be together

because of the love of music, and the passion,

and the connection of always trying to outdo each other,

you know.

And loving, just loving life, and enjoying the things

that we had to share with each other.

Working in the music industry my whole life,

you learn a lot of things the hard way.

I want to share with you some life lessons

to help you avoid the mistakes that I

made so you can grow as a musician

and follow your dreams.

If you want this to be your career,

you really have to work hard, and I mean extremely hard.

And when you think that it's hard enough,

then go even further.

You gotta really do the training.

If you want this to be a career, get

with people who can encourage you to help you.

Network is very important.

I made sure that I sat down, listened to what

people had to say.

I learned a lot by listening, not talking, but listening.

I learned a lot by jamming with other people.

I went to every place that I could

when I heard someone would be playing, if there were

jam sessions on the streets.

I was in the parks jamming with people, on the grass,

in the park.

I was everywhere with everyone to just try

to understand the different genres of music, what it

would take to learn that music.

Would I want to play that type of music?

What artists would I play with?

What was I interested in?

That experience is so important.

There are a lot of no's.

There are a lot of rejections, a lot of negativity.

You know, do it for yourself, and believe in yourself.

You know, no means opportunity.

No means opportunity.

It really does.

Sometimes they'd say no to me, and I just thought, yeah,

I don't think they really know.

So since I can't walk through the front door,

I'm going to go to the side door.

OK.

Someone was there.

They kind of know.

OK, never mind.

I'll go to the other side of the stage

where they kind of don't know me and say hey again.

Can I sit in and play?

And all of a sudden I'm onstage.

These five people over here said no,

but I made my way to the other side and said, you know what?

And I got on stage and I said, I just

wanted to show you I believe in myself.

I want you to believe in me.

I'm really good.

I love what I get to do, you know?

So you have to believe in yourself.

You have to be strong.

And no, again, doesn't mean you're failing.

Just fail forward and continue to walk.

If you show the enthusiasm that you're

willing to work and put in the hours

and be there and be dependable, that'll change the world.

You can prove to people, this is my gift.

I'm really good.

I'm on time.

I'm here.

I want to do it.

This is what I love to do.

I have great musician friends that are incredible,

can solo play amazing.

But they're undependable.

They bring baggage where, you know, there's drama,

or they're not on time.

They don't learn the music.

They don't care.

It's like, I'll learn it when I get there.

I don't want that kind of attitude.

I'll never call you back.

I want someone that I can depend on.

I want someone to be there because they want to be there.

Even though you're a jumper, you might be called a tech,

and that's OK.

I've learned so much behind the scenes.

I started out trying to figure out

how to roll the cords, the microphones, where they go,

how do they sit, how to mic.

I know how to mic my own drums.

Percussion, I use specific mics for certain things.

I change the mics.

I change the heads.

I learned all the behind the scenes.

Whatever I could learn, I learned.

There was nothing beneath me.

If I wanted to be a part of a situation, hey,

you know what, I'll come in.

I'll just hand out waters.

I don't care.

Whatever I need to do be a part of a team.

So sometimes you have to do these things.

[DRUMMING]

Playing percussion is not always just keeping time.

It's really adding color to a painting that's already

painted, you know, and what color

would you put if you had the opportunity

to put even just one thing.

If there is a song that is being presented to me,

and it only calls for me to play a triangle at the 82nd bar,

if I wait to play that one triangle,

I'm going to play with everything that I have,

go ding, and let it just be that.

It doesn't mean, because I have all this here,

that I have to play it to be heard because I

didn't play anything if it only requires you to play one thing.

And that's discipline.

You have to be disciplined and obedient to knowing

what is right for the song, but when someone hires you,

what is right for them?

You might not agree with their suggestions--

the producer, the artist-- you might not

agree with what they want.

Not at all.

But that's OK, because you're there because they

want your flavor on the song.

So figure out what that is, and if it's something

that they're suggesting, you do it, even if you don't agree.

There are opportunities where you're

able to be creative on your own, and someone will ask you, hey,

you know what, just do what you feel.

Those opportunities are there sometimes.

But again, that goes with experience

and being able to create and not put yourself in a box

and come up with things.

Sometimes there are opportunities

where you have to play exactly what is written,

just like scoring movies, and you're

in a symphony and an orchestra.

