Advanced Lessons

Advanced Drum Beat #1

Even though this is an advanced lesson, we are still going to start out with a simple beat to get you up to speed. This groove should be pretty straight forward based on what you've already learned. Play it a few times through, and then move on to the next.

Advanced Drum Beat #1

Here is where things will start to get challenging. This beat includes steady shots on the eighth note counts, but with added snare and bass drum shots on almost all the off-beats. You will likely need to practice this slowly (while counting out loud as always) when first starting off.

Advanced Drum Beat #3

            

Advanced Rock Drum Beats (sixteenth notes)

The third advanced beat includes groups of three sixteenth notes on the bass and snare drums. Now, while you have done groups of three in previous lessons, these groups are continous (no rests or gaps). The first half of the beat is sure to challenge you - while the last bit gives you a little break.

Advanced Drum Beat #4

This beat includes some serious limb independence. This is where your patient practice through the bass drum and snare drum independence exercises really pays off. Work through this beat slowly at first. When you have it - speed it up and focus on making it groove.

Intermediate lessons

Bass Drum Independence (sixteenth notes)

  

Bass Drum Beat #1

This first beat is fairly straight forward. However, drummers that have not played any beats with sixteenth notes before may have some trouble. Of course, the best solution for this is to slow everything down.

Focus on hitting the steady shots on the hi-hats, as that is the foundation of all the beats on this page. Then add in just the kick drum - with the second shot in each set landing between the hi-hat strokes.

** Reminder: the double line connecting the two sets of bass drum shots are what indicate that they are to be played as sixteenth notes. **

Bass Drum Beat #2

This second variation adds a third bass drum shot on the "a of one" and the "a of three". Be sure you really slow this down, and focus on control. Speed will come with time, but it is absolutely vital that you first learn to keep everything in perfect time.

Bass Drum Beat #3

Variation #3 continues along the same track, adding another shot on the "e of 2" and on the "e of 4". Pay special attention to how the double line markers are indicating the varios sixteenth notes within these beats. You'll see why that is important in future drum lessons.

Bass Drum Beat #4

This groove is made up entirely of sixteenth notes. It should actually be easier to count out loud, but will be trickier to play. You'll likely find your foot is extremely slow and clumsy when playing these patterns for the first time. If that is the case, take a break and then come back and attack it again (at a slower pace on the second try).

Bass Drum Beat #5

Beat variation #5 is actually a little easier than some of the previous beats, but it incorporates some fast playing for a single foot. Really, the purpose of this beat is to lead into the next variation, as you've actually already done three fast bass drum shots in the last beat (just in a different part of the beat).

Bass Drum Beat #6

Ok, this is likely going to be the most challenging to play perfectly. As with the previous beats, the four bass drum shots are to be played on a single pedal. Focus on keeping themn perfectly even and in time.

General Drumming

Begginer lessons

Your First Drum Beat

Let's get starting by learning the most basic beat. As simple as this groove is - it is still popular in todays rock music. More importantly, it is the foundation of many rock beats you will be learning over the coming weeks and months.

This beat really only uses three moving limbs. Your left foot rests on the hi-hat pedal keeping it closed, but doesn't have to play anything else. The structure is built around the four hi-hat strokes with your lead hand (right hand if right handed, left hand if left handed).

Start by just playing the hi-hat part of the beat with your lead hand. Count out loud as you play - one, two, three, four. Start out slow, and add the kick drum on the one and three counts. Play this for a while until it feels comfortable.

Then, remove the kick drum and just play the hi-hats again. Add in the snare drum on beats two and four, and keep this steady for a while. Really focus on keeping the four hi-hat strokes steady and even.

When you feel you are ready - add in all elements. Remember to KEEP COUNTING out loud. This is very important, as it will help you keep track of where you are in the beat, and will assist in keeping time.

Drum Beat Variation #1

Here is a simple variation on the first beat. All that is changing is that the bass drum is being played on all four counts with the hi-hats. This is a great way to start developing limb independence.

If you are having any difficulty - just start out with the hi-hats and add one element at a time until you can play it consistently and a steady pace.

Once you can play this groove with confidence - try playing the original beat and then change to this beat without stopping. Continue counting out loud, and make a smooth transition from beat to beat.

You can play the first one four times and then play this four times, or just switch off after one through each beat. You make the call. Mix it up and just have fun!

Drum Beat Variation #2

When you are ready to move on to the next challenge - you can try this next beat. It is very similar to the original beat, but moves the pattern a quarter of a beat. In other words, instead of counting the the snare on two and four, you now count the bass drum on those counts.

The beat will sound identical, but the counting changes how it relates to each measure, and in turn, how it will relate to a band or playalong.

Once you are able to count this out loud as you play it - go back and try playing it in transition with the other patterns you've learned. Develop the ability to move from beat to beat while playing steady and continous quarter notes on the hi-hats.

