I recently played a weekend "Date Nite" event at a church in Cary, NC (I never thought I'd EVER play "Sweet Child of Mine" and "Open Arms" in a church!) and learned 5 songs for the event. The band leader wanted us to play the songs as much like the original as possible, so I took it upon myself to transcribe the drum parts to best replicate the fills, groove, and beats of the originals. Below you'll find links to PDF charts of the following songs:
Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses
Download Sweet Child of Mine PDF Drum Chart
How Sweet It Is by James Taylor
Love Story by Taylor Swift
Ain't No Sunshine by Kris Allen
Open Arms by Journey
You'll see that in lieu of normal staff paper I used regular notebook paper. My intention was to do a rough draft of the chart on notebook paper and then copy my draft onto staff paper for a more professional looking chart, but because of time constraints I decided to leave them as is (because of this, you may need to adjust your print settings so as to get a "darker" print of the chart - or you could adjust the contrast in a photo-editing program).
Basically, when you open the chart you'll see the tempo marking, and my rough notes. The top line (usually with x's) is going to be the cymbal part, the middle line will be the snare part, and the bottom line will be the kick drum part. I typically will only write 8 bars to a line, and each time a new section of the song begins (chorus, verse, bridge, solo) I'll begin writing on a new line. Reading the charts will make the most sense when listening to the original recording (that I've based the chart on).
My system of charting is roughly based on the Nashville Number system, and allows me the ability to quickly learn the form (and in this case the beats, fills, cymbal crashes) of song. Typically I can learn a song in as little as 1-2 play-throughs using this method. A detailed chart (like the one's above) will take me a little longer depending on how much detail I want to put into the chart.
I would enjoy the opportunity to teach you how to chart out songs that you would like to play, as I feel transcription and charting are two sure-fire ways to improve as a drummer and musician.
Feel free to get in touch with your questions and comments and I hope you find the above charts helpful and useful in your study of the drums!
