Matt McGuire is widely known as the drummer of The Chainsmokers, but before he started playing with them, he was racking up millions of views on his YouTube drum covers. In fact, that’s how the band found him! He now ends many of his videos by breaking down why he made the drumming choices he did for the song.
From EDM, pop and rap to rock and metalcore, Matt has a ton of different covers under his belt. He especially nails it when the original song features electronic percussion – it gives him room to be creative while recreating some of the key sounds from the track.
Here are some of his best cover videos that show off his skills and creativity (and they all happen to be from the list of his personal favorites).
Lots of fun-to-watch crossovers in this one! Seeing drummers add acoustic drums to songs that don’t have them gives the song new life, and it’s really cool seeing his take on this track – especially with the dual hi-hat patterns.
Matt gives a half-time groove treatment to this trap remix of 2019’s biggest hits, building up the patterns as the song progresses and adding lots of funky details in the cymbals and ghost notes. In his post-video recap, he talks about trying to recreate a clock sound with multiple closed hi-hats.
Drums can help make a song catchier, and Matt’s approach of creating suspense and movement on the kit gives the track the perfect build-and-release it needs.
This is another creative take on a song that doesn’t have acoustic drums, which gives Matt tons of room to build something of his own. From reggaeton beats to blast beats, he keeps you guessing the entire time.
While he keeps tom-and-hi-hat-driven grooves going through most of this pop track, he knows what drummers watching his videos are waiting for: tasty linear fills and flourishes.
Matt says he didn’t want to go overboard with crazy fills in this cover, and did his best to play to the vocals and rhythms in the track. But there’s still so much going on, and it’s awesome to watch.
How often do you see YouTube drummers cover songs totally improvised? We don’t know if this was his first and only take, but we do know that the confidence doing this off the cuff makes this video extra awesome.
At first, it might seem like Matt is sticking with a similar vibe to the original track, but it soon progresses into a total remix with half-time jams and lightning-fast fills. It’s amazing what a backbeat can do to a song!
Matt gives this song his trademark double hi-hat treatment and demonstrates awesome foot control while showing restraint where it counts. His cymbal work really gets the song driving and if you weren’t dancing in your seat before, you should be now.
What if you put live drums over the perfect mix of pop, electronica and rap? What if you added some double bass patterns to the end of the song? What if?
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Drumeo Team - We're professional, award-winning drummers and drum teachers, coaches, recording artists, and content specialists who are passionate about drums and helping drummers around the world. This post was written and/or edited by Sam Landa, Brandon Toews, Jared Falk, Dave Atkinson, or another pro on our team (which has a combined 1000+ years of drumming experience). Are you looking for inspiration, education, and support to take your playing to the next level? Join the Drumeo community today!
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