Rush - Limelight Drum Fills & Grooves - A Neil Peart Tutorial

We dig into the Limelight Drum Fills & Grooves in this Neil Peart Tutorial. Limelight is a cool tune that sounds like its all in 4/4 but its not at all. Most of it is in either 7/4 or 4/4+3/4, 6/4 or 3/4 + 3/4, very little of it is actually in 4/4. But Rush were geniuses of making odd times sound even. There's some great fills in here as well as some very tasty & supportive grooves.
So kick back and enjoy and let me know if this helps!
If you liked this video, please like, comment, share & subscribe!
~Jeff Wald~
Masterworks specs and tour video: • Pearl Masterworks tour...
The kit is basically in Pearl Reference Specs except all have at least 2 plies of mahogany on the inside (which is stained red) and adding 4 plies w/ the floor and even more mahogany with the Gong & kicks. The rest of the plies in each are maple except for the snare.
We named the finish Red Bubinga Burst. I had them darken 25% of each drum to the edge. The gong is 40% fade only on the head side b/c its single headed. The only regret is that on the smaller drums you really can’t tell b/c I didn’t think about the rims covering the edges. Oh well, still looks amazing in person.
Snare (Mic’d with Audix i5)
14x5.75". 10 ply, 12.5mm "Regular" - 2 inner Birch, 7 ply Maple in the middle, 1 ply outer Bubinga. It also has the triple snare throw off. This thing looks amazing and lets you choose 3 different 6 strand snares allowing you to mix and match all of them. However, I've been using a 24 strand one from another Pearl snare for years.
Toms (Mic’d with Audix D2)
6x7" Rack Tom - 6 ply, 7.5mm "Regular"; 2 inner Mahogany, 3 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
8x7.25" Rack Tom - 6 ply, 7.5mm "Regular"; 2 inner Mahogany, 3 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
10x7.75" Rack Tom - 8 ply, 7.2mm "Thin"; 2 inner Mahogany, 5 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
12X8.5" Rack Tom - 8 ply, 7.2mm "Thin"; 2 inner Mahogany, 5 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
13x9.5" Rack Tom on left - 6 ply, 7.5mm "Regular"; 2 inner mahogany, 3 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
Floor Toms (Mic’d with Audix D4)
14x13" Floor Tom - 8 ply, 10mm "Regular"; 4 inner Mahogany, 3 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
16x15" Floor Tom - 8 ply, 10mm "Regular"; 4 inner Mahogany, 3 ply Maple in the middle, 1 outer Bubinga; Edge is Rounded 45 degree
Gong Drum (Mic’d with Audix D6)
20x15"- 8 ply, 10mm "Regular"; 7 ply Mahogany, 1 ply Bubinga on the outside. Fully Rounded Edge. Finish is a fade from the head down instead of the burst like the rest b/c of it being single headed
Kick Drums (Mic’d with Audix D6s)
22x17 kicks. 10 ply, 12.5mm "Regular"; 6 inner are Mahogany - BOOM!! The middle 3 plies are Maple and the outside Bubinga.
Overheads (Mic’d with two Audix SCX-25A)
Cymbals from left to right:
17” Sabian Xtreme China regular finish
10” Zildjian K Splash
14” Hi-Hats: K Custom Session (Steve Gadd model)
19” Zildjian K Dark Crash
20” K Custom Session Ride (Steve Gadd model)
14” Zildjian Mastersound as second hi-hat
18” Zildjian A Custom Crash

[@apieceofdirt4681]

Hahaha you were a badass even as a kid Jeff. Love the breakdown and the flashback 👍👍

[@JeffWald]

hahahaha. thanx man

[@Paul-e9r4d]

Super smooth drummer bro.

[@JeffWald]

Appreciate it!

[@mattmarkus4868]

Jeff I love your niche channel here. I’ve been wondering for years why there aren’t videos that cover Neil’s great parts in detail. Huge value. Your toms sound amazing too!

[@JeffWald]

Thanx Matt! It was just something that I had the idea to do recently b/c I love drumming, I love posting stuff, I'd love to have a bigger channel BUT - Im not a curriculum teacher like alot of great guys are on here and I can't compete with the girls wearing a miniskirt or shorts with 1,000,000+ views 😅😅. But I AM the guy who can explain how I did something or how someone did something. So that's where the idea came from. I just recorded drum covers of Camera Eye & Vital Signs and will do Tom Sawyer soon as well as tutorials on them. From there I'll probably hit ones from Perm Waves & Signals and keep going - that's the era when Neil was my hero. Thanx for watching!

[@mattmarkus4868]

@@JeffWald Hahaha, you could never compete with that! But, that's ok. Sound great, can't wait to see/hear PW material.

[@benbarletta2927]

HAH! I was in a bar band way back, and got bored, and did it with just my feet (double pedal) Totally hilarious!!!

[@PeterWeissink]

Cool video Jeff, nice explanation! Trad grip all the way ;)

[@JeffWald]

Thanx Peter!! Yeah man, traditional grip used to be an either/or... now its become pretty rare - like someone being able to drive a manual transmission. Keep up your excellent playing!

