Hilario Bell - Guitar Center's 28th Annual Drum-Off Finalist

Hilario Bell from Miami, Florida - check out his performance from our 28th Annual Drum-Off Finals that took place on January 14, 2017 at The Novo in Los Angeles. Hilario played on a 5-piece Tama Star Walnut kit in Atomic Orange with Evans EC2 on the toms, and their EMAD on the kick, (Hilario used his own snare) along with Meinl Byzance cymbals: 14" hats, 16" crash, 18" crash, 20" ride, 10" splash, and an 18" china. Blast block, cowbell, and tambourine are from Latin Percussion.

[chustn]

I'm so glad they got rid of the octapad

[damiandrums]

OK, just watched the 5 finalists. Here's my ranking:

1. Fred Boswell Jr.
T2. Kwesi Robinson
T2. Mark Pacpaco
4. Anthony Burns
5. Hilario Bell

Also, thank you GC for getting rid of the stupid octopad.

[benjaminmedina]

Once again another great product from this year, all because Guitar Center made the drums do the talking and not a sound pad! #latinbeats

[dmiami]

He's not a drummer... He's a musician... My favorite performance of that year

[chopzmasta]

That's one of the best sounding kits I've heard

[micah.lindley]

YES!! I'm not the only Drum-Off competitor who uses earplugs! XD

[BrianGivensYtube]

No octopad?






Fun fact: if you add a "us" to his name, its really funny.

[carsonford]

Incredible Latin chops, and independence

[Ephremjlm]

Okay im gonna take some heat for this but i'm cool with it. All of these drummers are really good and they should all be proud of themselves for making it this far into the competition. On top of that it seems that the Octapad has been removed from the equation which is another positive because last time around it seemed like everyone HAD to use it. But the only things that kind of bugs me about most people in this competition is that all we MOSTLY saw were chops. This guy did the best job in my opinion by actually focusing on different grooves(and latin ones at that), but instead of building upon them and letting them really jam he just went strait back into chop mode most of the time. I was hoping that since the octapad was gone that the drummers would be more creative like some of the finalists and winners of the past by being more than just chop oriented and more than just knowing a specific type of groove, but percussive and dynamic. I mean if you go back to the meinle festival where Benny Grebb talks about creating solos, he relates it to having a conversation. I believe he said something along the lines of "If you know someone who screams all the time, then when they scream it doesn't make an impact. But if you know someone who is typically quite who screams, it is more likely to shock you and invoke some kind of emotion." That's not the right quote but its something like that. But what he was getting at is that if you just chop out all the time or right from the get go then those crazy chops lose their emotional emphasis on being extreme or high energy moments.
Anyways I know i'm late to the party here but if anyone would like to comment and tell me your opinion I would love to hear it. And again all of these contestants were great, but it just seemed like the formula was gospel chops, gospel funk groove, super fast funk groove, and a few latin licks sprinkled in. One kid did a little bit of dynamic snare stuff but it wasn't built upon nor did it really go anywhere.

[mellowmama]

i stumbled upon this by accident . . . . .omg going straight back

[davethompson]

bits of this sound like early korn and slipknot

[Destinydividedband]

This guy along with guitar center and modern drummer magazine is the reason the guitar center drum off is no longer around. This competition is for amateur drummers who are not signed and or endorsed. He was both signed to Sony and endorsed with Pearl and Vic Virth. Instead of admit wrong doing, Guitar Center canceled all future drum offs.

[duanedamaceno]

aprendeu a tocar samba no YouTube?
É pra ver que não é todo latino que toca samba

[tomstickland]

I think drum offs bring out the worst in drummers. This was still impressive though.

[tomasmadlenak]

4k dollar kit and you start smashing it on floor toms side...dud...no respect for the kit :D

[ezza]

Don’t u hate when the drummers just bang the shit out of the drums, play some rhythm, get the beat going

[robertmachin]

he is defiantly my least favorite out of the 5, but still clearly a good drummer. I wasn't a fan of his cymbal choice or the styles he chose to play.