Hey Stephen. Trust me, I'm not criticizing here; just trying to be helpful to you and everyone else who's benefiting from your magnificent lesson. In addition to the tom notation in bar-4 of the interlude I mentioned earlier, I've also just discovered the notation in bar-2 of second chorus is missing the bell on beat 1 to match the rest of the notation you've so perfectly written for the rest of this chorus with the 3rd variation of the groove. I know how difficult it can be to act as your own editor and how easy it is to miss a simple detail like this when you're writing a sea of notation like this. You've done a masterful job of it, and thank you again for all this hard work to make this song digestible for we mere mortal drummers. :D
Thank you. I am an old southern rock/blues drummer and skipped the 1980's. Now stuck with doing some for a birthday party for a 50-year old. Don't care for the attitude of Don't Stop Believing, but thank goodness for the flavorful drumming, which you so clearly laid out. Gives me a little better appreciation of that era's music.
Hear, here! Give this song it's proper respect and play it correctly! I hear drummers covering this song all the time, and no one gets it right. Thanks, Stephen.
Lee Toowey oh, yeah? Watch any band here cover "Hotel California." Every one of them is wrong. The fills don't NEED any help, for one. HH are in triplets. Snare on 3.
I caught Steve Smith's lesson on this years back, and I'm finally getting to cover it in my band! Love me some Journey! By the way, great lesson. Very broken down, and easy to understand.
wannabudlight2 Thanks so much! And yea, it's best to watch him break it down. Straight from the source. It's honestly a really fun part to play. A nice challenge on some otherwise uninteresting dates I've played in the past.
Steve is one my favorite drummer ever. He can mix the jazz and the rock drumming like no other drummer. And also is a tremendous educator. Stephen, your right crash sounds great. Model? Thanks for the video!!
veterarockero That's actually a ride...22" Renaissance. It's the best cymbal I've ever owned. Great as a ride or crash. And thank you...glad the lesson helped!
I will remember it and not play it wrong anymore (probably)... Thanks man, glad you like my channel. Always a pleasure to get some professional feedback!
I can't think of a single Journey song I like but I do certainly appreciate the work that has gone into every one of their songs and not to mention the addition of the new lead singer. Music has no boarders.
Great. I agree with you, I have seen many drummers doing it wrong, in my leaning process I always want to respect the exact way this song should be played. That's why I always watch this kind of videos. Great bro.
Took me YEARS to finally figure this out after listening to it what seems like a thousand times...all thanks to RUclips. Thanks for confirming for me that I was actually doing it right! I don't think audiences have a clue as to how complicated this can be until you get comfortable with this changing groove. I spend most of my time playing it just concentrating on what I am doing when playing live.
Stephen, let me just say I have noticed this among a whole lotta drummers. Only a handy few actually have seen Steve Smith's instructional video, much less transcribed it/listened to it well. Glad you are getting the word out additionally on this. Preach!
Love it dude. Thanks for the break down. True musicianship with the drums. I’m pretty sure Steve smith is a genius. I learned the first 3 parts in 1 day for a quick gig. But struggled to get the 4th. I just repeated the 3rd part.
Great lesson Steve by one of the greats...! I saw Steve at a clinic several years ago where he played an ad lib solo on a 600 dollar set of Sonors. At around the 15 minute mark I was thinking maybe I should switch to playing triangle.
Amazing video! Thank you! Steve Smith is definitely one of my all time favorite drummers. Another Journey song I always liked (of many great ones of course) is Send Her My Love.
I forgot I had to play this song this Friday and I’m practicing it right now while everyone is sleeping and I’m using an imaginary drum set….thanks for the video and the sheet music!!!
Excellent lesson Stephen. Thanks for systematically breaking it down like that. I learned that from you about a year ago and now we have a little band together and doing our first gig tomorrow. The finale song of our set will be Don't Stop Believing!
When my cover band decided to play it. I found the video to him breaking it down and then listened to it a ton. I’m proud to say I’ve never played this song wrong or I’ll change things around a little just to have fun with it.
