5 Dave Grohl Drum Fills Every Drummer Should Know

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Get the sheet music here: bit.ly/2ZMOhca Subscribe or I will steal your cymbals: bit.ly/2AyH1Fb Support the Kickstarter here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/stephensdrumshed/sds-studio-purchase-and-renovation-project/ 5 Dave Grohl Drum Beats Every Drummer Should Know: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zp3doqOdhr6Jjrc Dave Grohl is considered to be one of the best rock drummers in history. Many people think that "best" means "most technical". But that's not always the case. A drummers main job is to support the song. Play the right drum beat at the right time that serves the song. As far as that is concerned, Dave Grohl is one of the best in my opinion. His list of recording credits and bands is insane: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Probot, Them Crooked Vultures, Tenacious D, Killing Joke, Ghost, Dain Bramage, David Bowie, Slash, Michael Jackson, Nine Inch Nails, Scream, As Late!, and his recent project Play. So in this drum lesson I break out 5 Dave Grohl drum fills that I feel really represent his unique drumming style. Leave a comment below and let me know your favorite Dave Grohl drum fill! I read them all and try to respond to as many as possible. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!

[@frodowatt4272]

Hi

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Jesse Orosz what up Jesse

[@frodowatt4272]

I'm good how u? Can you do a vid on getting your left equally fast as your right hand. My left has problems getting proper finger involvement. Mostly in doing rudiments.

[@mrshanejd]

Hey Stephen I thought you’d get a kick out of this but Dave copies a black flag song”slip it In” in the first :30 seconds of songs for the Dead. In Dave’s defense he’s basically said I love that opening and wanted to pay tribute. It’s verbatim

[@dakotajensen181]

You cant steal my cymbals I just sold mine for a cup of noodles! So HA! lol

[@bjornzek]

good old Dave Grawl, Kurt Cobine, and Krist Novusolek, my favorite band, Nervina.

[@gunfoogunfoo2287]

ВИА Рванина

[@taylordumas5563]

Nirvana

[@fran991213]

Dave Grohl is the reason why I started to play drums

[@lazydobo1094]

Me too!!

[@kryoboy1966]

Me three 😅👍.grohl best drummer ever.

[@Big_C_4205]

Same

[@kryoboy1966]

@@robinthehood9720 grohl is super talented.

[@waxxy8447]

Same

[@reighnerboo]

Fun Fact: Dave Grohl actually got that second drum fill from a Black Flag song drummed by Bill Stevenson on "Slip It In".

[@0nk3lH1]

Duuuuuuuuuuuude :-D half of the song sounds similar drum wise

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Reighner Gargantos one of my fav things is to trace back my favorite players and see how they use their influences

[@bigDAWGxD17]

Duude I thought that the first time I heard Song for the Dead

[@thekrazysimon1739]

Ha, slip it in. That's what she said.

[@ak4656]

@@thekrazysimon1739 that whole song is sexual, not just the title

[@Moonhox]

Man, when i first watch his solo song "Play", the first drum fill blows me away, it's so powerfull. Basically the entire song has awesome drum fills.

[@Kain128]

Thank you for covering the Aneurysm fill, that was the one I was hoping would be in the video! 13:43 (If anyone wants to know)

[@suburbanindie]

11:17 Dave is known for tuning his floor tom to his kick drum and sometimes playing "double kick" that way. If he is hitting two kicks there, I bet the first one is actually floor tom. He's even said himself that his feet aren't super quick and his left foot doesn't agree with him a lot

[@DanielS10291]

Yeh im not sure about that, check out his foot speed on territorial pissings and scentless apprentice, there are others but these are the two I remember as being very fast. Daves single foot is very good

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

​@@DanielS10291Also the end of "No One Loves Me and Neither Do I"

[@susragejr477]

"Feet aren't super quick" You're saying this about the guy who cut scentless apprentice, territorial pissings, and no one love me and neither do I. Lmao

[@Trey-jl9ru]

Not saying he's never done that, but he doesn't have to. Dave's right foot is absolutely ridiculous

[@suburbanindie]

@@DanielS10291 Territorial Pissings is all single stroke rolls and quarter notes on the bass drum.

[@percyrevollo708]

Dave Ghrol was my first influence to play drums! incredible drummer.

[@thewedge8823]

I like the fills he does for "Blew" and "School" he really goes crazy with those triplet tom/snare flam fills.

