So that’s how he did it

We all have those irritating songs that we try to master over and over. Some may be complex while others may be so simple its hard to get into the mind of the drummer who composed them. For me, the song “Hollywood Nights” by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band presents a unique challenge.

A combination of both of the aforementioned styles, David Teegarden’s drumming is a hard driving force that literally propels the song forward and ignites the band. The song features the hi-hat and snare played at a tireless tempo. What most people don’t know is that the drums are double tracked. No wonder I was struggling! In an interview Bob Seger explained:

“Our drummer, David Teegarden, played an entire set of drums as we recorded and overdubbed another entire set of drums playing a different pattern. In other words, there’s two sets of everything, snare, kick drum, hi-hat…” Listen to Teegarden explain how he double tracked the drum part:

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/david-teegarden?fbclid=IwAR1PZuXQ0WXAD4oycVciawFnUfvZhWz0MeUX7XQY-bncaZtAKIO7uB4cKVU

Here’s the song as it appears on the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhuVwVpr3WY

I wished I would have known that before. I wasted some serious practice time in the drum room. So the best I can do is what every other drummer who plays that song live does…fake it.