Simplify the part so it has a relative sound and feel, and transitions the song in the same way.
Sometimes, in order to get the thing working for a live show, you’ll have to find a simpler way to make a part happen before it’s note for note. Then, straighten up, buckle down, and work on your technique. Regret all the things that kept you from practicing, beat yourself up about your lazy tendencies, and the years you didn’t play drums at all. Spend some time lamenting your technique. Loop a bar of the groove, then the fill, then a bar of the groove on the other side. You can flub a fill on stage and the listener might think you’re just being creative, as long as that first hit out of the fill is in time. Landing on that first note coming out of the fill is the most important place in the song. Then, practice landing exactly right into the next part. Play it one million times until the musicality of the fill becomes its own beast. Try to play the fill on the snare drum only, then between the snare and the foot, then start to move around the drums. More than likely, Bonham is starting the fill in the middle of the phrase before you think it should start. Get some good headphones and a looping program. Develop a system for writing out the fills. When you come to transitions and drum fills that are troublesome, then the real buckling down begins. I get to be a machine there, all swing and torsion as I slam the snare hand down and bring the foot to the One.Ĭlementine and Zepparella tackle “When the Levee Breaks.” When I play “When The Levee Breaks,” the accents on the hi-hat work with the rise and fall of the snare and bass patterns to move my body like a steam piston. Notice the movement of the body and the conversation between your limbs. The song needs to feel good, and it will feel good when you own the groove. Learn the basic grooves of each part by playing them over and over. The practice of writing it out embeds the form more deeply in the subconscious. Sections happen in sevens rather than eights, or they will add a measure of 2/4 time at the end of a phrase just to make it interesting. Remember that Zeppelin loves to make it interesting. It helps if you spent nights with your hand on your clock radio, feeling completely alone in the middle of your family, your school, your teenage life, and this music unraveled out of the small speaker, wrapping you in hope for a future wide with beauty.Ĭhart it out.
It helps if you spent time at a very young age absorbing the material, sitting in rooms with your friends marveling at the atmosphere and power.
Know the voice of each instrument, not just the drums. Listen as you’re falling asleep and let the dark and perfectly recorded sound carry you into dreams. You should feel the changes in your veins. You had better love it, because Bonham played with a confidence and swagger that leaves no room for unsteadiness or question of form.
#Tank drum deep dreamer how to
Any musician can learn how to play any Led Zeppelin song, of course, but to make it feel anything like the original, you have to start with a love for that visceral, emotive foundation. There is an underlying emotion to the music that comes from the bottom up, rises through the songs like a deep and vital thing, and infuses the whole ensemble with a powerful, settled feel, and intangible poignancy. How did John Bonham become one of a handful of drummers who are celebrated as much as any of the other guys in the band?Ĭhalk it up to feel. Clementine of all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band Zepparella.