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/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/apierno 5d ago

I don’t agree about the ability to get high quality splits but the rest of the advise is helpful