ZackGrooves | Drummer | Chops, groove and memes
Zack Graybeal, aka ZackGrooves, has turned 440,000 subscribers and a jazz degree into a real band. His story, his Dixon and Meinl rig, and the latest news.
Zack Graybeal, better known as ZackGrooves, arrived on the drumming scene in 2020 and has not stopped since. Take his groove, his passion, his chops and his sense of humour, and you end up with videos you cannot stop watching.
What has changed since we first wrote about him is everything around the videos: a band, three records, an endorsement roster and a signature stick.
We keep this page updated with the latest ZackGrooves news.
Who is ZackGrooves?
ZackGrooves is a seriously good jazz drummer who studied music at East Carolina University. In 2020 he appeared to come out of nowhere and grew into one of the most entertaining drum creators on YouTube.
The “appeared” is doing some work in that sentence. The comedy is what got shared; the reason people stayed is that he can properly play.
ZackGrooves on YouTube
The channel now sits at roughly 441,000 subscribers and comfortably over 70 million views across about 300 videos — up from the 181,000 subscribers and 15 million views we recorded when this page first went up.
His videos are engaging and full of personality, and the mix of real drumming ability with genuine comic timing works a charm.
Most of them play on scenarios drummers actually recognise. For example, when the drummer tries to steal the spotlight.
And what not to do at a drum audition:
Our top pick from ZackGrooves
It is still the one that started it all.
During his college jazz recital, Zack decided to play his drum solo at a different tempo to the track, making life considerably harder for his bandmates. He had tried it in rehearsal. He had promised not to do it in the performance.
He did it anyway, apologised mid-solo, and the band held it together. He passed.
Everything Yes: the band
This is the biggest development since we first covered Zack, and the one most people miss.
Everything Yes is his jazz-fusion band: Zack on drums, Cole Sipe on bass, Reggie McNeill on keys, Sean Reeser on tenor sax and Nathan Graybeal on alto sax. Two horns, no guitar, and a lot of space for everyone to move.
Their discography now runs Volume 1 (2023), Volume 2 (2024), a Volume 2.5 EP (2025), and Volume 3 on the way — plus a steady run of singles in between.
They tour properly, too. If you want to hear what the comedy videos are built on top of, this is where to look.
What gear does Zack use?
The days of the mixed-bag setup are over. His rig now reads as a fully endorsed one:
- Drums — Dixon.
- Cymbals — Meinl, drawn from the Byzance lines: Foundry Reserve, Dual and Extra Dry.
- Sticks — his own Meinl Stick & Brush signature model, the SB606 — 16.5”, .550”, American hickory, long taper, oval wood tip.
- Electronics — the Yamaha EAD10 has long been part of how he records his kit at home.
Here he is walking through the Meinl setup himself, which will tell you more than a list ever could:
See ZackGrooves’ full rig, era by era, in the Rig Vault →
If the Byzance range has caught your ear, our guide to Meinl Byzance trash crashes is a good place to start.
Where can you find more?
Final thoughts
Zack is still young with most of his career ahead of him, and he has done the thing that very few creators manage: he turned the audience into an actual music career rather than an end in itself.
Three records, a touring band, a signature stick and a jazz degree. Not bad for a bloke best known for a video where he ruins his own recital.
If you like this end of drum YouTube, try rdavidr for the DIY side of it, or Greyson Nekrutman for another young player who came up through jazz.