12 *Must-Know* Dave Grohl Drum Beats

[@DrumeoOfficial]

Dive deeper and check out the sheet music for all of these groove in our latest Beat article: www.drumeo.com/beat/the-12-best-dave-grohl-grooves/

[@luker.6967]

That scentless apprentice intro is so awesome. Love the combination of the off beat flam, open close hats, and lots of kick.

[@BrandonToews]

So good!

[@Beranin]

Everything on "Songs for the Deaf" is just incredible. An amazing album, glad this wasn't all Nirvana too. Seeing Them Crooked Vultures reminds me how much I want them to make a 2nd album and tour. Hopefully while JPJ is still rockin

[@BillyTwoSquirrels]

Agreed. Probably the best overall QOTSA album and Grohl's drumming literally drives it forward. Amazing stuff.

[@MunkJob]

Song for the deaf is probably the greatest rock drumming album of this century if not all time.

[@jacobnacho]

Josh Homme is in trouble for abusing his kids. I don’t think we’re going to see any new Them Crooked Vultures.

[@CCDaDon15]

Hope you got to see TCV play Gunman the other day

[@ferrydrums99]

I really love the intro of "Song for the dead". All of his drum beats are so powerful and pretty badass too :)

[@BrandonToews]

So good! I break that one down here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWbGq3WiYpmkjqc

[@xx7secondsxx]

I cant BELIEVE IT DIDNT MAKE THE LIST!!! one if the best intros/drum intros EVER!!!

[@BrandonToews]

@@xx7secondsxx - Check out my Genius Of Dave Grohl lesson, it’s included there!

[@MrFrosten]

That intro is a tribute to Black Flag’s Slip it in

[@cobb_thedrummer]

Everything Dave comes up with on drums is always memorable and super fun to play. Great video and choice of grooves. My favorite Grohl beat is from “The Collector” by Nine Inch Nails which is in 13/4 time.

[@appleparkfilms5711]

I was hoping to see Collector on here too.

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks, Cobb! Some great NIN tracks with Dave.

[@cobb_thedrummer]

@@BrandonToews No thank you, for these wonderful Grohl appreciation videos. There’s a reason why everyone from Paul McCartney to Tom Petty have wanted to work with him. Dave’s just a solid guy and your playing was on point too.

[@michaelluong6484]

Love his contributions on With Teeth!

[@XYMemeZ]

My favorite groove of Dave’s has to be from his instrumental Play. The beginning is just so powerful.

[@dapsign]

Mine too!

[@BrandonToews]

Love that track.

[@becw9972]

Amazing!

[@jeremytebeest5028]

"No one loves me, & neither do I," is a killer groove as well! Probably my personal fav off the Vultures album!

[@BrandonToews]

Great track!

[@WD.909]

Heart shaped box will always be my favorite dave drum beat. It’s not an original drum beat but the power and driving emotion of the beat can’t be denied.

[@BrandonToews]

Such a great track.

[@squeedum4893]

LOVE the inclusion of Scentless Apprentice. Such an underrated track. The whole song is a tour de force of drumming and rock in general.

[@TheMurphination]

Love the fact that you covered some Them Crooked Vultures! I love that album

[@BrandonToews]

Agreed - such a great record!

[@douglasdog1]

In Bloom was mostly Chad Channing, Dave added a kick and fill here and there but didn’t change it drastically. He acknowledges Chads contributions to Nirvana

[@jorah76]

Yeah, Dave even used In Bloom as the specific example as to why Channing should have been added to the Rock Hall of Fame as well, if I recall correctly.

[@ethanaldous9371]

Turns out Chad has more swing than Dave

[@omnimo]

I love the instrumental song "Watch This" with Slash. You get a very good dose of Dave's style.

[@trsfworld460]

R.I.P Taylor Hawkins

[@BrandonToews]

Tribute video coming soon.