Thanks Dude, I learned so much from this lesson for my own drum cover! The 4 bars groove at the end is something special... 😎😎😎 Thanks and Peace ☮️☮️☮️
Drives me nuts every time I see this song played in a bar. No one gets it right! Ever! Even Journey tribute band drummers don't take the time to learn it! Favorite Steve Smith: Dead or Alive with Journey and The Witch and the Priest with Tony MacAlpine.
I remember trying to watch Steve break this down---you did this so well. I knew how complex it was but never took the time to actually learn the true parts. I just loved playing to it but this breaks it down quite well. That last iteration...yowsa!
Steve Smith is an incredible drummer, he’s up there with the best of the best Neil Peart, Danny Carey and others. Steve is the one Neil Peart credits with getting him to work with Freddie Gruber. Don’t Stop Believin’ is one of my favorite drum grooves.
Hey Stephen, Thanks for the lesson! I’ve always wondered how this song went, and never pursued playing it. Your lessons are the BEST man!! Thank you for sharing! Cheers, Scott
Stephen Taylor, doing the Lord's work on this one. Getting the drumming community to play this song correctly is a holy mission worthy of youtube. Lead on General Taylor and we will join you in spreading the truth. (all in in love of course :-)
Great job! I always noticed his beat since I was beginning in drumming. The hardest thing for me was switching to the left hand lead. And like you, I noticed that everyone was playing it wrong. Great job with your tutorial!!
Finally! Even the footage from Steve himself was a bit vague for me. Great job on one of the most haunting set of fills I grew up trying to play on my legs and parent's car headrests, driving to lessons...
SERIOUSLY!! Stop the madness!! This widespread injustice must cease!!! Learn it, love it, LIVE IT! You broke this song down masterfully S.T.!!! Ya know, come to think about it, Steve Smith was the first popular drummer that I can remember playing Zildjian K's... Check it - 1983 'Frontiers' tour: Orange Sonor kit, big-ol' Zildjian K ride. On a personal note, it was a life changing first concert that my dad took me to in Austin Texas at the old Frank Erwin Center. A young rocker from Canada named Bryan Adams was the opening act. Drums have been a way of life since that night - good times
Guilty as charged! Thank you for breaking this down; I have thought about digging into this tune for months, but (shamefully) have always put it off... Great lesson on a sneaky good drum part!
I've always loved how complex this groove is, but have never been in a band that played it. So... I never tried it. Thanks for breaking this down. I'll have to put it on my "to-do" list now.
I have a audition in three weeks and this is the first song of the set. Im replacing a fella that fails this tune. Ive never studied it until now and you really break this down nicely. Great help!! wish me luck
Master class man !! THANK YOU for disecting the beats, I watched the clinic Steve gave (beginning of your video), but is nowhere near as thorough and detailed as you! Major kudos !
What have you done!? I've spent the last 6 years not enjoying this song because of graduation ceremonies and such (they play it every single time). But now that I know how to play it... I LOVE IT!!! Definitely a sweet open hand excercise too!
Lol...I totally get it. It's been requested at gigs I've been on FAR too much. But once you actually learn the part, you kinda look forward to getting to play it. Glad it helped redeem the song for ya!
Last week, my cover band suggested this song, my reaction then was "I could do do this". My reaction now is "I will do this" So yes, I make that promise!
Awesome video. You really broke down the patterns and made them easy to understand. Favorite Steve Smith song is The Perfect Date by Vital Information.
Iteration 4 breakdown isolated 11:01 - measure 1 11:30 - measure 2 12:18 - measure 3 13:04 - measure 4 13:26 - full play slow 14:16 - full play fast I’m playing this song next weekend. :). So this will be my Sunday practice. I got the other parts down. Now time for the guitar solo part. Thanks for the vid.
@@caseykauffman1006 really really good. I played with the most routined and professional band members in my life. It was so cool. Bassist been pro for 25 years. Singer also pro. And keys. Semi pro for 20 years. :). Guitar one of the best amateur players I’ve played with in a long time. And I just pulled this one of like the funkey drumma. People were dancing and singing like crazy. All the way back to the last row. I usually make sure I can sing the drum part. Then it solves itself. This drum part is not that difficult really. It just happens in a unusual order.
