Drum Lesson - Not so Scary Ghost Notes, Vanz Cool Drum Tips

[MyRsHaCKSdUNWORK]

1:38. *Creams Pants*

[mikelovesdeb]

You are so right thank you for the lesson... :)

[0PancakeSatellite6]

hey man, do you have a metronome type thing in your pocket? If so what exactly is it?? Cheers :D

[butterdrums]

He's like extremely irritated every time he has to mess with his mic

[fcpsitsgepgepgep616]

"Don't worry 'bout those ghostnotes, ain't nothin' but rebound!"

[MrDong99]

the bass drum sounds like its under water

[antsugi]

I ain't 'fraid o' no ghosts :P

[Moby104105]

The reverb is ridiculous lol.

[UnleashDLion]

You have an awesome right hand haha. GJ nice vid

[YardxBonzoxBird]

your right handed arnt you,

look like you have more control with your right ghost notes sound quieter then the left im left handed my self got to get the right going got any tips on how to even out your strong n weak hands and mustle control the hole works

[YardxBonzoxBird]

your right handed arnt you,

look like you have more control with your right

[crazyedd123]

just wondering, is it normal to hit lighter with the hand you aren't ghosting?

i.e. if i'm playing a beat right-handed-crossed-arms, and i want to play some ghost notes on the snare, i feel like my right hand hits the hi-hat abit lighter aswell.

you can't really hear a difference, but, is this something that shouldn't happen?

[ignitemyass]

@xexen103 dude I had the same problem. Try moving away from metal for a while. Instead of "working" ur double pedal, try laying of and using some hi hats and incorporate ur double pedal in on fills. I personally moved to jazz for a bit. It may seem boring but it's not as easy as you think. Push urgent to play different styles and then move back to metal. You'll see a difference trust me

[Bru21om]

At 5:57 , what sticking pattern do you use to do those quick rolls?

[yonatawodi]

I dig those ghost notes!

Cheers

[marcusmetal1]

first thx rvp! this is a realy nice vid!

but why there is always fuckers who dont like your video!!

WTF!!!!

[george44ist]

jy suig die donkie se ballas ?,[ VANS!

[screamstoawaken]

holy crap that part where u hit your crashes with your left hand made me laugh in utter happiness it was so hard

[xexen103]

Randy i've been playing drums a year now i've been watching alot of your videos and you're a great drummer right now at the minute im playing metal and i feel as if i've hit a solid brick wall with my playing i can work a double pedal and play around the kit etc. but it seems to personally feel very repetitive any advice?

[MastaShaker]

what kind of snare head are u using??

[chanpain]

the king of the ghost note clyde stubblefield the original funky drummer!!! vans your drumming is top notch i can feel that funk and soul in your playing

[bcdigiart141]

Thanks... once again... i get a lot out of your posted VIDEOS... i just gotta practice some of the patterns you present... I really like your latest videos.. as well... looks like u have a nice new STUDIO .... good luck in all your drum endeavors.

[Tdrummer888]

Lol in tags he spelt Bass, Base

[immaLazyCouchPotato]

Thanks man :) I've been looking for tips on how to incorperate ghost notes into fills and stuff. I was wondering if you have a vid on incorperating the dbbl bass into fills. Other than the usual snare snare bass bass Tom Tom bass bass fill if you know what I mean

[petecarvalho]

thumbs up for his splash moving always he hits the bass pedal

[ILikeBlastBeats]

whenever i try to do ghost notes they are barely quieter than my normal hits, it's like i can't control it =/ what should i do?

[k2plasma]

i will have a great day! :) how long have you been playin drums there vanz?

[vansdrumming]

@k2plasma

about 33 yrs. Really dates me huh. I started when I was 6. RVP

vanzdrumming com

[1S0AR]

you remind me of Thomas Haake from Meshuggah

[Archeron33]

I suppose the snare head is Remo Emperor X?

Would you recommend it?

[tonyouravanh]

IT MAKES SENSE!!!!

