Girl Gone Bad by Van Halen, Drum Cover

The Paradiddler coming at you with another drum cover!  This time, it's "Girl Gone Bad" from Van Halen's 1984.

This is my favorite Van Halen song.  In fact, I believe this is Alex Van Halen's best recording.  Although he was always one of the most powerful drummers around, I don't think his drumming stood out sound-wise from Van Halen's debut album all the way to Diver Down. HOWEVER, what a difference an album makes!  It seems like Alex re-invented himself for the 1984 album.  The drums were way more pronounced and up front; and those bass drums!  What power.  Those Ludwigs never sounded so good!

There are some things going on in this song that, at my developmental stage, I can't quite reproduce yet.  For example, the triplet ride pattern he plays at the beginning and after the band jams halfway through the song, was just too much for my forearm to take.   So I compensated by changing the pattern to two singles plus a triple ride pattern.  'The bar remains the same', so to speak, so I think it works out ok.  I think it's a pretty creative alternative, actually (as I pat myself on the back)!  Also, at the end of the song when everybody's jamming out, Alex alternates his left foot between the hi-hat and the left bass pedal.  I stayed clear of that (for now) because it would just throw me off.  But with all the cymbal noise, I think I could get away with it .

Van Halen is in my top five favorite bands of all time (hmm, I smell another article in my near future!).  And Alex Van Halen is definitely one of my favorite drummers.  I am very glad I could play some semblance of this song, because it just rocks!