Drummer and Educator
In this video I will introduce you to an impressive sounding fill that’s actually quite simple to play. This fill is based on a 16th note triplet pattern that descends around the toms. I hope you enjoy using it! Please refer to the notation on the transcription page.
Once you get the hang of it you can extend the slow motion groove for as long as you want or you can start and stop them as you wish.
Example: Resuming the Original Groove at the Beginning of the Next Measure
Once you get the hang of it you can extend the slow motion groove for as long as you want.
I got my first double bass drum pedal when I was a teenager. When I first started using it, I could barely string together a few sixteenth notes. But, the option to use both feet to play the bass drum opened up a lot of new possibilities and I soon began playing around with any ideas I could think of.
One such idea was practicing the rudiments with my feet. Up to that point, I had practiced them with my hands only, but having a double bass pedal meant that I could give them a try with my feet, too. I wanted my feet to be as proficient as my hands – and I still do.
I love Meshuggah and Tomas Haake. So as soon as I heard this song, I told myself I had to cover it. In order to cover a song this complicated, I have to transcribe it first so I understand what’s going on. Lucky for you, you can now find that transcription on my transcriptions page! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one. It’s quite the toughie, but it’s a lot of fun to play. This is my first Meshuggah cover, so now that I’ve broken the ice I definitely plan to begin doing more.
For this recording, I’m using a set of CAD Touring 7 tom and overhead mics as well as an Audix D6 on the bass drum and an Audix D5 on the snare. I’m not using a trigger on the kick, so you may hear me get a bit ahead or behind the beat on some of the long double bass sections. I’m using a custom drum set made of Keller drum shells and Pearl lugs and rims. I worked with the maestros at Columbus Pro Percussion in Columbus, Ohio to build this set. For cymbals, I’m using pair of 14″ Meinl Byzance Dark Hats on my left, a Meinl 16″ Byzance Medium Crash on my left, a Meinl 18″ Benny Greb Signature Byzance Sand Medium Crash on my right, a pair of 13″ Meinl Byzance Brillant Fast Hats on my right, and an 18″ Paiste Signature Thin China on my right.
Please follow along with the notation, available on the Transcriptions page.
VIDEO INDEX:
1:07 – Section A
1:32 – Section A Example
2:03 – Sections B & C
2:44 – Sections B & C Example
3:36 – Section D
3:53 – Section D Example
4:25 – Sections H & I
5:37 – Sections H & I Example
6:29 – Section J
7:01 – Section J Example
7:46 – Section K
8:27 – Section K Example
9:16 – Conclusion
If you have questions about this song or have requests for future lessons, please say so in the comment section.
Thanks!
Geoff
I love The Faceless. In fact, this is the second time I have covered one of their songs. Not only does this song have some tricky timing, the tempo is ridiculous. I haven’t played double bass this fast in a while (if ever), so I really had to keep after it. I worked up quite a sweat, so at the halfway point you’ll see me ripping off a blister that developed while playing!
For this recording, I’m using a set of CAD Touring 7 tom and overhead mics as well as an Audix D6 on the bass drum and an Audix D5 on the snare. I’m not using a trigger on the kick, so you may hear me get a bit ahead or behind the beat on some of the long double bass sections. I’m using a custom drum set made of Keller drum shells and Pearl lugs and rims. I worked with the maestros at Columbus Pro Percussion in Columbus, Ohio to build this set. For cymbals, I’m using pair of 14″ Meinl Byzance Dark Hats on my left, a Meinl 16″ Byzance Medium Crash on my left, a Meinl 18″ Benny Greb Signature Byzance Sand Medium Crash on my right, a pair of 13″ Meinl Byzance Brillant Fast Hats on my right, a 20″ Meinl B20 Heavy Ride on my right, and an 18″ Paiste Signature Thin China on my right. I love Meinls, but I have had this Paiste china forever and I love it.
Check out my free notation for “The Spiraling Void” on my Transcriptions page: https://gattsdrums.com/transcriptions/
This is a cover of the song “Strange Times” from The Black Keys’ 2008 album Attack & Release. You can grab the notation for this song on my Transcriptions page.
