Rock and Roll, Led Zeppelin - Drum Intro And Main Groove Tutorial
How to play the intro and main groove from Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll on drums.
Absolute classic drum intro by one of my all-time favourite drummers John Bonham!
There's a great, free drum transcription (as usual!) by The Drum Ninja, who seems to me to produce the best free drum scores on the internet: thedrumninja.co...
And just in case you were still labouring under the illusion that there's anything new in music, check out the intro to Little Richard's version of "Keep A Knockin'", released some 15 years earlier, which appears to have been an inspiration for this intro: • Little Richard - Keep ...
Have fun and please let me know if any questions :)
Mike
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Пікірлер: 113
I remember when i discovered this song, I thought the intro was the hard part. Then YEARS later, I was watching Live at Knebworth and I realized he was riding the snare the whole song! So.. the intro is PEANUTS compared to riding the the snare and hats the WHOLE SONG. Oh yeah.. then you have to make it groove. Nice to see people teaching this groove correctly on youtube. Well done cat!
I got a straight job many years ago but never bothered learning this and we played it live all the time lol. I was into David Garibaldi, Billy Cobham, Alphonse Mouzon, Lenny White/Willians etc and failed to appreciate Bonham back in the day. Never to late!
Thanks for this, I've been feeling my way through it for 40 years 😆👊
@MikeBarnesDrums
2 жыл бұрын
Cheers David!
This drum intro is sick.
@deeg8849
Жыл бұрын
It’s a straight lift from little Richards keep a knockin. They were thieves
@angus4463
3 ай бұрын
@@deeg8849 Yep
Absolutely good demonstration!
Best explanation I've seen so far.
thanks mikes, you made the timing a lot easier to understand in comparison to most other tutorials, bless up👌🏼
Great job! Every time you get to the end of the intro I'm itching to hear Jimmy's guitar! I have to go listen to it now, just to put me out of my misery!!
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching Nick! :)
Thanks for the explanation. I was having trouble figuring it out.
Certainly exposes any weakness in the left hand sticking technique! Got it up to 160bpm before I started getting a draught from my left-handed windmills! Back to the practice! Great vid as always
@MikeBarnesDrums
2 жыл бұрын
Good man David!
What a great lesson.
THANK YOU! I've loved this song since the '70s, and knew there was something deceptive about the intro, but never had occasion to play it, so never spent time working it out. Thanks to you, I've just spent about 25 minutes woodshedding it at my desk (much to the annoyance of the Mrs), while listening to the first 6 bars of the original over and over. Next stop... Two Princes, just because I love the beat.
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Cheers Steve! Intro fill for Two Princes described here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nm2Ej5eifLiboMo.html
@steveanderson6180
4 жыл бұрын
@@MikeBarnesDrums lol Thanks. It was actually your link to DrumNinja that reminded me of the song. They have a transcription of the entire song, which I immediately downloaded. Love the new Cambridge set, but I have to admit I kinda miss the red hydros.
I like this dude straight to the point and short video nice
@MikeBarnesDrums
2 жыл бұрын
👊🏻
This helped a lot. Thank you so much! 😊
It was very easy to understand, so it was helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you Sir for this great explanation
Best explanation, thanks!
Brilliant lesson Mike!
Marvelous lesson. I’m a guitarist and I’m recording a remake of this and it has helped me enormously when trying to lay the drums down with Roland vDrums TD17 triggering Superior Drummer using the Bonham kit. I’m not a drummer by any stretch but can play in all the various parts needed in to my DAW. As someone else said, when you listen carefully to the original with the isolated drums, it almost sounds like there are more bass drum hits than shown here. It may just be that the snare has a bit of low end that gives that impression. Having said all this, my drum track doesn’t sound quite right so I’m going to reduce the kicks as here and see if it improves.
@MikeBarnesDrums
8 ай бұрын
Cheers Phil. I wouldn't play any bass drum in the drum intro - that seems consistent with the live footage of this song here on KZread. Sure, bass drums gets a bit busier once the rest of the band kick in and the song gets going. Thanks for watching and glad if helpful.
@philfyphil
8 ай бұрын
@@MikeBarnesDrums Sorry, I meant bass drum hits in the main song, not intro :-)
Playing this on the GarageBand app using the metronome opened my eyes.
Was counting it wrong for yeeeears. Thanks so much!
