Alex Van Halen took rock drumming to a new level in Hot For Teacher. Give a good listen to the tasty little piece he plays right after David says "Gimme something to write on man!" Sad part is most people don't even hear those nuggets of rhythmic gold.
@MySecretMessages I am sorry but what you have said is nothing close to the truth. Your understanding of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is very limited and your observations incorrect. A drum pad has a trigger, which sends a message to a module which then in turn produces a sound. This is no different to a digital piano! Alex was using Simmons gear at the time. I am a drummer and have played both acoustic and electronic (including Simmons) drums and can tell you for absolute sure and certain that Alex was not hitting a pad once while it triggered four notes. Alex on the 1984 tour most certainly did play the intro live with no tricks. There are videos here on youtube showing it in fact. Simply do a search for Hot For Teacher live 1984.
I saw Van Halen live twice in my younger days. Alex Van Halen is a beast on drums. I knew this before I ever saw them live. Believe me, I was close enough the first time I saw them, and Alex plays this live. I know there weren't any other people helping him out on hot for teacher, he does it all by himself and nails it. The tempo was slightly faster live of course. It rocked.
Yes, that’s undoubtedly where Alex got the idea. His version is a bit different with the rhythmic embellishment in the right hand in the ride cymbal bell. Cobham and Phillips did it with a swing pattern on the ride and ghost strokes in the left hand. That would have been a bit messy for HFT...Alex keeps it simpler and powerful.
Thanks for posting this. Really interesting to hear those songs. Beck's playing clearly influenced Eddie too! The brothers must have jammed space boogie tons of times. But when they made their song they made a great one.
Excellent job, Aaron. That's enough to make a guy give up the drums and take up the tambourine instead...LOL. I always thought this drum intro sounded like a Top Fuel dragster idling at the line, waiting for the tree to turn "green". Keep up the great work! 😄👍
i don't believe for a second that AVH put that much thought into it. i feel like he just played it from his gut and everyone has tried to analyse, break down and copy it. there are probably some mistake stickings in the original, but he just made it groove
Best teaching of this (that I've seen) by FAR. Really cool lick; unique, complicated, difficult and really smooth sounding to the ear when played. I think is actually the ONLY song that I've ever heard with this kick shuffle. Really simple but "counter intuitive" (strange) feeling to play (especially at speed). I have a really good ear for picking apart and learning drum licks. Been that way since 6th grade (37 yrs ago). I could pick apart complicated Rush pieces but I could never get this one (sticking) with the ear. That's impressive and even more so to see you break it down exactly. Alex is SO underrated. Thank you very much for your time put into this. You are a great teacher. PS: I noticed the sticking on the ride. Nice.
Funny story... When I worked in a large drum shop on the East Coast, Dennis Chambers used to come in pretty regularly. One time when he came in, we all somehow got on the subject of the "Hot for Teacher" intro. He mentioned that he had run into AVH recently (it was around the early 90s) and had brought up the intro to him as well. He claimed that they had sped up the tape... not that it's impossible to play at speed of course, but an interesting story anyway. The tone/production (and playing) on this kit sounds GREAT btw! And nice breakdown...
Thank you so much! This is the best and most accurate explanation of this I have seen by far. It's still a difficult piece, but much simpler than I thought. You are awesome!
This is why a music education is so important. Being able to read and practice from a young age would help so many aspiring drummers as compared to trying to figure this stuff out from a six inch stereo speaker in your car or basement. Glad to see folks are doing it now. Great, mind blowing lesson. So much more to this than most drummers would ever figure out.
Thanks for the AWESOME lesson! Just an FYI for novices (as many know this already), the original recording is overdubbed in many places throughout the song, especially the intro.
AVH is a great drummer, such a cool part. Amazing you were able to figure it out so precisely. To me hitting the china was always the most difficult part while the kick shuffle is going. You do it really well.