[@Eliot.Airplanes]

And Kurt as well

[@Theoresabandthatsgrungeandrock]

And kurt

[@drummessiah88]

Drain You. That groove SLAMS

[@zyighzag4050]

I had never heard that clearly the influence of John Bonham on Dave Grohl. Makes it event tastier. Thanks for that awesome video

[@X-UP-and-DOWN-X]

Elephants is SOOOO good! My 2 year old loves this song too! Tells you a lot about Dave’s drumming

[@Garagedrummer]

These drums sound amazing! Kudos to the person they mic’d and mixed that kit.

[@DrumeoOfficial]

Thanks!

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks J D!

[@Garagedrummer]

And the playing is Next Level!

[@jk5099]

Is this a renown? Or usa custom? Sounds killer!

[@J0intV3nture]

"Red War" with Max Cavalera from the PROBOT album is a monster of a beat

[@RMHendrickson]

And it’s a prime example of playing double bass drum patterns with only one pedal and toms.

[@CCDaDon15]

@@RMHendrickson As well as First It Giveth, on that note

[@bobyost42]

Another of my favorite DG beats is "Gunman" from Them Crooked Vultures. That song is a blast to play!!

[@TheTubeofjo]

one my faves❤

[@Lynneheal]

FANTASTIC #drumbeat #davegrohl #drumeo

[@b5maddog]

I could listen to Dave’s beats all day long. Great job!

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks, Brad! Same here!

[@stevenferguson1887]

I am not a Drummer and not a Musician... But seriously impressive mate..

[@gilbertochavez8603]

I would also add Them Crooked Vultures' Dead end friends and No one loves me. Amzing and so fun to play

[@georgeweller6023]

All of his parts on Songs For The Deaf, Them Crooked Vultures and the few songs on Like Clockwork are absolutely incredibly and masterfully orchestrated, best drummer of the last 30 years.

[@CCDaDon15]

I Appear Missing is a masterclass introduction to playful approach to triplets in beats as opposed to just as fills. Dave is great to learn triplets from in general. He's entry level, and Mitch Mitchell is the master class lol

[@aycarambas]

Fave is "Avon" from Queens of the Stone Age!!

[@MechaBanitsa]

Dude, Song for the Dead is what got me into drumming, it's just so insane!

[@BrandonToews]

So good! I break that one down here too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWbGq3WiYpmkjqc

[@veladrummer]

The bass drum sounds amazing!!!

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks!

[@M4RCM0NT31R0]

Dave Grohl is amazing!

[@DrumeoOfficial]

❤️

[@iantouzel638]

Dave is a genius at creating in your face drum patern. no one knows should be in that vidéo. Awesome job

[@BrandonToews]

Agreed. I cover that one in this Drumeo video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWbGq3WiYpmkjqc

[@Strykjarn1]

Nirvanas Dave Grohl tought me to play drums. So Thank you Dave !!!!

[@mikiyadrums]

Wow great! I saw a video where he mentioned some of his beats were influenced by disco music, I always enjoy stuff where people talk about origins of their creations.

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks!

[@deucemcallister13]

My two favorite drum licks from Dave are his opening on Songs for the Dead, from Songs for the Deaf; and also his fun drum fill he plays in the Fresh Pots video!

[@carson3135]

Dave grohl is awesome

[@anguskong5132]

Also thank you for this video.reminded me I remembwr how to read music..tour a beast also man thanks

[@BrandonToews]

🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@Renodrums-vq8nv]

Getting smaller from NIN is a good one too. Not that complicated but a lot of energy. Also, The drumming on the killing joke album is awesome.

[@Radowitzki]

So many good drummers out there...

[@HeavyMetalJimbo]

Thank you for this in-depth analysis! Always useful to study Dave Grohl

[@MathieuFiset]

Nice that you got some deep cuts in there but I was waiting for at least one of the track from With Teeth (NIN) :) Killer drums on that one !

[@bombshellblonde544]

YESSSS you did Everlong! When I get my kit set up it's one of the first I'm going to start on.

