Drum Lesson : Seven Days - verse groove (www.joecrabtree.com)

[janknjazovic]

@bringtharock excellent :))

[NickUK82]

very well explained and played.

good job!

[midgetsforjesus1]

That was extremely well done, in total control, while understanding exactly what is happening in the pattern variations and demonstrating them with ease.

[pfefftube]

@bringtharock Thank you. I spend a lot of my time working on the MasterClass lessons on my website. The aim is to make enough from those to be able to keep putting the free stuff up on YouTube too. Please check it out if you get the chance. There's a lot of good stuff in there.

[janknjazovic]

@pfefftube excellent :))

[alexeknowles1975]

This is great. I've been trying to master that groove for years, I think now I am a little closer.

[davidcipriani]

Realy, grate job, excellent, I like to hear the drums a little harder on the track! .. hugs joe!!

[luiggi6665]

excellent drum class ,,thanks for you form to do this ... thanks so muchhhhhhhhhh........thanks drum master...........

[drag0n3y31]

great job mate keep it up

[64bbfan]

You're a great teacher thank you

[BuffoonCinema]

I despise any attempts at transcribing and/or teaching Vinnie's playing. However, Joe, I have much respect for you and what you're doing. Thanks.

[Jez2008UK]

You are such a talented young man.

A gifted drummer and teacher.

Thank you for educating us.

[snakespence]

Is there any way I can get the backing track to this? I want to do a performance of this at college, but I can't find any backing tracks...

[pfefftube]

@snakespence Yeah, go to my website and click on Lessons->more lessons in the menu. The backing and transcription of the outro are in the drum vault (left hand side of the page). Thanks, Joe

[snakespence]

@pfefftube

Clicked enter drum vault, and it wants a type of Authentication...Mmm... (Btw, great video on this song, it's so a busy and difficult! )

[pfefftube]

@snakespence you have to make a donation to get the log in details.

[snakespence]

@pfefftube

Dang! I have no means or ways of making a donation (No pay-pal account)...

[pfefftube]

@snakespence you don't need one. Just click through and paypal will let you use a card without signing up.

[Mart1nwalker]

Ignore me. ..... Should've watched your whole thing before running my mouth. You nailed it. Nice.

[Mart1nwalker]

HI,

Nice tutorial, BUT..is it not the case that the recorded version actually features accented triplets on the hi hat not straight 16ths?

Thats what I'm working on now.

Check out my progress, Ive done a section in the cover where I play it like that

[nolo68]

excellent !

[DrumTchr]

FINALLY an excellent drum lesson video on youtube.

Very well done in every way Joe.

[scottnewellguitar]

Great lesson and demo of this groove!

[bobbysbackingtracks]

Great  lesson clarity. Thank you!

[jtromsness]

I was literally pulling out my hair and laughing

[turbocixna]

thats the spirit!!!!

[JonnyCashmore]

it all depends. I learned all this stuff just by listening...failing...getting better...until the whole thing is done. Also if you need to count this you don't have "it", and should probably move along........LOL! Just kidding...good luck. At least your teaching the right cats....

[scryc]

great lesson!

[PhatPhunk]

Great lesson. Nice breakdown.. Really love that K hihat... :)

[slowhand06]

Hats off to you, well explained and demostrated. As someone who had lessons but could never figure it out too well if it was explained and counted out like that, it made a lot of sense. I always figured it out by listening and copying... The hard way probably!

[darkknight789]

Thanks to your help, Joe, I have now just about mastered this song. It's taken a few weeks, but I'm finally close to nailing it. Check out my video and see what you think! Cheers, mate!!!

[u2plan]

wqw

[clydezjr]

Very well illustrated and explained...thanks man!

[jazzpianoman01]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for explaining the Vinnie groove here; I shall certainly sit down and break it down for practice

[TroyaE117]

I think the hi-hat is accented on 2 and 5, closed rimshot on 4, and base drum on 1.

