Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers star lifts lid on drumming secrets

Drummers have been handed a few playing tips by the man who hits the sticks for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Steve Ferrone has been a member of the band since 1994, and in an interview with MusicRadar, he revealed that he is able to play a song even if he has never heard it before.

This, he stated, is because he has a sense of the song's flow and dynamics, in particular where the verses and choruses are going.

Ferrone said this ability stems from his experience of being a tap dancer as a child, as dynamics are equally important in this activity as well.

"Because of my tap dancing, I can visualise a piece of music and feel it physically," he commented.

Ferrone stated that this proved particularly useful during the recording of the band's most recent album Mojo.

He said this is because Petty did not present the group with finished demos and instead started playing a groove and encouraged everyone to jam along until they had a finished song.

Ferrone has also played with the likes of Slash and Eric Clapton during his career, as well as George Harrison on his 1991 tour of Japan, which spawned a live album a year later.

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