[@startervisions]

Kurt wrote the drum parts for "In Bloom" which explains why Chad also played the same riff on the Sub Pop version of the song recorded in 1990.

[@dustyhills8911]

Dave actually credits Chad with writing the drum part. And even though it's the same on paper, Dave brought his own style to it and made it sound different.

[@startervisions]

@@dustyhills8911 Dave can't exactly credit someone, with doing something, if he wasn't there for it lol

[@startervisions]

@@dustyhills8911 I saw the Nirvana Rock Hall 2014 induction too...Kurt wrote the drums for In Bloom...Dave added double kick on the bass drum during the verse, instead of just one.

[@dustyhills8911]

@@startervisions he doesn't have to be there to credit him. Tell me, where does Kurt ever get credited with writing it? Just curious, because everyone else involved says Chad created that drum part.

[@startervisions]

@@dustyhills8911 kzbin.info/aero/PLzg0Oi9scRSuSJKOIt4yfvIEtfRsWPIin

[@saulgoodeguitars]

The guy he “hired” was William goldsmith and he was actually a member, played on a few songs on soundtracks and live, he left during the second album because Dave was re recording the tracks including the drums

[@koolBOY8323]

dave's work on ghost's cover of i'm a marionette is pretty good

[@ismaelaguilar7384]

I'm not sure if Dave made all the drum beats of Foo Fighters or if Taylor made some too but i love the drums on "Low" and "Erase/Replace"

[@kevin_nagle]

My all time favorite Grohl groove is No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age 🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@scotthayes9577]

As always Brandon, I greatly appreciate your skills and straight forward no BS approach to covering drum material. You already have both my favorites, "My Hero" and "Everlong". The fills in the later were always killer.

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks, Scott - appreciate it! Great tracks for sure!

[@spaceburger80]

What are those crashes and HH’s? Istanbul’s obviously, but any particular line? They sound FANTASTIC!

[@BenMonroe1234571]

I would’ve put the Elephants intro instead of the verse. And Gunman rather than Reptiles. I would’ve put the chorus for First It Giveth instead of the verse/intro. Take out SFTD and put in No One Knows’ break down or Song For The Dead intro. And the intro for In Bloom instead of the verse.

[@dpinskey]

Fantastic episode and nice inclusion of the lesser known Killing Joke material. And well played sir! Only thing that could have made this any better would have been including the Probot intro to Shake Your Blood

[@williammcleod8632]

Never knew I needed to study some more Dave Grohl. Very cool jams.

[@nahuel5438]

"Implant" is amazing!!! 👏

[@JohnnyConscious]

Thanks for "Song For The Deaf"! Good drummin, man and a great song!

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks, Johnny!

[@beefen3907]

First it giveth getting the appreciation it deserves

[@ianidas1656]

Shake your blood by Probot is a favourite of mine

[@bobyost42]

Great song!!

[@billbigler1366]

Brandon you are an awesome drummer. Is there anything in the rock genre you have trouble playing? I mean all of the Rush songs in like 40 minutes to Dave Grohl. Then you add in your jazz prowess. Wow. And the way you slow things down first and then up to speed is so nice. Of course the Drumeo follow along transcription is so nice for seeing the notes you are playing. I know everyone just about wants you to analyze and play their favorite drummer's iconic songs but if I might would love to see you do this for selected Bill Bruford songs. Keep up the great work Brandon. One final question: are you in a band? If not some band is missing a great drummer. Hope Drumeo offers a VIP week again. Cheers.

[@BrandonToews]

Thank you, Bill! Appreciate it. I love so many different kinds of music and I it's always a fun challenging switching gears and trying something new. A Bill Bruford feature is definitely on the list. And no bands currently - starting to play with a few artists this Spring though!

[@billbigler1366]

@@BrandonToews thanks for your reply. As I said keep up the great work. Bill.

