Four Sticks

I started doing this 4 stick thing in the 70s, influenced by my music teacher Tommy Thomas, who used a similar idea in the 20s and 30s in Valdeville. This excerpt is my version of the Led Zeppelin tune Four Sticks. I didn’t discover this tune or it’s history till 2005. They recorded this in the studio and never performed it, not to my knowledge, this tune live, not with John Bonham. Page and Plant cover it with a large ensemble with multiple drummers and strings. Bonham played with 4 sticks on the tune (studio version) he doesn’t use the traditional Burton or Musser grip, like I learned from Tommy. He just holds 2 sticks in each hand. You can hear a difference on the studio recording, but he gave up and never tried it again. The tune is in 5 and a variation of 3. Verse in 5 , bridge or chorus in 3 or 6/8 or 12/8 however you interpret it. It’s a tricky tune.