Francis' Drumming Blog

Few drummers can influence entire generations and mark a new era of drumming. One of these is Mike Portnoy, whose remarkable work with Dream Theater redefined progressive metal. Considered by fans and critics as the band’s masterpiece, Images and Words was released in 1992 becoming the band’s most commercially successful studio album. In this article, we explore the Mike Portnoy drum part on the famous song “Pull Me Under” analyzing the main grooves and fills in depth, including the complete drum transcription.

Drum Grooves and Fills

In the first section, Portnoy plays a tom groove, adding a snare accent on the upbeat of beat 2. This drum beat occurs only in this part of the song, and it’s not repeated in any other section. It’s a versatile drum groove that can be easily adapted and applied to various styles.

We enter the song clue part with the emblematic guitar riff that Portnoy highlights on the bass drum with an essential and powerful hand part. The same groove recurs in the outro with interesting beat displacements and variations.

Despite featuring various creative grooves, the song is mostly in 4/4. The only variation occurs at the end of chorus 2 and 3 when the time signature changes to 7/8 and 2/4. Then the song returns in 4/4.

The last part we analyze is the massive drum fill before the final chorus. That’s a classic of Portnoy drumming, and you can hear it with variations in other Dream Theater tracks. Considering the bpm of 102, this is a challenging drum fill to prove your ability to play 32nd notes without sacrificing power and accuracy. Make it yours!

Full Drum Transcription

These are only some of the grooves and fills of the song. For those who want to study and understand Mike Portnoy’s extraordinary drumming, the complete drum transcription of “Pull Me Under” is now available for purchase. The first two pages of transcription are available for free as a preview. Elevate your drumming!

Explore other complete drum transcriptions dedicated to legendary drummers.