Neil Peart's "Four-note grouping" A drum lesson by Ray Harber PART ONE.

[ChuckieGreenwood]

Love that Stewart Copeland ride.

[AnubisXII]

Haha. As I watch this, I'm kinda just sitting here at home at my desk doing my own little thing, kinda half-ass paying attention... volume's moderately low, but... What keeps catching my ear is the phrase, "Porno Groupies". Every time I hear it I instantly turn my head to the screen, "Whaa?... Oh. Four Note Grouping. I knew that". Then here you go again, "Porno Groupies".

"What?... Where?

Man, you must say that at least fifty times. Porno Groupies.

And I haven't licked a toad all day today.

[Drumdum2009]

Yes sir. Neil mastered that four bote grouping. I use it all the time.

[Eiderwine]

It's YYZ -- kind of.

[xraycortina]

As soon as I move out of a terraced house, I'm going to get a drum kit. My neighbours here are too nice.

[LOOT606]

GREAT VID!.. can u PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ do a lesson on his ride technique???? pleeez i need to kno

[padistedor]

Is that your kitchen behind you?

[Dummertrummer]

If i´m correct, that´s a Paiste signature dark energy ride 22". I have the same model. It sounds killer! ; )

[Paperclipcity12345]

@Dummertrummer its not a blue bell ride?

[rwoods2k]

this clip is a good example of giving out useful, helpful information; even if its not in a technical way. good stuff

[metallicaguy85]

Im sure all his first drum solo is, is a herta, 5 times, plus 1 extra 16th note, around the snare, and four toms, with the 4th note always accented, atleast thats how I play it

[Regulation46A]

Thanks for the lesson!  You have a great attitude and approach to teaching.

[godzillafireman]

Shit, dude. You're awesome

[tneatrour]

Dude, I am a guitar player...but if i had to sum it up? It sounds like a triplet trappen inside a 16th note. Does that make sense?

[khendrickson49]

sounds great, and the grouping it more free if you will, its loose

[johntasicdrums60]

love the sewert copland ride!!!!!!!

[joeltudeflo]

cant take my eyes of your drum kit... wood grain never look so good!

[lumpyandbump1]

those drums sounds absolutely awesome. pdp or dw?

[TheGerthax]

this dude needs to watch his pinkys

[EduardoTucciDrums]

Two 32nd notes + two 16th notes.

[jedispy]

Does anyone know of any videos that discuss Neil's signature ride rhythm? I've timed it out and the notes make sense to me, but when I play it, it just sounds wrong

[MarkoMaddy]

im sure if you did this on your double bass pedals you would be able to play bleed

[bobs718]

See my videos (BANDA TRAMPO) boituva SP, comment if you like , go to your friends , thanks !

[swtracey]

Great Job Ray!!!! Keep up the Vids man!!!!

[wiirluvenit]

Ha I had no idea what I was doing now I know its called "Four-note grouping" I kinda just picked this up randomly with out even knowing about it :D

[xxmickeyzeroxx]

This is my kind of drummer. He is laying it down from his kitchen. Thanks for some insights brother.

[YetAnotherProg]

it is two 32nd notes followed by two 16th notes, just like the pattern in Bleed by meshuggah.

[seansuperman]

Neil Peeeert!! Its PEART! Jk, time machine tour inside joke

[godzillafireman]

nice fucking drum set!

[Volentry]

Aight I'm very sure about this now. What Neil and you are playing is simply the herta, except the last two notes are accented. Just want to clear up misconceptions and such.

But man... just those 2 accents, and the sound of the lick changes completely! Amazing.

[boilingpoint3]

u diserve drum mics for free.

[hendrickvps]

How do you tune your drums?

[jakesilly]

sounds like a herta

[Volentry]

At the part which you demonstrate the differences between the herta and the 'Neil Peart' thing, did you just change the placing of the accents, or did you also change the notation of the notes as well?

Hertas are 2 32nd notes followed by 2 16ths, but what about the one that Neil uses? I've been trying to look around for the answer, but forums and other videos don't have them :( I know Carter uses the 32nd/16th version though.

[MrNeilpeartfan]

Wow, thanks for this video it helped alot. But Im having problems playing the four note grouping and when I try to play it it sounds like what you played at 3:25 (a herta?) rather than those important fills in YYZ. I can definitely hear the difference but after trying to play it and doing so incorrectly for so long now I can't get my hands to complete the 4 note grouping in such quick succession! Please help me. Thanks

[rovusss]

YYZ?

