# How the hell does he do it?



## sevenstringj (Oct 20, 2010)

Yes, it's Lars. 

Those super fast triplets starting at 3:10. He did that a lot on ...And Justice for All, and to this day, I've never seen anyone get it right in any of those Blackened covers people do on youtube.



Leading into it, it sounds like he was doing R---R-L. But when he sped up, I dunno. My best guess would be R-L-R using heel-toe on the right foot. But I'm not exactly a drummer.


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## James Blood (Oct 20, 2010)

well...

erm...

sloppyly?


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## Kamikaze7 (Oct 20, 2010)

I noticed that Lars - like a lot of other drummers - use thier toe for doing double bass. While some do use the heel-toe method, a lot of guys out there (like Tim Yueng, Pete Sandoval, Joey Joridson, Mike Portnoy and Neil Peart to name a few...) all use toe.

being a drummer and to shine a little more light on the subject, your guess of R-L-R is correct. not saying that R-R-L isn't possible because a lot of awesome Jazz and Rock drummers (Dom Famularo & even John Bonham) are sick with doubles and triplets on a single pedal. But by doing it R-L-R makes the snap of the triplets more even and consistent at faster speeds like he was playing and is also easier to do rather than trying to do 2 with one foot and the 3rd with the other foot.

Another good example would be the video of Dino Cazarez & Tim Yueng doing the instrumental jam of "Impossibility Is Nothing"... During the verse riff, Tim's feet are psychotic even to watch and see how he keeps the double bass work going with the machine-gun djent of the guitar. It shows the part of his feet in the second verse...


And just when things weren't already sickening enough, George Kollias from Nile has a few videos that put most drummers to shame... This first video is a good one as it shows above the kit and it shows shots of his feet.


This one is George in the studio with Nile jamming "As He Creates, So He Destroys". Unfortunately, no feet shots, but seeing his speed and what he does for this song is mind-blowing enough. If you have the "Ithyphalic" album, you'll know the song (and you can just hear Dallas and Karl playing in the background anyway...)...


Enjoy!!!


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## JamesM (Oct 20, 2010)

^Yeah, he is tremendously talented.


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## Joeshmo140 (Nov 24, 2010)

Yeah, Lars was an interesting drummer back in his day. I used to think that section in _Blackened_ was the most insane thing ever, and of course, I am pretty sure all drummers learning double-bass have played/attempted _One_ off of _...And Justice for All. _I've seen interviews about how he started out in _Metallica_ and apparently he wasn't the greatest drummer at first. I agree with Kamikaze7 though, The Drummer from _Divine Heresy_ is definitely up there in double-bass aptitude. 

I know most of the people on this forum have probably heard this already but, if you're looking for some really fancy footwork, check out _Bleed_ on _Meshuggah_'s latest album O_bZen. _



He does a series of bass drum "ruffs" (as some of my previous instructors have called them) within different variations of triplet, quintuplet, and septuplet patterns (while simultaneously keeping a nice steady 4/4 rhythm with his hands <3) In a drum "ruff" he basically doubles the first note of the pattern. So for example, in his odd numbered ruff patterns
-Triplet = RLR-L
-Quintuplet = RLR-L-R-L
-Septuplet = RLR-L-R-L-R-L
If you listen closely, you should notice that in the intro and first verse, his feet are doing the triplet ruff pattern, whereas in the second verse, his feet are doing the quintuplet pattern.

A friend of mine who is now at Berklee College in Boston (and is a fantastic jazz drummer) also does some of this in his drum solos for the Berklee Metal Ensemble



I hope I made your day at least somewhat more entertaining?


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## TheSleeper (Nov 28, 2010)

^ Next time you see your friend, tell him he's awesome.


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## CooleyJr (Nov 28, 2010)

The answer to all your questions of how they got so good..













Dance Dance Revolution.

/thread


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## ralphy1976 (Nov 28, 2010)

you can tell your friend that that was seriously sick!!!! really really really cool!!!


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## somniumaeternum (Mar 11, 2011)

James Blood said:


> well...
> 
> erm...
> 
> sloppyly?


 
He always sounds kinda sloppy nowdays I think. I have one of their DVDs where he doesn't even try to do it, just goes eighth tripplets (so disappointing to watch). Maybe he's just lazy nowdays?

