How to play Rosanna on the drums

Here we’re learning the Rosanna groove

Here we are learning how to play Rosanna.  This is the drum beat by Jeff Porcaro on the Toto classic track. It was released on the 1982 Toto IV album and the song won a Grammy award.

It is also one of those holy grail of grooves that most drummers spend their lives trying to replicate but never quite feel like they’ve got Porcaro’s feel.

Jeff Porcaro had the magic touch on the drums and the Rossana drum beat is one of his most recognised grooves.

The Rosanna drum beat is a half time shuffle which means it’s based on the triplet subdivision but the back beat is on beat three giving it that half time feel. That groove itself can be tricky to really master but the Rosonna drum groove adds tasteful ghost notes on the second partial of the triplet to give it a beautifully flowing feel that rolls gracefully and feels really good to play.

Where the difficulty comes in is keeping those ghost notes very quiet and locked in between the hi-hats.

If you want to learn how to play the Rosanna drum beat watch the video below then scroll down to access the lesson. It provides full video instruction and sheet music.

Another classic half time shuffle is Led zeppelin’s Fool in the Rain drum beat so check that out too if you want to learn how to play it.