In addition to tasking renowned Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy with learning how to play Tool‘s “Pneuma” as quickly as possible, and coming up with his own parts for Nickelback‘s “Burn It To The Ground“, Drumeo also had Portnoy blindly take on Taylor Swift‘s diamond-certified 2014 hit “Shake It Off“.
Portnoy had not heard the song prior and was played a version of it sans percussion to allow him the freedom to create his own parts for the aforementioned megahit. As you can see below, his initial playthrough found him implementing various metal mainstays, from double bass to gallops.
Portnoy was also remained humorously clueless as to who the artist behind the track was until Drumeo finally made the big reveal.