[@Alex123prod]

The Wedge Chad Channing was the drum of nirvana until 1990 so he did the bleach album not Dave

[@thewedge8823]

@@Alex123prod I'm not talking about the album. Dave changed the drums completely from those songs when he played them live. nothing like Chad

[@alexdw5]

Some of the songs on Nevermind, the drum parts were initially written by Chad, and then Dave came in and Grohl’d them up. In Bloom is the best example bc you can listen to pre-Dave and post-Chad versions

[@robbieredrum5953]

Will always love Dave as a drummer. He was intense especially in his younger days.

[@cascadecontroller]

Good to see Them Crooked Vultures get some love. I still hope for a second album!

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Such a killer album

[@nicky4917]

Aneurysm is one of the best songs by Nirvana, live especially!

[@jamesdevine02]

Little fact for you all: the intro fill and main drum beats of "Song For The Dead" were actually lifted from the song "Slip It In" by Black Flag. Listen to that song and you'll hear it immediately. Still one of my favourite Dave Grohl drum tracks.

[@Demonstormlord]

Dave Grohl is an all time great! He's influenced many, myself among them, of course. But I just wanted you to know that you've been an influence on my playing as well! Can't remember the exact video, but you improvised a bad ass fill with flams on snare and toms, with 8ths on the hi-hat pedal, and I've used it in a ballad my band plays ever since. Keep doing what you do! It matters.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks so much, you made my day!

[@marvins_revenge]

The second fill and a lot of that song was a tribute to Bill Stevenson and 'Slip It in' By Black Flag

[@high0nfire]

Thank you for doing the Song For The Dead fill! Definitely my favorite drumming moment of that album!

[@ThDirtyCurfDrummer]

Man, I am surprised you didn't include Nirvana's 'Scentless Apprentice.' That opening fill is so damn good, and it's not as easy as people think when every other hit on the snare is both sticks that are a bit off.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Terr Cain there were so many good ones to choose from. I just broke out that groove in an earlier video so I was trying to get some variety.

[@ThDirtyCurfDrummer]

@@StephenTaylorDrums You did? My bad, man, hehe!

[@kryoboy1966]

Dave wrote the guitar riff for scentless apprentice too.

[@ThDirtyCurfDrummer]

@@kryoboy1966 Yep. :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2LGanqApJZmkJI

[@chadfletcher8595]

I like how you always try to inspire and help people along. It's tough to play music when u don't get the support from friends and family, so you really do help us out. The elaborate lessons and directions are easy to follow. Thanx for doing what you do from all of us drummers.

[@meekoloco]

Nice one Stephen! Your kit is sounding SYYYYYYKKKKKK!

[@whocares9053]

Hey man, could you make a video about the Drum fills by Dave Grohl from his track "Play"? Would be so cool if you could include some of the fills from the song because they are absolutely madness

[@goosegutz]

Wonder if Grohl can articulate his playing like this or he plays by feel

[@suburbanindie]

I think he could but he prefers to play it off like the cool kid "I just play what's in my heart", and in case you haven't noticed he's got a pretty wicked case of ADHD and is constantly changing topics in interviews etc

[@rigorhead01]

Dude your drums are sounding so amazing! 🥁

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks!

[@joeheinrichs1413]

"Alone and Easy Target" Always liked the snare build and tom fill at 3:01. It's so simple but huge.

[@gho5t504]

"Elephants" is a pretty tough song. I never played that tiny bit behind the triplets. "Aneurysm" is way easier for me personally, but there are so many different opinions about that fill. I'm just playing what I saw from live show footage. It works, everyone's happy with it, job well done. Also, great video as always. :)

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks!

[@michaelorusso21]

I had no idea dave played with Prodigy, awesome.

[@Whiteknucklebear]

I would thoroughly enjoy a Pat Wilson video from WEEZER. Pinkerton has some awesome drumming

[@DrummerEvan1]

Brody Robinson I second this

[@ssonicdeafmonkey]

He goes crazy on Maladroit too.

[@heynsenene]

Thanx dude. Like for everything. I've been watching your videos a long time. I just love your style and you hard work. When your videos pop up on my various searches, I always click to see what you have to say. Munch love. God bless brother.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks so much my friend. That means the world.

[@juice027]

well done, Dave plays by feel and you tackled these fills and explained them in notation without coming across as a douche. kudos to you good sir

[@ero7632]

Not that Dave grawl again...

[@FeathersT21]

One of the iconic intros for me is Hey Johnny Park

[@SlowerRiot]

he ripped it straight from D'yer Ma'ker! He's one of the very few players on the planet worthy of ripping Bonham though.