[hottgamerman]

a good example song is Dani California

[snakespence]

Is it just me, or do you Rimshot every single snare hit? (Other than the ghost notes, of course)

[vansdrumming]

I do often. I am a pretty heavy hitter. RVP

vanzdrumming com

[ironmaiden3103]

he looks like steve gadd , lol \m/

[wmakiling]

Great lesson!

[clemdjr01]

you kick ass!!!

[groovesyncopate]

could you break down that double ghost note tom solo thing that you start at 4:43 ish ... just like go into how you can construct something like that really slow even the fill on the toms you were playing before that slower... everything has gotta start way slower!!! please make a dvd with everything dissected slower more!! it could be revolutionary

[6BlackLight]

Nicely done. Although I find it distracting that (even tho you're using a rack), every time u kick the bass, your 10" splash moves :p. Again, nicely done.

[vansdrumming]

My one splash is mounted in my bass drum. RVP

vanzdrumming com

[kc5tng]

@BmusicianV

Try holding the stick a bit more loosely and let your fingers and wrists do the work...not your arms. Let your left stick bounce on its own. See if you can make it bounce using your fingers and wrists.

[CreedOfSin]

love how his splash moves when he touches the kick... hehe

[boringkid1]

RUDIMENTS FIRST!!!!!! seriously, its the answer to most if not all of your independence issues.

[Percussionfish]

cant be more right, rudiments give you all you need, seriously, i found the light when i started playing rudiments, thought i'd be playing crap my whole life, but yeah there you go.

[UnitingForce]

this was very helpful. been playing for a year and this has boosted my playing.

thanks

[tomtomtrommeltom]

thank you.

[vansdrumming]

Holiday Special - Get Extreme Drum Set Techniques for only $20.95 or download it for only $16.95 now through December 20th!

vanzdrumming com

[giangaetano2]

1:39 :))

[ryananzo]

thats the same with me but i havr that problem with my foot too i cant help it :((

[MrDinger24]

Some one wrote on here its rudiments! You have to learn them and practice them then everything else will come together! I have been playing on and off for over 20 years and I still count at something I have just done or seen! Learn to count and learn the rudiments, your prayers will be answered! Feel the force young one!LOL

[mloeffle]

Rudiments on drums, arpeggios on guitars - we all have to go through it :-)

[TheTaporsnap88]

Man you are a great teacher, the way you explain things really make sense! Thank you very much for taking the time to post these lessons........ I have learned more from you then the last 6 months of drum lessons I have taken......

[lucaspita001]

U know what? I think you're a great guy. Even when it looks like you're showing off, you're good in making it seem all funny! Excellent drumming!

I've been playing for 30 years.

[beastrevor]

tap dat shit

[deucehig]

lol!

[davss5]

I've been doing double-stroke grace notes for many, many years - and more recently I have concentrated on expanding my grace notes into other places (e.g., Bernard Purdie half-time shuffle)...within the last few days I started adding grace notes into my 4/4 ("g" = grace note):

L g L g L g (LR) g

Leaving out the grace note prior to the "(RL)" makes it easier, but (for me) it's the "bridge" that improves the groove...can you comment and provide L/R notation if necessary?...thanks

[TheFreemanuk]

your a great player your not very good at explaining things try working on it your students will learn faster.

[bockigoth]

High ?...

Lol

[Drummer14all]

Are his toms not in descending order?

[davss5]

You noticed the same thing I did...it looks like his leftmost bass/rack tom is slightly larger than the adjacent one (but the remaining toms seem to progress in size going towards the right on the drumset)...I've seen some drummers (e.g., Dave Weckl) put an additional floor tom on the left side (on a right-handed set-up) - maybe he's doing this with a bass/rack tom instead...

[aileanwazere]

john dolmayan is master at ghost notes

[vansdrumming]

The website is back up and running for DVD and Download purchases.

vanzdrumming com

Thanks for your patients. RVP

[beastrevor]

jesus christ

[drfeelgoodfilms]

evans heads dont suck, but i think remo heads are better

[000ROCKREVOLUTION000]

you have a very good left hand

[Killadelphi420]

hes showing how to utilize a technique in your fills...