That's about all of it that I can manage.

[augustoilbatteraio]

no...it' accented on 1 3 5 2 and 4

[mauricelebrun]

AAAAAAAAAAAll Right !!!! Gosh how could they find such a beat. I wonder who's the crazyiest???...Sting or Colaiuta. I'll work on it 'till I get it, thanks a lot. momo

[TroyaE117]

Well expalined there Joe.

Thanks.

I can get the basic hi-hat, the snare and the base drum.

Those hi-hat accents at 8.33 and elsewhere will need more time.

I smile :)

[Guns8000]

the verse is really easy xcept for the sped up polyrythm tht vinnie adds it sounds awesum

[LiGhTzgoOuT]

The groove isn't that hard when you break it down...noobs. :)

[NreeKelBastardos]

Actually I agree and I'm a guitarist and bass player who likes to jump on the kit occasionally. This guy has explained / broken it down nicely. Actually it's helped me think of a few things re bass parts in 5 . Thanks pfefftube for putting this up.

[wesj1989]

This is like writing in Latin with your left hand, writing in English in your right, and painting a Da Vinci with your feet. ALL AT THE SAME FREAKIN' TIME!! Props to anyone who can play this.

[dejjazz]

lol....hahahahaha!!!!! thats a great one man !!!

[LudvigAlm]

@wesj1989 well, it is easier if you don't try to play the pieces as separate beats, but just concentrate on playing the whole groove as one... if you get what I mean. Don't try to write Latin with one hand and so on.. but paint a Da Vinci with written Latin and English in it... (I tried to be somewhat profound, and it didn't really work, but you get the point...)

[Dylan6281]

@LudvigAlm Actually I would say it is far easier to learn the pieces and then put them together as a whole.

[LudvigAlm]

@Dylan6281 I guess it differs. I absolutely hate learning grooves as separate pieces, and it has never worked for me.

[landart67]

My brain just ripped apart

[bhdrums]

you need to explain the hi hat opening on every other one, that doesn't make sense if ur trying to write it down, every other one what? Please explain the counts on that.

[DrMorbid]

bhdrums: Every other quarter note (if you consider the fast hihat strokes as sixteenth notes). It will go over the bars but that's OK.

[bcwdrums]

Nicely done...............

[Visualundeath]

THIS in a fucking pop song.

[willy44]

joe, very nice of you to share without bravura!

You play very well and Thank you for your 'straight ahead' offering. All the best to You and your drumming career. Sincerely, Steve B

[pack1101]

Great work!

[123craw]

thanks!

perfect !

[Cowri]

Brilliantly explained and executed, thanks mate!

[perovaas]

Excellent, man! Made it clear and playable. Congrats and thanks!

[tcbetka]

Wow...outstanding explanation. Thanks for the video! Make me want to go play my drums!

[writetovagelis1975]

guys i DIDNT SAY THIS GUY IS NOT GOOD.. I am just trying to help with this. i bet u guys think that Precious things of Tori amos is 4/4 hah?

Take care and dont break my balls

[writetovagelis1975]

two things to add in ur video.

1st the time in seven days is not 5/4 or 5/8 but it is 10/8.The way he has them analyzed is 3-3-2-2. also on the 16th note pattern on the hi hat ...why not play 134 of the tetraplette of sixteenths?The accent comes by itself every second bar.

take care

[mentzsana]

The song was written in 5/8 but all we now that in US they develop a groove using 2 bar... But it's still a 5/8... Joe Crab show his method and he is a great... I think (like you) that accents comes by itself, but not all drummer are able to do it without create a structure like the one Joe show to us... More skilled you're, less things you need to listen before playing each cover... :-)

[anatnomyssej]

writetovegelis1975, do you have video to show us explaining on how to play seven days? sometimes words are not enough and here's the guy who has shared us the basics of this song

[azron1]

brilliant thanks very much great lesson!

