How to Play Drums Like John Bonham
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- I've been a fan of John Bonham and his drumming with Led Zeppelin for as long as I can remember. So I thought I'd throw together my ideas on what made his playing unique and how we can all learn from him.
Download transcription of all beats and fills from the video here:
drive.google.com/file/d/1GdRj...
Shorts playlist of groove breakdowns and transcription:
• Grooves of John Bonham
0:00 Intro
0:39 Secret No.1
1:26 Secret No.2
3:02 Secret No.3
4:50 Secret No.4
5:35 Secret No.5
6:25 Bonham Fans
#drums #rock #drumlesson
Bill Ward from Black Sabbath was also heavily influenced by funk and swing. People talk about how heavy and loud Sabbath and Zeppelin were, but they were groovy as hell too, which often gets over-looked! Awesome video my man
Thanks a lot! Yeah I love Sabbath and Bill Ward's playing. I actually think him and Mitch Mitchell are more jazz influenced than Bonham. They just play triplet licks everywhere. Bonham was apparently Tony Iommi's best man as well which is kind of funny. They grew up in the same area so it makes sense.
All that era of English drummers heavily influenced by Jazz are in a class of their own: Bill Ward, Charlie Watts, Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, John Bonham. They all grew up on Jazz
I think that was the magic. The difference. All of that coming from jazz and funk . And also latin
Great video! Brian Tichy is the most Bonhamesque drummer today
Great explanations...we never get tired of hear about Bonham!
Thanks a lot! Yeah the video couldve been a lot longer haha
Excellent analysis. Thanks. I had the privilege of seeing Zep in action several times and, as great a band as they were all round, the power that Bonham supplied live was truly jaw-dropping.
Another great heavy rock swing drummer that definitely doesn't get the recognition he deserves is Ian Paice of Deep Purple, a superb musician.
Gah I'm jealous! You saw them in big venues then I'm assuming? I've never really dug into deep purple, but what I have heard of Ian paice is great. He's an awesome drummer!
Big and small. First time I saw them was in the Student Union hall (few hundred seater) at Sheffield University. As we were walking into the hall, they were going the other way and walked right past us, Robert Plant bumping into my shoulder on his way by. I had no idea it was them so I was a bit peeved coz he didn't apologize so I said, "Watch where you going, mate" and off they went. My mate turned to me and said, "Do you realize who that was you just told off? That was Robert Plant and the rest of the band!". I'm sure Planty tells a similar tale! 😉
That was a really nice take on a drummer who’s been studied, analyzed, and discussed countless times. You are an excellent presenter/teacher. Liked 👍🏼 and subbed.
Thanks a lot! Just getting started so I'm still learning the ropes. Glad you enjoyed the video :)
Hey Rory, really enjoyed this video breakdown of Bonham drumming , thanks for posting buddy
Thanks a ton! It was a fun video to make for sure. Glad you enjoyed it
Fantastic! Great job Rory!
Wow! Thanks Gord. It's great to hear from you :). Hope you're doing well and thanks for everything!
I think Porcaro's Rosanna is more from Bernard Purdy. The beats are very similar. Excellent video and I look forward to more.
Ya I know what you mean. How it's played it sounds more similar to Purdie's but Porcaro says in a video that he took those two shuffles and mixed them with a big diddley beat. It's hard to reference one of those shuffles without the other I think. They're both too iconic. Thanks for watching!
I like Bonham a lot like Porcaro. Rosanna is to me more Purdie. Purdie himself says Porcaro was very good with shuffles and grooves while he also stated Bonham was just good with shuffles and groove. I would agree with Purdie's statement.
Imagine having Purdie say you're good at shuffles haha😮
Great video! This should have way more views, great analysis but also great playing demonstration! I think you come closer than most other drummers I've heard trying to emulate Bonzo. And the feel is key but also that you don't bash the drums hard which actually makes the sound bigger like in 'Levee' with the added effects. That's often overlooked too I think.
Thanks! That means a lot. The song that I spent the most time on was Whole Lotta Love because I just found it so tough to get his swing groove down in it.
So interesting!! Keep up ghe good work ✊🎸
Thank you! Will do!
Great video nice work.
Thank you very much!
Hey mate, great breakdown. Would love to see a vid explaining how to play that Good Times Bad Times intro. Cheers
Alright I'll keep that in mind. You want the fill or the groove? Or both? The fill is definitely the hardest of the two. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@rqdrums If you mean the groove for the verse then probably not necessary IMO, but also why not?. But a short vid on the whole intro would be good (for me at least) groove and fill. An excuse for you to get a cowbell lol :D BTW your playing is awesome, mate - clean and tight. Kudos.
Thanks! For some reason I had forgotten there was intro haha. I was thinking you meant the verse groove. But I'll keep it in mind and make something when I get a chance. Probably a little short or something.
Have you found the young Japanese drummer YOYOKA? As Ian Paice remarked 'She is a frightening young.....'
Just checked her out now. She shreds for sure!
Wrists, wrists, and more wrists. If you want to play like Bonham. Cool video. Oh, and more cowbell. lol
Haha yeah I gotta finally get a cowbell!
Great video. I’m a huge fan of JB. I’m also a big fan of Ginger Baker. What I never understood is Baker saying JB “couldn’t swing a bag of sh*t”. I have no idea what he meant by that. Unless Baker has a different definition of swing, I’ve felt JB could swing.
Thanks a lot! Haha yeah Ginger said a lot of things. I still haven't really gotten into him yet to be honest. I know he's a lot of people's favourite player but I haven't checked him out properly yet. The things he's said have actually made it harder for me to want to listen to him properly
@@rqdrums ginger was a hard personality to get along with from what I’ve seen and heard. Great drummer though. Watch the clip on Eric talking about Ginger’s skills. To me, JB could swing. Not sure what Ginger mean t.