[tikitrend]

4:30 -- evil annotations! :O

talk about extremely over-extended fills.

[xXNoseXgrinDXx]

Everyone check out Jon Karel :) you'll shit your pants

[fumachuma]

hi could you upload vids lossons on blastbeats

[rockeromb]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh THE BASS DRUM IS TRYNG TO EAT ME!

[CapMage0]

what is your drum brand? Pearl? etc

[rockeromb]

its yamaha

[Lazafah]

At 4:30, you may want to Enter your text here! =P

[ipsdrummer]

im also a begginer and this vid is a great help....cheers dude!!

[drumsr4idiotslikme]

that mic looks like it annoys you

[cichlidkeeper89]

evans ec2's right?

i have been playing for 10 years, i had to quit for a spell because of medical reasons. i am soooooo rusty. my hands dont work anymore :(

im using your vids to get my feel back.

great vids!

[sweetmpea55]

i love the ring of the the snare. what kind of drum and what notes are your top and bottom head tuned to? if you don't mind my asking. : )

[DRrocken]

im a beginer drummer and all of your videos are really helping me get better.

your a great yeacher.

[dbenc]

All the toms look like there the same size:)

[vansdrumming]

8,8,10,12,14,16. The 2 8's are different depths. RVP

vanzdrumming com

[rjplaysmusic]

what brand is your set? it sounds killer

[spatchycat]

just do the blue devils accent tap exercise...at one inch for the taps..and 12 inches for the accent. Do that with an metronome LOTS...you will master it in no time...these "ghost notes" are nothing more than accent taps.

[mankee84]

Hey man, great video. I'm a beginner at drums (learning quickly though!) This vid was a big help. ^^

Just a quick question--Did you use any sort of tab/sheet music with those drum beats or did you make them up totally on the spot? Either way, keep up the awesome vids!!!

[lwl182]

you are a great drummer

ive been playin for about 4 months and i was wondering if your ability came right away or did you practice to get where you are?

[vansdrumming]

Practice, Practice, Practice! RVP

vanzdrumming com

[lwl182]

thanks man im gonna keep practicin

[WalkingOnNothing]

nothing comes right away dude

[pivotingdiamond]

The face you make at 1:37 is integral to making ghost notes.

[vansdrumming]

Hah. You are correct. If a drummer doesn't make funny faces they won't truly feel the groove. It also gives you character. Ya gotta have fun or why bother drumming. RVP

vanzdrumming com

[God15Good]

you guys makes this video scary... its just a ghost note. great lesson

[slashdelbarrio]

your videos are good, but the sound quality is AWFUL and it's drums what we need to listen to

[cannibalxdeath]

no its not you retard.

theres no blasting involved.

this is the furthest from blasting ever.

[KiraPlaysGuitar]

aannndddd ive subscribed XD

[rockon30728]

haa thats funny

[ksk235]

It's worth having orgasm playing drums like this..

[flexxwilliams]

,,,

[andrewdoug5]

What kind of ride is that?

[bitchasscracker1987]

I think Zildjian Avedis

[Chirz84]

oh my bad didnt know anyone likes the sound of a drum with over tone and alot of bell sounds like crap

[Chirz84]

dont know if you noticed but your drums have alot of ring in them get some of the moon gel damps

[lgeoghegan]

maybe he likes them like that?

not everbody wants their drums to sound like cardboard boxes

[flexxwilliams]

The reverb echo from his mike contributes to it also... but it sounds good...

[brainac0cult]

I like a ring when im playing jazz but its not so good for metal!

[MyRoflCopt3r]

im tryin to play fool in the rain and i cant hit the ghost notes

[brainac0cult]

try to relax your wrists a bit more.

[thenamelesscrow]

who the fuck do you think you're talking to?

this guy could teach you thousands of things you probably never even heard of

[brainac0cult]

I wasnt talking about HIM!!!!