Thinking about other drummers with great foot work... I'm not a (good) drummer myself (so may have no clue what I'm talking about) but I always thought Thomas Lang knew what he was doing as far as foot work:




And this just freaks me out:


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## ShadowFactoryX (Apr 22, 2011)

7sj, really?
have you ever listened to a _real_ metal band before?

Lars is a joke, he isn't a drummer in my book.
Him and his god awful band will never be a part of my life in any way.

He's made a 30 year career of playing the same beat.


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## asmegin_slayer (Apr 23, 2011)

ShadowFactoryX said:


> 7sj, really?
> have you ever listened to a _real_ metal band before?
> 
> Lars is a joke, he isn't a drummer in my book.
> ...



WOW! Sounds like a personal issue really. 

Love him or hate him, he may not be a "REAL" drummer. But he is a metal drummer that so happen to create one of the biggest bands in the world.

Look how many guitarist out there in the nu-metal era that didn't know shit about guitar but created some big bands at the time? It's practically the same thing. Even nowadays how many guitarist will know how to use a circle of chords?

"You know its sad but true" *boom, ta, ta, ta, ta*


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## -42- (Apr 24, 2011)

Is this the new foot technique thread?


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## ShadowFactoryX (Apr 25, 2011)

asmegin_slayer said:


> WOW! Sounds like a personal issue really.
> 
> Love him or hate him, he may not be a "REAL" drummer. But he is a metal drummer that so happen to create one of the biggest bands in the world.
> 
> ...



For future reference Big =/= Good.
I.E. Travis Barker
He should have died when he had the chance.


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## sell2792 (Apr 25, 2011)

I liked your comment about Lars... then I got a chance to read your post about Travis Barker... Why was that even called for? He's a pretty good drummer and a really nice guy.


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## Guitarman700 (Apr 25, 2011)

Metallica was cool.
when I was 12. I soon realized they're kind of like the fisher price of metal. The first few albums were really good, and I will admit to liking Load and some of Reload, but there are so many bands who do the same thing, only better.


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## ShadowFactoryX (Apr 26, 2011)

travis barker? good at drums? hardly if breaking your equipment while playing like an ape means you're good, then i know a lot of these people


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## sell2792 (Apr 26, 2011)

His technique isn't technically proper in the sense that he is mostly all arms as far as I can tell, but that doesn't make him a bad drummer.


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## heilarkyguitar (Apr 26, 2011)

Dino


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## sevenstringj (Apr 27, 2011)

Bumping this thread just for some tired shots at Lars? 

Anyway, I started to get it. I'm doing RLR using heel-toe with the right. I'm also playing around with some Fear Factory (older stuff, cuz the new Gene stuff is generally too fast for me) and Meshuggah.


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## ShadowFactoryX (Apr 28, 2011)

Dude, redeeming yourself.
I like it.

When I first started getting into drums, I played Soul Of A New Machine stuff all the time.
I still love jamming to it, great songs.

Eventually you'll be able to do triplets single foot, heel up.
Practice practice practice!


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## Joeshmo140 (Jun 11, 2011)

it should be! unfortunately it seems to be a bash-your-least-favorite-drummer forum by now...


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## Joeshmo140 (Jun 11, 2011)

-42- said:


> Is this the new foot technique thread?



It should be! Unfortunately it seems to have become the bash-your-least-favorite-drummer forum...


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## oddcam (Jun 12, 2011)

I don't like Blink 182 or Metallica.

That being said, Barker is actually a great drummer with great technique. Watch some videos of him on utube if you don't believe me. Just because he likes to make money and play styles other than prog/djent doesn't make him bad. Considering he wrote the drum parts that made his bands' music interesting instead of cookie-cutter boring, he deserves props.

Lars Ulrich wrote the book on thrash metal drumming. He may play sloppy with poor technique, but _you_ wouldn't be _here_ without _him_.

Regarding foot technique, use heel up for metal. Heel down is for low-volume (jazz, classical) playing. Also, try to do those triplets LRL. This will let you drop a following R on beat 1, so you don't have to start your next beat left-footed. Until you can play everything ambidextrously  , this helps.


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## ShadowFactoryX (Jun 13, 2011)

oddcam said:


> I don't like Blink 182 or Metallica.
> 
> That being said, Barker is actually a great drummer with great technique. Watch some videos of him on utube if you don't believe me. Just because he likes to make money and play styles other than prog/djent doesn't make him bad. Considering he wrote the drum parts that made his bands' music interesting instead of cookie-cutter boring, he deserves props.
> 
> ...



i would be here without him
one person did not create every style of drumming, especially to metal.
he didnt write any book on thrash metal drumming. (do you even realize how many other thrash bands were doing better than him before and during he started?)
he wasnt as special as you say. get over it.


