How to drum Highway To Hell
Highway To Hell Drum Tutorial - AC/DC
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get everyone and welcome to this lesson
for Highway to Hell by ac/dc it's a
great beginner song on the drums but
also there's a few things that chop and
change in the original recording so even
if you know how to play it it might be
worth going back and revisiting it let's
jump on the kit and check it out the
song obviously starts with that classic
guitar riff when the drums come in we're
going to count it in four quarter notes
on the left foot and then come in to our
beat which is pretty straightforward we
keep that same kind of groove going
right throughout the verses
here's how it goes the next thing that
comes up in the drums is just that tiny
little pre-chorus which is a build up
between the snare drum and the floor tom
and it goes like this
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if you find yourself getting lost in
that build-up at all just count it out
one and two and three and four and one
and two and three and four that way
you'll get it right every time moving on
we are into our chorus and the thing I
love about this first chorus is that the
crashes that we play are just a tiny bit
different to the whole rest of the song
so the very first time through we've got
a snare drum on that first crash cymbal
and then the rest of the song we've got
to keep drums just that tiny little
difference that I think helps to make
this song a classic anyway I'll break
down this first chorus slowly
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here's that last bill one more time it
comes in on the end of three we go flam
on the snare first time onto the crash
cymbal on the end of four coming off on
the end of four on that crashing ball
you can just wait until beat two to
bring your high hats and your snare drum
back in and we're just going to go back
to that first verse groove just like
this halfway through the second verse
there's just a tiny change on the drums
we're going to add a sizzle on beat two
right on top of the snare room so what
that means is you just have to bring up
your left foot while your kick drum is
going down it might be a little bit of a
coordination challenge but just take it
slowly and eventually it will click into
place let me show you how it goes so I'm
sure you notice that there's no hi-hat
sizzle in the third bar each time so
that's something else to listen out for
catch it if you can moving on we're into
that pre-chorus again with the build up
this is how it goes
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and then another course which is really
similar to the first course so if you've
already now that this is going to be
pretty easy to put together at the end
of that course there are some hits in
the drums we're playing it crash and
snare together followed by two kick
drums so all up it makes a group of
three and we're playing those in eighth
notes but I don't think you necessarily
have to count it once you listen to the
song and you know that that's the
pattern I think it will all click into
place let me play it slowly
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get that one together without the music
at first if you need to and then add it
back in and I think you'll know exactly
how it fits moving on we're in the
guitar solo and it's a very similar
groove to our chorus coming out of the
guitar solo and going back into the
chorus there's one extra snare drum
which I guess counts as a fill it's
pretty straightforward it just comes in
on beat three in between the snare runs
that we're already playing we're into
our last chorus is now and they are very
similar to what we've already played but
there is one stopping there in the
middle so what I'll do is I'll play
through this whole chorus up to speed
I'll play through that stop and then
I'll come back and do the stop a little
bit slower so that you can count it out
and work out exactly how it goes here we
go
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I'll go back and do that stop which is
on four and four and just playing to
flam's
then we rest four beats one and two and
come back in with the crash cymbals
again hopefully that makes sense and of
course you can count it out if you need
to now we're basically up to the very
last bar in the drums and it's another
stop that's going to come off on the end
of four but before that we have a flam
on b2 and b3 just like this
now I did just say that's the end in the
drums but there is of course a big rock
ending it's mostly guitar but if we fill
it out with a crash cymbal roll a few
eighth notes maybe on the kick drum and
then there's a little tiny drop off that
I'll show you right at the very end of
the song
so first up here's a cymbal roll nice
and easy just single strokes on two
crashes if you've got them one in crash
if that's all you have it absolutely
doesn't matter and just fill out those
kick drums just so I kind of pushes
ahead a little bit then right at the
very end there's a drop off I can't tell
exactly which drums they're on but I
think it sounds good if we go floor tom
first on floor tom kick drum just like
this that's a classic way to end a
classic song that's the end of Highway
to Hell by ac/dc I hope this lesson has
been helpful and I'll catch you in the
next one
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