The Secret to Tom Sweeps Like Vinnie, Steve Gadd, and Bonham

Get your free transcription - bit.ly/tom-sweep
Chapters
0:00 - intro
1:26 - what makes a tom sweep
2:04 - tom sweep 1 - Max Roach
3:28 - tom sweep 2 - Bonham
5:20 - tom sweep 3 - Steve Gadd
7:12 - tom sweep 4 - Vinnie
8:59 - tom sweep 5 - Nate’s own lick
10:06 - outro

[@mikey-mike8301]

More of these types lessons, please!!!!!

[@ejeckk]

RIP Aaron Spears.

[@robertangelohillman]

Thanks Nate for taking the time to helps us drummers out. I really enjoyed this video. Very informative.

[@cfusilier2]

Thank you. My problem with tom sweeps is focusing too much on the accents I want, and neglecting the sticking. The tiny, overhead camera was really helpful in this video 👍

[@Maxx23081984]

Yes! Yes! More CHOPS!!! If seriously, I personally like your channel because you always try to go deeper than others and talk more about concepts then certain licks. Most KZbin drummers post "coolest lick ever", slow down, show the sticking. This "lick video" is pretty close. But explanation of where those patterns came from makes it worth watching!

[@johnrobertcorney]

Love this walkthrough and thanks for the Craig shout out. I’ve left a few comments on his channel. Killer stuff Amigo!

[@harrycrab8725]

“Cuz it’s all about playing for the song, right?” Hahah!

[@billsmith1957]

Yes Nate, more of these types please and ty

[@ultradrums]

Awesome video and great lessons 😃👍🥁

[@stevehlabse5537]

Always learning...thanks

[@flapjackson6077]

Wow, dude, great lesson!

[@IanVogelsan]

Awesome lesson!

[@EverybodyBurts]

8.08 Hounds of Winter, mr president.

[@carlandre8610]

Nice drum sound , resination is awesome like jazz set up.

[@ArtemEnglishPro]

Thank you!!!

[@0e0]

i'm not a drummer but I do a lot of beat programming and this is just a pleasure to watch. Brilliantly communicated . also loved hearing about the evolution of your lick

[@randydean23]

Dood!!!! That last lick you played melted my mind. Like, that shiz was TIGHT!

[@hakkonamatata1]

Thanks a lot ❤🙏

[@onesyphorus]

nice fade!

[@squidito2534]

Great and helpful video as always. Have you ever done video on Dave King?

[@Jay-Go]

Good stuff, man. I'm used to hearing "sweeps" as a different technique, but this was very cool. I know a sweep as a double stroke where the first note is on one surface and the second note is on another (usually a neighboring drum). I'm new to the channel. Good stuff, man.

[@Paythepipertoplay]

Nice.

[@ignacioperezdelcastillo3182]

Gracias

[@mr.145]

Slight variations from the Buddy Rich book,mix up triplets using the bass drum, and your half way there.

[@brianchristiansen3828]

I enjoyed this type of lesson. If only there was a way I could download a transcription! Missed opportunity it seems.

[@8020drummer]

lol

[@seankaran3490]

Thanks Nate. Excellent. Yes more please !!

[@Gooden_Eye]

the reverse sweep was cool, but they were all really good...can't knock the drummers used as examples either 🤘👊

[@jjcdrumplay]

If you grew up liking reggae, you may naturally do the Steve Gadd one. Matt Cameron on soundgarden, Superunknown , enough said!

[@BrianH020]

Nate, Enjoyed all of those. My only comment regards Bonham's Stairway lick. So many times drummers play that lick, and forget to swing it. That was one of Bonham's greatest assets, which I also think he took from the jazz drummers he listened to and admired. If you play it straight, you might be playing the correct number of notes, but it will sound stiff. Another famous sweep lick I always loved is Steve Smith's from just before the second chorus on Separate Ways. No doubt he stole from Gadd on that one, but still cool.. One of the sickest sweepers is the mighty Dennis Chambers. He does (has done) a one -handed sweep between the floor and snare that's just sick. I believe it's 32nds, and in its basic form is two rights on snare, two kick, two rights on floor. Sweep back and forth between the two at warp factor five. He usually does these on "trash can" endings, though I'm sure somewhere there are recordings where he uses this lick as a fill in a song. It's been 30 plus years, but I think he breaks this down on one of his instructional videos (had them both, just not sure which one, probably Serious Moves). I'm certain there are drummers who have far surpassed this, but I remember the first time I saw it, it blew my mind.. 👍😗

[@SeductionSurfCo]

Well said sir! I think of the stairway lick as max roach x4 and then two bonham triplets, to the timing of the fill from Phil Collins in the air tonight 😂 I have been playing it for a year and it is so hard to swing it right.. when it’s right though it’s such a good feeling! I’m gonna go try again now!

