“It’s pretty hard to find something that Chris is bad at but I think we’ve found it”: Watch Chris Hemsworth’s painful-looking first drumming lesson

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 06: (L-R) Ed Sheeran and Chris Hemsworth attend The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

You may remember that, last year, Chris Hemsworth appeared with Ed Sheeran at a concert in Romania, during which the actor guested on drums for Thinking Out Loud. Now you can watch footage from a few weeks before and see what happened during his first ever drum lesson.

It’s part of his National Geographic show Limitless With Chris Hemsworth. However, NME have got there first and put up some clips of the lesson, in which teacher Ben Jordan attempts to coach the actor in the rudiments of drumming. Warning: it's a bit of a painful watch.

“It was extremely difficult for him. I’m slowly realising that Chris doesn’t have much innate drumming rhythm,” Jordan says in the voiceover, before remarking: “It’s pretty hard to find something that Chris is bad at but I think we’ve found it.”

The background to this is that back in 2022 the Thor actor found out that he was genetically pre-disposed to Alzeheimer’s. According to research, early onset of the disease can be thwarted by learning new skills related to memory and cognitive function. Drumming, of course, is perfect for this.

One thing led to another - Hemsworth sent Sheeran an email and the actor joined the singer on stage last August in Bucharest. Remember the old 1980s BBC series, In At The Deep End, in which the presenters were given crash courses in stand-up comedy, hairdressing etc? It’s a bit like that.

You’ll have to wait till Friday to see the Limitless episode with that first lesson. It airs on Disney+ on 15 August. Does Hemsworth mess up in front of 70,000 Ed Sheeran fans? Well, it’s hardly a spoiler to say that he does improve – in fact, after his stint behind the kit Sheeran presents him with an award for ‘drumming excellence’.

Will Simpson
News and features writer

Will Simpson is a freelance music expert whose work has appeared in Classic Rock, Classic Pop, Guitarist and Total Guitar magazine. He is the author of 'Freedom Through Football: Inside Britain's Most Intrepid Sports Club' and his second book 'An American Cricket Odyssey' is due out in 2025

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