How To Play The Drum Beat From 'Making Plans For Nigel' by XTC

Shoutout to channel members Christine and Ash who both mentioned this one!

Here’s a four-bar loop typical of that played by Terry Chambers on this classic 1979 new wave (?!) tune.

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#ILoveDrumming #DrumVideos #Drumtec #XTC #MakingPlansForNigel #TerryChambersDrums

[MikeBarnesDrums]

Shoutout to channel members Christine and Ash who both mentioned this one!

Here’s a four-bar loop typical of that played by Terry Chambers on this classic 1979 new wave (?!) tune.





As a channel member, you get a complimentary Zoom session as well a personalized practice plan and lots of other benefits - including priority requests for videos on this channel, access to Zoom lessons, full lesson breakdown videos of drum covers and full notation to accompany tutorial videos on the channel.

[thewayofnoway]

Devo are legendary Mike. Definitely worth exploring their back catalogue. Cheers for another great lesson 👍

[patrick]

Dude - you’re such a good drum teacher. Great breakdown on that.

[casperex]

Brilliantly put together. I’ll be having some fun learning this. Thankyou.

[hugothecat-xmzx]

Great job on explaining this Mike, thank you!

[dirtdeputy]

Traveling right now but can’t wait to get back on my kit and try this one out!

[danielmarquis]

I especially love the double accent on the high hat.

[robpaige]

I don't know if you've ever heard "Loveesongs" by New Model Army, but that has a really interesting and really quite awkward floor/kick rhythm going through it, incorporating triplets on a high tom. Give it a listen if you get the chance, the late Robert Heaton was a very inventive drummer.

[Rijo]

Thanks again Mike for a nice lesson! XTC is one of my favorite bands of the 80's. Black Sea and English Settlement are top albums, with great songwrtiting (don't forget the lyrics!) and production. I assume the hihat hits are hihat barks more than disco open/close hihats?

[robertthompson]

You should actually check out the cover of "Making Plans for Nigel" off of "Miscellaneous Debris" by Primus! That whole EP has like 5 covers and I'd be surprised if the entire running time is 20 minutes. My favorite drummer Tim Alexander lays BRICKS...🥁🔥 Thier take on Peter Gabriel's "The Intruder" and "Have a Cigar" by Floyd are brilliant as well. That whole album is a gem!!! 💎

[VespaT]

Devo pronounced D vo or Deevo. I'm surprised you've not heard of them. Whip it!

[erichgroat]

Very well well worked through! This will help a lot of people, I expect (I've shown your vid to one aspiring and talented young drummer already). One suggestion: I think your floor tom should be higher in the mix. It's so much more foundational to the pulse of the song than the kick is: in fact, the two drums almost switch their traditional roles in this drum part. It needs to _thunder, _ and that's up to the floor tom. Granted, making the drums thunder like Hugh Padham did on the record is obviously impossible... but bringing the floor tom up a few notches higher in the mix would help the listener/learner, as you'd be closer to the sound of the recording.

[misterlizard]

probably owe you another coffee at this point...

[suminshizzles]

I think it was Andy Partridge that had a bad case of stagefright. Shame. They were not seen on stage all that much at all. They made quite a few records in their time. I count 13 albums in my collection and i am not sure that is all that was made. That is just what i have and i am not that much of a collector. But i do like XTC. English Settlement and Oranges and Lemons are my favorite with Mayor of Simpleton or King For A Day my favorite songs. Mayor of Simpleton bass line is pretty hard to play.

[patrick]

Ps - yeah, a little band called DEVO. You might want to turn that stone over in exploration.

[mattnorthmore]

Can you not show the base drum in your vids

[lorrainyhippohernandez]

Oooou Nigel just thinks we’re helping him…

[warburtonpaul]

Always loved the song, but Nigel's future is definitely NOT in British steel!
What grade of difficulty, Mike?
Those off hits need a bit of figuring.

Thanks, always.

[bustacap]

I came here to hear how you would describe this beat left once I heard you have never heard of Devo... do you even music bruh?