That tympani comes in at a specific part.

You have to play it when it's there.

It's supposed to be there.

It's written in that way.

That's not work for hire.

That's you sharing your gift with a lot of people.

And you're a part of a team that is creating something

that no one else is doing.

You're a part of a team.

That's important.

[DRUMMING]

The only way that you can get past being

nervous and scared to perform is continually doing it.

But at the same time, I'm always nervous when I play,

whether it's for two people or 20,000.

I have butterflies.

I'm anxious.

I'm excited.

And I know that that feeling was the first feeling

that I felt at 15.

And I know that if that goes away,

that means I shouldn't do it anymore.

So I accept what that is.

So let the excitement override the fear, and go out there

and do it.

When I was still in my teens, this great opportunity

was presented to my dad and I, and that

was to record our own record, first solo record,

with Billy Cobham as the producer.

This was my first recording session

in a professional recording studio at Fantasy Records

in Berkeley, which was a big deal because you really

had to be someone to get in that building.

The scariest moment, though--

I was excited to record, and my dad,

and the new music, and Billy and everything--

but they always had this light on the wall.

And it was huge, and it was a big red light,

and underneath it, it said "Recording".

And with that light, as soon as they said go, are you ready?

Roll the tape-- and that was tape back then--

roll the tape.

That light would go on, and I almost wanted to, like, freeze.

It made me nervous, but it actually scared me.

So if you're scared of that red light, as I

was, the way that you get over it to overcome

it is to really be in the moment and realize

this is a great time, a great opportunity do your best.

And it's OK if we make a mistake.

And that's the biggest thing.

It's OK if we make a mistake.

We would fail if we didn't try, you know?

It's OK.

Don't feel like you're going to be less than if you're not

able to get over these hurdles.

And after awhile, that red light,

I couldn't wait to see it go on.

I was like, come on, give me the red light.

Give me the red light.

Here it comes.

Ah, yes, you know?

The energy changes.

And it's the way that you think about it and accept it.

You have the choice to change your mind

on how do you react to the things that

are presented to you.

You have the choice to either do something great, or don't.

And I would advise you to do something great.

[DRUMMING]

My advice to anyone wanting to get in this business

is to learn the business.

Figure out what it really means to be in the music business,

in this career, because you have to understand

what the contracts say.

If you don't understand, get with someone

to explain it to you until you do understand.

It's OK to ask questions.

If someone says you're talking too much,

you're asking too many questions, that means

you're going to get ripped off.

Someone should be able to explain to you

and answer the questions that you're asking.

I was young.

This was new to me to be a solo artist in the limelight.

Fame, again, ego, money coming in.

I could do whatever I want.

And you just don't pay attention.

You just keep going.

You're like, what's the next thing I'm going to do?

You're out on tour, you start recording the second record,

as I did, so you're spending more money.

Wait, I need to shoot three more videos.

That's more money.

Well, wait, everyone needs different outfits.

That's more money.

So you're hiring stylists.

You're hiring people to make your costumes and things

like that.

And that money adds up, you know?

And everyone that I spoke to on the tour--

you've got over 100 people on the tour--

don't worry about it, Sheila, we'll take care of it.

Hey, we got you.

Don't worry about it.

You just go out there and do your thing, you know.

No, we're here.

Just sign this real quick.

You're just saying that it's OK for us to go get it.

Absolutely.

Well, they kept saying that they would take care of it.

However, the take care of it meant

I was paying for it, not them.

So you just keep digging a hole that gets bigger and bigger.

And next thing you know, you owe $1 million.

I'm like, how do I owe it?

You said you were going to take care of it.

And they said, we did.

We made sure that you got what you wanted.

We didn't say we were paying for it.

And it's like my dad always said.

Read the fine print.

Understand the business part because if this

is going to be your career, it is a business.

[DRUMMING]

You have to always be authentic to yourself.

There's no other way to be.

You have to be authentic.

And with you being authentic, people can relate to you.

And things are going to happen, and they're going to feel that.

They're going to be inspired by what you're

doing because you're real.

They get it.

You can't fake that.

I've walked away from more money than I've ever made.

I've walked away from money that I won't take,

that is not worth taking, because I don't believe in it.

if I don't believe in it and I don't have passion for it, then

what's the point?

I'd rather work for free.

