Dave Grohl unveiling a guide on how to Rock!

Crossing off items from the list we created on Instagram with colleagues from this community! Today it's Rock's turn!. Everlong by Foo Fighters.

To start off, we have the groove with sixteenth notes on the hi-hat alternating hands, snare drum on 2 and 4, and a simple two-bar kick drum pattern accompanying the guitar riff. The unison between the kick drum and snare drum on beats 2 and 4 must sound clean and precise; you should hear a single resulting sound from hitting the kick and snare simultaneously, NOT one sounding slightly before or after the other. It's one of the simplest but most important things if you want to be called back for that gig, so practice it until everything sounds in place!

In the verse, the kick drum on beat 4 changes to a more syncopated pattern to accompany the phrasing change in the guitar. In this previous post, you'll find the definition of syncopation along with another example!

In the following section, there's an eighth note displacement that's very common in rock. It consists of a group of three eighth notes with the first one accented which repeats, in this case, for two bars. The various techniques Dave Grohl uses to play this section are fantastic and build the song up to an EPIC climax before reaching the chorus. His recipe is as follows: First, play the displacement as a straightforward rhythm; the second time, interpret it as hits adding fills in between, and finally, counterpoint it with 4 super rockin' snare and open hihats to lift the song up for an explosive chorus.

The drums part in the chorus, after all the fireworks in the previous section, must be played with the right hand on a crash cymbal to keep that part of the song soaring, and the syncopation on the "and" of beat 4 continues. If you're not familiar with this way of counting, check out this post where I teach you how to practice using my method.

To close out the chorus, transition to a toms groove with the right hand on the floor tom, creating an exquisite transition between the most explosive part of the song and the introduction, to start again. Alternatively, as in the case of the second chorus, transition to a guitar breakdown.

That's all for now. I hope this helps you improve your playing or understand our role as drummers a little better!

I'll leave you with the PDF, download it, practice it, have fun, and see you next time. Don't forget to share this post so we can help other drummers with free content! Thank you very much.

Big hug! DOWNLOAD THE PDF! Link to the transcription video (in spanish) My drum cover on instagram