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## Epyon6 (Jul 14, 2011)

ShadowFactoryX said:


> 7sj, really?
> have you ever listened to a _real_ metal band before?
> 
> Lars is a joke, he isn't a drummer in my book.
> ...


 

Could not agree with you more. Lars and Joey Jordison are jokes. Real metal drummers are Derek Roddy and George Kollias.


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## Jontain (Jul 15, 2011)

I get that Lars isnt the most technically skilled drummer, but I dont get why he gets so much flack other than being a really BIG target. Especially when very few people (ok pretty much none) who give him the flack can claim they have achieved anything like what he has.

I think his drumming works for metallica's music just fine and I'm afraid I am not one of these people that thinks a song has to be technically amazing to be a good song. Sometimes less is more.

Fair enough your allowed do not like his drumming, just gets frustrating to see him slated when the OP asked a genuine question about his playing and not for peoples opinions on him as a player.

/Rant, I will go crawl back in my cave now


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## guitareben (Jul 15, 2011)

Hmmm, on the topic of ickle fast triplet things in drums... -



F*ing sick


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## anthonyferguson (Jul 15, 2011)

oddcam said:


> I don't like Blink 182 or Metallica.
> 
> That being said, Barker is actually a great drummer with great technique. Watch some videos of him on utube if you don't believe me. Just because he likes to make money and play styles other than prog/djent doesn't make him bad. Considering he wrote the drum parts that made his bands' music interesting instead of cookie-cutter boring, he deserves props.



Travis Barker is not a great drummer with great technique. He uses nothing but single stroke rolls and speed to impress, and anyone with enough practice can be proficient in the same kind of drumming. Not to say he doesn't have raw talent; I'm just saying he isn't as good as people say he is.


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## Kamikaze7 (Jul 15, 2011)

Techdethdrummer said:


> Could not agree with you more. Lars and Joey Jordison are jokes. Real metal drummers are Derek Roddy and George Kollias.




I think Joey is a better drummer than Lars all day long, but I don't think he's a REAL drummer... In fact, I laughed my ass off when Drum magazine or one of those magazines had a poll for the best drummer ever and they tried polling Joey Jordison with someone as Godly as Neil Peart... Niel would mop the floor with Joey sideways, 19 ways to Sunday without even braking a sweat. Don't even try and compare or attemp to put someone like Joey in the same class or category as Neil. 

But yes, examples of REAL drummers would be George Kollias, Tim Yueng, Gene Hoglan, Neil Peart, Charlie Benate, Pete Sandoval, Nicko McBrian, and more (I could be here forever listing drummers that are more skilled and way better than Joey and Lars...).

And I also agree with Jontain and his post above. Lars does fit and suit Metallica just fine and what they have works. I just tend to think tat ever since the whole Napster thing happened and they all started to get whiney and bitchy about everything is when they lost appeal to most of thier fans, and albums like Load, Re-Load and St. Anger didn't help. Not dis-crediting Lars or not giving Lars his due of credit, but there's a lot better than him and Metallica now. I think Metallica is just past thier prime and no one will ever see another benchmark album like "...And Justice For All" ever again from them, as sad as it is to say.


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## HollowmanPL (Jul 15, 2011)

this is the best drum sound eva for me.
I know it doesn't sound like a uberprosatan production but I would kill for this snare/tom/kick sound!


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## GATA4 (Jul 20, 2011)

You all seriously need to shut the fuck up about who is and who is not a "real" drummer. Jesus fuck. Lars fucking rules, George Kollias fucking rules, Joey Jordison is a fucking beast, Travis Barker kicks ass, and they are all better than you. Metallica would never have been Metallica if George Kollias played drums for them, and Derek Roddy and all of those others blast beaters are good for their style of music and everyone agrees that Lars couldn't pull off any of that. Lars grooves like no one's fucking business. When I want to hear groove, I listen to Lars. George Kollias is a cracked out octopus. When I want to hear a cracked out octopus, I listen to George Kollias. George Kollias is light years ahead of Lars in technical proficiency, but Lars grooves in a way that is unique to himself and the style of music that he plays, and George Kollias can't touch that shit.