I love The Black Keys, so this song was a lot of fun to cover! In this song I’m using CAD Touring 7 drum mics on the toms and for overheads; I’m using an Audix D6 on the bass drum and an Audix D5 on the snare.
Today we are going to talk about how to maneuver in 4/4 time. Now, if you don’t know much about time signatures, don’t worry. You probably know more about 4/4 time than you realize. In fact, if you’ve ever listened to the radio, or any popular song on iTunes, spotify, YouTube or wherever, then you’re pretty much already an expert because the vast majority of the songs that are popular western music are in 4/4.
Now, that’s great news, because if you can master this time signature, then you’ll have a head start on playing a bunch of your favorite songs and on creating popular music.
So, first lets talk about what a time signature is. If you’re reading written music, the time signature appears at the beginning of each song and it tells you two very important things:
Let’s check out the time signature symbol for 4/4. The top number indicates the number of counts per measure, which is 4. And, the bottom number tells you the type of note that receives a single count. When I say “type” of note, I mean what note value, like quarter notes, eighth notes, whole notes, etc.
So, in 4/4 we can see that there are 4 counts per measure and that a quarter note gets a single count. What that means if you’re counting along through each 4/4 measure is that you’ll count “1, 2, 3, 4” and in the next measure, again, you’ll count “1, 2, 3, 4.” That will repeat until the end of the song or until the time signature changes. Each of those counts is a quarter note.
Let’s go over a couple of common beats and take a look at how they appear when it’s written out in 4/4.
This is a common rock beat. Throughout this beat, I played quarter notes between my snare and bass drum and eighth notes with my hi hat. So, the snare and bass drum played 1, 2, 3, 4. And the Hi hat played, 1+ 2 + 3 + 4 +.
This introduces a new method of counting for eighth notes that we haven’t seen yet. When we count quarter notes in 4/4, we say “1, 2, 3, 4.” But, because eighth notes are twice as fast as quarters (or in other words two eighth notes fit into the same amount of time as 1 quarter note), we need to add to our counting method. Now, to account for the eighth notes we’ll keep “1, 2, 3, and 4” but between each of those counts we need to add the word “and.” So, eighth notes are counted “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +.”
This is a very common jazz beat. In this beat, the bass drum strikes on all 4 quarter notes and the snare drum strikes on the 2nd and 4th quarter notes. In addition I also closed the hihat on the 2nd and 4th quarter and instead of playing straight eighth notes on the hihat, I switched to my ride cymbal and played quarters on counts 1 and 3 and a syncopated eighth note triplet pattern on 2 and 4.
Here’s the ride pattern by itself.
Counting triplets is slightly different than counting quarters or eighth notes. The triplets I played were based on eighth notes, which means that 3 triplets fit into the same amount of time as 2 eighth notes. I’m not going to go into too much detail in this lesson, but to count these, you would say “1 triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 4 triplet.” Or, I’ve also heard “1 + a, 2 + a, 3 + a, 4 + a.”
Last, this beat is one of the best known funk beats of all time: the Funky Drummer beat. Here, the bass drum is playing 1 +, and then strikes again on the + of 3 and the e of 4.
But wait, what’s an “e”? Well, this is part of the way we count sixteenth notes. So, if I were to count sixteenth notes all the way through a measure, I’d say “1e+a, 2e+a, 3e+a, 4e+a.” Each of those counts is a sixteenth note. Two sixteenth notes fit into the same amount of time as 1 eighth note. And, because 2 eighth notes fit into the same amount of time as 1 quarter note, 4 sixteenth notes fit into the same amount of time as a quarter note.
So, back to the beat, my hihat is playing all sixteenth notes and I open the hats on the e and the a of the 2nd quarter note. Last, I’m hitting the snare drum on the 2nd quarter note, on the e of the 3rd quarter note, on the 4th quarter note, and on the a of the 4th quarter note.
