Chords for La Grange Drum Tutorial - ZZ Top

G'day everybody, this lesson we are going right the way back to some classic tunes by ZZ Top
This lesson is for Lagrange
Now it's going to really work out your left hand if you're up for the challenge
You've got to get that shuffle happening
And there's some really cool classic fills that we'll look at as well
So anyway, let's jump on the kit and get straight into this classic
We start off playing on the rim
And we use a drag and a flam, so I hope that you've been practicing your rudiments
I think the easiest way is to just get one hand to keep playing quarter notes the whole way through
And then the other hand can do all the busy stuff
Altogether it will sound like this _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ And up to speed _ _
_ _ _ _ [D#] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ That brings us to the classic opening fill
Now the snare drum starts on the ah of four, so the very end of the triplet
And then we're just going _
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So it's not too difficult but it sounds fantastic Once more
_ _ Three, four _ _ _
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And in context _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ Then we go onto the groove that we're going to use for just about the whole song
We're playing quarter notes on the right cymbal and on the left foot on the hi-hats
And we're shuffling the snare drum and the kick drum
Trying to accent beat two and beat four so that it sounds like a proper beat
Together it will sound like this _
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_ Now that's a great workout
Make sure that you're sitting properly on your stool
Because you're using both feet it can sort of upset your centre of balance
And the other thing is, if it's a little bit tricky
It's really easy to leave some bits out
You can leave out the left foot, no problems
You can just play quarter notes on the kick drum instead of that shuffle pattern
And if you really want to you can scale back that snare drum
And just play more of like a shuffley pattern
It is a great exercise for your left hand though to get that up to speed
Anyway, moving along, we've got another fill _
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_ _ _ _ So we keep the shuffle pattern going
But we move the accent onto the ah of four right before the fill
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Then we move along, we're playing exactly the same beat but over on the hi-hats
And then when the guitar solo comes back in we move it back to the ride cymbal
There's another cool fill, and this one's just flams and kick drum
In a triple pattern around the kit
But you can hear that by the end of the fill those flams have really opened up
And they're almost like two separate hits
So that's something you can muck around with
A close flam
_ _ And then a loose flam
_ _ Okay, so it will sound like this
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
And up to speed
_ [C#] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Moving on we have that little interlude bit, and this is classic as well
We've got a cymbal catch and just a little drag before that
And then it just kind of follows the riff as well
So that will sound like this
[F] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Then we're back onto the rims, just like the intro
And then the fill coming out of that is really similar to the first one
But instead of three hi-hats, one of those is going to be a tom instead
So one, two, three, four _
_ _ _ _ _ Then we're right back into the guitar solos
So we're up on our ride cymbal, playing that groove
And there's one fill that happens a couple of times
So I thought I'd pick it out and show you
It goes like this _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So it's triplets between the ride cymbal and the left hand
And that's just moving around the kit like this _
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_ _ The groove just continues right till the end
And it fades out on the guitar solo
So those are all the bits that you'll need to get La Grange by ZZ Top up and happening
It's such a good song and I can't believe it was recorded all the way back in 1973
How crazy is that?
Anyway, happy practicing
I hope you have fun with that classic song
And I'll catch you guys at the next lesson _ _ _ _ _
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