Led Zeppelin "Black Dog" | Drum Lesson & Transcription

✩Like my teaching style? ✩
www.mattpricedrumming.com/pri...
When I started getting back into making lesson videos at the start of April 2020 this was one of the first songs I thought about doing. Even though I already have a few other John Bonham lessons on here I didn't really care.
I love this groove.
The drum parts aren't to hard to play but I think its more about the timing and feel of the song. I don't hit every little detail of the song but I believe I highlight most of the big issues. For the full transcription of the entire song hit that link below. And also feel free to watch the full play along cover at the other link down there! 🤙
Thanks for watching
Matt
✩✩DownloadPDF✩✩
www.mattpricedrumming.com/wp-...
✩✩ Watch Full Drum Cover ✩✩
• Led Zeppelin "Black Do...
#drumlessons #ledzeppelin #johnbonham

[@tx2jbh81]

I love seeing it all mapped out and notated 🙌🏼

[@MattPriceDrumming]

yeah man! Glad it was helpful

[@j.daddieo9283]

This was really well explained. I have been trying to learn this song for about 3 weeks. My son-in-law whom I jam with loves to play this and I have been deficient in keeping the time/rhythm so I'm figuring that after your excellent video and some practice, I can somewhat bring-it. Thanks and great job

[@MattPriceDrumming]

I'm glad it was helpful for you. Keep rocking it!!

[@markbrady7532]

Dude that was so killer. I’m a guitar player but super influenced by Bonham. Love it man, thank you so much!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Hey thanks brother! Glad you got something out of it!!!

[@jayheady571]

Thank you so much for helping to demystify Bonham's amazing style. Your video is just what i needed. Respect.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

My pleasure! Glad it was helpful for you.

[@sethwinfrey8218]

Incredible I’ve been looking for a good video on this for so long, thank you

[@MattPriceDrumming]

I'm so glad it found you🙏Let me know if you have any questions about it. ***Make sure to download the PDF*** www.mattpricedrumming.com/songsandstuff/

[@angusmcmahan5437]

Well done. Exactly what I was looking for, told and demonstrated with clarity and gusto. thank you!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ericallen2994]

awesome Matt --- been looking for a breakdown of that song so I could play it more accurately. Good job!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thanks Eric! Glad it was helpful for you.

[@ifab2holeshot]

Thank you for walking through it slowly part by part and using the metronome was a big help for me . I subscribed to you channel , thanks again .

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Awesome. Thank you for the comment and compliment. I am glad this was such a huge help for you. See you in the next lesson.

[@JoeyRagu]

💯% on point, your drums sound amazing. Thankyou for sharing this video.🔥🙏💪

[@MattPriceDrumming]

My pleasure!

[@jonstevenleung315]

Your briefly analysis of this video is very good and helpful.👏👍🙏🏻

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thank you for checking it out! Glad it was helpful for you.

[@evanrose8490]

Thanks so much for this, playing this in my rock group and was wondering what it looks like written out. Keep up the great work and drumming 🤟!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Rock on my brother!

[@thegothaunt]

This is really flipping cool. I've loved listening to Zeppelin since I was little. A few years ago it suddenly clicked that I had been hearing it "wrong" the entire time....and now I hear the correct "groove." SO happy to see you explain the time signatures in this video (with the written music too, bless!!!) and getting to hear how each part fits together in the song. It makes so much more sense to me now and just makes me appreciate music even more.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tx2jbh81]

Man this cleared up A LOT for me. Thanks brother 👊🏽

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad it helped!

[@YvonUtube]

Matt, Your tutorial is very well explained. And Lord knows how this drum cover is a master piece, so difficult to decode and understand when you are not a professional. Thanks for detailed informations. I finish to view your video and definitly will go further and look at your MP Drumming site.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Wow, thanks!

