The opening groove is loosely based off of what Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) plays in the verses of the song “All Around the World”, which is one of my favorite grooves of all time and one in which many beats I play have been inspired by.

A musical concept that I regularly use is the idea of “tension and release”. I try to create that effect on the drums in a few different ways. During the verses I play a two bar phrase. In the first bar I intentionally leave out the snare on count two but play snares on two and four in the second bar. This is a handy trick because the average listener is conditioned to hear snares on two and four. Countering the listeners expectations in simple ways like this can make your parts more interesting.

Another trick I use for the tension release effect is during the first part of the chorus. The guitar implies accents on the counts of one and the and of two. One would expect the drummer to play crashes on these counts but instead I play a crash on the one but an open high-hat on the and of two. This is a trick I learned from listening to Derek Grant (Alkaline Trio); a strategy that creates an easy way to build up a song. As you may notice, the song picks up in intensity at about the two and a half minute mark. The increased intensity of the drums are achieved by simply replacing the high-hat with a crash at about the two and a half minute mark the song picks up in intensity. The drums start sounding more intense as well, but all I did was replace the high-hat with a crash.

The idea of working smarter and not harder pays off immensely when coming up with drum parts. I encourage every drummer to study the songs they’re playing and discover ways that you can make the song more interesting.

In the bridge, I ensure that I stay consistent with the musical themes of the song. I play a very similar beat to that of the verses, but instead move my right hand to the ride and keep my left on the high hat.

The final fill at the end of the song took a long time to develop. In the last measure, counts one and two are comprised of sixteenth notes, while counts three and four are comprised of sextuplets. I spent months trying to figure out the best way to approach this. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it would be best to play the sixteenth’s with my hands (all RL singles) and break up the sextuplets with my hands and feet. The hands (RLRL) the feet (RL). This is a concept that I most associate with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater).