For this free video drum lesson I wanted to revisit the song “Chuck E’s In Love“. I first talked about Steve Gadd’s playing on Rickie Lee Jones song in my eBook The Greatest Drum Beats & Grooves Of All Time, which you can view by clicking here.
Instead of looking at the sweet drum groove Steve Gadd lays down, we’re going to take a look at a drum fill that he uses at around 1:56 into the song.
Steve Gadd is famous for his linear approach to drumming and this very popular and famous drum lick is no exception. It’s been used and re-used countless times by other drummers so lets take a look and see what all the fuss is about…
“Chuck E’s In Love” – Free Video Drum Lesson
View the video on YouTube HERE – Learn How To Play Drums Chuck E’s In Love Video Drum Lesson (Steve Gadd & Rickie Lee Jones)
“Chuck E’s In Love” – Drum Fill (1:56 Album Version)
As I previously mentioned, the drum fill is a linear style drum lick, starting on beat 1 of the bar and lasting for two whole beats.
Steve Gadd plays a line of sixteenth notes, starting with the bass drum on beat 1. It is then followed by two ghosted snare drum notes played with the left hand, two hi-hat notes played with the right hand and two more quiet snare drum notes played with the left hand.
A bass drum is played on the ‘a’ of beat 2 before the right hand moves down from the hi-hat to play the snare drum backbeat on beat 3. The whole line of 9 notes are played evenly and smoothly and the dynamics of the snare drum notes need to be correct in order to replicate the feel and sound that Gadd gets.
The bar ends with an open hi-hat note on beat 4 before moving back into the shuffled triplet groove. Its this mix of a straight sixteenth note drum fill played next to a shuffled groove that gives this drum fill it’s “cool” honors! š
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