Free Nirvana Drum Lessons: Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Lithium & Come As You Are

Time for some Nirvana and Dave Grohl based free drum lessons this week. I've just recently recorded FOUR new Nirvana video drum lessons as well as written the fully transcribed drum sheet music for each of these songs. Let me briefly explain how this came about before I get into the meat of todays free Nirvana drum lesson.

On Monday I dug out my old copy of the album "Nevermind" by Nirvana. I put on my headphones, cranked up the volume and air drummed along to some of the greatest pieces of rock drumming ever recorded! This week has definitely been Nirvana week for me. Dave Grohl IS the man!

It was while I was drumming away that it became obvious to me; these would be great songs to record video drum lessons for. Not only are they fun and filled with tasty drum choppy goodness but also relatively simple and easy to learn. Right then, I thought, which songs to choose...

The four nirvana songs that now available to download as individual video drum lessons (including the fully transcribed sheet music) are listed below. Technically I recorded Smells Like Teen Spirit a few weeks ago but it has now been added to the Nirvana multiple video package deal discussed further on.

You can view a VIDEO PREVIEW for each individual drum lesson by clicking on the links below.

• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Drum Lesson
• "In Bloom" Drum Lesson
• "Lithium" Drum Lesson
• "Come As You Are" Drum Lesson

Before we get into the free drum lesson I'd just like to quickly point your attention to something I'm rather proud of...

**NEWLY ADDED - SAVE MONEY!!**

You can now purchase and download ALL FOUR video drum lessons (including ALL FOUR drum charts) for a heavily discounted price. That's OVER THREE HOURS of drum lessons discussing and teaching the songs Smells Like Teen Spirit, Comes As You Are, In Bloom and Lithium.

Visit the links below to find out more details and to view a video preview of each of the video drum lessons.

Nirvana Dave Grohl Video Drum Lessons & Sheet Music

You can also take a look at the multi Nirvana drum chart package deal by clicking below.

Nirvana Dave Grohl Drum Sheet Music

Ok, that's enough plugging and selling from me, onto the free stuff...

Today I'd like to teach you some of my favourite drum parts from each of the four songs available above to help give you an idea of just how great these drum tracks are to learn and play. The video drum lessons above teach you EVERY drum beat, fill and lick of the song in greater detail but I wanted to give you something free today to hopefully wet your appetite to learn more.

Smells Like Teen Spirit Drum Fill Intro

This is the classic drum fill from the beginning of Smells Like Teen Spirit and what a way for the drums to enter a song!

Four flams are played on the snare drum on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4 while the open hi-hat is struck on the upbeats in between each flam. What makes this drum fill exciting is the placement of the bass drum on the "e" and "a" of each beat, in between each flam and upbeat hi-hat note. This is one of those fills that, once learnt, you won't be able to stop using!

Smells Like Teen Spirit Chorus Drum Beat

This is the main drum groove for the chorus that you've probably heard played and copied by other drummers a million times before. Notice the quarter notes being played steadily on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the bar. A crash cymbal is struck on beat 1 every time the bar is repeated.

It's beat 3 that most drummers become unstuck over. The snare drum and two bass drum notes played just before beat 4 can be tricky for drummers to play whilst maintaining the quarter note hi-hat. This form of quarter note independence can require a little practice. I discuss this further in the video drum lesson for this song above.

In Bloom Drum Beat Intro

As soon as you hear this drum fill you know you're in for a drumming treat. This is a signature Dave Grohl fill with plenty of flams and tom toms.

The crash cymbals on beats 1 and the upbeat of beat 2 emphasise the guitar part while the flams moving down the drums, interjected with single bass drum notes, and a point of interest and excitement.

Without realising it, this was my first taste of linear drumming all those years ago. The hand and foot combination played here is a type of gospel/linear drum pattern made popular by todays generation of drummers.

In Bloom Chorus Drum Beat

This is the drum pattern played by Dave Grohl throughout the chorus.

The open hi-hat is played steadily while the bass drum dances in and around the eighth notes creating a push and pull effect. The bass drum just before each snare drum pushes the rhythm forward while the bass drum just after drags it back. A really cool effect indeed!

Lithium Chorus Drum Beat

I love this fill, it's wonderfully simple and bombastic.

The flams played on beats 2, 3 and 4 move from the snare drum to the two tom toms and then back again to the snare. The skill comes in when tying to play the bass drum parts. The two bass drum notes are played quite close to each other and at a medium tempo so your single bass drum foot technique may require a little practice to pull it off successfully.

The bass drum notes push into the downbeats and each double starts on the upbeats of beats 1, 2 and 3.

Lithium Bridge Drum Beat

The right hand plays quarter notes on the open hi-hat while the bass drum plays on and in between these hi-hat notes. This can be tricky at first if you're not used to playing quarter notes on the right hand with syncopated bass drum parts played underneath.

The drum beat highlight are the flams on the upbeats of beats 3 and 4. The right hand moves from the hi-hat to the snare drum and then back again so that the steady pulse of the open hi-hat isn't lost. This gives the groove continues energy by ensuring the trashy hats are maintained before and after the flams.

Come As You Are Chorus Drum Fill 1

This deceptively simple single stroke snare drum roll occurs in the chorus. The accent (loud note) is played on beats 2, 3 and 4 of the second bar. Every fourth sixteenth note is played loudly meaning that the right hand is playing one loud note and then one quiet note in succession.

Make sure the bass drum comes down with the accents to give them more power and energy.

Come As You Are Chorus Drum Fill 2

This drum fill is the last bar of the first chorus and is only played once in the song but it's a beauty!

This is another example of a type of linear idea that I love to play and use a lot. The idea is that you drop the single bass drum note in before a flam giving your hands enough time to move from a single stroke roll to a flam. You can see this on the last note of beat 3 just before the flam on the downbeat of beat 4. I show you how to learn this idea during the video drum lesson available for this song above.

I hope to do some more Nirvana/Dave Grohl based drum lessons and drum transcriptions very soon so watch this space...

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