A bass drum, which makes the low-pitched booming sound when struck by a weighted mallet operated by a foot pedal. A snare drum, usually located to the non-dominant side of the drummer and played with the drummer’s non-dominant stick. The snare is a tight, bright drum with a band of rattling metal beads under the drum head. Typically, the snare is known for its crisp “click” sound followed by the “resonating shuffle” of the beads. There are many types of tom-tom drums, but the most common three are the Floor Tom (the deepest of the three), the Mid-Tom (the medium of the three), and the High-Tom (the most high-pitched of the three). A very basic kit may only have the floor tom, while others may have many. They’re tuned differently to create an array of different deeper noises for fills.
A bass drum, which makes the low-pitched booming sound when struck by a weighted mallet operated by a foot pedal. A snare drum, usually located to the non-dominant side of the drummer and played with the drummer’s non-dominant stick. The snare is a tight, bright drum with a band of rattling metal beads under the drum head. Typically, the snare is known for its crisp “click” sound followed by the “resonating shuffle” of the beads. There are many types of tom-tom drums, but the most common three are the Floor Tom (the deepest of the three), the Mid-Tom (the medium of the three), and the High-Tom (the most high-pitched of the three). A very basic kit may only have the floor tom, while others may have many. They’re tuned differently to create an array of different deeper noises for fills.
The hi-hat is a pair of cymbals mounted on a foot pedal. The foot pedal is usually played by the left foot and controls the cymbals, bringing them together when pressed and bringing them apart when released. You can strike the cymbal when it is apart or closed, and you can shut the cymbals with your feet at different rates of speed, each creating a different sound. The ride cymbal creates a more subtle and deeper sound than the other cymbals because it is used to play very repetitively throughout most music. The cymbal will usually resonate from one strike to another, featuring a very long reverberating “finish” to the sound. The splash is a cymbal that creates a metallic “splashing” sound, similar to the sound a water splash makes. It dies quickly after peaking and is typically used in basic fills to ornament your beat. The crash is similar to the splash, but usually generates a loud and long, sustained sound. Listen for the crash at the end of measures in pop music or especially in periods of heightened drama in orchestral music.
In the matched grip, you hold the sticks between your thumb and index finger a few inches from the bottom of the sticks. Wrap your remaining fingers around the sticks. Be sure the back side of your hands are facing up rather than facing to the side. This method is the most common way of holding sticks, allowing you plenty of wrist control and comfort. In the traditional grip, you’ll hold the stick in your non-dominant hand by resting the stick in the cradle between your thumb and index finger and on top of your ring finger. Wrap your thumb, index and middle fingers around the stick. Hold the other stick using a matched grip. Some jazz drummers use a traditional grip to offer a different kind of control on the snare drum, playing intricate rhythms on it as part of fills.
You can also consider joining your school band to have access to the equipment and lessons to help you learn. You might even ask in your band department if you’d be allowed to practice a few times on a kit because you’re interested in the drums. The music folk are generally friendly people, and it can’t hurt to ask.
You can also consider joining your school band to have access to the equipment and lessons to help you learn. You might even ask in your band department if you’d be allowed to practice a few times on a kit because you’re interested in the drums. The music folk are generally friendly people, and it can’t hurt to ask.
Have your drum teacher or the people at the store give you some pointers on how to hold the sticks, how to hit the drum properly, how to adjust the drums to fit your stature, and how to set up your kit at home. You can also find a lot of this information for free on the internet.
Sit up straight and keep your elbows in. Stay in tight to the kit, keeping the floor pedals at a comfortable distance from you.
Many beginners can get frustrated upon plopping down behind a kit and not being able to play a simple rhythm yet. It’s a good idea to start getting some sense of rhythm before dropping the cash on a big drum kit to practice on, or before giving yourself an opportunity to get frustrated.
Count out loud when you’re just getting started. It’s important to keep track of the rhythm and learn what you’re playing, allowing you to develop more complex awareness of beat. It’s a good idea to use a metronome or a click track to practice rhythms. They’re easy to find online, in GarageBand, or on your phone, or by playing along to songs.