At some point in my life, I got offered $1 million,

and they actually wrote a check with my name on it

for half a million to say if I do this infomercial,

they would give me the other half a million

after I was done.

And I said, well, what is the infomercial about?

And they said, well, it's a-- it's a psychic commercial.

And you know, we want you to just sit with the host

and, you know, just talk about whatever.

And I was like, oh, absolutely not.

They're like, no, no, no.

This is a half a million dollars,

and you get the other half as soon as we film.

And I said, I don't believe in psychics.

So I can't--

I don't care how much money you give me.

You're offering me $1 million, but I

can't take that because I don't believe in it.

And the whole room got quiet, and he just said,

do you understand, like, this half a million dollars right

here is yours?

And I said, I do understand that.

However, if you were selling me Tupperware,

I would have took the check.

I believe in Tupperware, but I do not believe in psychics.

[DRUMMING]

Some of the amazing women that I've worked with

is, like, Beyonce, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, you know,

Gloria Estefan, J.Lo.

I think I attract powerful women in my life

because I am powerful and I'm strong.

And that stems from my mom.

She's the head and the rock of the family.

And she's just, you can do it, you can do it, you know?

Working with other women in the industry, I think,

is really important for so many reasons.

And the first is to encourage each other

and bring a sisterhood together, not this thing where people are

fighting and yelling and screaming at each other,

and you said this and you said that.

I'm going to write a song about you about this.

I think that we should come together as sisters, as women,

and encourage each other.

We're all going through something.

Someone is always going through something.

We're almost told to put on a happy face

and go on like nothing's wrong.

And behind the scenes, a lot of women are in hardship.

I was a fighter from an early age, early on.

Yeah, fighting for my life all the time.

I feel like I'm still fighting for my life.

I think it's a never-ending thing.

It's not just the business.

It's life.

It's being a woman.

And I feel that the industry uses us as objects sometimes,

as to sell product, to sell things, to make money,

you know?

And I felt like if someone else was going to pimp me,

let me pimp myself.

I really did.

I felt like, then let me be sexy because I want to

and make my own money, you know, that kind of thing.

And then when I looked in the audience

and I saw young girls dressing like me with no clothes,

and I just thought, how embarrassing,

and how naked I felt at that time

to see young girls dressing like me.

And I realized that I was doing the wrong thing because I

think, you know, I didn't understand

that the things that I said and the things that I would do,

that I would influence people in that way.

Had no idea.

And it taught me a huge lesson.

Ah!

Whoo.

Ah!

Ah!

Whoo!

That hurts, by the way.

But while I'm yelling and screaming, I'm in.

I'm, like, deep, and every single piece of me is--

every single piece of me is in these drums.

This is the foundation of who I am,

Sheila Escovedo, Sheila E. This is me right here.

[DRUMMING]

I learned how to play congas by watching my dad.

He had a band called Pete Escovedo and the Escobedo

Brothers.

The first time I played congas, I was five years old.

It was a show in Oakland, California with my dad.

And he had just finished his songs.

We went on the microphone.

And he spoke and said, ladies and gentlemen,

I want to bring my daughter, Sheila Escovedo, up.

She's going to perform with us today.

She's five years young.

So ladies and gentlemen, Sheila Escovedo.

And my mom walked me.

And it was just like, everyone parted like the Red Sea.

It was so awesome, everyone clapping, and yelling,

and screaming.

It's funny because I was so small that I thought they gave

me a standing ovation, but they didn't.

They were already standing.

[LAUGHS] Oh my god.

That was so funny.

I was like, oh, I got a standing ovation.

My dad says, no, they were already standing.

But I remember the roar and the cheers of the people.

And that was something that, you know,

you just don't let go very easily.

It's something that you kind of want again and again,

to hear the applause of people.

So I think being around the music, hearing the music--

I don't know.

I don't think I had a choice other than to be a percussion

player.

[DRUMMING]

I have three conga drums.

These two congas are called congas.

This one is a tumba, which is a lower drum.

So in practicing, this is called like--

everyone has different names for it.

For right now it's called an open hand.

And basically you're hitting your entire hand

on the drum just like this--

very relaxed.

Don't force, just very relaxed.

Do the same thing with your left hand, right hand, left hand.

You want to make sure that both hands sound the same.