[Gudes69]

awesome

[chessdude67]

Very nice teaching! Thanks so much for the help.

peace.

[MastracciGracia]

thank you very much,!!! from argentina

[HNIC94]

yeah man! good job. the best Youtube explanation I seen of this yet.

[Masakerr]

I never understand how when drummers go into anything higher in number, it's slower when playing snare and bass, and only faster on cymbals. and on top of that the snare and bass is still just single stroke simpleness. Other than that I agree, good teachings. I just don't like drums (specifically snare) being some time keeping tat tat tat tat tat.

[garriffraf]

Already knew how to play this, but learnt some handy tips.

thanks.

Great teacher

[proggedout]

awsome teachings

[AMrCO2]

Hey man, thanx for make clear the concept of 5\8 in seven days. Very good work.

Best regards from Sicily.

Ciao

[JuzzChiln]

That's a gnarly beat! Awesome!

[4difference]

kick vinny! nice drum sound btw :)

[RobertKarasekGermany]

perfect !!!!

[Rockunstank]

Great Teacher / Instructor.

[Pulcino84]

Super complimenti!!

[Kaciaron]

Bravo!!! very serious Guy

[suskabuska]

so nice work!! i wanted to learn 5/4 all the time, and especially i knew this nice and difficult sting song.. so thank you for your work!!

[shaknthustnt]

Nice thing to work on.

[jon325]

WOW - fantastic!!! Great walk-through!!! Excellent work!!!

[caz743]

o  .........

[JoaquinAhumada]

it took me about 6 months to learn how to play the damn song....

[ulusot]

ha ha ha....

[poorcku]

i knew that drums are hard to play, but what you are doing here is godly. so i guess no drums for me, i'll stick to my guitar :) well done!

[c0r4g]

well broken down and explained, cos that is a bastard groove, fun tho.

[lguynn7]

Where did you get the track that you were playing to in the end with just the instruments and no drums, and where can I download it

[herrkaliyuga]

Nice work!

[bellohighrep]

plz tell me what hi hats you have!!

some sort of K's??

[pfefftube]

Those are 13" K/Z hats

[eduzitcho]

this is great!

thanks man!

[kirk7524875248]

Not bad. Please turn your left-hand stick around Joe! Thanks!

[theMushroom]

man, beautiful! .. it was PERFECT ! thank you very much

[irateradio]

Hi Joe, is this definately 5/8 or 5/4?

[pfefftube]

It's whatever you want it to be. I count it in 5/8, but the accent on the hi hat ends up in 5/4. You could write it all in 5/16 or 5/2 if you wanted, or even 4/4 (though that would look very confusing). Don't get too caught up in it once you know what's going on.

[irateradio]

yeah the hi hat accent is called a rhythmic illusion (gives the feel of a different time signature). I personally think its 5/8 i dont see really how you could count in 4/4 lol but i see your point about 5/16 etc.. thanks

[MisterB747]

very slick mate ... nice one

doesnt it look easy but its not is it.

[irateradio]

leave the 2nd bass drum out its not on the record (just plays the BD on beat 1)

[mesoprano]

Good job man !!!

[sickpack82]

Wow, that was great! cool explanation and presentation at the end, appreciated. I like your videos Joe Crabtree. Keep it up!

[benmakinen]

There can be no doubt that this song is most easily counted, written and read in 5/4 time. Think simple! The more simply you think and count to yourself, the more relaxed you'll play. It is also easier to read 8th notes than to read 16ths, and music is always written to be most easily read, as all good copyists know. Look at a chart for Take Five (Dave Brubeck): 8th notes in 5/4.There is nothing strange about 190 bpm! Remember 'Wipe Out"? That is in 4/4 at almost the same tempo.

[SilenzioParlaAgnese]

I guess he is right, if the song is in 5/4 then the metronome plays at (approx.) 190bpm, which is a very strange thing for this kind of music.

i think it's better to approach it as a 5/8, but everyone should try to make learning and practicing easier, so if there's someone counting 5/4, no problem!

