Blink 182's "All the Small Things": A Closer Look:

Travis Barker from Blink 182 is one of the most popular drummers on today's rock scene. Travis' drumming adds a nice twist to the straightforward pop-punk music of Blink 182. He is a well-schooled drummer who even teaches drum lessons when he's not out on tour.

One of Blink 182's most popular songs is "All the Small Things", which appears their 1999 release, "Enema of the State". Travis really shines on this one with some exciting fills and creative, and catchy beats. In this installation of "A Closer Look", I'll present transcriptions and audio clips of the most notable drum parts from this popular song.

The "Roll-Off"

The first fill we'll look at is what I call the "roll-off". The roll-off is a common drum set fill that was widely used by well known drumming legends such as Steve Gadd (studio) and John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), among others. I call it a "roll off" because, in order to play this fill up to tempo, you have to very quickly move, or "roll" your primary hand from the snare to the floor tom. I consider this fill to be a 4 stroke ruff, between the hands and bass drum foot (with the 4th note played on the bass drum).

In "All the Small Things", Travis doesn't make us wait long before we hear his application of the roll off. It first occurs 6 seconds into the song, in the 4th measure. The actual roll off begins on the "and" of beat "2". It is helpful to play this (or any) figure slowly and get control of it, before you try to play it up to speed.

Rolloff

This next fill occurs in the middle of the first verse. It's pretty simple, yet sounds cool.

Verse Fill

Pre Chorus Groove

Occuring before the first two "hook" or chorus sections of "All The Small Things", the pre-chorus finds Travis laying down a driving, almost tribal sounding beat, with 8th notes on the floor tom, steady quarter notes on the bass drum, a syncopated tom rhythm, and sharp snare accents at key moments.

Pre-chorus groove

This fill is my favorite fill in the song. It occurs right after the 1st chorus and before the second verse. This fill is challenging to play smoothly at the tempo of the song, but as always, start slowly and concentrate on evenness rather than speed. Once you can play this passage without thinking about it, you'll be able to gradually build toward the tempo of the song.

Chorus Fill

Notice this fill consists of one full measure of steady 16th notes. It is phrased in a way that gives it a very cool sound; Travis plays a 6 note pattern, then repeats the same 6 note pattern, before ending with 4 sixteenth notes on the snare (6+6+4=16). If you're really sharp, you might have noticed that this fill contains the same hand/foot pattern as the roll off, but the rhythm is different.

This second example of the roll-off occurs at the very end of the song and features the roll off performed 3 times, consecutively.

Roll-off 2

I hope you've enjoyed this installment of "A Closer Look". As always, stay tuned for future installments and feel free to submit requests for future articles and lessons.

Travis Barker

Travis Barker
of Blink 182