[@PeterWeissink]

@@JeffWald you too my new friend!

[@russmartin6763]

Your ghosts are perfect. I envy your dynamic control. I’m a freaking caveman.

[@JeffWald]

It just takes focused practice, Russ. I reading an article by David Garibaldi in the early 80s that he would play all ghost notes only about 1/2" off of the head so I've always tried to do that. You can do it!

[@user-fn8dy9cy5j]

Great job Jeff and thanks for posting this! Dig your trad grip. You explain things really well and I love the sound of your kit. I'm working Limelight up right now and want to do a video soon. Any quick tips on making a video with backing song?

[@JeffWald]

Thanx!! Have fun working it up. Backing tune - up until the last few, ALL of my covers (not sessions) were me playing along with the original song, original drums still in it where you can hear it sometimes. After hearing about Moises and doing the trial version, I was impressed enough to upgrade to the $40/yr plan. However, with me being so used to playing along and hearing the original drums (especially on Neil's stuff), I am playing/recording to the original and once I'm done, I run it thru Moises and I lower (not remove) the drums -12 to -20db depending on how it sounds. What that does is completely covers the remaining original drums so you don't hear them (except for the big fill in Red Barchetta where Neil started on his 6" concert tom and came down - you can still hear that 6"), and it also doesn't remove other elements of the full track that'll keep it sounding fuller. If you mute/remove the complete drum track the rest has this flangy/underwater type sound. Once I've done that, I replace the original song with the Moises version and it seems like a drumless track that is still synced perfectly. So try that, I'm impressed so far.

[@user-fn8dy9cy5j]

Thanks for the great detailed reply, Jeff. I'll check out that Moises program. Just one more (dumb) question: When you record your drums, where or what do you feed the video/audio to? Some mixer, then to your PC to sync them up?

[@JeffWald]

Nah, good question! I record the drums into my DAW (Studio One v5 pro). If you notice the thing on my left above the ipad, thats an ATEM Mini Pro ISO and it records all the video (4 channels) onto the SSD you can see attached to it. It also creates a file that opens in DaVinci Resolve ("DR" - a free program that I now use for video editing) and in there I line up my audio from my DAW that I turned into a completed wav file and drop that into DR. Works like a charm! If you can afford it, that ATEM is the best. I originally bought the ATEM Mini ($299) like Todd Sucherman uses but that's geared more for live streaming which he does alot for Drumeo. You can get it to work with software but there are so many extra steps that I never got that far. I went to Jim Riley's house in November b/c he said he had the ISO version and loved it. I watched him make a completed 1 min video in under 10 mins, changing angles and everything, and I was sold. Its more, $799, but man - what a time saver!

[@user-fn8dy9cy5j]

Thanks for the great respone, Jeff. Great info and you've inspired me to take a step in the video world and check out the gear. Really like your drumming and love that you're doing Neil Peart. Something kinda came over me a few months ago and said "learn Limelight". Probably one of my favorite Rush songs, not just for drums but the whole arrangement and lyrics. Maybe Neil is speaking to us all. Have a great one and keep it going!

[@Rgidhkfel]

Hi Jeff, It seems you've been focusing on Neil Peart alot recently and coincidentally so have I since some time has passed after his death I've tended to look back and revisit his drumming. Agree, starting Limelight fill is much more difficult then playing it during the song. Such fun to play, I've been relearning/learning some of my favorites, even got the old glockenspiel out and played The Spirit of Radio! Very interesting, you should break down Freewill. All the fills throughout the piece are just a little different. They are hard to remember and if you get one wrong, you can tell. Anyway, love what you're doing!

[@JeffWald]

Thanx for the comment, Ray! You're right, I'm not sure what it was about his passing that slowly had me revisiting alot of things but I have for sure. He and Gadd are/were my top heroes. But its been fun to go back and rediscover his genius as a 54 yr old (as of tomorrow!). I still get the same excitement from his parts that I did when I was 14 but understand and can execute them alot better now. I also think that this comes from wanting to post stuff on here but I know I'm not a curriculum teacher and I can't compete with chicks in skirts playing covers getting 1,000,000+ views! haha. But I AM the "I can show you how to do that" guy. That's where the Freewill video started from. I plan on doing all of MP and probably the top ones from Signals and others and see where that takes me. But I'm enjoying it and not trying to impress - which is why all of my transcriptions are just handwritten on the back of auto glass tablet paper. 😅. More to come! OH!! Good on you for breaking out the spiel! Never had one, I always did those sections on cymbal bells

[@MatthiasMontgomery]

Hi Jeff - great tones, so is this kit in this Limelight vid Masterwoks or Reference? Sounds great ..Thanks 🥁

[@JeffWald]

Hey Matthias! Its MW but basically in reference specs. I've got detailed info in the description if you want to dig a little deeper. ALSO - I'll be posting more soon but I just got a great deal on another MW kit in a blue Limba burst - stay tuned for that!

[@alan2112drums]

You looked a bit like Dave Weckl in that old video!!!

[@JeffWald]

Weckl mullets were still king back then! haha. That's how I rolled from 88 until I got it cut later that year (93)

[@alfiemom8892]

ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏsᴍ ?