Are you a gamer? Are you a drummer? No to both questions? Shoot… Well, if you want to stick around, we're going to break down a rhythm from the Super Mario Bros. soundtrack. Let's get odd. ("Transmission from Ganymede" starts playing) Hello everyone. Edmond here. I make videos on drumming and video games. Subscribe for more of that. We're taking a look at the main theme for Super Mario Bros. Everything about it is iconic. It was released in 1985 on the Famicom in Japan and the NES system in the U.S. It was composed by the legendary Koji Kondo. You know how it sounds. ("Super Mario Bros. Theme Song) starts playing) If you're new to drumming or music, let's dive into it a little bit. Disclaimer: there is a bit of a swing to this track but for the sake of simplicity, we'll leave that for another video.
This rhythm consists of 16th notes, eighth notes, dotted eighth notes, eighth note triplets, an eighth rest, and sixteenth note rests. Let's try counting it out a few times. 120 BPM is pretty fast, so let's try 80 BPM. First, let's try clapping on the downbeat and just count out every note for two measures. One Two Three Four One a and e a e and One and a Two and a e a Four e One a and e a e and One and a Two and a e a Four e If you messed up, don't worry. Just keep practicing. Slow it down if you need to. Other ways to practice this? You could try clapping on the downbeat and singing the notes. You could try counting out the downbeats and clapping each note out, or counting out and clapping each note. Let's try that. One Two Three Four One a and e a e and One and a Two and a e a Four e One a and e a e and One and a Two and a e a Four e You could also try singing that out.
I would sing it but– No one wants to hear that. I think the trickiest part of this phrase is the transitioning from this sixteenth note and eighth note into eighth note triplets and then right back into an eighth note and sixteenth notes here. If anything is confusing or unclear, let me know in the comments below and I'll do my best to help, but don't worry about it too much. Just keep practicing and take drumming one step at a time. This is just one exercise and there are so many ways to practice it. You could practice playing the rhythm with each individual hand, with both hands at the same time, or alternating hands. And here's a different way. Here you are playing every note out, even the rests. but we can play accents on the main rhythm. All the other notes are not accented. So here's what that sounds like. You can add flams or diddles. Try playing around with it and come up with some ideas of your own.
If you're a beginner, don't worry about all the bells and whistles. Just keep going. Keep practicing and keep drumming. You could also apply this rhythm to the drum set. Let's check out a few ideas. This first idea is just the first measure and the bass drum is playing the main rhythm. For this second idea, we can play two full measures. The beginning of the second measure is just two simple bass drum hits. For this third idea, it's just for fun.
The second measure is a little bonkers. There are some thirty-second notes on the hi-hats there. This is pretty difficult. I'll be honest; I haven't even tried playing this one, so I'm not even sure if I can play it. If you can't play it, don't worry about it. Slow it down or just practice through ideas one and two or even better yet, play around with it and see if you can come up with ideas of your own. So this was my first video. Was it any good? Was it any bad? Did you learn anything? Did you come up with any ideas of your own? Definitely let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching. Stay odd and keep on drumming. ["55 Seconds" starts playing].