Beatles - Come Together

Morrisman

Morrisman

Platinum Member
I'm playing this song for the first time on Sunday, and I've always thought of the first bar as starting with ten hihats (3 triplets + 1). But most transcriptions and Youtube lessons show it starting with two eights on cymbal+kick, then 4 hihats. The recording has both: drum kit plays 2 eighths while something else does the first two triplets.

My question: When you play this live, which do you play, the two crashes or the two extra triplets.

Related question - I can only hear one muffled tom in the second bar, but most people suggest high then low, or even three toms. What do you play?
 
Two crashes. It's more important that your drum part emphasize what's most prevalent in the guitar/bass/keys, rather that what was actually played on the recording. It's good to know those little details, of course, but as one drummer playing a compromise of two drum parts, you have to go with the more musical part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLuzPo5hpU

Obviously, this group plays the tune a bit more aggressively, so I approached the tune with a bit more volume, and busied up the solo and outro sections. I've heard that the toms go from floor tom to tom (low to high), rather than high to low, but it's so quiet on the recording that it doesn't make a difference.

Unless you're in a Beatles tribute band. Then it matters, because drummers are paying attention, and the focus is on emulation, not interpretation.
 
That band is tighter than a new wallet!!..Good players all around............Remember Ringo often lead with his left hand even though he set up as a rightie. He could do a lot of things easily that would be challenging for a lot of us because he was really a lefty.
 
I have played this song many times with different bands.
One thing I can say for sure. In order to play the drum part exactly the way it was recorded, the other band members must have a good sense of time.
Otherwise you will have to keep the bass drum going on quarter notes during the whole song.


.
 
sonormapex said:
That band is tighter than a new wallet!!..Good players all around............
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks very much! This is a super fun band to jam with. Helps to have a strong lead vocal who is also a strong lead guitarist. Dude is unusually good at both.
 
I have to play this song different than the original. This song is my "Mustang Sally". I have played it in just about every band I've ever been in, including my current band.

I don't use the two cymbal crashes. I just play two hits on the floor tom, four on the hats, then keep the triplets on the high tom. Then I do 4 measures with the floor tom beat during the verse, then two with a straight high hat beat, then I hit the big crash and let it sustain through the next line, "one thing I can tell you..." Then a big sloshy beat during the chorus and ending it with a choked cymbal crash on a smaller cymbal.

Does that make sense? No? Well, I tried.
 
I often just use kick notes instead of adding the crashes. Kick notes alone followed by the hi-hat slosh thing sounds good and I'm very lazy. Nobody has ever noticed that I'm aware of.
 
Ringo explained that when he played this, being lefty on a right kit, he played the tom part as, floor tom then rack tom because of his left hand lead. It does sound close in pitch but if you listen carefully you can hear two different muffled toms.
 
Midnite Zephyr said:
I have to play this song different than the original. This song is my "Mustang Sally". I have played it in just about every band I've ever been in, including my current band.

I don't use the two cymbal crashes. I just play two hits on the floor tom, four on the hats, then keep the triplets on the high tom. Then I do 4 measures with the floor tom beat during the verse, then two with a straight high hat beat, then I hit the big crash and let it sustain through the next line, "one thing I can tell you..." Then a big sloshy beat during the chorus and ending it with a choked cymbal crash on a smaller cymbal.

Does that make sense? No? Well, I tried.
Click to expand...

That makes perfect sense. Thanks.
 
Ringo did play floor to rack tom, but almost everyone I see-even a Ringo celebration video with lots of top players-they all played it rack to floor. I initially played it rack to floor too, but it bugged me so I worked on playing like Ringo going from floor to rack. I play it two crashes then hi hat (dum dee dee dum) and start tom fill with both hands on floor tom but quickly move left hand to rack resonated between the two till completing the fill on rack with my left hand while my right move back to crash to start again. I have to play the last part one handed on rack to give me time to move my right around to crash again-I'm sure Ringo didn't have that problem.
 
Having played and taught this many many times, here is what the "official" Beatles transcription is:

First two hits are kick and ride, followed by a triplet and single stroke starting with your LEFT hand on the Hi Hats: LRLR.

The Tom walk down also stars with your LEFT, and is much simpler than what most people thing. It's 3 triplets and a single: LRL RLR LRL R.

It's ALL on the rack tom, except the two right hands that are marked in bold.

Does that make sense?
 
You guys, and Ringo, can talk all day about how he played the triplets starting on the floor tom then moving to the rack tom.
All I know is that the first part of the triplets sound higher pitched than the last part of the triplets.
He could have had the floor tom tuned higher than the rack tom, or he had different tea towels on each drum.
Or the way he hit the drums changed the sound. Like hitting them off-center etc.
But it's higher pitched triplets first half then lower pitched second.

.
 
Living Dead Drummer said:
Having played and taught this many many times, here is what the "official" Beatles transcription is:

First two hits are kick and ride, followed by a triplet and single stroke starting with your LEFT hand on the Hi Hats: LRLR.

The Tom walk down also stars with your LEFT, and is much simpler than what most people thing. It's 3 triplets and a single: LRL RLR LRL R.

It's ALL on the rack tom, except the two right hands that are marked in bold.

Does that make sense?
Click to expand...

This is useful, thanks. I still hear triplets on the first beat under the 'shh' sound, but since its not the drum kit, I'll leave them out. Two eights will be clearer for the rest of the band too. Interesting to hear everyone's interpretation though.
 
That's the video I saw too Gruntersdad, but when I tried like he does it doesn't sound the same for some dang reason-so I start on floor with both hands, then sort of echo resonate with right on floor and left on rack and ending with just rack triplet -so I can be ready to crash with my right to start again because it flows pretty fast on the original recording. It was my compromise.
 
Living Dead Drummer said:
Having played and taught this many many times, here is what the "official" Beatles transcription is:

First two hits are kick and ride, followed by a triplet and single stroke starting with your LEFT hand on the Hi Hats: LRLR.

The Tom walk down also stars with your LEFT, and is much simpler than what most people thing. It's 3 triplets and a single: LRL RLR LRL R.

It's ALL on the rack tom, except the two right hands that are marked in bold.

Does that make sense?
Click to expand...
Well not quite according to Ringo and the above video.
 
brentcn said:
Two crashes. It's more important that your drum part emphasize what's most prevalent in the guitar/bass/keys, rather that what was actually played on the recording. It's good to know those little details, of course, but as one drummer playing a compromise of two drum parts, you have to go with the more musical part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLuzPo5hpU

Obviously, this group plays the tune a bit more aggressively, so I approached the tune with a bit more volume, and busied up the solo and outro sections. I've heard that the toms go from floor tom to tom (low to high), rather than high to low, but it's so quiet on the recording that it doesn't make a difference.

Unless you're in a Beatles tribute band. Then it matters, because drummers are paying attention, and the focus is on emulation, not interpretation.
Click to expand...

Outstanding. You and the guitarist are smoking. Don't let that guitar player out of your sight.
 
GetAgrippa said:
That's the video I saw too Gruntersdad, but when I tried like he does it doesn't sound the same for some dang reason-so I start on floor with both hands, then sort of echo resonate with right on floor and left on rack and ending with just rack triplet -so I can be ready to crash with my right to start again because it flows pretty fast on the original recording. It was my compromise.
Click to expand...

I remember arguing in a different thread that it sounds like low tom high tom to me, so some vindi-kay-sheeon going on ...

But one of the reasons it's hard to catch is, wasn't this the time when he was putting tea towels on his already low-tuned toms? It's very subtle and the guitar playing over it makes it even harder to catch. But it's quite clearly lower pitch then higher pitch.
 
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