I like Aaron Edgar's way of teaching. Yeah, it's fast, but on UA-cam, that's what the pause button is for. Watched another video by Drumeo and the guy took forever to actually get into the lesson. Thanks to Aaron, I'm actually learning the double bass polyrhythm in Tool's The Pot. And I suck at double bass. Got up to 100 BPM, need to reach 105 for album speed. Gonna like this video so I can come back to it later. Fast triplets, paradiddles and double bass will improve my playing.
I don't really listen to Van Halen even, but everyone recognizes this drum part -- hard to do that with an instrument like the drums, create such a memorable part. Shows not only Alex's skill but his creativity. It's just good songwriting from a drummer.
Since the first time, as a 13 year old, hearing this drum line, I wondered how it was played! I finally learned why I thought I was hearing triples in the toms, but it was a combo of tom and bass.
I still remember the first time my friend put on "Hot for Teacher" on his record player. He had dbx nose reduction on, and his 120 watt Carver cranked up. The drumbeat just cut through so hard. I always thought it sounded like a difficult beat to play. It's impressive to know that it's even harder than what I thought.
I really like the guys methods and teaching approach @ Drumeo. Since I'm laid off till work picks back up, I might as well sub up and sharpen my skills. I agree with the others on how nice it was to have this broken down. I have played this as part of my drum solo/warm ups over the years but incorrectly. I had always heard that Alex over dubbed the drum intro but never knew if that was true or not.
Not just simulating, it's actually a recorded exhaust. Drums played over it. That's why so many people struggle with it, Alex didn't actually play it with drums. It's a car engine exhaust + drums played on top
I actually can play the guitar into, and now I'm learning the drum parts. I'd say the drums on this song are actually harder than the guitar parts, but I've played guitar longer than I have drums, so I may be biased there! lol.
Great video! now try that for a lefty drummer playing a right kit, openhanded match grip with ride on left....yup, that is me, no matter what I done never comes right, granted, I have never been in a cover band requiring this song so never worried too much learning it right but still it is one of the most drumming challenging beats in the history of rock and roll!! Thank you for this video!
Wow! Great tutorial. Your succinct and articulate narrative makes it easy to follow and understand! So many drum instructors want to sound hip, rambling on and on, but not making a clear point. I'm 65, a skilled classical violinist/pianist...also well versed in Jazz guitar...and started drums last week. I just love it. But I'm looking for the right on line teacher format. Drumeo seams well organized. I like that.
The Van Halens are classically trained musicians. They mastered the piano before either one of them picked up a guitar or the drums. So what they play, technically, isn't that complicated or impossible to play. Any adequate player can duplicate those songs. But nobody plays it like them. They have a signature sound and a tone that is unmatched. The depth to their tone is unbeatable.
I learned the core herta groove from bleed before i could confortably play the intro to hot for teacher. It's certainly not Car Bomb level difficult, but definitely in league with "Planetary Duality pt 2" in terms of difficulty with having to have strong limb independence to play properly imo. That triplet seperating the herta on top of adding a shuffel is trickier to play fluidly than many realize.
Real drums are, unfortunately and regrettably, not one of the many insruments i do play. I am impressed with the amount of coordination and timing needed, not only to play, but understand and explain this.
I've been playing it for years, but never saw it transcribed like this. I've always felt like it has a matching band feel to it. Though it would be the snares, quad drums, and bass drum layering the same beats.
One of many reasons Alex is one of my favorite drummers. i dont play drums so this seems super hard but i used to play this lick or attempt to with pencils in class haha
The intro is a mixture of Simmons electronics and acoustic toms. The first part is actually 2 Simmons tracks mixed together with off beat hits on acoustic toms. Then he goes into the double bass shuffle. Just listen closely to the original recording, it's a lot of studio gimmicks that happened to work well.
Whether done on floor tom or all on double kick, the intro is a little more forgiving than the solo section which I've never heard anyone get right. I transcribed that when I had to learn it in the 80's and found it to be one of the most complimentary drum passages of all time. The angular, jagged and tension filled section all pays off by the solo's end going into the keys climax. Add that to the video please Aaron! Good luck.
