Pro Drummer Teaches You The Art of Counting Off Songs

The Japan story is silly and lovely at the same time. Friendly crowd meets an energetic drummer.

Worst feeling in the world when listening back to a live recording of yourself and you count in at one tempo, and play in other. 😂 Always a good idea to record yourself.

I liked it a lot

Guy...if u dont kno this your not a drummer..

Great idears here! Thnx for this 👌🏽

1st time I've seen anybody address this. This is really helpful and love the stories!

Very informative vid! Didn't realise there were so many different ways of counting off!

I had a sweaty time backing one particular artist she be doing her padder to the crowd,crowd laughing, without turning to me would just sing the first two words of the verse, I come in on the H of the third word “heading” with my pick up! god help any drummer that stuffed that up! she took no prisoners so stay alert guys.

Very important alot of times the singer would count the 🎵 🎶 in true story they new exactly hpw fast they could sing the songs 🎵

The person used the base of the microphone stand very effective

Tapping foot on Mike stand 🧍‍♂️ 👌

Great lesson! Curious how you would go about counting songs off accurately in like a top 40 dance gig where you get like 3 seconds in between songs and there is no time to sing the melody?

Would be helpful to cover counting in with a big band or other reading band eg counting in to cut (2/2) time, and counting in when one of the instruments plays a lead-in in the first bar

Great stuff . I think of counting off as a form of conducting. Spot on about the melody. I have seen Mr Coltrane just do a 2 stomp on his foot for MFTs which was so cool however mere mortals like me might need more . Btw we won’t mention singers counting off 😆

you know ricola? get some...

Thank you sir
Simple things make a lot of difference

Great video! I just was hoping to see if you were going to address setting up tempo with a click, just for a split second, then shutting off the click right before counting the band in. Ive had a few bands ask me to do this so that tempos are a lot closer to the album cuts.

start playing with.....people??!! Oh no!! ;-)

My band has always had a history of only ever counting with 2 hits. If it’s a song where we all start together, irrelevant of tempo, it’s 1 2 boom. That’s it. If you’re not ready, you need to get your shit together 🤣

I let the guitarist do it,blame them🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thank you.

Very much appreciated!

I'm in my late 30s with a good amount of professional experience, and I still learned a lot from this. I'd thought about, if not intuited some of these, but great to get new ideas and the opportunity to be more thoughtful about all the considerations you discuss here. Really great content!

As a bass player I hope for every drummer in the world to see this 😂

Thanks for the topic! I once broke one of the drumsticks during the count, so I had to start the song with a wooden stub in one hand until I could get a whole one out of the bag. It was hilarious.

This is the first video I've seen on this very important skill. Thanks!

Hello, love your channel! Just curious, what is your favourite Disney song and why is it Under the Sea?

Any tricks for quickly figuring out what beat to start the count when the song begins with a pick up?

Hey Stanton! Love your Drumeo stuff and glad I stumbled upon this! In your ebook are there audio examples to listen to for reference?

Thank you.

Awesome drummer and awesome lesson !!! Thanks from the low end Stanton 😊

I always go. "ONE TWO THREE FOUR".
Though for some reason jazz bands replace me quickly.

You only realize counting off is a skill that needs to be mastered once you play in ensembles without a drummer/percussionist. Lightning never strikes twice, but desaster sure does😱

A bass player's best friend , a great drummer.😎 Your video is excellent.

"1!-2!-3!-4!" - Dee Dee Ramone (every song)

Opens the set with The Chicken! Nice.

This really should be what all instructors start with. That and working with a metronome as reference. I spent 6 weeks with a nationally respected college percussion instructor, counting and tine were never mentioned and I struggled because of it.

As a guitarist in a 3 piece I love songs that start with the guitar😅

I usually start with 1, then after that I go for 2, after 2 it’s time for me to say 3, and then I always finish with 4

Mmmmm…. I don’t know? Counting off every song? I’d rather have a drum intro that’s in time. Maybe a few hits on the hat.

I’m not a professional so I don’t know crap. Just seems a bit amateur to delay every song. Looking around to see if everyone is ready is s also something that needs to be worked out in rehearsal.

Again, just my opinion.

The bandleader for the dance big band I was in got progressively more lit as the 4 hr gig went on. So by the 3rd set his count offs went like this: 1…2…1….2……3………..4

The side only shot only works in interview contexts. Otherwise it's just weird and distracting.

Thank you, excellent!

Just count to 4 Springsteen style

With a 27 song set list, I just yelled out the next number.

1-2?- 1,2,3,4. Is the number 2 in the first bar of the count off actually beat 3 in a bar of 4? So we should be counting 1-3- 1,2,3,4 right?

The toughest part of this is when I'm filling in on a one off gig, the band is used to the other drummer. I generally ask how they want it counted off and communicate on the stage with much eye contact. I love humming the tune for the countoff and during the tune. I love saying the words play or go on the four. Love your material, thank you. Of course, if it's my band I'll throw in a little two beat fill on three and four! It always gets a smile from someone! 😎