Wow I have way more appreciation for Journey than I did before, cause well it just didn't speak to me...shame on me for not listening to the drums. What a composition bravo to him, and thank you for the I opening experience. :)
Hi Stephen. I was able to figure everything up to the second chorus but you filled in the gaps for me on the rest. Thank you. Agreed, one of the best drum parts ever crafted. My favorite Journey tunes with Steve are Mother Father and Escape. The one fill that I have worked on but just can’t seem to nail it is that Separate Ways fill going into the 2nd chorus. Loved your instructional video so much I bought your boot camp. Looking forward to studying it. Cheers.
Finally someone who understands my PAIN! My band is so pissed at me for not wanting to play this song till I get it right... I'm all for improvising and making a song your own but for this one, you are right! Play it properly or not at all. Must be a drummer thing. lol...Thank you for breakin it down, my old ears dont hear everything anymore. Darn tooting rock n roll music!
Maybe you should include the original recording with the instruction so that beginners who haven't heard the song a million times can hear where it fits in. I'm a guitar player since I was 15 in 1985. Took a lot of years playing to get the Journey catalog where it needs to be. Steve is my favorite drummer. His concert solo on the red drums on the Escape tour rocked me. Open Arms has a great drum beat. Actually, all of the songs he plays on are outstanding. Neal is without a doubt my favorite rock guitar player, and G Lynch is my favorite gunslinger. The hair music is what I started on. I think most guitar players are big on drums. Well played, and you are correct about everyone playing it incorrectly. I've never heard anyone play it right.
Thank you for a very well-constructed lesson on this song, Stephen. And forgive me if anyone else has already pointed this out, but there seems to be an error in the notation of bar-4 of the interlude following the first chorus. This is where variation #2 of the groove starts and you played it in the video as a 2-bar loop, but the notation of the toms in bar-4 is not the same as in bar 2. I have no problem playing it as written if this was intentional, but it would so much easier if played as a straight 2-bar loop. Thanks again for making g this song so much easier to understand! :D
I hated playing this song until about two years ago when I actually learned it the right way. Good job. Journey is a great band you should listen to the first couple with Ansley Dunbar before Steve perry. It kills IMHO
Dude, really? You are right about most people just kinda throwing random hits on the toms and bell. I am a huge Steve S. fan and was, was meaning 70's-early 80's. I learned to play drums during this time and played along with them ALOT. This song baffled me like so many of us until the arrival of MTV! Hallelujah! Now I know how he does it. So cool that you made this video!! And I'd have to say that for the fortunate ones as I was, to have seen Journey live in Omni Atlanta, multiple times, we know how unbelievable these guys were!! I've seen alot of shows but have never seen anything like what we experienced then!! You really had to be there. Incredibly talented guys for sure.. Thanks for all your doing in your work brother!
Never really gave Journey a chance, though I totally love Steve Smith, I've watched all sort of videos of him, demoing cymbals and drums, watched him teach, watched him play jazz, fusiony stuff, bluesy stuff, sort of indian/world music stuff; the guy is versatile and has an incredibly light feel, I think I could recognize his drum sound from a line-up! This lesson was awesome, hope you have more of those super topical/song deconstruction lessons, these really pack a ton of useful material. Anyways one suggestion - along with your online lessons consider having a patreon type thing up too. There's lots of us who maybe don't have time for a full on drum course but who definitely appreciate your youtube lessons and would definitely chip in to keep them coming; Alright, imma go find me some Journey music and get educated!
Oh Boy!! I definitely have been butchering that groove!! Ok Stephen you have my word, I will start working on playing this groove correctly! Thanks for sharing and caring about us drummers!! God bless! To answer your question, I love the drum grooves on " Dead or Alive", "Keep On Running" and "Escape"!
Nice breakdown man. I too have been guilty of playing this song totally wrong at various weddings and other events over the years, which is usually the only time I play this song haha. However I'm stoked to actually use these parts correctly next time. Thanks!
i have to learn this for school on drums and this has just given me a head start thanks stephen (by the way my name isn't bernice im on my grandmas laptop lol) again thank you :)
Thank you, Stephan! Did you tune your drums specially for this video? I'm a member of your drum school but have not gotten to a section on tuning...which I think is very important. You kit sounds exactly right for the song.
