Come Togetherrrrrrrrr Right Now… and watch this video:

What Time Is It? It’s Tom-Tom Time!

The tom-toms play a big roll in this song. From the main riff to the driving verse groove to adding colour during the solo section. Toms are everywhere.

The main riff of the song features 16th note triplets played on the toms. As soon you play this riff everyone should know what song you’re playing, so you’d better get it right! Work on making your 16th note triplets on the toms as smooth as possible – no accents.

Some students get intimidated when they see the 16th note triplets as they are faster than regular 16th notes. But playing 16th note triplets at 82 bpm is the same as playing 16th notes at 110bpm, you should be capable of that by grade 4. Make sure you count to start with & listen to the song and count along with that to get a feel for the speed.

DUM dum DUM dum DUM dum DUM dum

It’s indicated on the verse to play with a strong 4 feel. It’s your job to make the 1, 2, 3, 4 really felt throughout the verses of the song. We’re only playing simple 8th notes on the floor tom and quarters on the bass drum. By accenting the quarter note on the floor tom you bring the groove that much more to life.

The song sounds much better with a DUM dum DUM dum DUM dum DUM dum floor tom pattern than with a flat lifeless dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum. Also, make sure you don’t flam between the bass and floor tom  & keep your bass drum nice & strong too.

Fill In The Blanks

During the instrumental section and the outro of the song you’re given space to choose your own drum fills. They should fit the feel and style of the song. I’d suggest listening to the original and trying to copy Ringo’s style.

He uses a lot of broken 16th note ideas around the toms, and the occasional 16th note triplet fill. For my version I went with a 16th note triplet fill at the very end as an echo of the main riff of the song.

Did It All Come Together?

Hopefully you managed to pull all the pieces together and get this song sounding good. It’s probably the easiest of the technical focus songs at grade 4 – make sure you spend time to make it sound good though!

The 2018 version of the Trinity Grade 4 Rock & Pop book is great to work through if you’re around 2.5 to 3 years into your drumming career. You don’t have to take the exam to benefit from the book. The songs are great to work on & fun to play and will help to improve your drumming. In Singapore you can find the book at Robert Piano – Paragon Shopping Centre (and probably their other outlets). It’s also available from Amazon if you’re happy to pay the shipping!

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