Lez Zeppelin And The Importance of Ghost Notes

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Last night I had my ass kicked by a bunch of girls. Lez Zeppelin, the all female Zep tribute band, came storming through Boston, rocking a capacity crowd at The Middle East. I should have been prepared for what was to take place. My good friend and former bandmate (and current Lez Zeppelin bassist), Megan Thomas, contacted me a few weeks ago, telling me about her latest musical endeavor and inviting me to their upcoming Boston show. Megan is an amazing musician, so I knew she would nail all of the classic John Paul Jones bass lines. What I didn’t know, however, was how well everyone in the band would nail EVERYTHING. Especially the drummer.

Lez Zeppelin
Lez Zeppelin

With a 26″ Ludwig bass drum, 15″ Paiste 2002 Sound Edge hi hats, and a massive gong behind her kit, drummer Leesa Harrington-Squyres not only had the exact set up of the late John Bonham, she also had the same incredible feel and power. From the aggressive and sloshy intro of “Rock and Roll” to the odd-time stomp of “The Ocean“, Leesa channeled the spirit of Bonzo and flawlessly reproduced every back beat and fill in the Zeppelin catalogue. From the ghost notes to the sextuplet bass drum riffs to the massive pocket, it was all there.

Loop #121

Today’s loop, while not a direct copy of any particular Bonham groove, highlights the same underlying ghost notes found in many of his beats. In this case, the notes appear directly after the 2 and 4 of each backbeat, almost giving a sixteenth note type delay effect on the snare.

Editors Note – No mudsharks were harmed during the making of this loop.

Preview Here:

[audio:88_Ghosts.mp3]

Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

88 BPM

Funk Salad

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Last week I had the pleasure of seeing my old classmate, Adam Deitch, perform for all of the incoming babies students at Berklee. Adam had a great band playing with him, including Eric Krasno and my former NYC roommate, Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff on guitar. While the band was officially billed as “Chapter 2”, it also consisted of half of the members of Lettuce. If you haven’t checked out their 2008 release, “Rage!”, then you’ve missed out one of the funkiest, most soulful albums of the past five years. These guys graduated from the University of Wally’s with honors and keep getting better every year.

Adam Deitch
Adam Deitch

Loop #93

With the snare cranked up tight, and a steady flow of ghost-notes, today’s loop cops more than a few of Adam’s licks. You’ll hear I still haven’t tamed my overly live tracking room (weekend project #172), but for this groove, it seems to work in favor of the mix. I’ll be including the rest of the grooves and fills from this session in the release of Gruss Loops V.

Preview Here:

[audio:93_Deitchy.mp3]

Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

93 BPM

Ghost Notes.

Posted on by Ryan 5 Comments

Ghost notes are the ‘special sauce’ to any great drum groove. No, they’re not made of Thousand Island dressing, but rather, notes subtly played on the snare drum, often filling in between the hi hat and the back beat. They’re so quiet, you usually don’t notice them when they’re there (hence the highly creative name, “ghost note”), but take them away, and the magic is lost.

John Bonham
John Bonham

Listen to any Led Zeppelin track and you’ll hear John Bonham intricately filling in the groove with ghost notes. Most people associate Bonham with his bombastic backbeats, but I’ve always been drawn to the stuff he does in between the two and four. Please keep in mind, ghost notes don’t apply to playing the gong and/or handling mud sharks.

Joseph 'Zigaboo' Modeliste
Joseph 'Zigaboo' Modeliste

Ghost notes aren’t exclusive to rock drumming. When played properly, they can easily (and tastefully) work their way into any genre. Check out Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste’s playing with The Meters to hear them in a funk setting. Zigaboo constantly keeps his grooves flowing with a a steady undercurrent of ghost notes.

Loop #28

Here’s a loop in three (or 12/8 if you prefer) with more than a few ghost notes on the snare. If things sound a bit crispier, it’s because I’ve added some new overhead mics (see post below). Logic users, you’ll notice there are now 6 individual drum tracks. The mic placement might vary from day to day, but from now on, here’s the basic set up:

Track 1. Kick
Track 2. Snare Top
Track 3. Snare Bottom
Track 4. Room
Track 5. OH L
Track 6. OH R

Preview Here:

[audio:60_three.mp3]

Download the Logic session here. (79MB)

Get the .wav file here.

60 BPM