It's not easy...once it progresses to that four bar loop at the end, it's hard to keep your place...and open handed...and lots of toms...and ride cymbal bell.....
Also just a GREAT exercise on open handed / Tom & bell melody practice. Do it at 130/140/150/160/etc. I also play right handed w/ ride cymbal. Snare / Tom with LH.
Yea...a lot of players miss that. Because, usually, the last chorus repeats what the previous had. But in this case it repeats it, it just extends it as well.
Thanks for the lesson, Stephen! Favourite Journey song? Would probably be either ‘Walks Like a Lady’ (fantastic brushwork from Steve Smith) or ‘Precious Time’. Favourite Steve Smith song would have to be ‘Well In That Case’ by Steps Ahead. Look it up if you don’t already know it offhand.
The sheet music for the entire drum part to this song is in the video description yo...
Stephen Taylor Stephen do you have email or ig,please let me know if you don’t mind,I wanna asking bout drum notation.Thank ku very much
you need to play and learn all your songs like this...you can do it!.. -_-
Hey Stephen. Trust me, I'm not criticizing here; just trying to be helpful to you and everyone else who's benefiting from your magnificent lesson. In addition to the tom notation in bar-4 of the interlude I mentioned earlier, I've also just discovered the notation in bar-2 of second chorus is missing the bell on beat 1 to match the rest of the notation you've so perfectly written for the rest of this chorus with the 3rd variation of the groove. I know how difficult it can be to act as your own editor and how easy it is to miss a simple detail like this when you're writing a sea of notation like this. You've done a masterful job of it, and thank you again for all this hard work to make this song digestible for we mere mortal drummers. :D
I downloaded but never got it.
How do i find the description section.
Love Steve Smith. He’s so mellow and humble acting and rocks like an animal. Love em
Indeed he does
Sadly his Journey has come to an end. ...again.
Thank you. I am an old southern rock/blues drummer and skipped the 1980's. Now stuck with doing some for a birthday party for a 50-year old. Don't care for the attitude of Don't Stop Believing, but thank goodness for the flavorful drumming, which you so clearly laid out. Gives me a little better appreciation of that era's music.
Hear, here! Give this song it's proper respect and play it correctly! I hear drummers covering this song all the time, and no one gets it right.
Thanks, Stephen.
Lol...you bet Lee!
Lee Toowey oh, yeah? Watch any band here cover "Hotel California."
Every one of them is wrong. The fills don't NEED any help, for one. HH are in triplets. Snare on 3.
I caught Steve Smith's lesson on this years back, and I'm finally getting to cover it in my band! Love me some Journey! By the way, great lesson. Very broken down, and easy to understand.
wannabudlight2 Thanks so much! And yea, it's best to watch him break it down. Straight from the source. It's honestly a really fun part to play. A nice challenge on some otherwise uninteresting dates I've played in the past.
I keep coming back to this over and over, and finally got it. Thank you so much!
Steve is one my favorite drummer ever. He can mix the jazz and the rock drumming like no other drummer. And also is a tremendous educator. Stephen, your right crash sounds great. Model? Thanks for the video!!
veterarockero That's actually a ride...22" Renaissance. It's the best cymbal I've ever owned. Great as a ride or crash. And thank you...glad the lesson helped!
Stephen Taylor Thanks. Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱🙌
Thank you Stephen, I love the dissection of that song. Bravo! Keep up the outstanding work.
I never realized how complex it is.. I am sorry, haha.
Lol...neither did I for years. It really is a genius drum part when you look at it under a microscope. Btw, keep up the work you do ;^)
I will remember it and not play it wrong anymore (probably)...
Thanks man, glad you like my channel. Always a pleasure to get some professional feedback!
I can't think of a single Journey song I like but I do certainly appreciate the work that has gone into every one of their songs and not to mention the addition of the new lead singer. Music has no boarders.
Great. I agree with you, I have seen many drummers doing it wrong, in my leaning process I always want to respect the exact way this song should be played. That's why I always watch this kind of videos. Great bro.