[@Phloptical]

Love this. Not sure I’d say much of Nevermind is attributed to Dave though. Chad Channing had a lot of those parts already worked out before Dave got there and learned them.

[@ernie2298]

Some say that although Channing wrote them, Grohl’s energy while playing them made them famous and memorable.

[@mitchellsmith8537]

I honestly think that the nevermind album is some of Dave's most stock drumming. Very plain and straight forward for the most part to me. I believe the reason for this is that those were mostly Chad channings parts. Even though Dave added his own power and flavor which I feel improved Chad's parts, to me dave was held back as a drummer with nirvana. There was only so much shining a drummer could do with that particular band and set list. Don't mistake...I love nirvana. One of the greats imo, however, dave wasn't able to display his musical skill like he shouldve with them. He has actually mentioned being somewhat apprehensive to assert himself or disagree with kurt. Not out of intimidation but out of the admiration and faith he had for Kurt as an artist and his talent for writing. If my memory is right...he was even scared for Kurt to hear his format solo demos that he had recorded for fear of Kurt's disapproval in them. That says alot to me. Rant over. Dave rocks and so does Brandon!!! 🤘

[@TheCocoaDaddy]

Thanks for yet another great video! I think the groove I like most is in "Everlong". Question: What _can't_ you play? :) I've watched you play a number of drum parts from a wide variety of different songs and I'm always amazed at your proficiency! Thanks for posting!

[@BrandonToews]

Thank you very much! Appreciate it. Haha I love so many different kinds of music and I really enjoy switching gears and jumping into different styles of music. Keeps things fresh and I love the challenging of diving into new stuff!

[@robertthompson5568]

That opening for "Song for the Dead"..🤘

[@krisdavis3888]

Flam master flex... Uncle Dave has been a huge influence for me.

[@lohitraj2255]

Fun fact: disco band the "gap band" inspired dave grohl to make flam fills and intro of smells like teen are famous example of it.

[@arossjr]

Where’s some of his monster beats from Probot? Shake Your Blood w/ Lemmy kills!

[@nintalev]

Favorite Dave Grohl drum groove? Song for the Dead demo for sure, he does way more fills that in the final track and they are freakin' awesome!

[@BrandonToews]

Yes! I cover that one here in this Drumeo video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWbGq3WiYpmkjqc

[@glickyglue]

Brandon, that's some precise and strong beat making there, my broski. Bravo, very nice to listen to!!!

[@sody2000]

Which tom heads? Those (and the drums) sound GREAT.

[@rschw76409]

The Song for the Deaf drum pattern demonstration reminds me of the song Crow by Shellac

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

It should be mentioned that the 1 in the Teen Spirit chorus is always slightly delayed, giving it that extra "ooomph"

[@CerealTuesday]

Absolutely superb video, love the groove choices - great tutorial and break down too. Keep up the great work

[@Sportsforlaughs]

Go with the flow should've been on here!

[@ShayneMcGuire]

Song for the Dead was the reason I wanted to play drums. An absolute monstrous track. I learned Bonham triplets from that song and not even from Zeppelin tunes! Hahah. Also shout out to these damn Gretsch drums - THUNDER. LORDT. I’m a Gretsch man for life

[@martingregory161]

Great video. Thanks! Can you give some info on the cymbal setup? Those Istanbul's sound fantastic.

[@BrandonToews]

Thanks Martin! Here I'm using 15" Mantra Hats, 20" Mantra Crash, 24" Joey Waronker Ride, 20" Xist Crash, 19" Xist Crash, 20" Xist China.

[@martingregory161]

@@BrandonToews Thank you so much. Brandon! Really appreciate it. I've had my eye on the Mantra 20" Crash for a while now, so it's definitely time to pick one up. Will be my first Istanbul, but I'm liking them more and more every time I hear them. Thanks again!

[@jeffstane]

I love it ! Thank bro ! Nice 👍 👏 🥁

[@atomatalay]

nine inch nails - the idea of you (dave on drums) good drum parts & good song really 🤘🏻

[@jvalencia24x]

Amazing video master !!

