Great songs to play drums to

We’ve been asking our students and our ‘likers’ on our Facebook page to name their favourite tracks to play along to. Below are the results. This list is growing so we will add new suggestions over time – feel free to contribute to the list by adding your favourite drumming songs by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

Playing along to songs is a great way to practise drums. It exposes you to different styles of playing, develops your sense of timing, and is a practical way to explore song structures. Drum kit is usually played as part of a band so it is important to practise drums in the context of real music to help develop musicality and performance skills.

The Elephant Drums list of ‘drum-along’ songs

All I Want – Skunk Anansie
All My Life – Foo Fighters
All Right Now – Free
Always On The Run – Lenny Kravitz
Back In Black – AC/DC
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Californication – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Car Wash – Rose Royce
Chameleon – Herbie Hancock
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Chop Suey! – System Of A Down
Common People – Pulp
Cosmic Girl – Jamiroquai
Enter Sandman – Metallica
Every Breath You Take – The Police
Faster Than The Setting Sun – Fyfe Dangerfield
Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover – Paul Simon
Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix
Highway To Hell – AC/DC
I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ – Scissor Sisters
I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown
I Love Rock And Roll – Joan Jet
I Predict A Riot – Kaiser Chiefs
Iron Man – Black Sabbath
Knock On Wood – Eddie Floyd
Late In The Evening – Paul Simon
Let’s Stick Together – Bryan Ferry
Live And Let Die – Guns and Roses
Long Train Running – Doobie Brothers
Lovely Day – Bill Withers
Message In A Bottle – The Police
Moondance – Van Morrison
Move On Up – Curtis Mayfield
Mr Brightside – The Killers
My Generation – The Who
Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry
Plug In Baby – Muse
River Deep Mountain High – Tina Turner
Rockin’ All Over The World – Status Quo
Roll With It – Oasis
Roxanne – The Police
Run To The Hills – Iron Maiden
Seven Days – Sting
Seven Nation Army – White Stripes
Sex On Fire – Kings of Leon
Should I Stay Or Should I Go – The Clash
Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Summer Of ’69 – Bryan Adams
Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream
Supersonic – Oasis
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Take Your Mama – Scissor Sisters
Teenage Kicks – The Undertones
The Best – Tina Turner
The Fight Song – Marilyn Manson
The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret – Queens Of The Stone Age
The Number Of The Beast – Iron Maiden
The Unforgiven – Metallica
The Zephyr Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers
This Charming Man – The Smiths
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Tighten Up – The Black Keys
Time Is Running Out – Muse
Touch It – Busta Rhytmes
Twist and Shout – The Beatles
V.I.C.E. – Razorlight
Valerie – Amy Winehouse
Walk This Way – Aerosmith
Warpigs – Black Sabbath
Waterloo – ABBA
What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
When You Were Young – The Killers
Who Are You – The Who
You Really Got Me – The Kinks
You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Add your suggestions for more drum-along songs by clicking the “submit a comment” button below.

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