It took me years to appreciate Abe's value and how his apparent simplicity actually lends it self to the songs and Steph's riffs. How lucky we are for these musicians to have met and form a band.
HUGE Deftones fan here. I know every single album by heart, as well as Chino’s side bands , Crosses, Team Sleep, and Palms. Team Sleep is so great, and Palms I fall asleep to at night. Crosses is very electronica-synth graveyard sweet tunes lol that’s my description don’t mind it lol
Love the deftones, but have always thought this band would not be where they are or even the band they are without Abe. He fits everything about what Chino wants to do and what Steph wants to do so perfectly without it being over the top or too little. Really just is perfect.
I especially love the way he uses his cymbals at times. It's surprising how he can put in so much extra drive. When listening to instrumental mixes I often discover he's doing a lot less than I thought he was at first listen.
Deftones really shaped my early days in getting in to music. Abe's drumming was something that always stuck out to me when starting to learn. All these little tricks that you've beautifully described in this video, the sneaky little hi hit clasp right before a chorus or segment switch, the use of the snare in fetieciera leading in and bringing in the rest of the band effortlessly, don't get me started on digital bath and practically the whole around the fur album! Truly a magician. Something I'll always appreciate.
Another Abe's pattern he does a lot mostly in the choruses is hitting at the same time bass drum + snare + china or crash. Swerve City, Romantic Dreams, Tempest, Diamond Eyes and Genesis are some examples
I really like Abes approach, always serves the music, little in the way of distracting show-off moments, but with a penchant for tasteful fills. Also the way he plays physically, looks great on stage with the blaring heavy grooves
Oh man.. every time i play deftones songs I’m amazed by Abe drumming!! I find very melodic, unpredictable, his pattern develop during the song, very impressive. A good exemple is one of my favourite Good Morning Beautiful… crazy groove, huge guitar sound.. i love this band
man, i didn't want any playthroughs to end! It's so cool you hit every note. Must've taken you so long to perfect them. Great video!! Abe is a fucking legend.
Excellent video! Cunningham is my favourite drummer, and I’m trying to teach myself some of his grooves - this is really helpful in getting into the headspace of his playing style.
abe is my fav drummer from day 1 ..over the years I still remember ONLY being able to sleep because of the deftones in highschool. I was always anxious and would grind away mentally all night but they helped me get through the tape and literally wake up with them BLASTING in my ears.
Well since Abe is doing it and I'm still in the basement at 50 years young lol. I can't say he has my style , but we both play a lot of the same chops .I've loved the band ever since the first time I listen to their first 3 albums . Also I love the band Quicksand that their bass player plays with . A lot of my style grooves .
Excellent! Few other things Abe uses a lot Is general hi hat dynamics. You touched on it a bit, but he really uses the hi hat to 'bark' through the mix an awful lot. He also uses lots of Snare flams in his linear fills, often preceded by a kick/snare flam. Gives it that fat sound! Also in his fills he very often uses crash cymbals without a kick. Helps to keep them sounding ethereal and light. A good example of this is the very first fill at the start of digit bath (although me may use a splash cymbal here) Great vid man! Never really noticed the impact the delayed snare on the 'and' of 4,now I hear it everywhere!
Good stuff dude!! I’ve been listening to Deftones since I was 13, for like 24 years. And I’ve been learning couple of songs on drums as well. This helped a lot.
I really enjoyed this video so I subscribed lol. Great playing, and also really cool points being made here. Deftones is my fav band and I get all happy when someone breaks down their music and can appreciate what they create as a band. Such a talented group of guys. Cheers!
Huge Deftones fan here, easy #1 favorite band, and I learned so much about Abe's drumming from this video, thank you! I'm not drumming yet, but now I can't wait to get my kit and start practicing so I can jam out with my favorite songs one day.
