In this free drum lesson I’ll be showing you another extract from the book teaching the famous drum beat from the song Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden.
This little number requires some seriously fast hands. Both hands are up on the hi-hat for the majority of the song, blazing out sixteenth notes at lightning fast speed. No wonder this drum beat impresses so many drummers and non-drummers alike!
“Run To The Hills” Drum Beat Demonstration
View the video on YouTube HERE – Learn How To Play Drums Song Run To THe Hills Video Drum Lesson (Iron Maiden & Nicko McBrain & Clive Burr)
Why The “Run To The Hills” Drum Beat Is So Great
Just watch the hands in the crowd fly in the air as soon they hear this classic drum intro. Loved by both drummers and Iron Mainden fans alike this truly is a stomping groove. Originally recorded by Clive Burr but Nicko McBrain now does a stellar job playing this live with the band.
How To Play It
Occurs at the beginning of the song. Clive plays a double handed sixteenth note pattern on the hi-hat for this groove, playing the bass drum like a heartbeat on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the bar at the same time as the right hand on the hihat.
The hi-hat opens on beat 4 of the bar at the same time as the bass drum is played. The hi-hat then closes again on beat 1 of the next bar, after being left open for the whole of beat 4.
In between the hi-hat opening and closing, both hands move to the tom toms for a single quick strike on the ‘+’ of beat 4. The right hand moves to the medium tom and the left hand on the floor tom. Any toms could be used though. The hands then have to move swiftly back to the hi-hat for the next bar.
Check out more drum lessons for Iron Maiden below…
- “Aces High” – Drum Beat & Fill Notation Drum Lesson
- “Can I Play With Madness” – Mini Song Video Drum Lesson
- “Fear Of The Dark” – Mini Song Video Drum Lesson
- “The Evil That Men Do” – Mini Song Video Drum Lesson
- “The Number Of The Beast” – Full Song Notation Drum Lesson
- “The Prisoner” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
- “The Trooper” – Drum Fill Video Drum Lesson
- “Where Eagles Dare” – Drum Fill Video Drum Lesson
- “Run To The Hills” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
- “The Number Of The Beast” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
Browse all FREE drum content by clicking HERE.
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Please email rob@drumstheword.com or contact me through the Contact Form if you have any questions at all.