The second, I should say, sound for congas

is a slap, which you actually cup your hand like this.

See?

And you hit the tips of your fingers

the edge of the drum right here.

Same thing with your right hand.

You want them to sound the same, flat like this, open, and then

slap--

flat, open like this, slap.

Those are the basic two tones of playing congas.

There's one other one when you're muffling the sound.

Muffled means like you're trying to suppress

the sound like this, right?

For you that are just learning how to play congas, really

basically is just take your time,

practice on the sounds, because you really do

want to make sure that it sounds like that and like that.

[DRUMMING]

Most people in first playing drums,

sometimes they have the drum flat like this,

which your wrists are up like this-- for me is uncomfortable.

I tend to lean my lead drum at an angle, which

feels better to me so that I can curve

this hand around like this.

For me as well, I sit up very tall.

But a lot of people play where they're lower,

and they play with their arms so the drum is really high.

But for me, I like to sit up tall.

I like to play with my wrists.

I feel like it's better to play with my wrists

because it allows me to be versatile

and in even playing fast, you know,

because I'm using my wrist as opposed to playing

like this with my arms.

And I don't know.

It just bothers me.

It doesn't feel as nice.

And for me, I think the tone is better

when I'm playing with my wrist as opposed

to playing with my arms.

Now, however, when the music is louder

and you're trying to be heard, to be a part of a team

and making sure that you're listening,

there are times when you do have to play loud

and you do have to play with your arms.

You have to build strength doing that.

It doesn't come easy.

It takes some time to be able to play with strength

and be consistent in your time.

Some people get loud, and they actually slow down

because it's too hard.

They're not used to it.

Some people play soft, but they rush

because they're not used to playing soft and being

consistent.

So that's another thing that you should really practice,

is taking the time to play soft at a tempo consistently

and making sure that you're playing the exact tempo

that you practice with with a metronome, or with a beat,

or a drum beat.

Same thing if you're playing loud,

make sure you're playing loud and it's consistent, you know,

so that when you become sensitive to the music--

you're playing loud, you're playing soft--

your time is never going to move.

And that's really important, really important.

[DRUMMING]

My right hand is going to keep time.

And the left hand is soloing in between this, right?

I'll do this really quietly, and this left hand is like this.

I'm not really hitting it at the same time as this.

I'm trying to hit in between each beat.

You can also add doubles.

And this takes practice, but to play a solid beat

like that, open and then slap--

that's why it's so important to practice,

to make sure your right hand plays and sounds

like your left hand, and vice versa.

[DRUMMING]

These Latin rhythms, there's many to learn.

But what I want to do right now is play a--

I would say a slow cha-cha.

This beat consists of maybe three sounds.

So the first one is two open hands

like this and then a slap.

But the other hand that you're not playing with

is called a floating hand.

And that floating hand actually plays in between.

It's keeping your time.

It's 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3,

4.

Practice that every day, and pretty soon you

can play whatever tempo in Latin music,

as this is one of the common, I should say,

rhythms in Latin music.

And then you can add the other drum.

Be consistent when you practice, not just kind of lazy,

just like whatever.

Really dig deep, and be serious about your practice.

Because when you practice and you make it

as if this is going to be the last time you're going to play,

it makes it so that when you get ready to play and perform

with other people you've already gone to a level

because in your practicing it's been everything.

You really have to practice and do it right, and do it

with passion, and really mean what you're playing.

Really study and get into it because it's just going

to make you a better player.

[DRUMMING]

I have with me my family, my beautiful family-- my dad,

Pete "Pops" Escovedo.

Yeah, Papi.

Hola.

Papi, yay.

Thank you, thank you.

We love you.

My brother, Juan Escovedo.

Hello.

We love you too.

We love you too.

My brother, Peter Michael Escovedo.

Yay.

We love you too.

We love you too.

And we're going to share a couple of things

that we used to do growing up in the house,

watching Pops play and practice every day.

We just started doing this growing up,

and we just want to share with you a little moment

of a little Escovedo love.

Pops, you ready?

I'm ready.

All right.

Here we go.

I've been ready.

Let's go.

Aha.

Yeah.

Whoo.

[DRUMMING]

OK.

So for the first piece that we played,

Peter Michael started on the lower drum,

which is called a tumba.

So we'll demonstrate that right now.