You’re playing a simple rock-style drum beat! Learning drums is broken into two big categories of things you need to learn: rhythm and technique. You can’t learn technique without a drum kit, but you can learn about rhythm. By learning everything you can about rhythms and developing your sense of keeping a beat and counting before you ever sit behind a drum kit, you’ll be a better drummer and be able to learn more quickly.
Make sure you count out loud when you are playing. Eventually you won’t have to, but do it while you are learning and when you are practicing. To mix it up and get familiar with the kit, hit something else on the “Two” and on the “Four” instead of the snare drum, hit everywhere else. Try to develop a groove and get used to playing evenly, while counting out loud and while playing with the click.
Play straight eighth notes with the right hand. Use the left hand and hit the snare on “Two” and “Four”. Lift your foot off of the hi-hat here and there to get used to the sounds you are making. You can open it all the way, open it a little and hit the hi-hat in different places such as the outside rim, or the bell at the top to get different sounds.
Try to play with the right hand and foot at the same time, left hand free styling, or with all limbs at the same time to really get your muscles used to moving.
While you are doing this count out loud “One e and a Two e and a Three e and a Four e and a” continuing to hit the hi-hat with the right hand on the “One and Two and Three and Four and” but hitting the snare on the “es and as. "
This is what enables a drummer to perform very fast rolls and patterns. By studying and practicing the 26 American drum rudiments, you will be well on your way to mastering single, double, triple and quadruple stroke patterns.
Count the same beat you’ve been using so far with eighth notes, and on every beat close the hi-hat with your left foot and open it on the offbeats, or “ands”. Hit the snare drum on the twos and fours to make a basic rock beat. With your right hand keep 8th note time (one and two and three and four and) on the rim of the snare or on a ride cymbal if you have one.
Triplets are not used that much in rock beats but you will find them in drum fills and used in percussion lines found in school bands. Basically a triplet is where you play 3 notes in the time you usually play 2. you can have quarter note triplets, 8th note triplets, 16th note triplets, 32nd note triplets. We have a cool sounding beat with 8th note triplets. They are counted “[One-Trip-Let][Two-Trip-Let][Three-Trip-Let][Four-Trip-Let]” or any three syllable word. Play this along with the metronome each click on the metronome is a beat and each beat is subdivided.
16th note triplets are counted [1 trip let and trip let] [2 trip let and trip let] [3 trip let and trip let] [4 trip let and trip let]
There are 32nd note triplets that require a lot of subdivision to count and are pretty much too fast to say out loud, but if you want to hear some 32nd notes and 32nd not triplets, then listen to the song “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix. These notes are hard to play correctly because you need to be able to play them evenly, making the same sound on the drums with each hand and be able to move around the drum kit playing these notes in time with the rest of the song.
An accented stroke is when you strike the drum harder than the other strokes (usually on the rim of the drum, also known as a rimshot). Accents give a very dynamic effect to the music. In music notation, accents are shown by the mathematical “greater than” sign (>).
It should sound like “Boom tic Pap tic” now on the “3 + 4 +” do anything else for example start with moving every limb at the same time on the “3 + 4 +” you can hit the crash (if you have one) on the one on the following bar and you will have pulled off your first fill.
Now pick other subdivisions for the “3” and 4” beat you can go “[3 +] [4]” or “[3 +] [4 trip let]” or “[3 e + a] [4 +]” or whatever. Is it starting to get easier yet? As long as the notes are played evenly and within the time you have lots and lots of possible combinations for the fills. You don’t have to just play the [3] beat and [4] beat as fills. You can play the whole bar as a fill picking any of the subdivisions for each beat and combining them such as “[1 e + a] [2 trip let] [3 +] [4 trip let]” or whatever you picked. Say the subdivisions out loud then play with all limbs and then play around with using different sounds and sound combinations for the subdivisions.
You don’t have to start a fill at the beginning of a beat. Count " One and Two" and play it like you did before with the right hand on the hi-hat and the left on the snare but when you get to the “and three and four and” play the fill starting on that and instead of waiting for the “three” beat.