Lol I don't understand all the thumb's down!? This cat actually knows what he's doing and explained it as clear as possible. Honestly this is the best lesson I've seen for the hot for teacher drum track! The thumbs 👎 are probably from drummers who don't have the attention span to fallow his teachings. Lol I know I have severe problems paying attention when I'm trying to learn something new! I usually end up just learning drum parts by listening and mimicking them.
If you listen to isolated drum track here on UA-cam the intro is all bass drum. You can tell because the same sound(bass drum) is played throughout with the small toms coming in later.
One thing about the intro-the very first 5 seconds ONLY are a sample of Eddie Van Halen’s Ferrari engine. Then the Simmons floor tom sound that is tuned to match it, is overdubbed-engineer Don Landee worked for hours matching up the two sounds as close as possible, simply because they wanted the Ferrari on the record, as they thought it sounded cool and unique...and then the Simmons kick drums. How do I know? I just read producer Ted Templeman book-and he confirmed it.
+Ben Funk There has been a lot of speculation, however it was not double tracked. AVH used to play the intro on the 1984 tour live with simmons drums. Most people simply have not been able to work out how it was played, leading to incorrect rumours that it was dubbed. This guy does a fantastic job by the way!
man...i don't know how you guys are transcribing down to the sticking...that part just works itself out for me. it's so overwhelming to even consider it.
It's amazing how jazzy this intro is when you break it down so granularly.
Check out "Quadrant 4" by Billy Cobham. It partially inspired the "Hot for Teacher" drum part
@@MrWang-uy5ec It's a mixture of that and the floor tom work in Sing Sing Sing by Gene Krupa. Alex said that in an interview.
Alex Van Halen took rock drumming to a new level in Hot For Teacher. Give a good listen to the tasty little piece he plays right after David says "Gimme something to write on man!" Sad part is most people don't even hear those nuggets of rhythmic gold.
Richard Head
Richard Head Nice profile picture
Richard Head soooo sad, most people don‘t. But the few elite ones do. That makes live a little more tolerable.
MySecretMessages Lmao, whatever dude.
@MySecretMessages I am sorry but what you have said is nothing close to the truth. Your understanding of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is very limited and your observations incorrect. A drum pad has a trigger, which sends a message to a module which then in turn produces a sound. This is no different to a digital piano! Alex was using Simmons gear at the time. I am a drummer and have played both acoustic and electronic (including Simmons) drums and can tell you for absolute sure and certain that Alex was not hitting a pad once while it triggered four notes.
Alex on the 1984 tour most certainly did play the intro live with no tricks. There are videos here on youtube showing it in fact. Simply do a search for Hot For Teacher live 1984.
finally someone breaks it down, I learned this in the 90s, ..it's like freebird for drumming, anytime I played it... people are stoked.
JIM DELIOS I've only been bummed out to hear freebird.
@@DiogenesNephew Freebird??? compared to that?? Thats like comparing a Buddy Rich solo to Wipeout.....
U DID NOT PLAY IT
@@shanemartin8904 Oh, I played it.
@@DiogenesNephew Right...I thought that was the consensus lol
I saw Van Halen live twice in my younger days. Alex Van Halen is a beast on drums. I knew this before I ever saw them live. Believe me, I was close enough the first time I saw them, and Alex plays this live. I know there weren't any other people helping him out on hot for teacher, he does it all by himself and nails it. The tempo was slightly faster live of course. It rocked.
Billy Cobham did this in the early 70's on a tune called "Quadrant Four". Simon Phillips also did it on Jeff Beck's "Space Boogie".
Yes, that’s undoubtedly where Alex got the idea. His version is a bit different with the rhythmic embellishment in the right hand in the ride cymbal bell. Cobham and Phillips did it with a swing pattern on the ride and ghost strokes in the left hand. That would have been a bit messy for HFT...Alex keeps it simpler and powerful.
