How to drum Like Travis Barker
5 Tips for Drumming Like Travis Barker
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Dudes.
I was going through my submission pile for that mega request video and I saw that many
of you would thoroughly dig some blink-182 drumming action in your lives.
But Travis Barker is the first drummer I ever knew by name.
He drummed the first record I ever owned and headlined the first concert I ever attended...DAMMIT
the man is on my Mount Rushdude of Drumming and his art cannot be contained in a 10 second
snippet filmed in my moldy basement.
And it’s not like a pile of 10 second snippets can contain it either, but c’mon man, I
need love from strangers on the internet to feel like a worthwhile person,
so without further Mountain Dew here is my attempt at 5 Travis Barker signature gnarly
drumming techniques.
Number one: Go Hard.
Let me start by establishing the baseline level of thrash you gotta bring to this dude’s
music.
Alright so there’s your center.
But on behalf of my sensitive musicians around the world, what about dynamics man?
What if we need to bring the mood down?
I propose that Travis’s dynamic choices are in the instrument he chooses, not in how
loud or soft he plays.
So in keeping with rule number one, you smack the ehmehmehm out of whatever you smack, and
if you need to make less noise, you create the illusion of a softer dynamic by smacking
the ehmehmehm out of something that’s less inherently ear bleedingly loud, like a side
snare or rims.
I thought the internet could use some more of that verse.
Now, for the jazzers out there who are still not satisfied, well, this entire genre of
music was invented as a rebellion against my step-dad, and you’re acting a lot like
my step-dad right now by trying to control the volume of my outrage [slowly raise middle
finger, cut will happen as soon as we perceive it].
Aaand lastly, to solidify rule number one once and for all, I have two parting words
for you dudes: Fortissimo.
Cowbell.
Number 2: Think of your cymbals as extensions of your drums.
So many of my favorite Travis grooves harness the entire orchestra of sounds the drumset
offers.
So while the rest of us are thinking of cymbals as just phrase punctuation, the dude himself
utilizes his plates like they’re just higher voiced drums and throws ‘em right into regular
patterns, dig it:
Number 3: Get your marching chops together.
Exhibit A: The snare march.
It’s basically the default blink-182 bridge beat, so there are alot to choose from…Here’s
a random one.
Exhibit B: Take that marching pattern to the ride for the gentler moments.
Exhibit C: Turn those marching chops into hat patterns dude.
Number 4 Dudes.
Know your half time, full time, double time, and punk time in any tempo, and master the
flow from any one to any other.
(or KYHTFTDTPTATMFAOAO when you’re drum hanging with your drum bros and you wanna
use rad abbreviations…d).
What I mean by that is “Half time…full time, double time, punk time”.
To play this kinda music you wanna be in touch with each of those resolutions for any given
tune, regardless of the original feel.
Check out Travis’s masterful flow between them; I’ll give you a few examples so you
can really dig it.
Number Five: Get your singles together, which is admittedly also number 5 from the Carter
Beauford video.
But the Travis singles so differently from the Carter.
Think less sleek and way more raw, just riddled with random accents from either hand throughout.
Exhibit A: Here’s the classic manifestation of what I mean, you hear this move all over
the blink catalog.
Exhibit B: The classic... for 8 BARS STRAIGHT.
Exhibit C, and I’ll leave you on this one, it’s the pinnacle of Travis Barker smashing
drums in half, you single for an entire bridge, you break up the phrases, you mix triples
in with the duples, you bleed from the hands and you cry for your mom, check it:
Dudes, thank you for watching and digging!
If you’re a fan of Travis Barker’s music, show him some love in the comments because
he signed a drumstick for me to give away to one lucky subscriber of this here dudely
channel.
I’ll keep an eye out for ya.
¡Later dudes!