Extremely nice breakdown on the 4 different parts of the song , you definitely helped me understand it better.
Took me YEARS to finally figure this out after listening to it what seems like a thousand times...all thanks to RUclips. Thanks for confirming for me that I was actually doing it right! I don't think audiences have a clue as to how complicated this can be until you get comfortable with this changing groove. I spend most of my time playing it just concentrating on what I am doing when playing live.
Yea, it's one that you have to think about live for sure. Glad your ears led you right ;^)
Absolutely loved the way you broke that down!!! Genius!!! Thank you!!!
Thanks Frank!
Stephen, let me just say I have noticed this among a whole lotta drummers. Only a handy few actually have seen Steve Smith's instructional video, much less transcribed it/listened to it well. Glad you are getting the word out additionally on this. Preach!
"Stone in Love' is probably my favorite Journey song. Underrated and underplayed!
One of the first songs I learned. Fun to play too.
Love it dude. Thanks for the break down. True musicianship with the drums. I’m pretty sure Steve smith is a genius. I learned the first 3 parts in 1 day for a quick gig. But struggled to get the 4th. I just repeated the 3rd part.
Amazing video Stephen. Teaching this song to one of my students and didn’t know how cool this groove actually was once looking at it properly! 🔥
Great lesson Steve by one of the greats...! I saw Steve at a clinic several years ago where he played an ad lib solo on a 600 dollar set of Sonors. At around the 15 minute mark I was thinking maybe I should switch to playing triangle.
Yea...that guy...saw him recently with the Airmen of Note playing a Buddy Rich tribute set. Just sickeningly amazing.
Amazing video! Thank you!
Steve Smith is definitely one of my all time favorite drummers.
Another Journey song I always liked (of many great ones of course) is Send Her My Love.
I forgot I had to play this song this Friday and I’m practicing it right now while everyone is sleeping and I’m using an imaginary drum set….thanks for the video and the sheet music!!!
Thanks for this! I could hear it was different and progressive. Have had fun having a go at it anyway. Now I can learn it properly!! 🙏🏻🥁🙌🏻
Glad it helped Vicky!
Excellent lesson Stephen. Thanks for systematically breaking it down like that. I learned that from you about a year ago and now we have a little band together and doing our first gig tomorrow. The finale song of our set will be Don't Stop Believing!
Great breakdown! Thanks for posting.
When my cover band decided to play it. I found the video to him breaking it down and then listened to it a ton. I’m proud to say I’ve never played this song wrong or I’ll change things around a little just to have fun with it.
Thanks Dude, I learned so much from this lesson for my own drum cover! The 4 bars groove at the end is something special... 😎😎😎 Thanks and Peace ☮️☮️☮️
Drives me nuts every time I see this song played in a bar. No one gets it right! Ever! Even Journey tribute band drummers don't take the time to learn it! Favorite Steve Smith: Dead or Alive with Journey and The Witch and the Priest with Tony MacAlpine.
Awesome video. I am a beginner and this has been a great song to try to learn because it introduces many new elements.
I remember trying to watch Steve break this down---you did this so well. I knew how complex it was but never took the time to actually learn the true parts. I just loved playing to it but this breaks it down quite well. That last iteration...yowsa!
Thank You. Broken down well. Was watching many videos to do a cover and finally settled down with this. I hope to make justice to this song.
So glad it helped!
Just joined a cover band that has this one on the list...brings a joy to my heart to have this explanation...thanks so much!!
Steve Smith is an incredible drummer, he’s up there with the best of the best Neil Peart, Danny Carey and others. Steve is the one Neil Peart credits with getting him to work with Freddie Gruber. Don’t Stop Believin’ is one of my favorite drum grooves.
Hey Stephen,
Thanks for the lesson!
I’ve always wondered how this song went, and never pursued playing it.
Your lessons are the BEST man!!
Thank you for sharing!
