Rockabilly Drumming

Rockabilly is a cross between Country & Western, and Rhythm and Blues. As one of the first forms of Rock & Roll, this style came from the South. Rockabilly is the happiest subgenre of Country music; Always upbeat.

Rockabilly is played with few instruments. The upright bass plays loud, snappy strings - very percussive in sound, almost emulating a handclap. Repetitive 16th notes are common for a piano player to play with their right hand for the straight rockin' grooves.

Some songs have a swinging triplet feel, some have a straight 8th note rock feel. Play the following beats swingin', or rockin'. The snare provides the solid backbeat. The tom-toms are usually dead and not resonant. Keep alert - 2 bar stops are very common on the first beat of the 8th or 16th bars into a chorus or verse. A simple fill starting on beat 3 of the second bar of the stop often brings the band back in.

Straight 16th notes on the snare are common in fills, especially leading up to those stops. Nothing too complicated, but enough to stand out.

Listening List:

Elvis Presley - Significant for popularizing Rock & Roll

Stray Cats - Rockabilly revival group from the 70's, featuring Brian Setzer

1) Play the cymbal part on either the ride cymbal or half open high-hats,
throwing in extra skip beats on the cymbal when you play it as a triplet swing feel.
Play the snare notes that don't land on 2 and 4 as ghost notes.