@@jamestcallahanphotographer The first to ever use the double bass shuffle was Carmine Appice (Catcus - Parchman farm, 1970).
Billy Cobham has got to be the best of the best. I don't blame Alex for taking the influence
Thanks for posting this. Really interesting to hear those songs. Beck's playing clearly influenced Eddie too! The brothers must have jammed space boogie tons of times. But when they made their song they made a great one.
some comments are gold
Alex never gets his due...this is EPIC drumming for a pop rock tune. Your drum sound is amazing bro. You nailed this!
Excellent job, Aaron. That's enough to make a guy give up the drums and take up the tambourine instead...LOL. I always thought this drum intro sounded like a Top Fuel dragster idling at the line, waiting for the tree to turn "green". Keep up the great work! 😄👍
i don't believe for a second that AVH put that much thought into it. i feel like he just played it from his gut and everyone has tried to analyse, break down and copy it.
there are probably some mistake stickings in the original, but he just made it groove
Alex came up with something you had never heard in rock drumming before on every album. And that isn't easy to do. he was very innovative, unique.
Best teaching of this (that I've seen) by FAR.
Really cool lick; unique, complicated, difficult and really smooth sounding to the ear when played. I think is actually the ONLY song that I've ever heard with this kick shuffle. Really simple but "counter intuitive" (strange) feeling to play (especially at speed).
I have a really good ear for picking apart and learning drum licks. Been that way since 6th grade (37 yrs ago). I could pick apart complicated Rush pieces but I could never get this one (sticking) with the ear. That's impressive and even more so to see you break it down exactly.
Alex is SO underrated.
Thank you very much for your time put into this. You are a great teacher.
PS: I noticed the sticking on the ride. Nice.
Eddie wasn't the only virtuoso in Van Halen.
yes...DLR was the other
@@shanemartin8904 😂
@@alexrosales2357 wtf, wats yo prob dude. YOu dont feel that Roth is a Virtuosmo???
I always thought the intro was just a motorcycle engine
+bobby I did for the longest time until I actually listened to it seriously, not on radio or whatever.
lol
+bobby I always associated it with that irregular idle of a high performance V8... fits good with the hot rod that is in the video too.
+ziiofswe It was supposed to sound like a Harley actually.
it's actually both
Surprisingly simple, until sped up of course.
I feel like this sentence embodies the essence of drumming.
@@lancemattice1980 totally lol
Anything is simple until sped up
Well said
Funny story... When I worked in a large drum shop on the East Coast, Dennis Chambers used to come in pretty regularly. One time when he came in, we all somehow got on the subject of the "Hot for Teacher" intro. He mentioned that he had run into AVH recently (it was around the early 90s) and had brought up the intro to him as well. He claimed that they had sped up the tape... not that it's impossible to play at speed of course, but an interesting story anyway.
The tone/production (and playing) on this kit sounds GREAT btw! And nice breakdown...
Who else thought the intro was *only* double bass? Reminded me of "Bleed" by Meshuggah...
The first 2 measures is pretty much the bass drum pattern from "Bleed"
@@Jtomba06 Other way around. This song is 20+ years older than bleed.
no shit
Yeah Bleed is just hertas everywhere😂
I was lead to believe from other drummers was that was double base and when recorded in the studion he had to do layovers. Mind blown
I’m still fascinated by this intro all these years later. How did he come up with this?
By listening to Billy Cobham playing Quadrant Four.
its a Ferrari engine ticking over, I thought everyone knew this?
@@myturningpointI believe it was actually Eddie's 78 Lamborghini miura
@@lawsonporter6113 I knew it was one of his cars, I guess the urban legends and chinese whispers back in the 80's changed the story slightly 👍
Just taking the time to acknowledge the beautiful drum sound on this clip. Gorgeous! And great playing. Thankyou 🙌
I always thought that they just recorded a guy making popcorn.
