The Beatles - Come Together

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This is one of my favourite Beatles tunes and it's also one of their grooviest. This is the intro groove to Come Together. There are mixed opinions on Ringo as a drummer, but I believe that, while he may not have had the best chops, he had great feel and played exactly what the music required. Enjoy.

The Meters - Cissy Strut

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This has got to be one of the funkiest drum parts in history, Cissy Strut released in 1969 on The Meters self-titled debut. Above is the original part that Zigaboo played with two hands on the hihats. It's near impossible to replicate the feel and groove of Zig's original cut but I trust you'll have fun trying to find the pocket on this one. The hihat notes in brackets are optional. On the original Meters recording Zig starts the tune with out this note but adds it in later.

Below is a cleaner, more 'studio' take on the groove by Dennis Chambers from his Dennis Chambers: In The Pocket DVD. It's still played with that great New Orleans lope, but the kick drum part is stripped back nicely. Enjoy.

For more Zigaboo and The Meters check out Live Wire and Just Kissed My Baby.

The Meters - Just Kissed My Baby

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Here's another slinky groove from New Orleans funk master Zigaboo Modeliste. This is the basic drum groove that Zigaboo sits on for pretty much the entire song, spicing it up with some fills and variations throughout. For more of The Meters and Zigaboo check out Cissy Strut and Live Wire.

The Police - Walking On The Moon

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I had the pleasure of seeing The Police live last year on their reunion world tour and was blown away. They have a such an amazingly distinctive and powerful sound for only a three piece! This groove comes from 1979's Reggatta De Blanc and Stewart Copeland's drum part is, as always, clever and unique. This groove is essentially a modified reggae 'one drop'. It sits perfectly with Sting's bass line and gives the tune a fantastic pulse.

Below is a nice variation Copeland plays during the intro to the tune, where the cross stick on beat 3 is omitted.

Calypso

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Calypso is a style of music that developed the Caribbean around 100 years ago out of African tradition. This is one way of playing the style on the drum kit. Right hand on cow bell (or bell of ride), kick drum four on the floor and the left hand alternating between snare cross stick and floor tom. Enjoy!

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks

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This groove doesn't look like much on paper but when you hear this tune you will know why I chose to post it on the site. It's a classic Bonham groove with that amazingly huge Bonham drum sound.

Texas Shuffle

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This is a tricky shuffle to master but it sounds great when it's pulled off. In this groove both hands are playing the shuffle pattern - right on the hihat and left on the snare. The trick to making this groove work is to play the snare part with dynamic contrast. You want quiet to moderate ghost notes throughout with strong accents on the back beat. Playing the unaccented snare notes too loudly with make this groove sound very stiff.