This is the part that he played.

That's one of the parts.

Now the second part, Juan came in.

Juan, you played--

So what he played was the bottom.

OK.

1, 2, 3, 4.

And--

Those are the two parts.

The third part, I just kind of listen to try to find

either maybe one hit that I could play in

between what they're playing without playing what they just

played.

So I'll go ahead and I'll demonstrate that.

1, 2, 3, 4.

Now, the next part was playing those rhythms.

Pops was able to then take a solo.

So we'll demonstrate that now and how I kind of sneak in

with a little conversation.

1, 2, 3, 4.

When we freestyle in playing together,

we sometimes give a look like this.

[LAUGHS] We kind of feel it.

Or we maybe say, Pops, after your solo, you play a break.

And then we'll all play it together.

It's mainly-- when you speak about soloing,

it's mainly a conversation.

What I think most of us try to do

is that you can envision in your mind

and sing what you're going to play.

Now, if you can do that and actually

make it flow into your hands, then you really

are confident how to play a solo because it's not just banging

away and banging away.

You have to make everything fit.

It's really paying attention.

It's a conversation, back and forth,

and listening to each other-- very important to listen.

[DRUMMING]

I'd like to try a little something.

How about we play a pattern like a cha-cha?

And we want you to play with us.

And then you take a solo for eight bars

and see how it feels, all right?

All right, here we go.

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, ah.

Now you solo.

Here we go.

Come on.

You can do it.

Yeah.

All right, my turn.

Your turn.

Yeah, you can do it.

Whoo!

Everybody's stop in 1, 2, 3, 4.

Stop.

Excellent.

Excellente.

You did good.

We're so proud of you.

Yes.

(SINGING) There is no line, there is no line,

there is no line to my body.

There is no line, there is no line,

there is no line to my body.

[INAUDIBLE] a microphone fiend.

Baby was wet, Aquafina.

SHEILA E (VOICEOVER): This is my song

"No Line" that features my friend Snoop Dogg.

She said--

Give me, give me, all right. (SINGING) Singing hey-ah.

SHEILA E (VOICEOVER): I love this song,

but the reason why I picked it is

so I can demonstrate my approach to congas as part of a band.

Right now I'm playing a pattern that you

can repeat while playing along.

It's not that difficult. I'm alternating my right

and left hands while combining techniques such as open hand

and slap.

The role of this pattern for this song

is based on ba, ba, ba, ba.

Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.

And I wanted to play the same rhythm

as the drums, maybe a little bit adding the bass,

playing the same rhythm as well.

And I think everyone playing it together

sounded like we were just going to all dance the same rhythm,

you know, at the same time.

And just have fun with it.

(SINGING) There is no line, there is no line,

there is no line to my body.

[MUSIC - SHEILA E. - "THE GLAMOROUS LIFE"]

SHEILA E.: When I became a solo artist in the '80s,

I fronted my band played the timbales, something I'd never

seen before in popular music.

I still do it today.

It's one of my favorite instruments

because it allows me to dance, sing, play,

all at the same time.

(SINGING) --it ain't much.

These are called timbales.

Timbales are another Latin percussion instrument.

Most of the time, timbales are a 14 inch and a 15 inch drum,

which means one's higher and one's lower.

Then high-low cowbell.

This bell, the big bell, is called the mambo bell.

And the smaller bell is called the cha-cha bell.

You can use a symbol, if you like.

Latin music, you're mainly playing time here

with this cow bell.

Sometimes, you're playing time with this cowbell.

And you use these drums as a fill, or playing a break,

something like that.

Sometimes--

The side of the timbale is cascara.

You can use both sides.

Basically, I'm hitting the side of the drum

and using my finger, this forefinger right here,

as I play like this.

This feels right for me.

It might not feel right for you.

Because some people hold the stick like this.

I like to hold it like this when I'm playing

on the sides of the timbale.

However, playing the cowbell, I would hold the stick

differently, without my finger being here.

I would hold it more like this.

Even though some people play like this.

Some play like this.

Some play like that.

As you notice, the pattern that I just played,

this cowbell comes out here.

And the wider the bell, the lower the tone.

Here at the top, it's high.

So you can get two tones.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

This cowbell is smaller, so you basically play the end of it

or the edge of it.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Very simple.

Now you try with me.

