Tool Time

I have not done a drumming video in a while, so here is something that I worked on recently. Tool are a band known for being intense and also for complex music that often uses odd time signatures. I had not attempted their music before, but then Drumeo had some 'easy' lessons for this song Sober. It is in 4/4 time and that helps, but they have simpified it a lot from the original. Tool's drummer Danny Carey is widely acknowledged as one of the greats. He has recently been playing King Crimson tunes with Adrian Belew's Beat. Drumeo have a full transcription of the original drum part that is rated as advanced.

There are several different beats through the song and it took me a while to get the transitions right. The hardest part is the breakdown where you do not have a beat to follow. I could have used a click track, but that would have complicated putting the video together and so I just tried to judge it.

This is a fun song to play. Getting the timing exactly right when playing along to a drumless track is tricky as normally the drummer would be what the other players follow. I played it for my drum teacher at my last lesson. I am not sure what she made of it as she did not know Tool, but then she is from a classical background.

This is the original song and you will hear a lot more going on with the drums.

I recorded this on my Roland TD07 kit. I had the backing track and drum tab on my tablet and recorded the audio in Audacity on my Linux PC. The video is from my phone. I put them together in Kdenlive.

Rock on and beat it!

▶️ 3Speak