How To Play Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher' Intro (DRUMEO LESSON)

Try DRUMEO free for 7 days:
Faster Hands & Feet (in 10 days)

In this video, Aaron Edgar demonstrates how to play the intro drum part to the song "Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen. This is one of the most iconic drum parts ever, and it's also extremely difficult to learn. If you decide to take on the challenge, remember to be patient and take it slow!

You can download the transcription for this lesson here:

[BassMeister]

It's amazing how jazzy this intro is when you break it down so granularly.

[richardhead]

Alex Van Halen took rock drumming to a new level in Hot For Teacher. Give a good listen to the tasty little piece he plays right after David says "Gimme something to write on man!" Sad part is most people don't even hear those nuggets of rhythmic gold.

[Jimdidit]

finally someone breaks it down, I learned this in the 90s, ..it's like freebird for drumming, anytime I played it... people are stoked.

[xpicklepie]

Billy Cobham did this in the early 70's on a tune called "Quadrant Four". Simon Phillips also did it on Jeff Beck's "Space Boogie".

[neilmoneymaker]

I saw Van Halen live twice in my younger days. Alex Van Halen is a beast on drums. I knew this before I ever saw them live. Believe me, I was close enough the first time I saw them, and Alex plays this live. I know there weren't any other people helping him out on hot for teacher, he does it all by himself and nails it. The tempo was slightly faster live of course. It rocked.

[grazydine]

Eddie wasn't the only virtuoso in Van Halen.

[jungleismasiv]

Who else thought the intro was *only* double bass? Reminded me of "Bleed" by Meshuggah...

[nobot]

I always thought the intro was just a motorcycle engine

[Joesfosterdogs]

Alex never gets his due...this is EPIC drumming for a pop rock tune. Your drum sound is amazing bro. You nailed this!

[irishanml]

This is why a music education is so important. Being able to read and practice from a young age would help so many aspiring drummers as compared to trying to figure this stuff out from a six inch stereo speaker in your car or basement. Glad to see folks are doing it now. Great, mind blowing lesson. So much more to this than most drummers would ever figure out.

[dakotachurch]

Surprisingly simple, until sped up of course.

[williamthomas]

Best teaching of this (that I've seen) by FAR.

Really cool lick; unique, complicated, difficult and really smooth sounding to the ear when played. I think is actually the ONLY song that I've ever heard with this kick shuffle. Really simple but "counter intuitive" (strange) feeling to play (especially at speed).

I have a really good ear for picking apart and learning drum licks. Been that way since 6th grade (37 yrs ago). I could pick apart complicated Rush pieces but I could never get this one (sticking) with the ear. That's impressive and even more so to see you break it down exactly.

Alex is SO underrated.

Thank you very much for your time put into this. You are a great teacher.

PS: I noticed the sticking on the ride. Nice.

[joewhittle]

Just taking the time to acknowledge the beautiful drum sound on this clip. Gorgeous! And great playing. Thankyou 🙌

[minnesotajack]

“This may seem difficult to play....”
You don’t say....

[artvandelay]

Excellent job, Aaron. That's enough to make a guy give up the drums and take up the tambourine instead...LOL. I always thought this drum intro sounded like a Top Fuel dragster idling at the line, waiting for the tree to turn "green". Keep up the great work! 😄👍

[scottkasper]

I’m still fascinated by this intro all these years later. How did he come up with this?

[mikeprevez]

Alex came up with something you had never heard in rock drumming before on every album. And that isn't easy to do. he was very innovative, unique.

[EDOGG]

Funny story... When I worked in a large drum shop on the East Coast, Dennis Chambers used to come in pretty regularly. One time when he came in, we all somehow got on the subject of the "Hot for Teacher" intro. He mentioned that he had run into AVH recently (it was around the early 90s) and had brought up the intro to him as well. He claimed that they had sped up the tape... not that it's impossible to play at speed of course, but an interesting story anyway.

The tone/production (and playing) on this kit sounds GREAT btw! And nice breakdown...

[mikecarmean]

One of the Best Solos... 💥🥁💥 of All Time

[lanceh]

Thank you so much! This is the best and most accurate explanation of this I have seen by far. It's still a difficult piece, but much simpler than I thought. You are awesome!