Grab some sticks and practice on whatever you've got,

pots, pans, a chair, even a pillow.

One, two, three, four.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Excellent.

Couple of sounds on the timbales.

You just hit the middle of the drum.

However, if you hit the edge of the drum with the stick

and hit the rim, it sounds different.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

It's almost like the slap in the conga drum.

That's the open hand.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Sound like you would play on the congas, the slap

like you would play on the congas.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

You can also muffle like I did with the congas.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Right.

Same thing with the low drum.

Open.

Hit the rim.

And it's a little bit different hitting the rim

on the low drum.

It doesn't sound as nice.

I'd rather just do it on the high drum.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Doesn't sound the same.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Sometimes when I do accents with the low drum,

I would rather hit the cymbal.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

When you muffle the drum, you're really pressing down on it

to mute the sound a little bit more so it doesn't ring out.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

I sometimes take my stick as I would do playing drums,

like a snare drum, take the stick

and play it like a side stick.

This s called side stick, right?

And sometimes I would use, again, the side of the drum.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

So when you're experimenting outside of Latin music,

you figure out ways to make sounds like this--

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

--and and you're hitting the side

and a little bit of the drum.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Part of being a percussion player,

is you have to figure out what rhythm works for that song.

So you might have to make up something that's never

been played before, or something,

a rhythm or a pattern that wasn't taught to you.

Because you're really going to figure out where is the space.

Where can I play?

You don't always have to play the bells.

I sometimes just play the cymbal.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

But it doesn't have to apply to Latin music timbales.

It can be a little bit of everything.

So you're playing Latin music, you're playing R&B,

you can play gospel music, anything, reggae music.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

This is going to be different than a drum set

because there's no kick drum.

There's no kick drum.

But if you wanted to, you could add

a kick drum because a lot of players do play with a kick

drum with the timbales and actually add a snare drum.

So it just depends on what you want to do.

If you can't afford a drum set, and you still

want to play percussion use the timbales,

add a kick drum, and a snare, if you'd like, and play.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Some of you might use to timbale sticks, which

look a little bit different.

I use drumsticks.

It's better for me because I switch from Timbales to drums.

And when I used to use timbale sticks, they were too small.

I couldn't feel them in my hand after switching,

so I decided to design a stick that I could play both.

However, you can use any drumstick,

if that's the sound that you like.

I like it because there's a tip at the edge of the drumstick.

And--

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

--it just helps me to play as if I

was playing the drums as well.

Your technique, if you're a drummer playing timbales,

you know the technique would be the same.

Whatever your left hand sounds like,

your right hand should sound the same.

And the same way as doing singles, you do a single roll.

And that comes from wrist.

So in school, they teach you how to play this way,

and I learned how to play this way.

So I use my fingers sometimes playing doubles.

So that means two on each hand.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Or, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

And that's my signature, either singles--

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

--or the 1, 2, 2.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

And that's usually what I do.

But again, you have to practice those rhythms so

that each hand sounds the same.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

Let's try to play together.

I'm going to play the cha cha bell very slow

so we can take our time and we can play together.

Let's see.

One, two, three, four.

[PERCUSSIVE SOUND]

I'd like to show you a little bit of the pattern

and play to "The Glamorous Life," which I

think you'll have fun playing.

Here we go.

[SINGING] It ain't much.

There you go.

Now that I've shown you the basics of timbales,

I'd like to apply this with a live band.

I want you to check it out.

And then I want you to try it as well at home, OK?

Here we go.

I basically took the cowbell pattern from "Glamorous Life,"

and applied it to a Latin rhythm.

It wasn't traditional, but it was different.

So I played it, and then when it was time to solo,

then I started to solo.

When you're soloing, it's hard to play the cowbell beat

and play these other drums, the 14 and the 15,

which is what you would solo on.

So you'd stop playing the bells, and you'd start to solo

on the drums.

You can use the cymbal, you can use the side, whatever you

feel like, whatever feels good.

But just remember, in building your solo,

you start slow and build and build

until it gets to this point.

And then you're done.

And after that, you might get some applause.

Outside of Latin music and most bands,

the drummer is the time keeper.

The timbales would be played as an additional percussion

instrument, providing color.

Using timbales in some Funk patterns would be different.

I might not even play the bells.

I might play the side, the drum, just the cymbal.