[Bokee234]

@rovusss yeaaaaa

[TheMaster8061]

wasn't there a four-note grouping in digital man

[rays2112]

@TheMaster8061 Yes I demo it in part 2

[ericrob2112]

nice hat!

[fenderman77]

Ray Paul Here's a video on neil perts four note grouping. This is how he does the fills in yyz.

[jwt0bos]

I hear this or something like it in the last big tom fill in Witch Hunt (studio version). Not sure if you agree. I slowed it down to half speed and what I hear is (caps are the accents) concert toms: lrlR-lrlR-lrlR-lrlR (then continues on the closed toms LR-LR-LR). I enjoy your videos.

[Sideybhai]

Ray - thank you very much - I don't play the drums but in my mind and heart - but I could follow your instructions......and enjoyed the session..sincerely appreciate you putting this up

[Spydr2000]

I think your a good drummer, but I'm not digging the ghost strokes on your snare while you play it sounds muddy. I had to get away from that when I played it should only be used sometimes.

[dvision23]

I didn't read all your comments, but simply put, the grouping times out to a triplet with the accent on third subdivision - closely related to a herta. The herta is also a four note grouping, accenting the flam at the beginning. When you think about this cluster, it's played like there's a flam at the beginning only it's not accented. My two cents.

[yyzaaz]

he also changes up between 16th and 8th notes on many of the fills.

[sk8erboy182]

you really love peart huh?

[johnfee33]

trip-o-let and? thats what its called, i think

[levitucusninja7]

what drum head do you use on the snare?

[VenumosFate]

pause it at :39 it looks like you saw a hot chick or something out the window haha.

[riccokane]

thats a sick ride, may i ask what model it is?

[supunz]

@riccokane its a paiste blue bell ride

[TheJackass347]

that is a sexy kit!!

[drummernezzy]

that comment was for ellioteaston, by the way

[lambheartslayer]

It makes me really happy to know that youtube actually has people that know what they are talking about. Not to be a critic, of course, but i do wish you wouldn't play with such loose pinkies. That's not really a big deal anyway haha. And I really wish you had some good recording gear on those dw's. I would love to hear that kit recorded well =]

[advancewarsaddict]

Go ahead! I'm just happy to have been able to help. You're an excellent player, and I'm glad I could assist you in more accurately playing this rather complicated rhythm (don't blame me if you start overthinking, though =D)

[advancewarsaddict]

From your comments and how it sounds, it sounds like a sixteenth note triplet into a single sixteenth note, followed by a sixteenth note triplet followed by a single sixteenth note, etc. This takes up exactly three-quarters of a single beat, and is, as you say, more "lilting" than a herta, which you correctly identify as two 32nd notes and two 16th notes.

[rays2112]

Wow, I think that's exactly correct...I think I'll put that explanation in my video info. (If you don't mind!)

[420Spoony420]

@advancewarsaddict Exactly correct,... It's only 4 note's of six-tuplet's,... no matter if they are the 1st 4 note's, the last 4 notes, or in the middle of the six-tuplet's,... and they would be known, at least the in "Metal" circles as, Quad's.

Quad's = only 4 secuential note's of a sixtuplet.

[13vails]

wow. original.

[ellioteaston93]

tom hanks is neil peart

will ferrell is chad smith

[drummernezzy]

THAT's HILARIOUS!  and so TRUE!!!

[drummerboyroger]

@ellioteaston93 i see more kevin spacey in neil

[kazodrummer]

@ellioteaston93 and dave mathews is tom hanks lol!!!!

[BertRunars]

Can you tell your full equipment? Like sizes, cymbals and drumskins.

[dropehe]

exellent ray thanks you really explained that so easy and its true, mr pearts trademark roll now broken down sounds great.

you can also add a fast single stroke roll at the end or in between to purely lengthen the effect especially on the floor toms.

great work bro great work indeed.

love to see more breakdowns.

[kyo611]

neil pert top 2

[FuzzyPicture]

soooo, it's like a sixtuplet of RLRLRL except you cut out one R- and make it into RLRL_L, and then you accent the last two L's, right?

