The song Assassin by Muse has to contain one of the greatest drum performances ever recorded by Dominic Howard.

He really pulls out all the stops on this tune with a monster groove during the chorus, a head nodding groove during the verse and bridge and then THAT drum fill that occurs at 0:29 into the song.

I’m going to show you how to play the triplet drum fill in question. I have had many requests for this in the past and it’s about time I made a video for it. I’m also going to show you a slightly simplified version also if you’re finding what Dom plays a little tricky.

Have fun!

 

“Assassin” – Free Video Drum Lesson

View the video on YouTube HERE – Learn How To Play Drums Assassin Video Drum Lesson (Muse & Dominic Howard)

 

“Assassin” – Actual Intro Drum Fill

The above example shows what Dominic Howard actually plays at 0:29 into the song.

The drum fill consists of 16th note triplets. Each beat of the bar is split up into six evenly spaced notes and then subdivided even further into two groups of three. Each group of three is played the same, R L F.

As you can see, the hands alternate between the snare drum drum and the tom toms. The fill ends with a single snare drum note on the + of beat 4.

The hi-hat foot is stepped on all of the eighth notes. This means that the bass drum foot is being played just before each downbeat and just before each left hi-hat foot.

 

“Assassin” – Simplified Intro Drum Fill

Here we see the simplified version of the drum fill which is exactly the same as the way Dom plays it except the hi-hat foot has been omitted. The hi-hat foot really isn’t essential to the feel of this drum fill and so can be left out if proving too hard to include.

As always, email me if you have any questions and happy drumming to you!

You can DOWNLOAD the FREE PDF drum notation by clicking HERE.

 

Check out more drum lessons for Muse below…

• “Apocalypse Please” – Drum Fill Video Drum Lesson
• “Assassin” – Drum Fill Notation Drum Lesson
• “City Of Delusion” – Mini Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Dark Side” – Mini Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Dig Down” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
• “Knights Of Cydonia” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
• “Mercy” – Drum Fill Video Drum Lesson
• “Pressure” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Stockholm Syndrome” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
• “Sunburn” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
• “Take A Bow” – Drum Beat Video Drum Lesson
• “Apocalypse Please” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Assassin” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Bliss” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Butterflies And Hurricanes” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Feeling Good” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Hysteria” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Knights Of Cydonia” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Map Of The Problematique” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Muscle Museum” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Plug In Baby” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Psycho” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Starlight” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Stockholm Syndrome” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Time Is Running Out” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson
• “Uprising” – Full Song Video Drum Lesson

 

Browse all FREE drum content by clicking HERE.

 

Alternatively, get access to 100s of FULL-SONG Video Drum Lessons, Song Charts and eBooks by becoming an Online Member below…

Please email rob@drumstheword.com or contact me through the Contact Form if you have any questions at all.