@MikeBarnesDrums
3 жыл бұрын
Classic! Cheers man, glad if it was useful 👊🏻
I like the comparison to Jailhouse Rock. That makes it easier to remember
Kick is usually lll lll lll l l. As Bonham plays along it can be ll ll ll l l or ll lll ll l l or/and various combinations. Drum track isolated here kzread.info/dash/bejne/oodlq7amgNC-ds4.html
Muy bueno Mike
thank you so much for this video
Great video!!! Just a thought but could you do penny lane by the Beatles?
nice! I'm watching from Japan.😊
nicely done
Bonham got the idea from Little Richard's Keep a knockin'. Also check out Eddie Cochran's Something Else.
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah referenced this in the description. Nothing new in music, ha! Thanks for watching man :)
@DDandrums
4 жыл бұрын
@@MikeBarnesDrums Oops
@noi5emaker
4 жыл бұрын
@@MikeBarnesDrums Huh. Never knew that! I heard that for the first time just now. It sounds so much like it!
Great vid. Thanks!
This is the best video I've seen on this topic so far, but I'm still not gettting it each time. Ugh! I gotta work on this!
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 ай бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/nKCb2ambpbfehrQ.html&pp=ygUfbWlrZSBiYXJuZXMgZHJ1bXMgcm9jayBhbmQgcm9sbA%3D%3D
@tomy.1846
4 ай бұрын
Thank you! So hard to unlearn something learned incorrectly. Thanks again! @@MikeBarnesDrums
Another song drummers get wrong is the intro to B B King's The Thrill Is Gone . I think the drummer starts his opening lick on the And of 2. kzread.info/dash/bejne/oZ2Xw5ejd5qsoLg.html
Great stuff! Thanks Mike!
What you said at 0:22 is also similar to which beat “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis & “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard start on, which is on the + of beat 3.
@MikeBarnesDrums
Жыл бұрын
True!
Very nice! Thank you!
Can you please do NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP please
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Rick Astley??!! Er, I'll add it to the list man!
@phil_intheblank
4 жыл бұрын
Mike Barnes Drums Yesssssss thanks
thamk ypu!
The intro is from Little Richard song "Keep A-Knockin'" simple like that
@MikeBarnesDrums
Жыл бұрын
Yes, I refer to that and link to it in the video description. Thanks for watching!
thank you so much!😄🎶
Jammed with a guitar player years ago who had zero respect for drummers. He said that John Bonham didn't likely know what was going on with Led Zeppelin's odd time signature songs. He was just playing a straight beat while the odd time phrasing was done by the other instruments. I just looked at the dude like he had two heads. 😂
@elliottcovert3796
2 күн бұрын
John Paul Jones has said he was the only member of the band who could actually count music. He said Plant didn’t know any music theory, and when Page showed Bonham something, Bonham would say “that’s great! Where’s the first beat?” and Page couldn’t tell him. Jones had to count them in every time lol. Guitarists don’t realize this but odd time signatures aren’t hard per se. Something like Rock & Roll is way trickier because the accents aren’t where you’re used to them. Another interesting fact: “The Pot” by Tool is actually in 4/4!
Thank you for this. It is so much simpler that I thought. I always thought the intro started on “1”. It has kind of ruined the Bonham mystique for me though😂.
Awesome as always ;)
hi greetings from rio de janeiro. cool vídeo 🥁
Mike your forgetting the bass is copying the snare part it’s so much busier than a single note
There's a nice way of learning this intro without having to count. It's in the video that Rick Beato recently did with Greg Bissonette.
@MikeBarnesDrums
2 жыл бұрын
Cool, yeah thinking of the Intro of either “Jailhouse Rock” like I mention in this video, or the intro of “Johnny B Goode” is a good way to get the feel for it I reckon. Cheers!
@matsetizar65
Жыл бұрын
You keep on knocking! That vid sent me here. Still can’t figure it out 😂
thank you !!!
Finally got the counting thanks m8
@MikeBarnesDrums
3 жыл бұрын
Ha yeah it’s a funny one if you’re used to hearing it on the one right? Cool and glad you dug 👊🏻
Still can’t wrap my head around it
@MikeBarnesDrums
Ай бұрын
@@nbarreiro72 you’re not the first! Try this: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nKCb2ambpbfehrQ.htmlfeature=shared
haha you said the and of 3 and I finally got it after 40 years lol
Nice one fella.