[@BrandonToews]

Thank you!

[@KingHeadbang]

I feared you might leave out Killing Joke. Didn't let me down!

[@BrandonToews]

That groove is killer!

[@NoizeTank]

According to the Rock Band drum charts, there’s a some kicks being played along with the toms in “My Hero”

[@donatiencrette4766]

I love the intro on "Get Up" by Juliette & the Licks !!!

[@Prakashkhatri621]

Always loved Dave grohl fill

[@loganmcgee18]

Your playing has gotten a lot more natural-looking. Visually, you seem more comfortable

[@branmcg9844]

Good observation. I concur

[@TessaAnderson]

I did enjoy this!

[@BrandonToews]

Glad to hear!

[@erikmccormick9331]

The Reptiles groove is particularily challenging when you factor in the single pedal playing up to speed. Not a beginner's track!

[@BrandonToews]

Agreed! That one is tough!

[@jarryddewar8868]

How could you not do no one knows with that crazy chorus part

[@geralddrums]

Eine sehr coole praxisbezogene Stunde. Super!!! :-)

[@drummersnail115]

The chorus groove with the toms and quarter notes on the crash in First It Giveth is even better than the verse groove

[@shadowzmasterX]

Song for the dead- Queen of the stone age and Endless Nameless- Nirvana (secret song of Nervermind)

[@gregbester3855]

just a snobbish correction :). He didn't hire anyone to play the drums on The Colour and the Shape. It was the original drummer and band member William Goldsmith who played the original tracks, but Grohl wasn't happy and re-recorded the drums without his knowledge. When Goldsmith found out he was extremely upset and quit the band, causing a major rift between them. I believe this version is well documented.

[@matteomonaco3904]

IMHO he is a genius He has something like Travis Barker, they always play interesting and authentic parts, and you always know it's them behind the kit

[@drummermonke7178]

YESSS I LOVE REPTILES

[@BrandonToews]

So good!

[@stanysbass-ment8206]

Always loved Dave’s FAT flam technique!

[@frankgile1996]

I mean, these are all great picks, but why is there no mention of "Probot"??? Please? Grohl is as great a drummer as he is a songwriter, and that's one of the albums that shows it off properly.

[@PiazzaGurl]

How about get Dave on the show!!

[@nankleflank5645]

Love the cymbals! what model are those Istanbuls?

[@tracyvis5668]

“No one knows” QOTSA is my favorite.

[@AmericanSpyFox]

The Metal is almost an identical beat to Chad Channing's version of School by Nirvana.

[@tomasosores]

rico sonido de platillos!! No es un sonido nirvanero pero suena muy bien. delightful cymbals sound.. not quite Nirvana's sound but so nice to hear!

[@_ajms_6700]

Do travis barker next please drumeo

[@Nacnud92]

I’d say that the opening Tom groove from “In Bloom” is more iconic…

[@BrandonToews]

Agreed - included that part in the “Genius Of Dave Grohl” video which is also on the Drumeo channel.

[@benjamingalvez1119]

13:35 man I’ve been trying this like for 4 months, and I still cannot maintain that fuckin’ speed!!!

[@BrandonToews]

Tough one for sure!!

[@nicholasrozman6027]

what about taylor hawkins?

[@xx7secondsxx]

Cant BELIEVE!! "Song for the dead" wasn't on here!?!?! That's one of the greatest song/drum intros of ALL TIME!!!🤘🎸🤘🎸🤘🍻🍻

[@BrandonToews]

I included this one in the “Genius Of Dave Grohl” lesson (also on the Drumeo KZbin channel)

[@Glensully]

I dare say he’s the master. He said he never had lessons. That’s probably why he comes up with all these different beats

[@Hi-Z_Lo-Z]

If you dig Dave Grohl's drums, checkout John Stanier's drums on Helmet's Meantime album.