Cheers,
Scott
Stephen Taylor, doing the Lord's work on this one. Getting the drumming community to play this song correctly is a holy mission worthy of youtube. Lead on General Taylor and we will join you in spreading the truth. (all in in love of course :-)
Nice lesson, Stephen!!! I m going to play this song and this video has helped me a lot! Thank you so much
Great job! I always noticed his beat since I was beginning in drumming. The hardest thing for me was switching to the left hand lead. And like you, I noticed that everyone was playing it wrong. Great job with your tutorial!!
Never played it correctly. Nice to see the breakdown. I'll study it. Thanks.
Finally! Even the footage from Steve himself was a bit vague for me. Great job on one of the most haunting set of fills I grew up trying to play on my legs and parent's car headrests, driving to lessons...
Amazing job ! Sounds exactly like the album ! Love your videos Stephen !!
Thanks!
That was so helpful! Thanks a lot and keep up the great job! Cheers from Spain
SERIOUSLY!! Stop the madness!! This widespread injustice must cease!!! Learn it, love it, LIVE IT!
You broke this song down masterfully S.T.!!! Ya know, come to think about it, Steve Smith was the first popular drummer that I can remember playing Zildjian K's... Check it - 1983 'Frontiers' tour: Orange Sonor kit, big-ol' Zildjian K ride. On a personal note, it was a life changing first concert that my dad took me to in Austin Texas at the old Frank Erwin Center. A young rocker from Canada named Bryan Adams was the opening act. Drums have been a way of life since that night - good times
Great lesson, I've always loved this beat, but never considered it in such detail before.
Guilty as charged! Thank you for breaking this down; I have thought about digging into this tune for months, but (shamefully) have always put it off...
Great lesson on a sneaky good drum part!
Well...now you have no excuses lol. Glad you dug the lesson!
thank you very much sir for the detailed lesson..such a big help 👍👌😊
I've always loved how complex this groove is, but have never been in a band that played it. So... I never tried it. Thanks for breaking this down. I'll have to put it on my "to-do" list now.
footnotedrummer You bet!
I have a audition in three weeks and this is the first song of the set. Im replacing a fella that fails this tune. Ive never studied it until now and you really break this down nicely. Great help!! wish me luck
Good luck!
Good luck!
Will you update us..did you get the gig?
Master class man !! THANK YOU for disecting the beats, I watched the clinic Steve gave (beginning of your video), but is nowhere near as thorough and detailed as you! Major kudos !
Holy crap the song is carried by the vocals and the drums, i love waking up to old music through new ears. Slanche
It really is
What have you done!? I've spent the last 6 years not enjoying this song because of graduation ceremonies and such (they play it every single time). But now that I know how to play it... I LOVE IT!!! Definitely a sweet open hand excercise too!
Lol...I totally get it. It's been requested at gigs I've been on FAR too much. But once you actually learn the part, you kinda look forward to getting to play it. Glad it helped redeem the song for ya!
Last week, my cover band suggested this song, my reaction then was "I could do do this".
My reaction now is "I will do this"
So yes, I make that promise!
Awesome video. You really broke down the patterns and made them easy to understand. Favorite Steve Smith song is The Perfect Date by Vital Information.
Finally, someone who gets it right, other that Dr. Steve! Great walk through here, first one I have seen that is spot on.
Thanks so much Derek!
This is great, thanks. Our band is going to cover this and I really had a hard time breaking this down.
Iteration 4 breakdown isolated
11:01 - measure 1
11:30 - measure 2
12:18 - measure 3
13:04 - measure 4
13:26 - full play slow
14:16 - full play fast
I’m playing this song next weekend. :). So this will be my Sunday practice. I got the other parts down. Now time for the guitar solo part. Thanks for the vid.
How did it go?
@@caseykauffman1006 really really good. I played with the most routined and professional band members in my life. It was so cool. Bassist been pro for 25 years. Singer also pro. And keys. Semi pro for 20 years. :). Guitar one of the best amateur players I’ve played with in a long time. And I just pulled this one of like the funkey drumma. People were dancing and singing like crazy. All the way back to the last row.
I usually make sure I can sing the drum part. Then it solves itself. This drum part is not that difficult really. It just happens in a unusual order.
Another great drum breakdown by the master. Thx!
You bet!
