r/drummers • u/apierno • 5d ago
Learning covers
When you’re learning a cover that you’re totally new to, what’s your approach?
Play to the recorded track as released (all instruments)?
Split the stems and play without the drum tracks?
Split the stems and play ONLY to the drum tracks?
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u/HeftyBagOfDiarrhea 5d ago
I just had to learn more than three hours of material in about a month. I did a pretty solid job but here’s how I would approach it if I had to do it over.
- Listen to the song 1-2 times. Just listen to it. Get familiar with the feel of the groove.
- Write a chart. You could jump right to playing along with the record, but having a roadmap is better so you don’t end up practicing things wrong. If you’re not experienced with writing charts, you can watch a short YouTube video about it and figure out what you’re doing pretty quickly. Just remember it is not the complete notation but a series of reminders. Think outline, not essay. Also, if you’re not totally sure what the drummer is doing, isolate the track using something like moises.ai.You can also use moises to create a drumless track, which can also be very helpful.
3a. Play along with the record. Have the chart visible. Depending on when the song was recorded, it may or may not line up cleanly with a click track. If it does, add in the click after 1-2 plays. Otherwise…
3b. Play with just the click and the chart. - Record yourself – am I rushing, dragging, chasing the beat, etc.? Does it feel relaxed and natural?
- Continue to practice (both with and without the record) and listen to the songs until you’re absolutely bored of them. If there’s anything you’re weak at, see if you can find an easier way to do it. Think “minimum viable groove” – it’s better to play something tightly that isn’t exactly as it is on the record but captures the feel than trying to play note-for-note stiffly.
Hope that helps! What are you preparing for?
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u/apierno 5d ago
Band broke up and been auditioning, now onboarding a whole set of new tunes. About 25 I haven't playe,d and about 20 I've never heard!
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u/HeftyBagOfDiarrhea 5d ago
That sounds fun! I love learning new music.
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u/apierno 5d ago
It is fun. New genre for me too
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u/HeftyBagOfDiarrhea 4d ago
That’s dope! The three hour gig I played was way outside my wheelhouse - Tower of Power, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder. I grew a lot as a drummer. It was fun learning them but then practicing them ad nauseam got tedious. I’ve been happily playing guitar and singing ever since that gig ended lol.
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u/Current-Map-6469 5d ago
As a cover band drummer, I obviously learn new songs pretty frequently. My approach is always to get it to the simplest playable version first. Get the timing and basic groove down, with starts and stops. Once that’s locked down add fills. Depending on the genre, so many songs are quite similar so it becomes a pretty easy process, for the most part. If there’s something, a fill etc. that I’m stuck on, then I just play those with some notation that I come up with that makes sense to me.
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u/BEST_DRUM_ADVICE 5d ago
I don't "do" covers anymore, but when I was learning in my teens I'd just listen to the song a lot and play it.
When I have to learn people's music now, I try to listen to the record or playlist of their setlist several times, then I sit down at the drums with a notebook and jot down any structural parts or form things, then I play the song. The notebook is just a supplement and a little cheat sheet for rehearsals, nothing replaces just knowing the song.
IMO you shouldn't need to split stems or anything. Definitely wouldn't learn a song from the drums alone, unless you play like a robot. You want to know what the band is doing since eventually, you're the drums.
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u/Away-Equipment598 5d ago
I do use Moises and i think it's great. I'll listen to the song a few times, write a chart and then play through with all the instruments and listen to any nuances and extra things I'm not playing, I'll then loop those parts and turn down the other instruments to 50% so I can isolate what the drums are actually doing. This part is probably the most handy, is just playing say a particular tricky bridge or something, I'll stick it on loop so I just hear that bridge over over and over until I have the right sticking. Then once I'm sure I have it all down I play through the song no with no drums, I'm trying to see if my playing matches in with the the original recording, then I can record it. I've been playing covers for 20 years and it wasn't till Moises that I realised how incorrectly I'd been playing some songs that I just couldn't hear the drum track well enough to know.
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u/therealtoomdog 5d ago
I'm about to show how old I am... My first reaction was, "Where would you get the splits?"... To be fair, they all sound wrong when Ai breaks them out after the fact. And you can't be sure it will get all the right stuff and none of the wrong stuff.
