drums

Spending your time bashing out wild beats on the drums might sound like heaven for rock music fans, but installing a drum kit in your house is a sure way to make the neighbours hate you, especially in Japan where most landlords prohibit the use of musical instruments.

Thankfully, these days there is of course a digital alternative, and some people have become so good at iPad drumming that in its own way it can be as impressive as the real thing.

Japanese YouTuber oodairago has uploaded multiple videos of himself ‘performing’ the drum parts of rock hits on his iPad. The app used is Drums X D, the ‘ultimate Virtual drumming experience’, which,  rather than a game, is a virtual and customizable drum set. You can build your own set and play along to your favorite tunes with realistic sounds but without the cost and space needed for an actual drum kit.

One of oodairago’a best videos has to be where he takes on the role of their legendary drummer Yoshiki to play along to X Japan’s “Silent Jealousy”. X Japan were hugely popular back in the ’80s and ’90s and still enjoy success today. They were one of the founding bands of the visual kei style and put on epic shows sporting gravity-defying hair. Yoshiki was one of the founding members and acted as musician, songwriter, composer, and producer. However it’s as their drummer that he gained most fame, and you can see why in the video below where he pounds out an incredible solo on the drums.

Apparently Yoshiki now wears a neck brace when he performs after too much extreme head-banging, but these days you can be just like him without the neck and arm strain! Although oodairago did comment that his fingers hurt after this, and that’s not surprising. Watch as his digits fly across the iPad’s screen like they’re doing some kind of super high-speed finger dance, never missing a beat and perfectly replicating the original drum part.

▼ X Japan – “Silent Jealousy” on iPad drums.

▼ Live performance by X Japan at Tokyo Dome where you can see the real Yoshiki in action.

▼ Playlist of oodairago performing nearly 30 songs on the iPad.

We’d love to make a silly pun about some people having too much time on their hands, but quite honestly we’re too impressed to critisise.

Source/feature image: YouTube via Mudai No Document