Mysterious Internet Guy LMAO
Hilarious!
Interesting theory but i do believe that the popcorn can pop at unexpected timings
What I heard was it was a replication of a muscle car engine starting with a very large cam timing
“This may seem difficult to play....”
You don’t say....
Thank you so much! This is the best and most accurate explanation of this I have seen by far. It's still a difficult piece, but much simpler than I thought. You are awesome!
This is why a music education is so important. Being able to read and practice from a young age would help so many aspiring drummers as compared to trying to figure this stuff out from a six inch stereo speaker in your car or basement. Glad to see folks are doing it now. Great, mind blowing lesson. So much more to this than most drummers would ever figure out.
Thanks for the AWESOME lesson! Just an FYI for novices (as many know this already), the original recording is overdubbed in many places throughout the song, especially the intro.
AVH is a great drummer, such a cool part. Amazing you were able to figure it out so precisely. To me hitting the china was always the most difficult part while the kick shuffle is going. You do it really well.
Damn man, you're a fantastic teacher. I'm a bassist and felt I could almost play it. : ) Seriously, great channel.
Great sounding Toms. Please do a tuning lesson as well. Best lesson on this I ever heard . Thanks.
Amazing how this intro inspired so much drumers after it release. Intros like Painkiller comes from that inspiration, this guy made history!
I like Aaron Edgar's way of teaching. Yeah, it's fast, but on UA-cam, that's what the pause button is for. Watched another video by Drumeo and the guy took forever to actually get into the lesson. Thanks to Aaron, I'm actually learning the double bass polyrhythm in Tool's The Pot. And I suck at double bass. Got up to 100 BPM, need to reach 105 for album speed. Gonna like this video so I can come back to it later. Fast triplets, paradiddles and double bass will improve my playing.
I've never attempted this song, this tutorial honestly helps, screenshotted some of the paradiddles and 16th notes
Thankful to have a good ear to know this when it came out. Alex deserves a lot of credit for his innovation.
One of the Best Solos... 💥🥁💥 of All Time
finally somone who plays it right
sw1tched uhhh....nice pic
He was having a little trouble with the BD downbeat feel. It's not easy to get that right.
That is so cool! Love the sound coming out of that floor tom! It has such a nice low resonance!
One of the greatest intros ever!! Alex you are missed brother! I wish you’d get back out on the road!
Thanks so much!!!! I was looking for this transcription for so long!!!
I don't really listen to Van Halen even, but everyone recognizes this drum part -- hard to do that with an instrument like the drums, create such a memorable part. Shows not only Alex's skill but his creativity. It's just good songwriting from a drummer.
I just wanted to leave you comment that you are an outstanding teacher. Keep posting!
I’ve always felt the kick drum/floor Tom intro sounded like a top fuel dragster idling. Love it!!
Since the first time, as a 13 year old, hearing this drum line, I wondered how it was played! I finally learned why I thought I was hearing triples in the toms, but it was a combo of tom and bass.
This teacher should come back! He's my new favorite.
Agreed!! Total newbie to the channel and love how he breaks this down
What I always loved about this intro is that is sounded like the idle of a V8 engine in a top-fuel dragster.
You’re not alone my friend!
Lesson’s legit. Well done dude 🤘.
I still remember the first time my friend put on "Hot for Teacher" on his record player. He had dbx nose reduction on, and his 120 watt Carver cranked up.
The drumbeat just cut through so hard.
I always thought it sounded like a difficult beat to play. It's impressive to know that it's even harder than what I thought.
I really like the guys methods and teaching approach @ Drumeo. Since I'm laid off till work picks back up, I might as well sub up and sharpen my skills.
I agree with the others on how nice it was to have this broken down. I have played this as part of my drum solo/warm ups over the years but incorrectly. I had always heard that Alex over dubbed the drum intro but never knew if that was true or not.
