Any tips on tabbing drums by ear

[Metallicious]

Hei guys was just wondering is there any guidelines/tips to tab the drum parts of a song by ear? Appreciate the help.:chug:

[DrumIntoTheNight]

If you're really stuck, slow it down on Media Player or something similar, and if you can spare the money, download TabTrax, so you get neat notation and tabs, plus you can play it back to check you've tabbed it right.

[Retarded Chipple]

Um, listen real close over and over again?

Thats all I ever did!

When you've tabbed it or a certain section, listen to the actual song whilst reading the tab to if the match up.

[crazyguy832]

Get Audacity, you can slow the song down while keeping the pitch the same.

Try playing the song.

Just keep playing drums. I can tell more of what's going on in a song now than I could even a couple months ago.

Oh, and try finding music vids and/or live performances of the song.

[Zildjian_man]

If you count with it, it makes it easier

[Metallicious]

Ok thanks guys,will try all of it. Actually I've been drumming like less than a month. Can't wait to get in a band. Maybe as time goes by I'll tab songs a lot faster and easier.

[Pauly]

Concentrate on one voice at a time. Start with the hihats, then move to bass and then snare. After you have all the accents, start listening for the ghost notes and other subtleties.

It's just another skill, so it takes time. I've looked back on some of the things I've transposed in the past, and I wondered how I ever came up with them. Some are just completely wrong!

[Grumma]

Also useful to start by doing easier songs.

Or even taking a crappy tab of a song and trying to correct it

[skidrumbum]

use your ears

[Metallicious]

Hey guys quick question here, so i tabbed smashing pumkins-1979, i got the beat down which is something like this

S |--o-----o-----o-----o|
B |o---o-o---o-o---o-o--|

The problem is i couldn't figure out the hi hats hits.So how do i actually play it? You guys have to hear the song for the feel. Sorry for the messed up tab. Any help appreciated. thanks

[maniac0796]

Know the songs. Most of the songs I've figured out by ear have been ones i listen to lots. Some times to an extent where the drum part is just sitting my head. I have to sit on a bus an hour each weekday so i usually just sit there and tap drum parts out. It's helped me a lot.

If you've got to travel somewhere, put some music on, and just try tapping out the part with your hands on your knee's, and your feet!

[jiashen]

I think it's useful to work on your syncopation, like accenting all the different notes on the bar, counting them out. I don't have the book syncopation, but I'd imagine it's all about that. haha. For certain fills and ideas, you can figure it out just by counting out the accent patterns.

[Metallicious]

ok thanks will try it out guys

[rohbit]

Know the songs. Most of the songs I've figured out by ear have been ones i listen to lots. Some times to an extent where the drum part is just sitting my head. I have to sit on a bus an hour each weekday so i usually just sit there and tap drum parts out. It's helped me a lot.

If you've got to travel somewhere, put some music on, and just try tapping out the part with your hands on your knee's, and your feet!

Great advice right there. Really, you'll find that as you learn more and more on the drums, you'll be able to recognise beats.

I'll give you an example: Killing in the Name Of by rage against tha machine

When I first tried to learn that song 2 years ago, I couldnt' figure out the drum part for the life of me. I just wasn't experienced enough to disect it. I eventually downloaded a Tab and in the process learnt a few new ideas. After that, I could recognize that beat and could figure out other beats that were somewhat similar or that used the "new" ideas I'd learnt.

I remember when I first started, i couldn't figure out what the guy from GOB was playing for Lemon Aid. I listened to it recently and that realized that I could've played that a month after I began.

As maniac said, just load some of your fav songs onto an mp3 player or a CD and tap away on the bus. I don't get time to practice and most of my time practicing is spent on the bus slamming away on my legs and pissing off fellow travellers with my constant tippity tapping.

I learnt how to play paradiddles with my feet whilst keeping a 2 4 beat with my hands that way :D.

Btw, if you wanna do the bass without pissing people off, plant your toes and just tap your heel. The fat part of your sneakers near your heel will absorb alot of the sound. Also, another thing that helps is if you have lose sneakers play INSIDE the shoe, not outside. That way for every single bass hit, you can get like 3 inside the shoe.

[helpmeplease]

this is sorta off topic but does anyone have the tabs for dark blue by jacks mannequin? im not sure how they play it

[breakinben_freak]

just listen to the song over and over. if your just sittin at home or wateva listenin to the song, listen closely to wat the drummer is doin. wat i do is just listen to the song and tap along to it on a desk or on my knees, wateva. you'll find the more you listen to songs and the longer you play drums it will become very easy to learn by ear. after a while you'll be able to pick up alot of a song after just a couple of listenings.

[Grumma]

Hey guys quick question here, so i tabbed smashing pumkins-1979, i got the beat down which is something like this

S |--o-----o-----o-----o|
B |o---o-o---o-o---o-o--|

The problem is i couldn't figure out the hi hats hits.So how do i actually play it? You guys have to hear the song for the feel. Sorry for the messed up tab. Any help appreciated. thanks


H :x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
S |--o-----o-----o-----o|
B |o---o-o---o-o---o-o--|

Could be like that, or even

H :x---x---x---x---x---x-
S |--o-----o-----o-----o|
B |o---o-o---o-o---o-o--|

They'd be my guess.

And while I'm at it are there any threads specifically for uploading audio of you playing?