[@דוראלון-ו4נ]

Haha you're right. Them Crooked Vultures is Josh Homme (the singer and one of the guitarists of QOTSA), the bassist of Led Zeppelin and David Grohl playing the drums

[@cwTheDrummist]

Love this! I always appreciate how you break these things down.

[@aperez12374]

How dare you not remember about the legendary John Paul Jones

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

aperez12374 lol total brain fart there

[@Lambsauce127]

Yeah Dave grohl has influenced the way I drum so much

[@jimmulator3902]

Dave’s Ray Gun album was what I learned to play the drums on. I learned every song on there. Still listen to that album occasionally!

[@messygamez5675]

You mean foo fighters' debut?

[@jimmulator3902]

@@messygamez5675 yup 👍

[@joeltong5159]

Love your setup 😍

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thank you!

[@abemichau4706]

That kit sounds really good. Do you have a tuning tutorial or equipment tour ? Nice fluid chops too man. You got good hands and a solid foot. I’m glad I found you.

[@ErickC]

I really like that fill he does between the prechorus sections at the end of the second verse in I'll Stick Around (third verse in the demo). It took me forever to figure out what he was doing until I realized that the first half of it is basically just the snare roll from the middle portion of Zep's Fool In the Rain with some rack tom hits and the second half is kind of a slow pair of Bonham triplets going racktom-racktom-kick-floortom-rest-kick-snare/crash. If that makes sense. It's like a whole bunch of these fills in this video mixed together.

[@beneaththebeats]

Such an interesting rhythmic brain. Shoutout to you Stephen on this vid man, epic ⚔🥁

[@MAWF-DEBLETREBEL93420]

Who else can't stop watching this dude?

[@JxVarytiV0]

The fills in "In Bloom" are awesome too

[@pit19931]

Chad Channing actually created that drum fill Dave himself gave him credit for that

[@TheOceanLoader]

Stephen Taylor Sir! Thank you for showing us such a great drum lesson, in such a nice, pleasant manner. You are very good at what you do and make it look so easy.

[@lofilukelukoala8121]

you cant hate this guy.very sympathetic

[@coopj250]

Great tutorial Stephen, thank you for this.

[@VW.907]

Working on my fills, useful as always.

[@Imaginaryanalysis9]

Thanks Stephen great video. Great choices as well. Them Crooked Vultures has some really cool stuff

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Glad you dug it Pat

[@jarretsantana119]

Hey Stephen, I’m just dropping in to let you know that I am thoroughly enjoying your KZbin content. Keep up the ever so expansive work you are doing.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks so much Jarret! Glad you’re digging it

[@bg4567890]

yay thank you I could never figure out the snare fill on Song for the Dead

[@righthearproductions8934]

He and Taylor Hawkins are my current favorite rock drummers

[@leslieaguilarcornay2932]

Thank you for breaking everything down!!! I really get a lot out of your videos!!🥁🥁🥁🥁!! Funny story!! my friend got all the band members from the Foo Fighters in VIP and told the rest of us some guys that look poor just got VIP didn't have a clue who they were!! Thank you for the videos

[@DMACK1981]

Amazing instruction, Sir.

[@AkaGeezer]

Yeahhhh nice one brotherrrr

[@onionrick1]

Great lesson Stephen! Been listening to that fill on Elephant which I’m hearing slightly different. I reckon that double on the tom leading into the 32nds was a mistake which leaves Grohl starting the 32nds on his left; sounds to me like he plays LRK then L on rack and RLRL on floors. Check it out slowed down and see if you agree. Either way great lesson learned a lot. Inspired me to turn microscope on some specifics for a change rather than just getting a vibe for what he plays. Thanks!

[@frankywilder7940]

Impressive I love it 👍👍👍👍

[@jacobfriedman4135]

Fucking love your videos. You have helped me so much over the years with your musical wisdom you share for free between your KZbin and Instagram page. You practice what you preach and I hope to meet you one day to express my gratitude!!!

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Jacob Friedman thanks so much Jacob!

[@JonneDrums]

Great you should do more of these videos! For different drummers

[@LBD-2021]

I love Dave Grohl! This is very interesting. Thanks Stephen!🤘🤘🥁🥁

[@marshal.smith97]

i skinned that fill intro for aneurysm a dozen time's i shall add this to the collection he he. a simple RLRLRLRL sounds the same too if you went, first tom twice, RL. then, floor tome R. first tom L. then, snare R. Then, first tom L. then, floor tom for the last RL. to make it easy.

