How to Drum Cover Work by Rihanna - The 80/20 Drummer

Certain dream gigs you don’t need to justify. Erykah Badu. Lupe Fiasco. And, I humbly submit, Rhianna. Get beyond the obvious. I’m married. Really - I’m ashamed of you guys.

Rhianna actually has a long string of very drum-able hits. Drummers know what I’m talking about. A certain combination of tempo, texture and syncopation. You hate yourself for tapping along to Shut Up And Drive at the laundramat, or Umbrella at the gym, but you do it all the same. Oh, and Nick Smith and DMile covered Confidence, as if you needed another reason to appreciate Confidence. Out of the gutter, guys. I’m talking about the rhythm;)

Anyway, Work had all the hallmarks of drum-cover-gold: newness, being a killer song, and not having drums! God bless all these new albums with essentially drumless tracks. Drum Cover Christmas. So in this lesson I’ll take you through how to play the groove I played, and a little hot lick if you want to pull out your...chops.

Also, teaser: May is upon us, and that means Austin Clinic. I’ll be emailing shortly with more deets.

N

More Cowbell! - Featuring RDavidR's Cowbell!

R David R is a YouTuber, and a drummer. He doesn’t just play the drums, and teach people cool tricks to save them money and headaches, he’s also a killer videographer, and fellow fan of Mayor-of-YouTube Casey Neistat. I’d watched David’s channel for almost 3 months before I made the flattering discovery that he was watching mine as well.

Anyway, David made me a cowbell! Out of the blue, I get a package. (Ok - not totally out of the blue, since I had to give him my address.) Only request - I make a video of his bell and put it on YouTube. Shoot - I was gonna do that anyway.

Actually, you might want to check out the lesson he made about making the bell for me by searching “RDavidR More Cowbell” on youtube. (He hadn’t provided me the URL as of the writing of this email;)

Anyway, for my lesson this week, I mined the gamut of Famous Cowbell songs, and chose two: one a classic, another a fusion-nerd-classic. I’ll show you what little I know about mambo on the drumkit, then dive into the songs!

For the comments, what’s the coolest thing you’ve ever gotten in the mail?

N

How to Drum Cover Confetti by Tori Kelly - The 80/20 Drummer

I'm not a hipster when it comes to my music tastes. I don't listen to much Mumford. I dig The National, but I'll usually skip over them to listen to Brotherly or Erykah Badu.

We musicians have two big biases: virtuosity and nuance. It's like chefs with sweetbreads. That's my theory at least.

Here's my point: I like Disclosure. I like Seal. And I like Tori Kelly. I guess she was on American Idol or something. I have no idea. But she can sing her ass off, and she plays the f*&% out of the guitar. She's a better drummer on the guitar than 99% of drummers I hear. And also, I first heard of her through the Guitar Center Drum-Off. That's enough to get you thrown off the hipster "force" on its own. ("Sorry, but I'm gonna need your shield and your weapon.")

Anyway, Tony Royster featured Tori at the 2015 Drum-Off finals, and they played the song that I'm going to feature in this lesson: Confetti. It's a great song to cover for a few reasons:

The original is drumless.

It's got a great pocket that's challenging to lock up with.

It's got an odd meter section you can pull out your chops over;)

A lot of people do drum covers, and a lot do lessons, but for this video I wanted to do a hybrid. It's kind of a "cover with commentary".

Anyway, here’s the transcription:

For the comments, are there any drum or music-nerd tracks on your playlist you’re afraid to show your hipster friends? Actually who am I kidding. You guys are probably all hipsters;)

Anyway, what’s on your playlist? What music are you getting inspired by?

N

Dana Hawkins Lick from the Christmas Shed - The 80/20 Drummer

I work best when I absorb new vocabulary in small bits. Think of a house that’s finished, painted, and furnished. You want to build an addition: I prefer a small addition, that I finish before I add anything new on. Reason - you’re using that house for guests constantly, and don’t want six months of “down time” with missing walls and contractors using your bathroom.

It took me about six weeks after NAMM to return to a baseline from which I could improvise again. I’d bitten off a lot of new vocab from folks like Forrest, Chris, and Maison, and was digesting as quickly as I could. Long story (as it usually is) short, I surfaced some time last week, ready to get after it again, and one of the first things that piqued my interest was the floor-tom-hi-hat-lick from Dana Hawkins’ rendition of OC at the Christmas Shed.

He was doing something different. Something I couldn’t recognize right away. In other words, perfect fodder for a Lesson of The Week.

Anyway, here's the transcription:

For the comments, are there any licks stumping you currently? What are they?

N