The most impressive rock drum intro ever. It always sounded to me like Alex was simulating a Harley Davidson motorcycle engine. Pure awesomeness
Sounds like a bag of popcorn in the microwave
Not just simulating, it's actually a recorded exhaust. Drums played over it. That's why so many people struggle with it, Alex didn't actually play it with drums. It's a car engine exhaust + drums played on top
This is really good. I’m never going to attempt it but it’s a great lesson
I had to learn this song for my recital, thanks to this video its been done and the show was amazing
So basically the hardest thing in the world, kew.
I lold
I actually can play the guitar into, and now I'm learning the drum parts. I'd say the drums on this song are actually harder than the guitar parts, but I've played guitar longer than I have drums, so I may be biased there! lol.
I wod
Great video! now try that for a lefty drummer playing a right kit, openhanded match grip with ride on left....yup, that is me, no matter what I done never comes right, granted, I have never been in a cover band requiring this song so never worried too much learning it right but still it is one of the most drumming challenging beats in the history of rock and roll!! Thank you for this video!
Wow! Great tutorial. Your succinct and articulate narrative makes it easy to follow and understand! So many drum instructors want to sound hip, rambling on and on, but not making a clear point. I'm 65, a skilled classical violinist/pianist...also well versed in Jazz guitar...and started drums last week. I just love it. But I'm looking for the right on line teacher format. Drumeo seams well organized. I like that.
Love the intro to Hot for Teacher! Totally killer! Looks easier said than done though.
Incredible playing and instruction
Pretty dam good, nice to see younger players keeping the mighty Van Halen alive and kickin
It's pretty much a jazz lick.
van halen songs have swing influences
Alex used to drums in his dad's jazz group when he was young so it makes sense that jazz would show up.
Not quite my tempo!
Amen! Few people have enough of a background in music genres or music theory to recognize the influences in that song.
That's kinda what I thought. Sounds like swing music.
The Van Halens are classically trained musicians. They mastered the piano before either one of them picked up a guitar or the drums. So what they play, technically, isn't that complicated or impossible to play. Any adequate player can duplicate those songs. But nobody plays it like them. They have a signature sound and a tone that is unmatched. The depth to their tone is unbeatable.
I learned the core herta groove from bleed before i could confortably play the intro to hot for teacher.
It's certainly not Car Bomb level difficult, but definitely in league with "Planetary Duality pt 2" in terms of difficulty with having to have strong limb independence to play properly imo.
That triplet seperating the herta on top of adding a shuffel is trickier to play fluidly than many realize.
Real drums are, unfortunately and regrettably, not one of the many insruments i do play. I am impressed with the amount of coordination and timing needed, not only to play, but understand and explain this.
Wow..awesome..Always wondered how this was played!!!
Damn, that's some great playing. Spot on replication of Alex's intro.
This lesson and PDF is gonna help me learn to properly play the intro as I am gonna be playing this in an 80s metal tribute band.
Mike Mangini and his double bass take on that intro section took it to another level
But the original is still better no matter what, Mangini is only copying and adding his twist to it
IMO one of the best and most iconic drum beats of Rock!
I was just listening to this song and I'm such a geek at how things are played I found myself here....this song has one of the sexiets intro's❤❤❤
I've been playing it for years, but never saw it transcribed like this.
I've always felt like it has a matching band feel to it. Though it would be the snares, quad drums, and bass drum layering the same beats.
Hey great lesson!! I've always wanted to play this intro, thanks!
I've never seen anyone actually play this before. Nice Job!
lol I've always thought that that intro was 4 kick drums recorded on top of one another!
+cMaXeJIJIo Me too!
How would they play that live
Gong drum?
Yeah it sort of sounds like that.
@@borrago .........
Thanks Arron. I have wanted to play that solo/song correctly for years. Now I can do it!
改めてAlexの凄さを感じました😍✨
Awesome lesson…thank you 🤘
Excellent.