[semerdjian]

dude u should get some mics !! ur drums are so awesome ur really gd drummer and the sound is is not so gd

[jetslagged]

Is your kit the collectors series? sounds nice,

I see you had the paragons before the paistes. they are nice sounding cymbals i just sold mine.

You should spend money on mics as opposed to new gear though because you can make a not so good sounding drum sound beautiful with the right sound through a mixer,

and tuck in your little finger man :)

anyways great playing keep up the good work

[mcufre]

this is a basic triplet fill isnt it?

[ShiftIntoFocus]

Which crash is that right in front of you, in the middle of the set? It looks reflector from this angle, sounds great!

[rays2112]

Good eye! That's a 16" Paiste Signature Reflector Heavy Full crash..LOVE the reflector crashes...very silvery and smooth! I now also have a 20" Reflector Heavy Full crash on my far left.

[ShiftIntoFocus]

Can't wait to hear your cymbals in the your video, I can never find too many videos with the Heavy Fulls in them!

How easy/hard is it to get the 20" to open up? I'd love to use it alongside my 18" as a crash/ride.

[AniMan338]

A video of that up and down 4ng's at 6:06 would be real cool

[MEDLI123]

nice stewart copeland ride there aye lol good vis though

[DRUMSKAPE]

great vid ray! although is it just me , or does your two floor toms sound the same?... seems there no tonal differrence in the 2 and clearly the 16 should be deeper, (looks like you have a 14 and 16 there,.. either way ,.. the last tom) lol, could just be my ears though, ive been playing for about 25 years so theyve been put through some abuse!

anyhow , keep making the vids , you rock!

[rays2112]

Thanks man! Yeah I was cringing while editing and mixing, realizing that the toms were horribly out of tune, but I wasnt going to re-do everything at that point! Thanks,

Ray

[metalfiend124]

@rays2112 Toms still sound great, can't wait to hear them in tune. Thanks, great playing.

[RaptorZX3]

haha just when watching this video, YYZ started playing on Radio behind me :-D

[ynnek12pd]

dude, your video is really good,, there's not many videos like this

[npbass]

i love the quality of your videos!

makes it seems so much more real haha

thanks for posting

[AniMan338]

Ray, do you think in your future videos you could also use the X over the 4 note grouping, just as a tip to point out for us

[brokencandy2112]

LoL my daddy with his hilarious faces haha

[rays2112]

Katelyn, I make even more faces in part two :)

[wakozako123]

Your daddy is the BEST!

[Astrotama]

Good job, Ray. Other places where Neil uses this concept I think are the long fill at the beginning of "Digital Man", and the long snare solo in "Where's My Thing?". Neil's playing is full of little neat tricks and gimmicks like those. That's another reason why it's so much fun to really learn and play this stuff!

[rays2112]

Thanks man! That's exactly right, in fact Part Two (which is up loading right now) Shows those two examples. Yep, Neil's got a big bag o' tricks!

[froggpond1]

Hey Ray, I respect your ability to chop chop on Rush. You, Martin myself could possibly think about chop chopping on some original drum groove stuff, possibly a collab of the 3 of us doing something ,,,,,like Weckl, Gadd Coliuta......

something done in the spirit of creating a cool tune or 3way drumming solo,,,,since we all do somethng a little different as out respective strong suits....

Ribbit................

[rays2112]

Thanks man! Yeah that's a great idea. I dig your videos as well!

[jtcarlton]

Wow, wow, wow....you are so talented, and watching you play....gotta go take a cold shower!!! Good job my friend...

[rays2112]

Thanks Tori

[bigD2387]

When's part 2 coming? it's Thursday.

[rays2112]

A friend of mine called me and invited me out of the blue to go to a Michael Schenker concert! So I went. I'm editing the video right now...sorry!

[spiderbait90]

Those DW's sound awesome, even with the slight distortion from the camera mic.

Awesome stuff Ray :)

[whatsinthebox101]

Dude, Apply to become a youtube partner!

[JaredParagon2112]

YYZ!

[uspsamaster]

Thanks for the video on this. Nice info.

Drums sound awesome... As well as your playing! Keep up the good work.

[rays2112]

Thank you!

[AJR3839]

FANTASTIC Ray!!! I love it and have been waiting anxiously for it. I'm getting right to practicing this fill and eagerly await part 2.

[rays2112]

Awesome! I'm editing part two now...