[thenamelesscrow]

oh, my bad then

I apologize

[carlsobt]

are you high??

[samworskett]

lol

[tommodom]

Yeah this gy is awesome, he's giving his time into giving us lessons and helping us other drummers get better, thanks for the lessons by the way, really helping me!

[mr9duce]

faggot

[miniwargamereric]

lol you should envy this guy. hes pro. clearly unlike you

[Yayo015]

Poor guy, you cant even play.

[baloons4satanists]

some lessons are harder for me because im left hand , and that means i play open.. Left hand on hh... I have started practicing using Right hand on ride. :D

[me69SA]

ya me too! put your ride lowwer just above your toms. worked for me, stil easy to reach with lefthand

[guitardude1230]

Hey me too. I cant use the right hand on the ride though. I just have a ride right next to my hi hat and that seems to do the trick quite well. It lets me play very fast but I do have to lead with my left hand.

[jppianoguy]

Don't even bother - stick your ride above your hh. I'm actually envious of you. I'm trying to learn to play open, but it's tough to unlearn righty. You can do SOOO much more playing open. Check out Carter Beauford from Dave Matthews Band. He plays open and it's AMAZING. You can look up his set up on the internet to find out where he puts his ride.

[welshman07]

I really like your stuff. I only just watched a few including your take on "hot for teacher".

Whats your take on john bonham on "fool in the rain"?

[drumz86]

haha i like when he fuckz it he just acts like he's doing sum out of tempo solo lol

[XxxGeorGe7xxX]

you are good !

[ollie1504]

another helpful way of building up left hand strength away from the kit is just using it more often in daily tasks. Hold drinks, opens doors, brush your teeth, etc. with your left hand. I used to have a slow left wrist but I started doing using it more a playing more "open" handed drumming (left hand on HH/ride right on snare) and its helped a lot

[EmoMetaller]

I'm lefthanded in everything except drumming. It helps not.

[redwingowls]

brushing teeth with left hand is specially fun!! .... I agree, using your left for everything as much as you can really helps.

[h3rsh3y94]

hehehehe

[Flatron00]

lol 2:30

[HELPmeDRUM]

Can you come to my house for a month and give me lessons?

[jamietrhcp17]

you, my good sir, bring the funk.

[cichlidkeeper89]

at 2:30 when your playing, the splash cymbal right in front of you is moving on its own. LOL

[essaychamber]

its the bass drum rebound. LOL

[vansdrumming]

It is mounted in my Bass Drum.

RVP

vanzdrumming com

[essaychamber]

my english is not so good sorry

[themysteriousmovie]

we learnt ghost beats in my drum lessons its really fun cause if ya get good at it you can go extreemly fast and once my stick went so fast it flew and it almost hit the drum teacher eek !!! lol

[NightsAngels]

This reminds me of Chad Smith. I believe he uses a lot of ghost notes. Great video.

[Rikardomafia5]

that was just the comment i was going to post!! xD

[WhamJamPaco]

i cant hear the ghosts at all. but i get what your trying to say. also there some crazy phase and delay going on in your audio. could be the compression tho. try and get an sm57 for that snare. its 100 bucks and sounds great. just a suggestion

[olly543]

Ive never been any good with ghost notes This is really helpful Thanx! :D

[lalalax4321]

can someone teach me how to use my left hand in drumming....its soooo slow.

[Largosmetal]

Practice more with left hand till it's as fast as your right hand.

[handforpleasure]

something that worked for me was to mount my drum kit as if i were a leftie

[drumz86]

hmm mayb not so good

[xBadOmen]

Do simple stuff on your snare. For example... Play 8th notes on your snare or practice pad with your left hand keep it going. It sounds simple but if you are weak with your left eventually it will get tiring. When you get tired, push a little more anyway. Only use left though. It takes time. =]

[dasjestyr]

the idea is that you should be able to play anything on your left that you could with your right. so learn something fun on your right hand then work at being able to do the same thing on your left. half the battle is in your brain, not just your muscles, but if you avoid this practice, it'll stay weak and confused. same applies to your feet.