Really enjoyed this one thanks! What stick and drumset are you using?
Glad you liked it! I think I was just using kind of bargain bin stocks here. Generally I use 5As for pretty much everything but if I need something heavier I use bigger cheap sticks that I dint kind beating the heck out of. I'm not picky when it comes to gear at all haha
Oops and the kit I'm using is Pearl Export series kit!
Great video, much appreciated. Very minor complaint. At times the voice over made it hard to hear the beats. Could be that I've wrecked my hearing over the years. Anyway, nice analysis and observations.
Thanks! And I'm glad you liked the video. I had that same thought before I posted it about the levels between my voice and the drums. I tried it on different speakers and asked a few people what they thought ahead of time and they said it was ok. Maybe if I added subtitles or something when the grooves are playing I could raise the level on the drums. It's a work in progress but it's definitely a valid complaint haha!
At the time all the English drummers were being sponges for all sorts of rhythms. Anything went. Pop, jazz, African, Indian, Classical. When I first saw Bonham with the Band of Joy he was a new breath. Bass drum miked from right by the beater OUTSIDE the kick under the snare. His leather jacket inside the bass drum. VERY in your face from less than ten feet away in a small club. The evolution of that "Rosanna" shuffle was played on hihat the time I saw him, rllrllSnarellrll. I can't remember the number he played it on. Very blues influence with Robert Plant, the other members I can't remember but they were nearly the New Yardbirds but someone remarked "Hopeless. That will go down like a...."
Whoa that's crazy that you got to see him play live let alone in a setting like that. I'm super jealous! Thanks for the story and inside info!
@@rqdrums I saw a large amount of drummers in my then local club. Quaintways Chester UK. Ginger first. Bad tempered smackhead. I first saw him nailing his front hoop to the stage. The club janitor went over shouting "You can't do that!" but he had to back off faced with a six foot angry smackhead armed with a hammer in buckskins with two Bowie knives in his belt (you could in those days and Ginger played kit with them. Keith Emerson also carried a couple to stab the notes down on his Hammond.) Saw Free as young 17 year olds with Alexis Korner then called Free At Last. Simon Philips with Curved Air I think and Aynslie Dunbar with a little blues band before he joined Zappa. Buddy Rich I saw twice in Manchester. Classic rock and jazz days. You had to remember what you could and work out how it was done yourself if there were no teachers available. I think we all taught each other. I've just done a gig with a drummer, we recognised each other from then and he said "Didn't you teach me?" I thought he taught me. I've had a life like that.
That sounds like a crazy time to be out and involved in music. It reminds me of what my teacher said it was like living in New York ages ago
Another English drummer to hear is John Hiseman who had his band called Colosseum that headlined Jazz rock in the UK. Bill Bruford is often overlooked from Yes. Bobby Elliot from the Hollies and any of the drummers from King Crimson. (Try a listen to 21st Century Schizoid Man) I also roadied for Atomic Rooster with Carl Palmer for a while. They'd set up Carl's kit offstage while I was helping set up the keyboard rig. I heard Carl playing offstage so finished what I was doing and went to the noise and found. A twelve year old kid playing just like Carl Palmer. Carl tapped me on the shoulder from behind and said "Me little brother's good isn't he?"
@Texteltezteh You should make a youtube channel with videos talking about your memories of seeing these bands in their early days!
Carmine Appice’s drum style is also based on triplets. He and John influenced each other
Yeah definitely! I came across that a lot when I was reading up on Bonzo. He apparently got his triplet kick lick from Carmine.
Nice video but you're missing his main subtle technique which makes copying him challenging and that's the liberal use of a snare hit delay in his playing or "playing behind the back beat" which is a misnomer because he uses it in half time grooves as well.
It's essentially -- in his case -- right hand lead flam or hi hat lead flam in which the main count is hit directly on the count while the snare is played just after like flam to varying degrees depending on the song. But it's almost always present in a majority of his playing UNLESS he chose to eliminate it for effect as a contrast.
Ghost notes are often kept on top of the sub counts.
"No Quarter" has the best example of this where you could drive a semi truck through the snare delay on the plodding main groove but during the up tempo breakdown he's directly on the beat with hi hat and snare and the juxtaposition of effect is an urgency in the song that propels it forward in that section.
Fool in the Rain also has the use of this flam based technique which is why it has such a unique feel when compared to a Purdie half shuffle which tends to not lay back so much on the snare.
That push pull effect is essential in undertsanding Bonham's approach and playing. It was by design. It was varied depending on compositional requirments and it was omitted for effect as well.
Ahh good observation. I'll take another listen soon and look out for that. There's a million things to hear between him and all the other stuff that's happening. It's a deep rabbit hole! It's funny how I typically think of that style of backbeat as coming from Dilla grooves, ?uestlove and Chris Dave.
Nice to see the young bloods getting a grip on this style! On the real Zep was a plagiarizing ass bar band that hit it at the perfect time and don’t we just love it chick a boom boom boom! 😉 ❤
Haha thanks!
Can you imagine if he was still around today he was only about 32 years old
Things would be very different if that were the case! He'd probably have nasty gospel chops too haha😂
Bernard Purdie’s “Purdie Shuffle”, is where Bonham got Fool In the Rain.
Yup, Home at Last was released in 1977 then Fool in the Rain in 1979 then Babylon Sisters in 1980. I'm sure Bonham would've been checking out what Purdie was up to.
It was Carmine who gave John the 'Bonham' triplet.
Yup. He's where he got the kick triplet stuff from@@stevewilcock4767
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