[@robbes7rh]

There are a lot of transcriptions for the guitar and drum parts of Black Dog. They all differ from one another, sometimes wildly so, and most simply fail to provide a comprehensive road map for playing this damn song the way it's heard on Led Zep IV. I think you've succeeded where others have failed in nailing down the key elements in music notation and accounting for the oddities in beats and measures. Good job!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

This is a great compliment 🥳🥳🥳 Thanks for taking the time to write out your thoughts on this 🙏

[@robbes7rh]

@@MattPriceDrumming -- You're very welcome, was glad to do it. I was just now watching it a second time and I have to correct you on how you describe the guitar part in the interlude section. That section starts off as a transposition a 4th down of the main riff with the 3 note lead-in. But they only play the first 7 notes and then repeat this fragment two more times. In so doing the second iteration gets shifted an eight note so that it is playing off the beat. But then the third iteration it aligns with the beat again and it amounts to the same # of measures as the main riff, and thereby works out with Bonham keeping 4/4 pattern going. The guitar part in live versions of Black Dog are quite sloppy and I can see how you might have gotten that impression, but it was conciously composed to sound off-kilter. This comes from John Paul Jones discussing the use of hemiola in that section of Black Dog. I can't find this article right now but will reference it if and when I do.

[@N-wordScissorhands]

I like how you started the video off with my favorite part.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Indeed!

[@jamieseiple]

Great instruction.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thanks for watching!

[@anarseniciste]

Very enlightening, thanks ! Never noticed the drum stick clicks before in the solo vocal parts, you are absolutely right. For the "interlude" part, I think this "dragging" feeling comes from the fact that the guitar/bass riff is slightly rushed off-beat, I read somewhere they advance 1/16th every bar... anyway it's this "sloppy" genius interaction of Bonham and Page/Jones that makes this song so great ! Cheers !

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tucko11]

To me this is the best timing ever cuz page was definitely playing faster rhythm guitar than bonahm was on drums but it syncs perfectly like a down beat or breakdown sort of like how metal bands do drums slow down but guitar still goes fast but grooves

[@MattPriceDrumming]

yes!!!!

[@crossx2412]

Thank you...thank you..infinite thank you

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Haha yes you are welcome.

[@paulbeno553]

Thanks a lot. So helpful.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thanks for watching!! Glad it was helpful for you. 🙏

[@pizzasmithdude]

Page was a brilliant producer.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Yes indeed!

[@jaeyeonkim7656]

Great video!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thank you! I am glad you got something out of it.

[@DrumLuv23]

Much needed. Playing drums with this in our set and was like, ".....what?" every time I tried figuring it out.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad it is helpful for you!!!

[@kgbofficer5629]

Thanks ive been trying to figure out the groove for a while this helped a lot

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Glad this lesson helped you!

[@johnmcminn9455]

great tutorial

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@rafaelr.2228]

You got the content and technique. I think you were trolled by technology on some timings. Thumbs up.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Yeah some people have said the timing seems off. This was one of the first major video edits I did so I'm sure I messed some edits up. Oh well🤷‍♂️

[@MattPriceDrumming]

✩✩✩Like my teaching style? Sign up for a lesson today✩✩✩ www.mattpricedrumming.com/privatelessons

[@edulissovsky]

Well done.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@johnbonham9422]

The second measure starting at beat three is two triplets in a row: snare-kick-kick / kick-kick-snare . It is classic bonham. (See video at 2:20) Listen to the song.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thanks for the input. I suppose you can hear the 32nd notes as evenly spaced 32 triplets instead but thats kind of a subtle difference. I wouldn't call it two triplets in a row though because that would sound like 6 evenly spaced notes.

[@johnsdrums78]

Excellent video Matt, what movie maker programme do you use to make your videos?

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Hey! thanks for checking out the lesson. I am using DaVinci Resolve. Highly recommend program.

[@malamute8257]

I've been listening to this song since I was a child. The problem with that is I had a lot of time to incorrectly establish the "feel" of the guitar riff without understanding where it was falling on the beat. Thanks!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Thanks for checking it out!!

[@TheViva73]

Think the fill is snare once then twice,floor foot,repeat then snare once

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Aye. That could very well be the case.

[@jameslyons1661]

❤️

[@MattPriceDrumming]

🤙

[@drbassface]

I like counting it it in a weird way... (drum stick tic) and three and four and ONE TWO...(three). FOUR...(one) TWO (three) FOUR ...(one) TWO (three) AND four ONE......... It will work all the way through, even the second riff on E....try it. (Even though the Cymbal Crash at the end of the E riff will now count on Beat Four....but counting it as I mentioned will all work out to the one.)