As a matter of fact, you could even argue that George Kollias makes a career out of playing the same beat over and over again. What does he do? He blasts, blasts some more, blasts a little bit more, and maybe blasts here and there too. What does Lars do? Down beat, up beat, down beat, up beat. Who the fuck cares if a drummer recycles a technique? All drummers recycle techniques. Thomas Haake? You could criticize him for being a drone and simply syncopating with the guitar riffs, along with recycling those tom-fill-breaks in the middle of a Meshuggah song. But you would be missing the fucking point, which is what you are doing.

Music is fucking subjective, and context dependent. Stop arguing about whether or not someone is a real drummer. Open up your fucking mind.

EDIT - Thank you, anonymous neg-repper. I will consider your first statement as an ongoing endeavor for myself, and I thank you for your encouragement. I will also agree with your second statement. However, using some of the logic I've witnessed in this thread, such logic makes it entirely possible for me to say "yes, they do have opinions, but they aren't REAL opinions." And now we have come full circle. Also, a wholehearted apology to the OP for such massive derailment of your thread . Lars is one of those guys that is just a hugely genuine player...and I've noticed that musicians who are so uniquely expressive with their instruments are often the most difficult to analyze and (fortunately) copy.


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## Diggy (Aug 8, 2011)

GATA4 said:


> You all seriously need to shut the fuck up about who is and who is not a "real" drummer. Jesus fuck. Lars fucking rules, George Kollias fucking rules, Joey Jordison is a fucking beast, Travis Barker kicks ass, and they are all better than you. Metallica would never have been Metallica if George Kollias played drums for them, and Derek Roddy and all of those others blast beaters are good for their style of music and everyone agrees that Lars couldn't pull off any of that. Lars grooves like no one's fucking business. When I want to hear groove, I listen to Lars. George Kollias is a cracked out octopus. When I want to hear a cracked out octopus, I listen to George Kollias. George Kollias is light years ahead of Lars in technical proficiency, but Lars grooves in a way that is unique to himself and the style of music that he plays, and George Kollias can't touch that shit.
> 
> As a matter of fact, you could even argue that George Kollias makes a career out of playing the same beat over and over again. What does he do? He blasts, blasts some more, blasts a little bit more, and maybe blasts here and there too. What does Lars do? Down beat, up beat, down beat, up beat. Who the fuck cares if a drummer recycles a technique? All drummers recycle techniques. Thomas Haake? You could criticize him for being a drone and simply syncopating with the guitar riffs, along with recycling those tom-fill-breaks in the middle of a Meshuggah song. But you would be missing the fucking point, which is what you are doing.
> 
> ...



about time someone said it!


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## wlfers (Aug 8, 2011)

GATA4 said:


> Music is fucking subjective, and context dependent. Stop arguing about whether or not someone is a real drummer. Open up your fucking mind.



This



GATA4 said:


> Music is fucking subjective, and context dependent. Stop arguing about whether or not someone is a real drummer. Open up your fucking mind.



This



GATA4 said:


> Music is fucking subjective, and context dependent. Stop arguing about whether or not someone is a real drummer. Open up your fucking mind.



And this


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## Bouillestfu (Aug 8, 2011)

So... did Lars jizz in someone's Korn Flakes this morning without me knowing?

I've always heard more underground drummers flame Lars Ulrich but with no real argument. Yea he may not be as amazing as George Kollias but fuck that doesn't make him bad...

It's like saying that David Gilmour is bad guitarist because he can't play as fast as Dino. Heck, if anything, he's an AMAZING guitarist.

And besides;


GATA4 said:


> Music is fucking subjective, and context dependent. Stop arguing about whether or not someone is a real drummer. Open up your fucking mind.



You can dislike Metallica and Lars Ulrich but you can't go around stating he's bad, because he clearly isn't.

And if it's any reassurance: I'd be ready to bet ya anything that all your new drum heroes all listened to Metallica before picking up an instrument.


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## Ronbert (Aug 10, 2011)

-42- said:


> Is this the new foot technique thread?




Dude... I THOROUGHLY love the behind the head hits. This statement has nothing to do with this thread... but FUCK YOU BEHIND THE HEAD HIT IS GOD.

Besides all drummers suck compared to Chris Farley...


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## Sephael (Aug 10, 2011)

.


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