What’s It Like Drumming For Prince? | Hannah Welton

“Hi, thank you for coming. I’m Prince. Do you play ping pong?"

Hannah’s first meeting with The Purple One was anything but conventional.

“The guy was a genius,” she says. “I don’t know that I ever heard an off note.”

In this hour-long lesson, you’ll hear straight from Prince’s former drummer, Hannah Welton, what it was like to work with Prince, including songwriting and performance tips and rarely-told stories.

What happens if you mess up at a Prince rehearsal?

Who originally wrote the song “Plectrumelectrum”?

What was it like having a drum-off/bass-off with Prince?

Can the space between the notes be just as funky as the notes themselves?

And is Hannah now a ping pong master?

Watch the video for some important insights on drumming, life, and Prince – while enjoying some exceptionally funky performances.

Check out Hannah's new course inside Drumeo for more lessons like this. Give it a spin with our free 7-day trial!

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Chapters:

0:00 – “Women’s Intuition” by Hannah and Joshua Welton (Performance)
03:07 – Welcome
05:12 – How She Got The Gig With Prince
08:20 – The importance of taking notes and active listening
15:17 – Writing Parts With Personality
27:26 – “Ain’t About To Stop” by Prince (Performance)
32:04 – Dueling With Prince
34:04 – Prince’s Favorite Fills
38:23 – The importance of committing
40:20 – Prepare For Shows
50:15 – Hannah’s advice for drummers
51:35 – "Funk Medley" (Performance)
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[Draganism]

As somebody who plays an instrument there is nothing better than to see somebody enjoy playing thier instrument. This was such fun. When I saw the expression on Hannah's face it just captures all the pleasure and emotion of playing music. And she is fantastic at what she does. Really enjoyed this.

[leokimvideo]

I worked on part of the Diamond & Pearl tour and that's when I saw how Prince was the most incredible music artist. Prince would come in during the day when his stage was being built and sit at the piano banging out tunes. Prince was the greatest music artist I had seen, he was the real deal and 1000% dedicated to music.

[Convisis]

Absolutely killed it. What a great drummer.

[ianmclaws]

Wow. Hannah, you're fricken awesome. I already was a fan of your playing, now I'm a fan of the well spoken, dynamic, loveable artist you are.

[ryevick]

I love Prince! I have to say though I haven't seen Hannah play before but the first impression I have is that I love your energy Hannah! Seriously! Love it! It's easy to see why Prince hired you. Fantastic time and feel! Super talented and I love your expression of your Faith!

[guitarsolos]

Love her energy both in playing and as person. Very inspiring!

[LaRochePosay]

Prince knew how to pick the best musicians for his bands.

[lcdennis]

I can’t believe I’m sitting here crying… God knows I miss him so much. Thanks Hannah, ur worthy of the attention of the Purple world!

[_k.ina_]

I am astonished, this lady is killing it

[smh]

Omg. I L💜VE Ain’t About 2 Stop! I’m so happy she played the whole song! I’m definitely going to revisit this. I remember hearing Rita Ora’s version several times before P did his version. And then a small group of us were in the studio with Josh one day, and he played us the isolated bass track from the solo Prince plays towards the end of the song, and it was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🙌🏼🙌🏼 So many great memories with all of them. It’s great to see Hannah continuing to get the recognition she deserves! 💜 “Funky as you wanna be!”

[toolsheduk]

Wow, she's incredible! Such a great interview, her love for playing and for the music is so obvious and infectious 😍

[EnergeticRhythm]

great power drumming and space in the funk! Also drums sound amazing and crisp!

[melfordsolomon]

Awesome drumming love the energy that you have

[joaquindevaloisbateria]

thIs is to me one of the best performances of drumeo, Hannah i so funky, Thanks Drumeo!!

[drgeorgetayloriii]

Her husband is quite the musician as well. P trusted him with producing his Art of the . . . and that says a lot. Her smile, passion, and rock/funk drumming are excellent.

[jas_bataille]

Prince will be remembered for his humanity, maybe even more than all of musical achievements. My dad went to Paisley Park for awhile and said he was treated with royalty. The studios were separated with plexiglass walls as to not only block sound from going out from a space reserved for X musician to another room, as well as never enter a room by accident since you could see what was going on - Prince hosted a ton of people working on projects at his own cost, no strings attached, which is unheard of! The lady he was working with got called by Prince to record some demos, with the intent of getting produced by him; unfortunately, she fell in love with my dad who wasn't feeling the same, and the project aborted early on, and they had to quit their Paisley Park residence. My dad said no one ever said anything about his french bum ass smoking giant gitane (filter-less) cigarettes and playing acoustic guitar all day. He was respected like a legend, while back in his home country, he was treated so badly as a composer that he hired an assistant to make the client think that... the assistant was him - true story! My dad is kinda autistic (I am too, so this make sense) and always had a hard time "fitting in", except in Paisley Park. He said that after this experience, he didn't wanted to come back to France to work; he gave up on his commercial studio a little later, where he was working for huge brands (l'Oréal, Mercedes, etc) on advertising music. Then he went to Morocco and recorded some of the last untouched Berber music.
He spent the rest of his career as a creative recordist and his doing it to this day. He said he only met Prince once and, probably sensing that my dad was a huge introvert, he only acknowledged his presence respectfully, as an equal, by nodding his head.
What a guy...!!! RIP The Great Purple One

[andivax]

Brilliant drumming! Brilliant person! Thank you!

[DonKelleyMusic]

She loves drumming more than pretty much anyone I've ever seen play... while playing better than nearly anyone else in the world.... holy... I had no

[jaehwanlee]

so happy to hear from her about Prince :)

[DrumAddict]

So Rad to have seen this process behind the scenes as it was happening and Joshua and Hannah's solo stuff is badass. Congrats - You're beautiful inside & out and undeniably talented - As a femaile drummer, being strong and persevering the way you have is continuously inspiring. So glad you answered that DM lol - thx Drumeo for the content