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Cool Lee, thanks for watching man :)
Thank you for this! If I may ask: I’ve listened to the isolated track and the bass drum notes are definitely accented on 1 and 3 but I also heard softer bass drum notes on every 8th (I hope I’ve got that right). As I’ve come to discover “effects” often mimic actual notes sometimes and it’s hard to tell what are notes and what are well placed delays or reverb. Is that the case here? Thanks
Is this the same intro as Little Richard's 'Keep a Knockin'?
@elliottcovert3796
2 күн бұрын
To me it sounds like the same concept but the accents are in different places. In Rock & Roll, the accents are on “1” and the “&” of 3. In Keep a’ Knockin’ they’re on “1” and “3” in the first full bar, then on “1” and the “&” of 2 in the second bar. Both songs start on the “&” of beat 3 however. Bonham might not have known or remembered exactly how Keep a’ Knockin’ went. Led Zeppelin basically improvised Rock & Roll when Bonham was struggling to get the drum track of Four Sticks down. Maybe he was trying to think of other songs he knew that had odd feels to them.
(1 2 3) it’s Jimmy Paaage… it’s Robert Plaaaant… it’s John Paul Jooooones… and the drum-mer… is Bonzo Bonham (1 banana nanana banowwww)
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 ай бұрын
One way of doing it I guess! Cheers
@campsjams
4 ай бұрын
I love this haha
Do you think you could do Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung Fu generation at some point? That’d be so cool to see
In memoriam and all that, borrowed from Keep a Rockin’ :)
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
andrew cranmer Keep a Knockin’ - yes referenced in the description. And as you say, in memoriam. One of the fathers of Rock and Roll music. Cheers Andrew!
RUSH! Anything at all. RIP Neil.
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/fJ6WvNKTn5mWirw.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/gqmXyo9qnq3IldY.html
Could you do some drum cover?
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
TYT TRICKSPLIT Playlist of my note-for-note drum covers: kzread.info/head/PLcfoni8UPb9rdaMT7zhNKkZWuAsk-phsT Playlist of drum covers, my versions: kzread.info/head/PLcfoni8UPb9qtUEh7gGQFAUS2MEWjfsoP
You look really happy man
@MikeBarnesDrums
3 жыл бұрын
Ha! Yeah happy to be here and playing drums. Thanks for watching :)
I never understand pickup notes. The song starts when it starts.
@MikeBarnesDrums
9 ай бұрын
Imagine you were playing this live with a band. I would personally shout "1,2,3,4" with the drums starting on the "+" of 3 - to make things obvious and so when the guitarist starts they're perfectly clear when to come in. So being aware that the drums don't start on beat 1 is something I'd find very useful! This song has plenty of potential to go wrong live if the band weren't aware of the fact it didn't start on the 1. Thanks for watching 🙏🏻
thank you. I still don't understand though
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 ай бұрын
kzread.info/dash/bejne/nKCb2ambpbfehrQ.htmlfeature=shared
Nice beard man
Carrot 🥕 Top! Let’s hear the Rover!
@MikeBarnesDrums
3 жыл бұрын
Ha, next best thing: kzread.info/dash/bejne/d2WL2celk7XHp8Y.html
Sound like Lets Twist again.
@MikeBarnesDrums
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah - Inspired by music of that era!
OK, maybe listen to rock ‘n’ roll by Led Zeppelin then listen to you keep on knocking by Little Richard. The intros are the same.
@MikeBarnesDrums
Жыл бұрын
Yes I mention that and link to it in the video description! Thanks for watching Derek.
No wonder they had issues playing it on Live Aid '85.
Panic at the disco maybe? Ballad of Mona Lisa? Nicotine?
This is just a straight copy from little Richards keep a knockin
@MikeBarnesDrums
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching - yes I reference that in the video description. It's not a straight copy rhythm-wise, but has a similar feel and many of the same features. Cheers1
Anacrusis for the classical types, pick-up to the rest of the world
@MikeBarnesDrums
4 жыл бұрын
Yes! 👏🏻
Stop yelling at me
Ridiculous. John Bonham didn't ride the snare like that the whole song. There is a video with the isolated drum track. You people need to listen to that before you learn it wrong! He only rides the snare on the breaks and the intro
@MikeBarnesDrums
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching Tony - Certainly sounds to me like he is! And on the famous "Live at Knebworth 1979" you can clearly see him riding the snare exactly like that, here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/eJl-zaaep8u6ddo.html - 0:41, 1:08 and 1:27 are all great examples. Any I'd say it works either way tbh, and of course leave the ghosted snares out in the rest of the song if you prefer, but to my eyes and ears he's definitely doing it. Cheers man!