Stop what you’re doing and Stare at this video!

Stop, Drop and Drum!

Stop & Stare is one of One Republics most popular songs and commonly requested to learn by students.

In terms of groove, this song is actually fairy basic. The beats used are 8th note rock beats that most students learn within their first 2 or 3 weeks of lessons. There are a few open hi-hats scattered through out the song, they can be omitted for beginners.

Stare at my Fills!

The toughest part of this song is the fills, but they are great to learn as you will find them very transferable to other songs. It should be noted though that some of these fills start left handed. The original drummer seems to be comfortable playing the regular fashion and also open-handed. You can see him in the band’s original video for this song playing both ways. Check this live video to see the drummer playing open handed.

Here’s the fills from the song with my suggested stickings:

Note that on the 2nd fill I switch hands on the hi-hat on the & of 3 to give my right hand enough time to get over to the floor tom on the ah of 3. You could just play the whole bar with the left hand on the hi-hat. It would be a good idea to learn to play the whole song open handed, it’ll work wonders for your co-ordination!

If you are struggling with the 2nd fill you can just replace it with the first fill as it’s the same rhythm.

The 4th fill is much easier to play if you start it left handed. The 5th fill looks the same as the 4th but it uses the bass drum on the e of four which allows us to play it starting with the right hand. These two fills are also interchangeable so you can play whichever is easier for you – just keep the snare & bass drum patterns of the 2 beats proceeding the fills same.

The 6th fill is easily the most challenging to play. Work on it slowly with a metronome & make sure you count. I’d also recommend listening to it a lot & try to copy the sound & feel.

Stop & Stare at this Score!

This song marries fairly simple rock beats with fills that are very musical and are great to have in your vocabulary. Have a go at playing it yourself with this score courtesy of DrumLessonResources.com.

If you’re in Singapore & would like a free trial drum lesson you can arrange one here.

Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel for more drum videos.

You can stop staring now 😉