We're going to demo that for you right now.

[CHEERING]

But if you don't see the drummer,

you might hear the drummer.

I pre-recorded it, which means I sat here and played that,

recorded it, and now I'm going to play it back

so I can play on top of it.

All right?

Here we go.

OK, stop.

Yeah.

Supposed to come in right after the one bar.

No, we don't have that much time.

Just start after the four.

Right on A flat, right on the one.

Here we go.

Yeah, but how many counts is it on the--

One, one bar.

All right.

Did you hear the click?

Yeah, I got the click.

Oh, OK.

OK, here we go.

And here it goes.

No, one more time.

Y'all can't count.

OK, this is what happens in class when people

don't know where the one is.

So we always say everyone has rhythm.

We all know where the one is.

Maybe we all don't know where the one is.

So you've got to count, one, two, three, four, everybody,

in, let's go play, everybody in, let's go play, come on.

Oh, come on.

Oh, come on.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Then you've got to dance.

Lead the space.

Lead the space.

Keep going Huh.

Keep playing without a drummer.

Keep going.

Don't matter.

Fell down.

What?

Don't matter.

Keep going.

We break it down.

We don't need no drummer.

Hey, oh.

That's why you gotta play it barefoot for the uh.

Whoo.

Come on.

That's how you do it without a drummer.

Take your time.

Break it down.

Do what you want to do.

Feel good about yourself.

Uh, come on.

Uh.

That's your MasterClass for today, ladies and gentlemen.

We want you to come back.

Play a little funk with the MasterClass in the house.

Come on.

Uh.

Come on back to MasterClass.

Whoo!

MasterClass in the house.

MasterClass in the house.

MasterClass in the house.

Whoo!

Hey, uh, oh.

I love to experiment with my sound.

Now that I've shown you my drum set,

I want you to think outside the box and create one of your own.

[DRUMMING]

I was doing a Hans Zimmer movie recently,

and I wanted to get some different sounds for him

because I always bring something crazy,

because I'm always experimenting on what

I'd like to hear or try.

There are no rules to say this is right or wrong.

And that's what's fun about it, is you're creating a sound.

This setup is a snare drum and the little baby wooden snare

drum.

This is a regular snare drum.

And this is something we just made up just

putting it together.

And a little baby hi-hat down here.

Yeah.

This kick drum is connected to a cajon.

This box is called a cajon.

So this setup is kind of like a funky samba kit--

I don't know-- because you can play

all different kind of rhythms, and you just

make it up as you go.

And I think that's the cool thing about-- whatever you

have at home.

If you have some things and you're like,

oh, I want to do traditional, you can, but you don't have to.

Make up your own kit.

Make it happen.

And have fun with it.

[RHYTHMIC BEEPING]

I'd like to demonstrate how to like layer different percussion

instruments together.

And I'll just play something, and we can

layer, and layer, and layer.

And this is how you kind of create your own loops as well,

your own sounds, you know, by not sometimes

being traditional, just making it up as you go.

So I'm actually officially in a recording studio.

So this unit right here is for me to hear.

I have an in-ear right here, as you see, this right here,

little, tiny in-ear.

And I can hear the sounds that come out of here.

So if I record this, when I want to layer another instrument,

I'll turn it up, and this will play back, and I can hear it.

And I'll add something on top of that

and keep adding and adding.

So these are separate channels in which every time

I record something, it goes on another channel.

And then you just keep building and building.

I'm going to put in these ears so I can hear.

And I'm going to ask them to play a click track at a tempo.

And what it is is just like a metronome,

as we spoke about earlier.

It's just the timing of--

for me to follow so that when I play this

and I get ready to record something else on top of it,

it'll be in time, in the same time.

So can you please play back a tempo, a click track for me,

please?

[RHYTHMIC BEEPING]

OK.

OK.

All right.

So this is what we're going--

what I'm going to play to.

Now while that's going, I can actually

add a little bit more rhythm to that.

So I can get a little bit more complicated.

Here we go.

And all you need sometimes is four bars.

The time is still going.

And you can add breaks to it like this.

Now when I place all those together,

it'll kind of sound like this.

OK, so I want you to play to this click

that you hear right now.

And play with whatever you have.

If you don't have any of these drums, that's OK.

Play on the table.

Play on your legs, whatever you have, OK?

1, 2, 3, go.

I'm just going to keep time.

Hey, right now you're playing with Sheila E. Here we go.

Come on.

I got you.

Here we go.

Come on.

Keep going.

Keep going.

Come on.

You can do it.

Keep going.

Come on.

Now let's play together.

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, hey.

Break.

PETE ESCOVEDO: What?

SHEILA E:

Yeah.

PETE ESCOVEDO: Uh-huh.

Come on now.

You got it.

Keep going now.

Yeah.

Huh?

Yeah.

Yay.

We enjoy this and any chance that we have

to be able to play with pops.

Pops has his band.

And Juan plays with him, and Peter Michael plays with him.

And when I get a chance, I get to sit in,

play with him as well.

What I've learned is that family is everything.

It is a gift and something so I say rare.

You can probably count maybe on two hands

how many families are in the music business, the music

industry, and able to play together still.

Family means everything to us.

It is the foundation of who we are.

You know, it starts with the foundation of family.

And it's so important.

But this brings back, you know, memories.

It's like, this is how we grew up.

We-- it all started because of him right here, my daddy.

It's all my fault.

[LAUGHTER]

It's his fault. If he was a carpenter,

we probably would have been carpenters.

But no.

JUAN ESCOVEDO: I don't know about that.

That's right.

You know, because of my early beginnings, I didn't--

I didn't in a sense want the kids

to be musicians because it's such a hard road to travel.

So I kind of kept them away from it.

But every time I would go on the road, when I'd come home,

I knew they were playing the instruments because everything

was changed around.

But at 84 years young, I'm getting

to the point of shifting all of this

over to these kids over here.

They still don't have it, though, but I--

[LAUGHTER]

Trying to get them to do it right.

Know what I mean?

But, uh--

JUAN ESCOVEDO: Thanks, pop.

Yeah, it feels really good for me.

It's been quite a journey.

But you know, you pass the baton on to the younger people.

And I'm sure they're gonna carry it on forever

and ever, and it's a good thing.

We grew up playing together and playing

with a lot of musicians.

And nowadays, a lot of people play in their room

with a computer by themselves.

So it is harder in this day and age to, you know,

put a band together or play with people.

And a lot of people are just sending email--

emailing each other tracks, and they come back and it's done.

I do the same thing.

We all do the same thing.

But every now and then, we get to get together as a band.

And we look around like, wow, this is cool.

Like, we actually get to play in a room together.

And right now, you have four drummers

who, the hardest thing for anybody to do

is stay out of the way.

How do we not overplay with each other?

And that's just from playing with other bodies.

I know-- I can hear him.

I can hear her.

I can hear pops.

Without looking, I can just feel it and I can hear it,

and I know other things are going on.

And so for the student, you know, get with other people.

Get with other musicians.

And go out and see other bands perform.

Yeah.

You know, just go out there and feel the vibe

and listen to each instrument, like the drummer, the bass.

Don't just listen to what you play.

PETER MICHAEL ESCOVEDO: Right.

That's how you expand your listening.

I think for young people, especially if they're

starting to play these instruments,

is to actually take some lessons.

It always helps.

And just devote your time to practicing.

It's a-- you know, you got-- you have

to be a little selfish in this business with your time,

because you're gonna have to put the time in to what

you want to do.

And it's not-- it's not an overnight success.

You've got to work at it, work at it.

It's like you take a step up the ladder,

reach one level, the next level, the next level.

You play with other musicians that are better than you,

and you learn from them.

You just keep going on until you get there.

So yeah, you just gotta keep at it.

Keep at it.

So every single one of you that

have watched this series, this MasterClass series,

I'm gonna let you know right now we hope that we

planted a seed of love--

PETER MICHAEL ESCOVEDO: Yes.

--and excitement, encouraging you to do and be the best that

you can be and have fun with it, live your life.

And we hope that we taught you something maybe, you know.

And you know, I just have to say, at the end of the day,

no matter what happens, you are now

a part of the Escovedo family.

Come on.

More Escovedos.

[LAUGHTER]

All right.

Play us out, Peter Mike.

Let's play some 6/8.

6/8.

[LAUGHTER]

We love you guys!

Yeah, Thank you.

Thank you MasterClass!

[CHEERING]

Yay.