How to play When the Levee Breaks on drums
Learn how to play Led Zeppelin’s classic groove in a live setting
In this drum lesson we will learn how to play When the Levee Breaks on drums. This is a Led Zeppelin classic track from the 1971 Led zeppelin Four album with none other than John Bonham on drums of course. There’s a lot of mystique around this groove and the song is famous among musicians for the unique character of the drum.
This was created largely by the space it was recorded in as well as certain effects that were applied to the sound having being discovered by accident. The result was a huge sound that many a drummer has tried to copy since.
The problem is that without us being in an old manor house at the bottom the a stairwell, with Bonham’s kit and the particular effects unit to hand, we will never quite sound like the record. And that’s OK because it’s unrealistic to think we’ll sound exactly like that.
So this lesson looks at how to play when the levee breaks on drums using a little cheat. We are going to add a few notes to create the effect that was produced on the record of the original song. Therefore this is not the correct drum part that Bonham played but a slightly modified b eat to create the correct sound. Or close to the correct sound.
If you want to learn the actual drum part note for note then grab the sheet music for When the Levee Breaks.
You might also like to learn how to play Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song on the drums too.
But for now watch the video below to hear it and then scroll down to access the full lesson.
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