It took me years to appreciate Abe's value and how his apparent simplicity actually lends it self to the songs and Steph's riffs. How lucky we are for these musicians to have met and form a band.

He can play drums like a monster and suddenly like a angel!!

One of my main influences, something additional to highlight is his kick patterns, they are so groovy, a lot of hip hop influence

HUGE Deftones fan here. I know every single album by heart, as well as Chino’s side bands , Crosses, Team Sleep, and Palms. Team Sleep is so great, and Palms I fall asleep to at night. Crosses is very electronica-synth graveyard sweet tunes lol that’s my description don’t mind it lol

Another Abe's pattern he does a lot mostly in the choruses is hitting at the same time bass drum + snare + china or crash. Swerve City, Romantic Dreams, Tempest, Diamond Eyes and Genesis are some examples

Love the deftones, but have always thought this band would not be where they are or even the band they are without Abe. He fits everything about what Chino wants to do and what Steph wants to do so perfectly without it being over the top or too little. Really just is perfect.

I really like Abes approach, always serves the music, little in the way of distracting show-off moments, but with a penchant for tasteful fills. Also the way he plays physically, looks great on stage with the blaring heavy grooves

Abe's the Love (drum) child of Stewart Copeland, Jeff Porcarro, John Bonham & Danny Carey. Underrated drummer indeed.

"last bar, snare hits on 4, not 3" is awesome. Thanks for the hint, man! Cool vid

I especially love the way he uses his cymbals at times. It's surprising how he can put in so much extra drive. When listening to instrumental mixes I often discover he's doing a lot less than I thought he was at first listen.

Oh man.. every time i play deftones songs I’m amazed by Abe drumming!! I find very melodic, unpredictable, his pattern develop during the song, very impressive. A good exemple is one of my favourite Good Morning Beautiful… crazy groove, huge guitar sound.. i love this band

Deftones really shaped my early days in getting in to music. Abe's drumming was something that always stuck out to me when starting to learn. All these little tricks that you've beautifully described in this video, the sneaky little hi hit clasp right before a chorus or segment switch, the use of the snare in fetieciera leading in and bringing in the rest of the band effortlessly, don't get me started on digital bath and practically the whole around the fur album! Truly a magician. Something I'll always appreciate.

I love this drummer

ABSOLUTELY LOVE ABE!!! He has been a huge huge influence in my drumming development. Thank you sooo much for this video!!!

My favourite Abe's part is in Cherry Waves. Intro and outro especially. It looks simple but creates so much tension. Perfect part

man, i didn't want any playthroughs to end! It's so cool you hit every note. Must've taken you so long to perfect them. Great video!! Abe is a fucking legend.

You forgot the ghost notes on the snare...

I love the breakdown on Spell of Mathematics right when you think the song is winding down

abe is my fav drummer from day 1 ..over the years I still remember ONLY being able to sleep because of the deftones in highschool. I was always anxious and would grind away mentally all night but they helped me get through the tape and literally wake up with them BLASTING in my ears.

I read up on an interview back in the day that Abe's influence was the drummer from the police. Pay attention to that all she wants magic song if I remember correctly and you will all see what I mean. Fan since 99'

best description ever of Def's sound at the beginning of the vid

I read an article where Abe said some of his influences were Bill Ward and Stewart Copeland. I can see it

Great video! In my younger days I played drums in a Deftones cover band. Greatest time of my drumming life😊🤟

To add to your wonderful intro of Abe, he also adds a layer of juxtaposed ethereal heaviness. My favorite drummer.

i fuckin love abe man, he might not have the most insane beats but he is so precise and smooth to where it doesnt matter.

Well since Abe is doing it and I'm still in the basement at 50 years young lol. I can't say he has my style , but we both play a lot of the same chops .I've loved the band ever since the first time I listen to their first 3 albums . Also I love the band Quicksand that their bass player plays with . A lot of my style grooves .

Excellent video! Cunningham is my favourite drummer, and I’m trying to teach myself some of his grooves - this is really helpful in getting into the headspace of his playing style.