When you are ready for more drum lessons - check out the beginner drum beats page or read the article on how to play drums on the HowToPlayDrums.com website.

Learn how to play drums with Mike Michalkow's complete Drumming System!

Legendary Drummers

10 Legendary Drummers

 It's no surprise that we love to listen to drums drumming. But who are our top drummers? Billy Cobham and Thomas Lang of course! But you already knew that. So besides them, here's a quick list of 30 Legendary Drummers in no particular order.  Special thanks to Drummer World for the excellent photos and bios. 

  

10) Neil Peart--Rush: Ah, Rush. From his Taurus Pedals to the hundred drums he hides behind, Peart delivered an over the top style that was perfect for a rock trio from Canada. He had lots of space to fill and threw together the kind of rolls that aspiring drummers took to heart. What kid growing up in the late-'70s-'80s-'90s didn't try the roll from "Tom Sawyer" only to learn it took even more drums to comfortably fulfill? Overkill as sport! 

9) Bill Bruford--Yes, King Crimson: I'm not one to often suggest prog rockers when it comes to something like drumming, since it's the most primal of the instruments. I'm more likely to favor their keyboardists. However, Bruford played with a kinetic wit that bordered on dysfunction. A lot of technical guys sound like they're reading sheet music from a math textbook. Bruford brought good things to life.

8) Bill Ward--Black Sabbath: I've always loved Ward's playing because it sounds like he's hitting too many drums and the results is a band that sounds like they're being dragged down the stairs. I'm sure that from a technical standpoint Ward is a mess. But the ears don't lie and other players may have supported Sabbath at different times, but none of them made the difference like this guy. 

7) Alex Van Halen--Van Halen: If you listen to the Fair Warning album, for starters, you'll hear a rhythm section that ismiles ahead of the hard rock-heavy metal competition. Alex is the closest hard rock has ever come to an R&B drummer, playing behind the beat, ahead of the beat and sometime on top of it. Controlled chaos or pure chaos? In either case, another guy with too many actual drums on stage. But what did he care? He let the roadies carry them. 

6) Maureen Tucker--The Velvet Underground: Surely a controversial pick, since I don't think she ever played a drum roll. But then again, she played standing up. And she, in turn, was as integral to the sound of the band as that guy scraping on his viola (John Cale) or the other one mumbling about shooting up drugs (Lou Reed). Sometimes less is more. Sometimes less is all you need. 

5) Ringo Starr--The Beatles: I love the fights people get into over whether or not Ringo was any good. Even if he was as lousy as his detractors claim--and I don't believe so--how then did the band he was in manage to be more than just pretty good? Considering that the drummer is responsible for the energy of the band and the Beatles had lots of energy on their records, I'd have to say we can blame at least some of this on Ringo. 

4) Charlie Watts--The Rolling Stones: Watts is pretty much acknowledged as being one of rock's great drummers. Once in awhile you hear someone suggest he isn't all that great because he doesn't do more. But the man knows his place. He's put up with Jagger, Richards and Wood for decades and as he told Keith Richards: he wasn't Richards' drummer, Richards was his guitar player. Exactly. 

3) John Bonham--Led Zeppelin: This man was pure violence. Listen to those beats at the beginning of "When the Levee Breaks" and tell me that isn't the sound of a man trying to beat his drums to death. Bonham was never a master of subtlety. Hear him mash through "Fool In The Rain" or "All My Love" and it sounds like a pro-wrestler trying to be sensitive and accidentally breaking the door down. 

2) Mitch Mitchell--Jimi Hendrix Experience: If I were really giving him a sympathy vote, I'd throw him at number one. But I'm keeping it straight. Mitchell was a most musical drummer. His fills, while certainly loaded, were always in compliment to the music surrounding him. Considering that the music was coming from Jimi Hendrix, a man for whom orthodoxy was thrown out the window, made the challenge that much more, uh, challenging.

1) Keith Moon--The Who: A true madman. No one has played like him before or since and no one, quite frankly, should. His singular style would only lead to embarrassing imitators. How he managed to stay on beat--and play to backing tapes--while doing whatever it is he was doing back there remains one of the music's great wonders. And I now wish to shamelessly plug Tony Fletcher's exhaustive biography of the man--known both as Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon in the UK and Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend here in the U.S.--as the next book you should read if you're interested in learning everything about Keith Moon. And even if you're not, it makes a great gift!

Drum Sticks

 Construction of drum sticks:

Plain wooden drum sticks are most commonly described using a number to describe the weight and diameter of the stick followed by one or more letters to describe the tip. For example, a 7A is a common jazz stick with a wooden tip, while a 7N is the same weight of stick with a nylon tip, and a 7B is a wooden tip but with a different tip profile, shorter and rounder than a 7A. A 5A is a common wood tipped rock stick, heavier than a 7A but with a similar profile. The numbers are most commonly odd but even numbers are used occasionally, in the range 2 (heaviest) to 9 (lightest).