[@MattPriceDrumming]

I'm not really sure I follow...

[@drbassface]

Matt Price ok....count all of the pick ups to the kick drum...there are five...(Dbl time counting...) and three and four and... Now the kick is ONE Snare is TWO Kick is FOUR Snare TWO And so on... alternating that way. The full lick to the riff: And Three and Four and ONE (Kick)TWO (Snare) three and FOUR (Kick) an a One and TWO (Snare) Three FOUR (Kick) and one and TWO (Snare) an three AND (Kick) four (Snare) ONE Sing the riff Smack your leg on each CAPITALIZED Number. The First Capitalized number is kick, Then snare Then kick in alternation. Then to it all the way through the riff and onto the second riff in E that turns around. You’ll still come out on ONE at the end. (Even though those two cymbal crashes will now be on FOUR instead of ONE when you count it this way.) It’s like when drummers move the kick and snare ahead by an 1/8 note when they “turn beats” upside down... Like Gordy Knutson does back and forth on Ben Sidran’s album...Ricky Peterson arrangement of Freedom Jazz Dance.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

@@drbassface Thanks for breaking down the way you are feeling it.

[@drbassface]

Matt Price Sure Matt! Anytime I can count a strong ONE and wind up on a One at the end of it all, it feels good. Here’s that groove that goes upside to normal to upside down...while the Bass and Melody stays right side up... kzbin.info/www/bejne/goDYg51rZt5-pdE

[@saiwai_drum7740]

thank you very much the count off thing its hard to be noticed

[@MattPriceDrumming]

indeed. Old Skool recordings

[@wgb01001]

Hey man, great video - but I’d like to correct one thing. The “calypso” section isn’t being counted in properly. You have the “ONE” in the wrong place. Believe it or not (and I know it doesn’t really feel/sound this way), the ONE is a “rest.” So it’s actually a rest on the 1 (or just a high-hat hit), the snare hit on the 1e, the kick on the 1&, a snare hit on the 2, and a kick on the 2&. Following through the counting this way, those accent hits you mention ARE actually on the e’s and not the ah’s. Seriously, I know this for a fact. It’s easier to hear it played this way on live performances. On the record it’s damn near impossible to hear this section “correctly.” So those two big accent hits are on a 3e and a 4e, then a rest on the following 1, and the whole riff kicks back in with the snare hit on the 1e. Try it. It also syncs up perfectly with the ending hit. There isn’t a random measure of 7 at the end of that section. I know, it’s crazy. Anyway, I have to say that otherwise this video is really great and you do a nice job overall of explaining the rest of the song. Cheers.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Yeah this definitely makes a lot of sense. All those weird little timings are so interesting and I always wonder how much thought they put into it vs. just feeling it out and jamming.

[@wgb01001]

@@MattPriceDrumming Haha, yeah I know what you mean. Did they do it this way on purpose or was it all just happenstance? Maybe Bonzo himself was hearing it “wrong.” 😆

[@markymarco2570]

03:39

[@MattPriceDrumming]

yep

[@billcook4768]

Not all music is conducive to been mapped out in music notation.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

"The map is not the terrain" Reading is a good start but it doesn't give you all the little details.

[@furious_george_]

Good lord, the timing of this song is r/musicgore

[@MattPriceDrumming]

I'm not sure what that means but I like it!

[@Harri_]

7:47

[@MattPriceDrumming]

yes?

[@asger7442]

the feet 😭

[@MattPriceDrumming]

barefoot is best

[@mp-kq3vc]

Why does the opening snare always sound like too many hits?

[@MattPriceDrumming]

It goes over the bar line so its weird.

[@olivier7660]

So sad i don t known rythme...

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Time for some lessons!

[@olivier7660]

@@MattPriceDrumming one day...

[@MattPriceDrumming]

@@olivier7660 Today is the only day there is.

[@tootallforbaseball]

You are out of sync on the beginning sixteenths nearly every time. In any event, thanks for the transcription.

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Life ain't perfect. 🤷‍♂️

[@franksanchez4680]

Put some shoes on dude, geez!

[@MattPriceDrumming]

nahhhhhh

[@pedroluisalcazar9285]

toooooooo much explanation and litle action try 30 sec videos

[@MattPriceDrumming]

Noted