{"id":27881,"date":"2021-03-26T08:11:05","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T15:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/?p=27881"},"modified":"2023-11-21T14:56:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T22:56:09","slug":"how-to-cover-acdc-on-drums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/how-to-cover-acdc-on-drums\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Mistakes Drummers Make When Covering AC\/DC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vWAR8pif9Sc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Are you playing AC\/DC songs on the drums? Want to know how to sound more like Phil Rudd? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dave Atkinson plays in an AC\/DC tribute band and has analyzed the drum parts <em>to death<\/em>. He&#8217;s noticed a lot of mistakes drummers make when trying to play like Phil Rudd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the video and learn how to do these songs the justice they deserve!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Using the wrong gear<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>It might seem obvious, but the closer your gear is to Phil Rudd&#8217;s, the more you&#8217;ll sound like AC\/DC. Use big drums (or the right samples on an electronic kit) to get that heavy, beefy sound. Big rock cymbals are key, with lots of sustain, and a washy ride cymbal you can really lay into. If &#8220;Thunderstruck&#8221; doesn&#8217;t sound thunderous, you&#8217;ve got work to do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Not playing loud or with confidence<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>AC\/DC embodies that quintessential rock sound, with drums prominent in the mix. Don&#8217;t hold back &#8211; put some balls into it! This is rock and roll, so rock out, and turn up to 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Forgetting to master the kick and snare<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>AC\/DC beats are simple &#8211; but why do they sound <em>so good<\/em> when Phil Rudd plays them? Forget what your teacher has told you about your bass drum technique and bury that beater to get a solid punch. You&#8217;ll need a loud and consistent backbeat (let someone else worry about ghost notes) and a beefy snare crack. Rimshots will help you sound epic in the chorus, so practice them at different tempos so you nail them every time. <br><br>You&#8217;ll also be playing lots of shots (bass, snare, crash) on both the downbeat and backbeat, as well as pushes on the and of 4, so make sure these are tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Ignoring hi-hat details<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The groove lives in the kick and snare, but it&#8217;s hi-hat nuances that really differentiate one song from the next. A lot of drummers miss this. Phil isn&#8217;t just playing consistent 8th notes on the hi-hat in every song. Even &#8220;Thunderstruck&#8221; has dynamics on the hats. When you&#8217;re learning AC\/DC songs, listen carefully to how loose or tight they are on the original recording. There are many positions between 100% open and 100% closed! Figure out exactly how much pressure your hand and foot need to apply to perfectly replicate Phil Rudd&#8217;s sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Missing key shots and fills<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Because there&#8217;s so much space in AC\/DC songs, every shot and fill is important. For example, the intro to &#8220;Shoot To Thrill&#8221; is so iconic that if you don&#8217;t play it right, the audience is going to know it. Pay careful attention to detail, just like the hi-hats. If you don&#8217;t have the time or patience to map out every shot and fill, there are over 20 AC\/DC song transcriptions inside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drumeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. Forgetting the special effects<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><br>You may not have the resources to bring a massive bell to your gigs -or permission to use an actual cannon on stage &#8211; but you need some of those key effects to give your audience the true AC\/DC experience. Dave uses a compact Roland TM-2 and a rim trigger to get his sounds for &#8220;Hells Bells&#8221; and &#8220;For Those About To Rock&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/25190016\/ACDC-Samples.zip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to download a zip folder of Dave&#8217;s sample files to use for your own AC\/DC covers!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/weeklyemail\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Think covering AC\/DC is easy? Here are the biggest mistakes drummers make when covering one of classic rock&#8217;s biggest bands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4016,4022],"tags":[4052],"class_list":["post-27881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-songs","category-tutorials-and-transcriptions","tag-songs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27881"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49484,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27881\/revisions\/49484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}