The exact meanings of both numbers and letters differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, and some sticks are not described using this system at all, just being known as Jazz (typically a 7N or 8N) or Heavy Rock (typically a 4B or 5B) for example. The most general purpose stick is a 5A (wood tip, for snare tone) or 5AN (nylon tip, for cymbal tone).

Drum sticks of the traditional form are also made from metal, carbon fibre and other modern materials.

Grippong

The main type of stick grip is the Matched Grip style. This has become the standard grip for most styles of music. Matched grip is basically having both hands the same when holding the sticks – meaning both left and right hands are matched. There are a few ways to hold the sticks with matched grip .

 Germanian Grip
 The Germanian grip is very common for rock drumming and corps drumming. It involves you holding your stick at the fulcrum point (balance point) with your thumb and index finger, placing your other fingers on the bottom of the stick. What makes this grip different is the angle in which you play your sticks. Place your sticks on the snare drum, and try to make a 90 degree angle with them. When you find this angle, you will notice your elbows may stick out a little, which is normal.

American Grip

 - The American grip is the same as the Germanian grip; however you are changing the angle ofyour sticks. Instead of having your elbows out and your sticks at a 90 degree angle, relax a little, and let your arms fall. You will notice your sticks come in a little, cutting your angle down to 45 degrees or so. This is the mostcommon style of drumming, mainly because it feels the most comfortable. 
                                                        
       Traditional Grip

     The other style of stick grip is the traditional grip. This is very common in jazz drumming and corps drumming. This grip was designed by drummers in army corps who had their snare drum resting on their hips. The angle of their snare drum made it hard for them to play with matched grip. Therefore, they created a new method of holding their hand underneath the stick. This has been more recently been name the traditional grip. To achieve this, you want to hold the stick with your hand upside down, (or palms up). Find the balance point of the stick, and place it in the pocket of your thumb and index finger. Rest the stick on the last two fingers of your hand, (the ring and pinky fingers). Now you just have to simply rest your index and 
middle finger on the top of the stick.

Drum beats

A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and otherpercussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes occurring over multiple musical beats while the term "drum beat" may also refer to a single drum stroke which may occupy more or less time than the current pulse. Many drum beats define or are characteristic of specific music genres.

Many basic drum beats establish the pulse through alternating bass (on the on-beats) and snare drums (on the off-beats) strokes while establishing the subdivision on the ride cymbal (thus its name) or hi-hat:

Simple quadruple drum pattern, "Straight blues/Rock groove":^[1] divides two beats into two  Play (help·info)

Simple triple drum pattern: divides three beats into two  Play (help·info)

Compound [quadr]duple drum pattern: divides two beats into three  Play (help·info).

Simple duple drum pattern but with triplets: divides two beats into three.

Compound triple drum pattern: divides three beats into three  Play (help·info)

Sixteenth note fill in a rock/popular groove played on a drum kit.^[2]  play (help·info)

Double-time: the snare moves to the "&" beats while the hi-hat begins to subdivide sixteenth notes. Play (help·info) Also, the eighth notes 'sound like' quarter notes in two tiny measures.

Half time: the snare moves to beats 3 of measure one and two (beats 3 & 7) while the hi-hat plays only on the quarter notes. Play (help·info) Also, the quarter notes 'sound like' eighth notes in one giant measure.

Blast beat drum pattern  Play (help·info).

Blast beat drum pattern  Play (help·info).

Delayed backbeat (last eighth note in each measure) as in funk music^[3]  play (help·info)

This establishes a quarter note pulse in (quad)duple time: each measure is formed from (two groups of) two quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into two eighth notes.

This establishes a quarter note pulse in triple time: each measure is formed from three quarter note pulses, each divided into two eighth notes.

This establishes a dotted-quarter note pulse in duple time: each measure is formed from two dotted-quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into three eighth notes.

Compound triple meter is equivalent to simple duple meter with triplets on every beat.

This establishes a dotted-quarter note pulse in triple time: each measure is formed from three dotted-quarter note pulses, each pulse divided into three eighth notes.

A "fill" is played in between the regular strokes of a pattern and/or signals the end of a phrase:

Since a phrase is multiple measures long, a fill signaling the end of one would come at the end of the last in a series of repeated measures.

In double and half-time patterns the pulse and ride are either doubled or halved, respectively, occurring twice or half as often:

A blast beat drum pattern features all drums on the eighth note subdivision or variants with one or more drum's pattern displaced by a sixteenth note:

This resembles a combination of double-time (bass-snare pattern) and original time (ride pattern).

Despite the difference in notation, there is no difference in interonset intervals and this pattern is nearly identical to the first simple duple pattern except for the second onbeat being divided into two eighth notes and of course the second backbeat being delayed an eighth note.