Anyway, great explanation and great job!

[Brannen111]

Bravo! I´m impressed! Thought this would be just another crap video, but Y can play Man! Nice sound and balance!

[irateradio]

real nice! to be honest i only watched cus i expected you to play it wrong.. man am i eating humble pie right now!

also its definately in 5/8 as there are 5 8th notes per bar, simple as!

[elohymntom]

this guys deffo a fan of jeff porcaro to. He even stole how jeff used to swallow

and course its in 5/8 people.

good work man

[wotg]

Great lesson. Thanks :)

[drummerDaanH]

Good lesson!! learned much from it!

[kuntakinte67]

I was playing this song with my cover band in 1997.İt's tne of the best songs showing Vinnie's polyrhtmic signature.Good teaching man,god bless you.

[johanehn]

That's it!

I'm gonna buy a drum kit.

[rudeass]

Joe, I commend your excellent teaching in this video.

[lupine73]

Awesome rhythm.. I love this song and Vinnie's playing on it. Great stuff. Thanks for breaking it down!

[nelsonkuby]

Hello very nice lesson. I want to ask you something. Can you send to me the music that you played along? its a midi or something?

Best Regards...

[drummerguy626]

the song is in 5/4 not 5/8

[OneRiddum]

word. but most of the other stuff he said was right.

[drummerguy626]

yeah, im not bashing him, just making sure he knows the correct tim signature for the song

[franciscoetchenique]

theres no difference

[drummerguy626]

difference in what ,the time signature?

[franciscoetchenique]

theres no "correct" time signature for a song, and anyway 5-8 works better for this one than 5-4

[drummerguy626]

actually yes there is. and 5/8 does not work for this song, try counting in 5/8 to the song, it doesnt work

[franciscoetchenique]

one, two, three, four, five...no matter what, eights or fours its your choice...once you choose, everything else relates to that. aaaannddd...this guy explains it perfectly well in 5-8, it works and if you thought of it in 5-4 you would have to think the accents as half notes which makes no sense

[drummerguy626]

actually, the way he explains it is in 5/4.

a 5/8 measure is one 8th not shorter than a 3/4 measure, so how could that work for this song? the answer is it cant. its in 5/4

[viggyjiggy]

I've started to involuntarily think of the song as being in (6/8 + 2/4) or (6/8 + 4/8 = 10/8). I think that works fairly well to cover the variations in the accents. Regardless, this vid rocks.

[drummerguy626]

10/8, which is 5/4

[NHDRUM]

The fact is that as long as you count to 5, then whether you are thinking of each count as a quarter note or an eigth note makes no difference. That is what 5/8 is, five eighth notes. And 5/4 is five quarter notes. By saying the cross stick is on 4, you are right he is counting it in 5/4, not 5/8. However, the song can be considered in either time signature, it is just a relative term.

[drummerguy626]

what ever, im not here to argue, i was just trying to point out that he said one thing and played another. its a good video, one of the best ive seen of this song on here

[scottp118]

We have no way to know whether whether the song's 5/8 or 5/4; that time signature only determines how it's written. I agree that it would be easier to transcribe in 5/4, but we can't really say it IS in 5/4 or that it ISN'T in 5/8.

[drummerguy626]

what i was trying to say is that he says its in 5/8 but when he is counting it out he is counting it in 5/4 not 5/8

[scottp118]

Hi. If he's calling the song's hi-hat part sixteenth notes, which he does, then we're dealing with long 5/4 measures, with 2backbeats each. But he's counting twice as fast, in 5/8. He's inconsistent, because he's calling the second accent per phrase (the one he says is bass drum optional)the and of 2, which it would only actually be if it were in 5/8. In 5/4 it would be the "ah" (3rd sixteenth note) of 1.

[pfefftube]

I would write the part in 5/8 with 16ths on the hats.