[@GuitarHeroIsShit]

Dave Grohl's Bonham triplets give me life. Just such a powerful signature of his playing. I remember first hearing 'Killer' by Juliette & the Licks, and just that one round of Bonham triplets in the last chorus had me like "wait a second..." Checked the personnel listing and of course it was Grohl! There's a BtS documentary of the recording of that album, Four On The Floor, it might still be on youtube. Plenty of footage of drum tracking =)

[@mrmonky13]

The scond fill is not originally from dave, QOTSA make a tribute to "slip it in" from "black flag". The snare fill and the guitar riff are taken from that song. ;)

[@susragejr477]

Why do people like you keep thinking inspiration=rip off, lmao. Besides that, Dave’s part isn’t even close to 1:1 rehash of slip it in, and the guitar riffs aren’t the same either lmao what are you on bro

[@RaynaVandel]

Hey! What is your second crash? sounds great. It really compliments the k sweet crash. I have one of those too and like the sound of your second crash with it.

[@tonylomas9773]

Another great video! I never knew he played on Run with the Wolves. Knew he was a prodigy fan though.

[@FadjarMoeljarto]

Waw.... I like it, thank you man ..God work🥁🔥🙏👍

[@craigsimpson8760]

Great vid Stephen - thanks for demystifying and breaking down these fills. Have subscribed. Love the tone on your toms. What kind of kit are you playing?

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks Craig! It's a Tama starclassic bubinga kit

[@72nivo]

DUDE ?? You are insane 😁 Love your work 🤙🏼

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Thanks!

[@richardcox8409]

Saw D Grohl play drums with Them Crooked Vultures at Coachella..../flex

[@TheRaycation]

That's not an original Grohl fill. That's the into from Black Flag's "Slip it in" by Bill Stevenson.

[@chucktouchton398]

The end of Nirvana Stay Away is bad ass!

[@RyanOnDrums]

What do you tune your toms to? They sound amazing, I’ve tried using this app and it’s not getting me anywhere

[@chrisd8692]

Did you intentionally put the no one knows fill at "around the 1:23 mark" in this video?

[@adamvannicola7421]

Wish you would have included the chorus beat on First it Giveth, I still don’t understand that beat

[@edscanlan1761]

Yeah it's an absolute beast that track. Drums in chorus are mostly comprised of floor tom and kick drum intertwining. (He plays a Very similar beat in 'Red War' by Probot, just without faster roll on the floor tom so it sounds like double pedal nearly). Give that one a listen.

[@adamvannicola7421]

Ed Scanlan you’re right, that Probot track has a very similar beat. I forgot about that album. Thanks

[@alexanderh7807]

Hi, so I started drumming a few days back. 4 to be exact. I feel like I am pretty alright for 4 days. I'm loose, I can follow time signatures, I can use my bass drum on beat. Like I do this one beat that I made (I'm sure it's been used 1000+ times but still) I go Ride on 1, Ride and Bass on 2, Ride 3, Ride n Snare 4, Ride 1, Ride and Bass on 2 and 3, Ride and Snare on 4. Simple enough. But the problem I have A LOT of trouble on. Is stuff like Smells Like Teen Spirit. The quick Snare to bass drum to hi-hat to bass drum on repeat REALLY messes me up. Are there any good exercises to help with that? Or should I just stay practising the song. Because it seriously is incredibly confusing for me to do it without sounding really choppy. Any help would be greatly appreciated as your videos already helped me so much. Thank you!!

[@markbennett6623]

Slow it down ,wish someone would of said it

[@alexanderh7807]

@@markbennett6623 haha appreciate but sadly I had to stop drumming. I continued for about another few months and got teen spirit pretty alright. But I moved and my landlord wouldn't allow it. I still play my guitar tho! I'll pick it up soon

[@markbennett6623]

@@alexanderh7807 sick man

[@NBAHOTTAKEZ]

Blew is very underrated especially on the drum fills he added

[@DevinLatulippe]

Right?? Those fills are just so amazing and they add so much to the song, been trying to learn them by ear and it’s insane

[@andrewmaasch1724]

Nice video, man 🖒 Not picking apart your drumming or anything but it almost seemed like you were struggling with that Aneurysm fill 😅 It is a tricky one and also one of those fills that's kind of hard to work out exactly which toms he's hitting so you're forgiven 😉. Another classic Grohl fill which is kind of similiar to the Aneurysm intro is the fill leading into the main riff of "enough space" by Foo Fighters. The first 2 FF albums that Dave drums on are my favourite. Hawkins has nothing on Grohl 😎

[@bmillerdrums]

What kind of heads are those? I’ve always used clear head’s but Man those coated sound incredible. Self-admittedly I’m not very technical when it comes to tutoring and stuff like that because I did get coded heads one time. I think they were Evans but they just didn’t have the sound I wanted but it could’ve been the bottom head too. Those sound awesome though

[@giuseppecasa3574]

what kind of drums do you play is wonderfull?