One of many reasons Alex is one of my favorite drummers. i dont play drums so this seems super hard but i used to play this lick or attempt to with pencils in class haha
Thanks for the lesson, and I can't wait to try it out. Your kit sounds great!
The intro is a mixture of Simmons electronics and acoustic toms. The first part is actually 2 Simmons tracks mixed together with off beat hits on acoustic toms. Then he goes into the double bass shuffle. Just listen closely to the original recording, it's a lot of studio gimmicks that happened to work well.
Whether done on floor tom or all on double kick, the intro is a little more forgiving than the solo section which I've never heard anyone get right. I transcribed that when I had to learn it in the 80's and found it to be one of the most complimentary drum passages of all time. The angular, jagged and tension filled section all pays off by the solo's end going into the keys climax. Add that to the video please Aaron! Good luck.
Best drum intro ever done.
I always thought he did the Hertas with his feet! Great tutorial!
Lol I don't understand all the thumb's down!? This cat actually knows what he's doing and explained it as clear as possible. Honestly this is the best lesson I've seen for the hot for teacher drum track! The thumbs 👎 are probably from drummers who don't have the attention span to fallow his teachings. Lol I know I have severe problems paying attention when I'm trying to learn something new! I usually end up just learning drum parts by listening and mimicking them.
This video doesn't really have that many thumbs down...it has a 97% like to dislike ratio and that is really good
That was excellent man ,way to go .I am not quite at that level yet .
This sounds much harder than it actually is! Thanks for the break down! Esp. the sheet music!
Trying to learn some of these more complex parts and this def helps. Thank you
He's giving instructions and I'm nodding my head and all. I don't even play the drums.
That was an absolutely beautiful version.
5:43 almost sounds like the intro to "Everybody Wants Some" or "Panama."
Fantastic lesson, Aaron....thanks for taking the time to do this!!!
Nice lesson. Great teacher and drummer.
Those Sonors sound absolutely beautiful
Love your way of teaching. Its so easy to understand. And very easy to Play to it After it:) Good Luck for the Future.
SUPER COOL LESSON
Sick man....love it! I wish I would had this lesson back in the 80's!
Thumbs up for awesome chops, and 10 thumbs up for those drums! Love those Sonors
My dad plays this all the time and it blows my mind everytime
If you listen to isolated drum track here on UA-cam the intro is all bass drum. You can tell because the same sound(bass drum) is played throughout with the small toms coming in later.
One thing about the intro-the very first 5 seconds ONLY are a sample of Eddie Van Halen’s Ferrari engine. Then the Simmons floor tom sound that is tuned to match it, is overdubbed-engineer Don Landee worked for hours matching up the two sounds as close as possible, simply because they wanted the Ferrari on the record, as they thought it sounded cool and unique...and then the Simmons kick drums. How do I know? I just read producer Ted Templeman book-and he confirmed it.
Love it - it's amazing just to even be able to play it - god knows where he got the moxie from to write it !!
Great lesson !!
This intro sounds like an old V8 engine.
uh yeah, motorcycles don`t have V8s.
Go check out what a 406 sbc v8 sounds like, it's exactly like this.
@@pnut166 did he mention motorcycles?
pnut166 where did he say motorcycle?? Are you sniffing glue again?
Great video! Thanks for sharing.
I love seeing young bucks like this guy breaking down Alex's beats. I wish I had You Tube in 1984!
Awesome playing. I read a long time ago in an issue of DRUM! magazine that Alex double tracked the intro, but your playing in this sounded spot on.
+Ben Funk There has been a lot of speculation, however it was not double tracked. AVH used to play the intro on the 1984 tour live with simmons drums. Most people simply have not been able to work out how it was played, leading to incorrect rumours that it was dubbed.
This guy does a fantastic job by the way!
man...i don't know how you guys are transcribing down to the sticking...that part just works itself out for me. it's so overwhelming to even consider it.
Thanks, excellent breakdown. Now to learn it the right way; been playing it wrong it seems.