Honestly, this just made me wanna listen to all their albums consecutively again 😂🤌!

Thank you, this was such a good video. Deftones is a religion! My favourite has to be Needles and pins, Abe really flows so well in that track.

Great job man! I really enjoy this video and your explanations 😉

my favorite drummer

damn, this is superb content dude, would love to see more of this, much appreciation

Underrated video! Great drumming and well spoken

Great analysis and drumming!!!

Awesome video! Your enthusiasm for the man really shone throughout. Abe and Stephen is the epitome of playing to the song.

Huge Deftones fan here, easy #1 favorite band, and I learned so much about Abe's drumming from this video, thank you! I'm not drumming yet, but now I can't wait to get my kit and start practicing so I can jam out with my favorite songs one day.

Great video, thanks for the rad tips!

What an awesome video. Thank youuuuuu

Congrats on such a great video. You are a true beast on the drums and it is so cool to see this kind of breakdown of an iconic style. Great job

Showing all the clips by actually playing them is a great touch! Good stuff

I really enjoyed this video so I subscribed lol. Great playing, and also really cool points being made here. Deftones is my fav band and I get all happy when someone breaks down their music and can appreciate what they create as a band. Such a talented group of guys. Cheers!

Great vid with some really deep cuts from my favorite albums (Self Titled and SNW).

Deftones is my favorite band too. I looove the way Abe plays the drums. This video is very inspiering and a great help. Thank you.

Good stuff dude!! I’ve been listening to Deftones since I was 13, for like 24 years. And I’ve been learning couple of songs on drums as well. This helped a lot.

Awesome video mate!

great video man!!!

Most most most signature Abe thing (not even mentioned here) is to throw 2 quick sixteenths light snare hits starting on the offbeat (eighth note). 1 xx2 | 3 | 4 | - prime example is My Own Summer and Change, but can be heard plenty on other tunes

Great video dude! Abe is in my top 3 along with DC and Josh Freese!!

This was an easy subscribe. Great video!

Subscribed for you excellent taste. You're a great drummer man.

this is such a well made analysis, would love to see similar stuff covering other drummers

Love this video and tips

Excellent! Few other things Abe uses a lot Is general hi hat dynamics. You touched on it a bit, but he really uses the hi hat to 'bark' through the mix an awful lot. He also uses lots of Snare flams in his linear fills, often preceded by a kick/snare flam. Gives it that fat sound! Also in his fills he very often uses crash cymbals without a kick. Helps to keep them sounding ethereal and light. A good example of this is the very first fill at the start of digit bath (although me may use a splash cymbal here) Great vid man! Never really noticed the impact the delayed snare on the 'and' of 4,now I hear it everywhere!

Youre my favorite!🥁

I'm not even a drummer and I notice Abe's drumming over everything else in the band, in my mind he is the "stand out member" of deftones. I love that he doesn't play just to show off to other drummers, his primary goal is to serve the music. It's impossible not to move and groove when listening to any song he does

all those are really cool, but imho the most abe cunningham thing to do is mix up the basedrum pattern which he does in many outros like be quiet and drive or hexagram... almost never the same bar twice

great video man

Abe is a taste master. Appreciate this video

Add to this is his signature pattern that goes something like tugtugutugpak tugtugudugupish

awesome. was surprised to find no deftones drum covers on your channel. would be cool to see more examples of abe's style.

amazing vid

You look a lot like Eddie Hermida from All Shall Perish/Suicide Silence. Great vid homie!

Nice recording quality man!

You forgot his awesome Hi-hats openings placements!

Great!

Abe IS the grove. they also don't use click tracks so shit just sounds more natural, listen to Minerva at the outro then start it over, significantly off. Steph doesn't fuck with Clicks, just jams with abe to develop songs, that's just part of their style. He also uses all rides I think... I dono for sure but I know they are massive. love the video mang!

I'm a drummer and Abe is in my top 3 biggest influences, along with Chad Sexton of 311 (best snare sound EVER) and Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction. All top tier groovy drummers. I have picked up some of these "Cunninghamisms" along the way, but there was stuff i didn't catch before. Thanks! 👍

LMAO I am not a drummer but I have been programming drums for my music for years. Deftones are my favorite band and I didn't know how many of these things I've been doing, especially that last snare hit leading into a chorus.