[@BrianH020]

@@SeductionSurfCo Well, kind of long math to come to that solution but it does work! It's really a herta, those first four, where I think Max is definitely evenly spaced triplet notes. That's the difference. Thank you for the compliment/reply 🥁

[@mercertj]

I had that VHS tape. It was serious moves. The sweep. Blew my mind back then, and still does now

[@BrianH020]

@@mercertj Thanks for the tip in. I think I mis-remembered the fill. I think it was actually snare-floor (1 each w/right hand, then floor-snare (1 each right hand), not doubles on each. Does that sound right to you? Just ridiculous...

[@bengettysburg7738]

if im not mistaken, isn't the bonham sweep comprised of two sixteenth note triple kicks (not just one) interspaced between 32nd note triplets?

[@artydum]

Great stuff! Thanks

[@ThomasistheTwin]

May I have another?

[@joelmarquez4629]

No Dennis Chambers sweep?

[@ignacioperezdelcastillo3182]

🙏💪💯

[@victor29rc]

tasty stuff, as always. thanks, dude.

[@mts353]

Just love it bro

[@sarniasam]

I thought this was about sweeps. The only sweep I saw was is at 5:43. A sweep is a diddle or drag played between two drums off one hand. First note on drum 1, 2nd note on drum 2. Flying around a set isn't a sweep.

[@8020drummer]

I'm going to go ahead and call "arbitrary" on that definition and define "sweep" the way I want to define it

[@radiosant]

Have to agree with you. I’m not a huge fan of drum lessons presented this way as opposed to presenting them as the notes the drummer actually played on the kit. It not only makes these things a lot less mysterious but it lends itself less to the kind of layman’s approach to understanding drumming where it’s viewed as a series of gimmicks with gimmicky terms rather than what it actually is: orchestrating fills differently for a different dynamic and dramatic impact within a song.

[@rnl9520]

Great Stuff

[@badhabits25]

Love all these drummers. But for some reason, Vinnie's is always a bit cooler.

[@8020drummer]

😎

[@thomaswindle531]

Taking a dump. Taking a dump. I am a taking a dump dump.

[@ajconstantine3593]

Nate, anywhere I can find a free transcription of this? 🤷‍♂️

[@8020drummer]

Link below the player

[@ajconstantine3593]

@@8020drummer 😂 I was totally goofin. (Yer a legend for responding to it regardless. 🤩🤟)

[@coiLz0r911]

Because it's all about playing for the song, am I right guys? Drummers: 😶

[@wilkinsnl]

Pretty cool one

[@Desperado3248]

Transcriptions?

[@8020drummer]

Were they not at the link below the player? Did I not signpost that well enough in the video?

[@tylersaraca3364]

Lets get Matt Cameron on the podcast! His phrasing is ridiculous.

[@MonacoRocha]

hey bro u sound nice... do u make a living $$$ PLAYING drums ??

[@8020drummer]

What does that mean

[@MonacoRocha]

Do You Play Gigs ???? @@8020drummer

[@curtis1234ism]

Bro, you talked through your *entire* presentation of the Vinnie sweep.😢

[@muffinman4353]

Now try that with using traditional grip just like Steve, Vinnie and Dave...The correct way of holding the sticks for sweeps.

[@byoung8]

Tom sweeps are cool, there's no doubt about that. And they have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what makes a good drummer. What makes a good drummer is when you have a deep understanding of rhythm, timing, and your first priority, which is to serve the song. Anyone can be taught how to machine gun up and down the toms. That's just muscle memory. It's like--"Look what I can do isn't that cool?" Yeah, that's cool. Now let's see you play a groove for a song that's in 7/12 time and we'll see how cool you are. Just an observation.

[@drewconlin9452]

Interestingly the pdf you graciously share has a tihai. At 4:02… traditionally I believe it would be called a 15 + 1 = 16. 5+5+5+ 1. From the beginning of the notation provided the bass drum shifts by a1/4 note so the last group of 5 starts on the beat with the middle of the 3 starting on the “ and of the beat. O tho l traditionally tihai’s usually indicate the end of phrase or solo. Great stuff as usual

[@chadcarrdrums]

Buddy Rich was doing sweeps and hand over foot combos and crossovers long before Max Roach.

[@muffinman4353]

And with traditional grip.....Not match.