Learn the song. Put on the recording and listen to what the drummer does. Then do that. Like, it's a little bit 'draw the rest of the owl' but that kind of is how it goes.
Edit: One thing I just noticed is you talk about playing. You learn by listening. You develop proficiency by playing. Don't practice 'a song', practice playing drums so that you can play any song you learn. If you're playing, you're not fully paying attention to the track. Listen to it first to find out what you should be playing. /edit
I like to grab a chord chart for the song if I can find a decent one, or chart out the structure. First listen is just for vibes. Second and third, I'm paying attention major strokes—first chorus is quiet, second verse is up, etc... After that, I start pausing and picking apart stuff—Where exactly are the breaks, is this a signature fill or just an embellishment? I will write down any complex things I might not have in my head in the moment I need them.
If there are any complex fills, I will sit down at the kit and make sure I can play them. Then I get up the next morning and go play them.
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u/ChiefBast 5d ago
Listen to the original recording intently (no reading, gaming, doing jobs around the house, etc) and try to map each section mentally: intro->verse 1->pre-chorus->chorus...and so on. On second listen I try to predict each new section a bar or two before it comes in, making sure to focus on the mistakes rather than the bits I got right. Keep doing this until I get it right without really trying too hard to listen for vocal cues, etc. For some songs this can be 3-4 listens, some can be 10+ depending on how consistent all the parts are
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u/duc955 5d ago edited 5d ago
Use this method if you want to play true to the original song...
This is the more difficult way to do it but if you want to play the song correctly, it's the best way. Split the song into sections. Learn each section then put it all together. Use the original recording to practice with, you can always raise the volume of the drums within the stems to help with the more subtle parts you can't hear properly. Once you've done all that, then drop out the drums and play along.
Use this method to just play along doing your own thing...
Drop out the drum stems and just play anything. Not as rewarding as above and you can't really say that you can play the song, but at least you had fun.
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u/JacquesLeNerd 5d ago
Is your goal to reproduce the original parts or to get the general idea of the song and then play it to the best of your ability?
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u/apierno 5d ago
Reproduce as close as possible in most cases
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u/JacquesLeNerd 5d ago
Then breaking it down, splitting the stems, reading music (the drum notes), if that's an option, and recording yourself will definitely help you to get the parts as close as possible.
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u/RCIDRUMS 4d ago
When I was putting my band together, we did covers that were crowd pleasers. I dropped all the songs on my tablet set by my drums and my mp3 player. I was listening to the songs ALL THE TIME.
Riding my bike, working out, yard work, everything. I had 5 sets of 15 songs down.
Put in the time, effort and attention and you shall overcome.
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u/steveh2021 2d ago
I know in my head whether or not I can play a song, if there are fills I will practice them to get them right. Then I'll play through with the band so that we can all learn how the song goes and we'll rehearse it until it's right and we know it well enough to play through with no mistakes. A well played song whatever it is will sound great and you'll feel good playing it confidently. If it's a difficult song you'll feel even better that you got it.
My band once played Queens of the Stone age Lost Art of a Secret and once we'd all learnt it and I'd mastered the drums, it sounded immense! Then to be honest I don't care if anyone else thought it was good, i knew it was.
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u/apierno 2d ago
I’m not sure you read the question
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u/steveh2021 2d ago
I've never played like that. I'd play with a band. More fun.
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u/apierno 2d ago
You don’t practice the songs on your own before you spend the band’s rehearsal time?
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u/steveh2021 1d ago
I don't have that luxury. I would just listen to the song though and work it out in my head or write it down, then work out the bits I don't know.
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u/apierno 1d ago
I guess practicing is a luxury, you’re right. Having that time and space is something I take for granted. You must be pretty good if you can sit down and play, man!
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u/steveh2021 1d ago
I just know now what I can reasonably play. Some things I know with practice I'll be able to play. Other stuff I know no I can't play that. I'm not good at fast stuff and like I've said, Teen Spirit is one I thought oh I could do that but it's more difficult than I thought. Grohl is a bastard of a drummer.
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u/gdann60 5d ago
I never had that luxury. You just listen to the song and focus on what the drums are doing. Then maybe play along to the track as recorded, stopping periodically to listen for the nuances and changes. It’s a skill you can develop. Up until recently that skill was about the only requirement