Reading in 5/8 I would count the 8th notes as 1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5 rather than 1,&,2,&,3,1,&,2,&,3 as it makes more sense.

When explaining the main groove I'm in 5/8 counting the 8th notes as the pulse.

When explaining the hihat accent loop I'm switching to 5/4 (2 x 5/8) considering the quarter note the pulse.

A 16th note is half an 8th note whether you refer to it as an '&' or an 'e'. I hope the explanation wasn't too confusing.

[stitchkaboodle999]

@scottp118 It's not important whether you call it 5/8 or 5/4.

A bar of straight 4/4 rock could (and has) been notated as two bars of 2/4.

The important thing here is what the player/listener can regard as the prominent pulse. In this case it's clearly the quaver, the 8th note. If you count the quarter notes (in 16ths or 8ths) the piece is more confusing to a beginner as the beat crosses the barline.

It's far simpler to think of it as in 5/8 but with an alternating 16th note polyrhythm on top.

[kmb1]

Wow, leave it to drummers to debate over 8th and 1/4 notes! There is a difference between 5/8 and 5/4. Yes, two measures of 5/8 will equal one measure of 5/4 time wise, but in terms of phrasing, it doesn't work feel wise. Listen to the other instruments (in the original, non sequenced version). They are not counting 5/8, they're counting in 5/4. The quarter note is the pulse. Vinnie is a master of subdivision. Anything you have to do to figure it out is ok, but the song is in 5/4.

[irateradio]

5/8 mate as he says the instrument vamp is counted 1,2,+3,4,5 accenting 1 and the 'and' of 3 (counting in 5/8) with 16th's on the hi-hat

[lala76]

freakky!thanks nw i can pretty much get this song

[nickoo1982]

excellent!! really good!!!!!!!!!

[jouxplan]

Absolutely fantastic stuff! I have tried to master this but it really is horribly difficult - I can't get it! Great explanation and great drumming - very, very impressive!

Have a look at my drum vids - Genesis and Police, but no 'Seven Days' funnily enough! I take my hat off to you.

[erti60]

thnx...;)

[dpgweb]

Increible trabajo!! Me ayudó la ostia, un saludo crack!!

[j4zzDrumm3r]

very helpful, thank you

[yanakaian]

Seven Days is a fascinating piece of music. The timing of it had me stumped for ages but thanks to this video I now know what's going on ! Thank you.

[sickpack82]

nice explanation. like the lefts on the hihat you play in the groove. RElaxed and groovin' that's what it's all about. good job

[yogurtbunny]

Great explanation and very professional.  Nice work.

[gotmonkeyfinger]

Thank you Bro! NYC here.

[ocdrumboy1]

yeah 5/4 quarters bro :)

[colmenaresarmada]

thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, I love that song, i'm a fan from venezuela. Someday i'll play it like you mate!

[mcddrums]

Joe! Good job mate. Wicekd editing etc...Of course great playing too. I always told you, you are so Vinnie..

[SirGlenstan]

Love your playing, awesome as always Joe..Glen.

[melky72]

zashibis

[pilgy1]

nice one mate!

[flyscraper]

I love it :-)

[NouveauCliche]

Wow. Amazing video, brilliant analysis and thank you SO much for posting.

[marcusphenom31]

excellent!

[jaudsle]

nice work friend

[leporidus]

I've never seen such a great, analytical approach to a groove. Thanks a lot! One question: what is the difference between 5/4 and 5/8? 10/4 also seems to describe the structure pretty good, no?

[ee99ee]

The way it's written. 5/4 means four quarter notes to a measure.... 5/8 is 5 8th notes to a measure... so if you play 10 notes in a measure of 5/8, you're playing 10 16th notes; if you play 10 notes in a 5/4, you're playing 10 8th notes

[drummersgroove]

Great explanation man, good work. And what a song this is!

[galapagosdrum]

Brilliantly explained, brilliant playing!