[Herbalizer1]

To develop your left had a good exercise is to start playing rudiments with your left like you would with your right. It's challenging at first but very effective.

Also play sixteenth note and triplet patterns with your left hand only then do the same with your right so you can stay balanced. For example triplets with the left: LLL LLL LLL LLL. Accent on the 1 for 4 bars, then accent on the & for 4 bar then accent on the UH for 4 bars. You'll hear the change in a week.

[OKalrightalready]

Levon Helm is the king of the ghost notes.

its his trademark

[TonyDrum1994]

Anyone who plays promark sticks is a friend of mine and a brilliant technique......

[theKnot999]

do sticks matter? lmao promarks always break i personaly prefir vic firths and ahead's

[xSeanDrumsx]

I found Vater 5B's to be the most durable.

Made from Hickory.

[calumisdead]

Dear Randy,

Please come to my house and tune my drumkit too sound as good as yours.

Love, Calum.

[nortuber]

Thanx for all the effort, man! But might I suggest use of another audio codec (or at least higher bit-rate) The sound is too undefined.

[CodyLS954]

summary: ghost notes are when you hit the drum/cymbal softer then you would regular

[cubiche35]

really good

[stroketheboat]

"today we're gonna talk A LITTLE bit about ghost notes".

nearly 10 mins...

I'd hate to see his "long" version....

zzzzzzzzzzzz

[whodare]

lol xDDDD

[fudawg45]

Interesting... I think the best way to teach this is through accent-tap exercises. Every drummer should learn good snare drum technique (in the sense of marching snare drum).

Nice video. :)

[Mahavishnu80]

could you explain one please

[fudawg45]

It would take a while to explain in words...

Basically, there are 4 strokes. Natural stroke (your stick starts high and ends high), down stroke (start high, end low - i.e. you prevent the stick from bouncing high off the drum head), up stroke (start low, end high - this should be quiet), and taps (start low, end low - also should be quiet). Practice alternating down strokes and up strokes - which should be loud/soft/loud/soft as you play. Slow and controlled at first, then speed it up.

[xlilbradxartd]

sorry, i shouldnt say ive perfected ghost notes...but ive got them down good enough to use them frequently in my playing

[xlilbradxartd]

finally someone says it...i hate how playing drums has become all about speed now-a-days. there are much harder things to accomplish than being able to do 250 bpm on a bass drum...then theres gravity blasts. its such a huge deal to do gravity blasts. i learned how to do a gravity blast in literally a week. but it took me a year to perfect ghost notes

[vironfletcher]

I can't agree more with you man, I hate that speed-rocks policy on drums....where did the volume and the technics go? everyone thinks drums are just noice but they don't know drummers are the most technical musicians

[previn]

You guys are absolutely spot on! I'm not trying to sound pompous or that I'm at all an expert drummer whatsoever, but I hate hearing people tell someone they're "the best drummer they've seen" or something like that when the dude just played 4/4 beats with a little double bass added in. Drums are much more complex than that!

[vironfletcher]

amen man! I hate that too.....if playing fast and hard is what it takes to be a good drummer then jazzist would suck, and that is a complete shitfull idea

[Crazen2]

Credit where credits due. You're a fantastic drummer and teacher! keep up the good work.

[Edordorito]

:42-1:00

true that

[slickrickthemagik]

Too much talking not enough playing

[sk8terdudx10]

how did u play the part at 5:30-5:50

[Bonsai006]

Are those promark 7a sticks?

[vansdrumming]

5A

RVP

[Bonsai006]

I said that at the very beggining of the video, right after I was like "Wait! Those are 5A.

[sickstix182]

i think chad smith perfected the ghost note thing check em out

[baterarocksamuka]

zentem ela ta nevosa! pau no cu! maruceroooo, defende seu maxo defende

[lulzepik]

ghost notes is what attracted me to drums.

[mackeenca37]

that is wierd

[lulzepik]

drums kick ass.