I'm not even a drummer and I notice Abe's drumming over everything else in the band, in my mind he is the "stand out member" of deftones. I love that he doesn't play just to show off to other drummers, his primary goal is to serve the music. It's impossible not to move and groove when listening to any song he does
I'm a drummer and Abe is in my top 3 biggest influences, along with Chad Sexton of 311 (best snare sound EVER) and Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction. All top tier groovy drummers. I have picked up some of these "Cunninghamisms" along the way, but there was stuff i didn't catch before. Thanks! 👍
all those are really cool, but imho the most abe cunningham thing to do is mix up the basedrum pattern which he does in many outros like be quiet and drive or hexagram... almost never the same bar twice
I read up on an interview back in the day that Abe's influence was the drummer from the police. Pay attention to that all she wants magic song if I remember correctly and you will all see what I mean. Fan since 99'
Most most most signature Abe thing (not even mentioned here) is to throw 2 quick sixteenths light snare hits starting on the offbeat (eighth note). 1 xx2 | 3 | 4 | - prime example is My Own Summer and Change, but can be heard plenty on other tunes
LMAO I am not a drummer but I have been programming drums for my music for years. Deftones are my favorite band and I didn't know how many of these things I've been doing, especially that last snare hit leading into a chorus.
Abe IS the grove. they also don't use click tracks so shit just sounds more natural, listen to Minerva at the outro then start it over, significantly off. Steph doesn't fuck with Clicks, just jams with abe to develop songs, that's just part of their style. He also uses all rides I think... I dono for sure but I know they are massive. love the video mang!
@@c_vanwyk99 He never used a piccolo snare. The sound ist all about tuning an technique not only the dimension of the shell. Listen to Wilma´s Rainbow from Helmet - 14 x 5 brass snare
Hey Russ! Loved this video. As a non Drummer It explained Why I love Deftones so much. I tried to get ahold of you on Fiverr, But it says you're not active right now. Please Let me know when you'll be back! Urgently need your skills on my track.
I'm a devout Abe Cunningham loyalist and I am really dissapointed that you only covered some of Abe's most recent drum patterns that do not define his core sound. When you hear Abe's core sound that truley defines his peak era, the drumming gives the listener a sense of supreme monolithic confidence and lust backed by an under belly of dangerously nafarious timing and wickedly vengefull aggression. His core sound is like a dark rejected orchestra being violently conducted by the massive waves and thunder in a biblical huricane. At least thats what I feel when I hear his drum technique from specific songs and albums like Around The Fur, Back In School, You've Seen The Butcher, Knife Party, Feiticeira but most importantly Street Carp and Bored. Abe Cunningham's most signature sound is what he plays in Bored, without a doubt. He is the only drummer in the world at that era in Rock who was playing those three hit transitions (snare + floor tom) + (rt hand crash + kick) + (lft hand crash + kick). That technique is only used by Abe Cunningham and is what helped elivate the Deftones sound to transcend above where most rock bands were stuck coming out of the grunge/Pantera/311/Primus era. Besides Abe, it's Chino's emotional vocals along with Abe's new school hip hop sexy metal technique that makes Deftones a devine gift to humanity, putting us all on the verge of tears with butterflys in our stomachs as we......"move to the back of the car, she makes me touch the machine....new muurRDDEERRRERRRRRR FVCK EM! First, untie me... untie me for now..........you said you would wright...and you were right...."
Huge Deftones fan here. I know I'm late to this video. Just wanted to say that hint you were throwing out about the "snare accents on the & of 4" could be true, but the examples you used to demonstrate this were actually snare hits ON 4. Don't want this to come off as bitchy, just an FYI.
I always think of the snare drum as being a quarter note. If the quarter note is being counted as 1 2 3 4 the snare lands on 2 and 4. I think about all music this way (and teach this to my drum students) since this is how it is written in drum set notation typically. You are feeling that quarter note twice as fast and thinking of the backbeat as being on beat 3. Though not technically incorrect, because it is not notated this way, I don't tend to count things this way. Count it however you want to, but this is the reason why I count that snare hit as being on the and of 4.
Hello great video. I'm a beginner drummer I've been drumming for just over a year now. I was just wondering what is it on your laptop you are using, just curious if it's something I can get to help me. Thank you very much for your time and the video.🥁👍🤟
great vid! i just wanted to point out that it looks like youre reading off a script for some of it, which is fine, but the audience can see your eyes move and it sort of breaks the "illusion" that youre speaking directly to us, which is somewhat disconcerting. it might be better to memorize your script or to at least put it right under the camera so your eyes dont have to move as much