Wow I have way more appreciation for Journey than I did before, cause well it just didn't speak to me...shame on me for not listening to the drums. What a composition bravo to him, and thank you for the I opening experience. :)
You bet!
The first two vital information albums are favs. And journey songs like escape and stone in love have great feels.
Nice job you explaned it very well ! La do da is a good one.
Jerry Armstrong Thanks Jerry...and I'll agree, that's a great song
Stephen, thanks a whole lot for this very well made tutorial.
You bet!
This drum sound mix is on point
Thanks for the lesson, I enjoy opportunities to play open handed and didn’t realize it was played this way.
You bet!
Dude thanks for doing this ! Everyone needs this lesson lol
I'm so glad the kick doesn't change!
lol
thanks, this lesson is great, thanks for helping, thanks Professor
Thankyou so much Stephen ❤️
I love Steve's work on Jon Luc Pontes album Enigmatic Ocean...great lesson Steve.
Thanks Stephen!
Dude - great lesson. One of favorites. Thanks for doing this vid
Chris Nix Thanks Chris...and you're more than welcome my friend
Hi Stephen. I was able to figure everything up to the second chorus but you filled in the gaps for me on the rest. Thank you. Agreed, one of the best drum parts ever crafted. My favorite Journey tunes with Steve are Mother Father and Escape. The one fill that I have worked on but just can’t seem to nail it is that Separate Ways fill going into the 2nd chorus. Loved your instructional video so much I bought your boot camp. Looking forward to studying it. Cheers.
What a great lesson! Have a gig coming up where we will cover this tune and you saved me!
Dude! You got it right! Thanks!
It's aaalllll about Lights for me. Love that blusey feel they do so well
guitardavepdx man, that is such a great tune
Another "harder than you'd think" song.
I forced myself to learn this exactly, years ago out of respect for Steve's parts!
Amen to this video!
Damn, I knew this was hard, thks for the break down! I’m going to give it a shot!
Finally someone who understands my PAIN! My band is so pissed at me for not wanting to play this song till I get it right... I'm all for improvising and making a song your own but for this one, you are right! Play it properly or not at all. Must be a drummer thing. lol...Thank you for breakin it down, my old ears dont hear everything anymore. Darn tooting rock n roll music!
Thank you sooo much for thisI have a gig this this weekend and I have never played it.
Maybe you should include the original recording with the instruction so that beginners who haven't heard the song a million times can hear where it fits in. I'm a guitar player since I was 15 in 1985. Took a lot of years playing to get the Journey catalog where it needs to be. Steve is my favorite drummer. His concert solo on the red drums on the Escape tour rocked me. Open Arms has a great drum beat. Actually, all of the songs he plays on are outstanding. Neal is without a doubt my favorite rock guitar player, and G Lynch is my favorite gunslinger. The hair music is what I started on. I think most guitar players are big on drums. Well played, and you are correct about everyone playing it incorrectly. I've never heard anyone play it right.
Thanks again for this lesson! Drives me nuts when drummers don't learn this song!
Excellent breakdown. I'm a beginner and was trying this; came close but of course wrong lol.
Gonna use your video to practice so thank you!
Thank you for a very well-constructed lesson on this song, Stephen. And forgive me if anyone else has already pointed this out, but there seems to be an error in the notation of bar-4 of the interlude following the first chorus. This is where variation #2 of the groove starts and you played it in the video as a 2-bar loop, but the notation of the toms in bar-4 is not the same as in bar 2. I have no problem playing it as written if this was intentional, but it would so much easier if played as a straight 2-bar loop. Thanks again for making g this song so much easier to understand! :D
Favorite Steve Smith song for me is Stone In Love.
Tate Davis That's a great one
I hated playing this song until about two years ago when I actually learned it the right way. Good job. Journey is a great band you should listen to the first couple with Ansley Dunbar before Steve perry. It kills IMHO
Yea, Ansley was great as well
Marko Lira Aynsley Dunbar is top draw too. In fact I can't think of a Frank Zappa who wasn't. 20 plus years of amazing drummers.
Finally! thank you!!
Practicing this song now for an upcoming gig: thnx for this !!
You bet
This is great 👍🏽👍🏽
Thank you 🙏🏽
You bet!