[@masao37]

how are you doing that double bass drum note without two pedals?

[@djabthrash]

@stephen taylor : your rack tom sounds a bit woofy... You might change your mic position or tame that woofy resonance with some EQ.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Ok

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

The them crooked vultures was Dave Grawl, John Pawl Jones and Jawsh Homme.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Bruce Hewat I see what you did there...

[@randomstuff5338]

Cheers ..its funny in the first song no one knows how you mention a pattern that grohl likes , there is a nirvana doco from heaps ago called live tonight and sold out ...there is a clip when they are on a aeroplane and grohl is talking into some headphones used kinda like a microphone and he sings this exact same drum pattern ...i like the whole intro to songs for the deaf befor the fill best intro ever , its also cool how grohl doesn't read music (nor do i) all good ,so pretty much he is just getting on a kit and playing what he thinks sounds good and best for the song .

[@maxdurk4624]

I think Dave is only using a 3 piece kit on that QOTSA album, for the record. It's minor, but if you are trying to transcribe his parts 100% that is important to note.

[@susragejr477]

Me when I spread misinformation online

[@djmack8]

The inteo to that Prodigy fill sounds like he took it from the Cro Mags Street Justice. Its at about :57. It would makes sense by his age and musical history. We all stole from Mackie on Age of Quarrel. Some if the tastiest licks on any hardcore punk record.

[@felodrummer9033]

Brother, do one abou vinnie paul please

[@bails4830]

I recognised fill 5 from the intro fill in avalanche - bring me the horizon

[@crispybacon420]

All this time, I thought the fill in No One Knows was swiss army triplets!

[@samuelgraham1465]

Dave does have a nice growl though

[@martinmarone]

Is the aneurysm fill the one from hormoaning or from incesticide (sounds more hormoaning to me but i haven't given it the closest of scrutiny yet)

[@gabeblums5934]

What about William Goldsmith?

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

Pretty sure that's a flam (followed by a single) at the beginning of that Song for the Dead fill. Dave plays his flams pretty wide so I can see why you'd get the impression that there are three single strokes there

[@DylanL69]

I love his stuff from probot he wrote all the music on that guitar drums bass and vocals in the music video he had lemmy on bass

[@bleedinggumsroberts3579]

The bass player from Zeppelin? Cool!

[@jonathanvokes6064]

he uses the bonham fill a lloooooot too

[@rubenspoolder3567]

I personally played aneurysm as R L K R K snareflam K R L First two hits on the rack tom Than to the floortom Flam on the snare And the last two on the rack or floortom into the crash

[@BulletDrummer]

Dig your playing, man, but I live for your tom sound!

[@markuschelios6891]

I love Dave Growl.

[@theunbanned4553]

Dave Grawl is my favourite drummer

[@mcsequoia5107]

Dumb question. Why do you say the R L R K R fill in Aneurysm is a sextuplet? I count 5 notes. Isn't that a quintuplet?

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Mike Connors no because they’re not evenly spaced.

[@mcsequoia5107]

​@@StephenTaylorDrums - I disagree. A tuplet is when a beat is divided into any number of equal subdivisions from what is usually permitted by the time signature. In this case, a 5 16th note pattern, R L R K R, in a bar of 4/4 , 3 e & ah. It's not about even or odd spacing. It's about equal spacing. Tuplet notation is a grouping of notes that span the same duration of time as a bar of the given time signature and not where each note specifically lands on the given time signature grid.

[@nadir6661]

love his rests!

[@Drummerslife]

In my opinion them crooked vultures made a masterpiece

[@Lazy_eye_blobFish]

There is actually a pronouncenames.com? I know I shouldn't be surprised seeing as there are literally websites that Focus around obscure things, but this is still strangely odd to me.

[@StephenTaylorDrums]

Fat Samurai Productions I honestly use it all of the time with members and students from other countries. I like to at least attempt to pronounce their name correctly