Drumeo finds a formula and sticks to it (it works)
- May 9, 2025
- 3 min read
Chuck here at the keyboard this week.
What I'm sharing today is just prime material for Inspired by Anything. It's rock music geekery, voyeurism, lovely covers, long-form, content marketing... All in one. And lest you think that's an intersection that appeals to a grand total of 5 people - these videos often cross millions in YouTube views, with 23 videos crossing 5M. Heck, you would think a video that's as progressive metal as it gets, Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy learning a Tool song over a sprawling 30 minutes - would be super niche. But no, that's 8 million views.
But back to what I'm actually sharing. Drumeo is an online platform to learn drums - sort of a Netflix for percussion (a better analogy might be AdWorld for drumming). And they've totally cracked content on YouTube. It mostly consists of legendary drummers hearing a famous song for the first time - sans the drum parts; making up their own parts, playing along, and hearing the original.
It is just delightful. You get to see these superhuman drummers actually freaking pick up songs they've never heard before - often from genres far removed from what they listen to (metal drummers listening to a pop song; jazz drummers listening to nu-metal and more). It's also very wholesome as drummers across genres share an appreciation for the craft. I've gorged on these but one of my favourites is jazz legend Gregg Bisonette playing along to System of A Down's Toxicity, giving us a version we didn't know we needed but sounds. so. freaking. good.
Again, what's amazing about these is that these are slow-burn videos. Like realllly slow. You see the drummer going through 2-3 rounds of practice, making mistakes... and the payoff is of course when you see them attempting a final take of their own and their reaction when they see hear the original. Honestly, it's like a behind the scenes for a really polished cover, and it shows how changing up one instrument can give a song a whole new feel. Which is why I love the Toxicity version above so much. I adore that song and the chorus here hits SO different from the original. And to hear legendary drummers give it up to the original players yelling "ARGH, I should have done that!" and nerd out so much... It's sheer joy to watch.
Drumeo has siblings - Pianote, Singeo and Guitareo. Here is Jon Batiste listening to Green Day for the first time (I'm slightly sceptical about that, but still)
All the channels are good, but Drumeo really cracks it. You don't need to be a student of drumming to enjoy these videos - just a fan of rock music, maybe even non-fans will be able to enjoy the one-off video.
It's also a good official play on the whole [X genre person] listens to [other genre song] for the first time which does the rounds on YouTube and are primed for today's YouTube.
Classical music conductor listens to Iron Maiden for the first time.
Pop singer listens to Between The Buried and Me for the first time.
Jazz musician reacts to James Hetfield's vocals on the new Metallica album.
And so on. Algorithm in 2025 gold. And Drumeo is certainly cashing in on it. All while playing their promos for a 7 day free trial.
Fabulous content marketing. (and yes I did even use Drumeo for a bit when I was trying to learn drums during the pandemic).
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