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Can You Learn A Song By Ear This Quickly?

Larnell Lewis  /  UPDATED Aug 22, 2022

Want to see Larnell Lewis hear a drumless song twice and nail it, form and feature, on his first run through? Hit that play button!

(P.S. He did it again with “Enter Sandman” by Metallica)

How can Larnell learn songs so quickly? How did he learn almost the entire We Like It Here album by Snarky Puppy on a 7.5 hour flight to record in Europe?

Watch him work through his process of listening to the song’s details, understanding sections and forms, and looking for shots and nuances.

As Larnell says, it’s important to practice listening and imagining yourself playing the drums – mental practice was huge for him in this exercise but is also crucial when he’s away from the drums. He also listens to what the other musicians are playing and understands that when those things happen, “you have certain options you can draw from on the kit.”

Think you can nail it on the second go like Larnell? The song is called ‘Chick’s Pain’ by Mathieu Fiset and is available in the Drumeo Members’ area!


Larnell Lewis is a Grammy Award-winning musician, composer, producer, and educator. Along with his long-standing position behind the drums in Snarky Puppy, Larnell has led many highly successful groups of his own and toured the globe with some of the most well known names in music, including Etienne Charles, Gregory Porter, Benny Golson, Lalah Hathaway, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Lisa Fisher, Kurt Elling, Gary Burton, and more. Larnell received the Contemporary Drummer Of The Year award at the 2021 Drumeo Awards.

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