Dude, really? You are right about most people just kinda throwing random hits on the toms and bell. I am a huge Steve S. fan and was, was meaning 70's-early 80's. I learned to play drums during this time and played along with them ALOT. This song baffled me like so many of us until the arrival of MTV! Hallelujah! Now I know how he does it. So cool that you made this video!! And I'd have to say that for the fortunate ones as I was, to have seen Journey live in Omni Atlanta, multiple times, we know how unbelievable these guys were!! I've seen alot of shows but have never seen anything like what we experienced then!! You really had to be there. Incredibly talented guys for sure.. Thanks for all your doing in your work brother!
Sorry, meant to refer to the old Journey was the best in my opinion. Will always be a Steve Smith fan
Clayton Richardson You're more than welcome Clayton...thanks for the kind words.
Never really gave Journey a chance, though I totally love Steve Smith, I've watched all sort of videos of him, demoing cymbals and drums, watched him teach, watched him play jazz, fusiony stuff, bluesy stuff, sort of indian/world music stuff; the guy is versatile and has an incredibly light feel, I think I could recognize his drum sound from a line-up!
This lesson was awesome, hope you have more of those super topical/song deconstruction lessons, these really pack a ton of useful material.
Anyways one suggestion - along with your online lessons consider having a patreon type thing up too. There's lots of us who maybe don't have time for a full on drum course but who definitely appreciate your youtube lessons and would definitely chip in to keep them coming;
Alright, imma go find me some Journey music and get educated!
Oh Boy!! I definitely have been butchering that groove!! Ok Stephen you have my word, I will start working on playing this groove correctly! Thanks for sharing and caring about us drummers!! God bless! To answer your question, I love the drum grooves on " Dead or Alive", "Keep On Running" and "Escape"!
muito bom. obrigado pela lesson, thanks a lot. great lesson!
Great lesson! Let's see if we meet on a gig and I hopefully play it right because of you :D
Nice breakdown man. I too have been guilty of playing this song totally wrong at various weddings and other events over the years, which is usually the only time I play this song haha. However I'm stoked to actually use these parts correctly next time. Thanks!
Amazing brother
finally some one pull this one.. Thanks a lot :)
You bet!
thanks for the sheet music u da man!
You bet
This is a Great lesson. I dont know how many times I have seen it....
PLEASE do Open arms also.
It is so different.
Ulf from Sweden
Thank you for making this comprehendable.
I wondered how he did that beat.
You bet Jason
Stephen Taylor Such a insanely cool beat!
i have to learn this for school on drums and this has just given me a head start thanks stephen
(by the way my name isn't bernice im on my grandmas laptop lol) again thank you :)
Glad it helped!
Thank you, Stephan! Did you tune your drums specially for this video? I'm a member of your drum school but have not gotten to a section on tuning...which I think is very important. You kit sounds exactly right for the song.
I had to learn this recently for a school reunion gig...took some practice and still struggle with it
It's not easy...once it progresses to that four bar loop at the end, it's hard to keep your place...and open handed...and lots of toms...and ride cymbal bell.....
Also just a GREAT exercise on open handed / Tom & bell melody practice. Do it at 130/140/150/160/etc. I also play right handed w/ ride cymbal. Snare / Tom with LH.
Very nice breakdown, never noticed the 4 bar loop before towards the end
Yea...a lot of players miss that. Because, usually, the last chorus repeats what the previous had. But in this case it repeats it, it just extends it as well.
Thanks for the lesson, Stephen! Favourite Journey song? Would probably be either ‘Walks Like a Lady’ (fantastic brushwork from Steve Smith) or ‘Precious Time’. Favourite Steve Smith song would have to be ‘Well In That Case’ by Steps Ahead. Look it up if you don’t already know it offhand.
Harrison Myers haven't hear Wlaks like a lady. Will look it up...thanks!
Stephen Taylor ‘Walks Like a Lady’ was the second track on the Departure album circa 1980. Opening track was the smash hit ‘Any Way You Want It’.
Stephen hi from Brazil... can you do a video breaking down Alex VH drum part on Jump, specially the part he plays over Eddie's solo?