“Achilles Last Stand”Led Zeppelin (John Bonham)

Level: Intermediate (0:28)John Bonham couldn't play a boring drum fill if he tried. Even when he played something simple it still sounded interesting thanks to his unique “feel” and dynamics.

Lets take a look at the first of three great drum fills that demonstrate this ability of his. The first fill consists of a line of sixteenth notes, starting on beat 3 of the first bar below, which contain both accented and ghosted snare drum notes.

Original Transcription (0:28):

The first thing we can do to simplify this drum fill is to remove the ghost notes so that only the main accented snare drum notes are played. This drum fill still sounds like Bonham's original performance but is a great substitute if you are finding the ghost notes hard to play quietly.

Now that you can play the un-ghosted version comfortably, lets try adding the ghost notes back into the pattern. The key to this lick is not how loud the accents are played but how quietly the ghost notes are played.

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Level: Intermediate (1:17)Bonham throws out a super fast line of sixteenth note triplets for this drum fill, starting on beat 1 and repeated for every beat of the bar. This drum fill really is blisteringly fast and requires a loose grip and supple wrists!

Original Transcription (1:17):

A great way to practice the timing of sixteenth note triplets is to play the bass drum on all four beats of the bar whilst your hands play six evenly spaced hand-to-hand notes on the snare drum. Focus on keeping the bass drum steady and your hands even. Once you feel comfortable with the pulse you can then speed it up and work on increasing tempo.

Now, all you have to do to play Bonham's version is take out the extra bass drum notes, practice moving from drum to drum and start the fill on the half open hi-hat of beat 1.

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Level: Intermediate (5:27)For this amazing drum fill, Bonham throws up his hands to incorporate the crash cymbals, using both his right and left hand.

Original Transcription (5:27):

This drum fill contains just one four note pattern repeated for each beat of the bar. Below we see this pattern. Note that the right hand strikes the crash cymbal with the bass drum the same as the left hand. Practice looping this pattern until the left hand feels comfortable striking the crash with the bass drum.

Once you have this four note pattern down, you can then put it all together and work on busting out this lick at the tempo Bonham plays it!

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