This video is fucking awesome!!!

finally some love for combat

Can u do a video about john stainer? He's a beast from the 90's tight snare sound

I dont think Abe is an underrated drummer..but he will never be an overrated drummer ..his balance creates appreciation

1. This is truly awesome!!! 2. You NEED to make some deftones drum covers!!!

We need a full cover of drive far away!!!

digital bath, is cool drum thinks

Hey Russ! Loved this video. As a non Drummer It explained Why I love Deftones so much. I tried to get ahold of you on Fiverr, But it says you're not active right now. Please Let me know when you'll be back! Urgently need your skills on my track.

Hi @Russ - Can you do more in depth review of Deftones songs? I really like how you dissect segments of Abe's play style :)

should have demonstrated fills in knife party. that song is nuts

cool vid

Can you do a video on how to tune a snare like Abe's, if you know how? The snare sound I want is the sound Abe had on My Own Summer (Shove It)

Great video! What are the 2 splashes you’re using on your kit?

4:00 and you are mirroring Abe mirroring the drum machine 😂

I'm a devout Abe Cunningham loyalist and I am really dissapointed that you only covered some of Abe's most recent drum patterns that do not define his core sound. When you hear Abe's core sound that truley defines his peak era, the drumming gives the listener a sense of supreme monolithic confidence and lust backed by an under belly of dangerously nafarious timing and wickedly vengefull aggression. His core sound is like a dark rejected orchestra being violently conducted by the massive waves and thunder in a biblical huricane. At least thats what I feel when I hear his drum technique from specific songs and albums like Around The Fur, Back In School, You've Seen The Butcher, Knife Party, Feiticeira but most importantly Street Carp and Bored. Abe Cunningham's most signature sound is what he plays in Bored, without a doubt. He is the only drummer in the world at that era in Rock who was playing those three hit transitions (snare + floor tom) + (rt hand crash + kick) + (lft hand crash + kick). That technique is only used by Abe Cunningham and is what helped elivate the Deftones sound to transcend above where most rock bands were stuck coming out of the grunge/Pantera/311/Primus era. Besides Abe, it's Chino's emotional vocals along with Abe's new school hip hop sexy metal technique that makes Deftones a devine gift to humanity, putting us all on the verge of tears with butterflys in our stomachs as we......"move to the back of the car, she makes me touch the machine....new muurRDDEERRRERRRRRR FVCK EM! First, untie me... untie me for now..........you said you would wright...and you were right...."

Dude you should have called it 6 ways to sound like she cause you forgot a big one! Ghost notes

He’s like the Bonham of NU metal.

I got a fever and the only prescription is more ghost notes

In change when did does the closed hat for 8 and then open for 8 before the chorus stands out to me. Idk if he does that in any other song

Rx Queen isn’t an easy song. It took me a while to get the groove down consistently.

Abe's snare is more than tightly tuned. He uses a marching snare head for his snare.

Hello great video. I'm a beginner drummer I've been drumming for just over a year now. I was just wondering what is it on your laptop you are using, just curious if it's something I can get to help me. Thank you very much for your time and the video.🥁👍🤟

Huge Deftones fan here. I know I'm late to this video. Just wanted to say that hint you were throwing out about the "snare accents on the & of 4" could be true, but the examples you used to demonstrate this were actually snare hits ON 4. Don't want this to come off as bitchy, just an FYI.

PART TWO IS HERE! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bL5dm6Vi0NW4c6c.htmlsi=45-xL_m7XldNM4UG

You're missing a lot of ghost notes he does bud. Favorite drummer ever.

*5 things i can tell you about Abe Cunningham.

How do I get my snare to sound like his !! Anybody helppp

Marco petruzella is all I have to say.

There's no crash on EVERY SINGLE 1 on BQAD

No offence man, but you look very similar to Chino! Cool!

What size ride are you using?

No thank you sir ✌️ to you 2