[HardRock5656]

The DW kit looks nice

If I had the chance I would steal it, and thats a complement

[rays2112]

Thank you? j/k

[drumster626]

You really know your stuff! Thanks

[frejtlejs]

great job man. keep the lessons coming!

[444drummer444]

man your drums sound good even without mics. imagine with mics!!!

ps love the new camera angle.

[proto35]

that was coo

[rays2112]

coo? lol

[proto35]

cool* lol haha : P

[matthamil2112]

That ride sounds so awesome.

[HardRock5656]

Wheres part 2?

[rays2112]

Part two will be posted Thursday for sure

[portnoyfan521]

awesome like usual! great video Ray!

[rays2112]

Thank you!

[TheNewWorldMan69]

i don't even play drums and I liked watching this.

[rays2112]

Cool! Thanks!

[whammybarfreak]

niceeee! yyz

[hobo649]

when is part 2 gonna be up? this has been on a while

[rays2112]

I got busy yesterday, it will be up Thursday for sure

[hobo649]

o ok cool thanks

[drumsr4idiotslikme]

neil peart eeerrr t

[ryanandbranslurppiss]

thats drumset is sweeet!!

[JuanchoC2112]

Cool ! Your are playing YYZ!

[trumpetcuber1]

its not "peert" its peart. your saying it like peer-t

[xBadOmen]

no its not..saying it like "purt" is a common mistake most pople make. Its pronounced like "peer-t"

[trumpetcuber1]

no its not pronounced that way.

[ThatItalianGuyTil]

p-ee-rt

Long e sound.

[xBadOmen]

seriously man. The most common mistake ALL rush fans make or just Neil fans make is they dont realize the proper way to pronounce his name. I'm sure 99% or so of fans have that realization after starting out. Or even for a long time.

[bigD2387]

xBadOmen,

it dosent really matter if he says his name right or not. as long as we know who he's talking about, there's no problem.

[rays2112]

But I AM pronouncing it right...

[xBadOmen]

yeah I know, I was simply pointing out that it was pronounced right in the video, as I saw Ray himself said he recently figured that out..... which is funny considering how long Ray's probably been a fan lol. But I hear people say that alot.

[rays2112]

Yeah it's a common mistake, I pronounced it wrong until just a few months ago! (and I've been a fan since 1980!) Anyway....glad we got that all worked out! lol Peace, man.

[rays2112]

Yeah I just recently realized I was pronouncing his name wrong

[bigD2387]

yeah, it's no big deal. we knew who you were talking about. it wasnt THAT big of a mistake anyways. i was just pointing out to xBadOmen that it wasnt that big of a deal.

[DrummBum2112]

LOL Nice.....I can tell that intro was YYZ!!

[rushdrummerYYZ]

other examples of...... lol. Great lesson ray i played those fills just like you said you used with just playing them really fast but now ill try the 4-note grouping technique thanks!!

[Bsommer100]

Nice Lesson. I believe the herta is two 32nd notes followed by two 16th notes.

[hobo649]

awesome vid

[aiyic]

This is very good, I recognize that lick, but could you play it dead slow? Is it RLRL? Or is there a double-stroke in there too?

[rays2112]

It's RLRL With the last two notes accented

[FOOROCKS123]

like the vid, like the hat more!

[SteveBDrums]

Hello Ray - I've never really sat down and tried to pull apart what Neil does in those awesome fills, but this is very helpful.

Those four strokes sound to be played with a triplet pulse. Anyway, enjoyed the video. If I ever try to cover a Rush tune, this will be very helpful.

You're a great drummer. Keep the vids coming my friend! - Steve

[pearlavalanche]

sound quality could be a bit better, but no big deal, otherwise, GREAT video, and killer set ! I myself am also a Neil fan and your technique helps me to play the Rush songs I do, play on Ray!

[SuperChuck3]

Just something I'd like to mention Ray. I really recognized this pattern from another older tune, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After listening to you play the pattern over the quarter note bass drum I realized exactly what it was. It is three 16th note triplets (1/2 of a beat), followed by a 16th note (1/4 of a beat), making the total value 3/4 of one beat, so 4 of these patterns make up 3 beats. I heard this first in a fill Bonzo did with his toms/bass drum in Stairway to Heaven. Cheers!

[nkoskinen]

Thanks alot! You're an awesome drummer, thanks for all the helpful videos.