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Notation
If you're thinking of learning
to play drums its important to be able to read drum
notation. Being able to read music is great! Reading
helps
you to learn, helps you to remember, helps you to
understand what you're playing & understand music
in general. If you start from
the beginning, learning to read and understand drum
music is easy (as long as you spend a little time and effort).
Here's the basics, each of the
notes below is located on a separate line, each
representing a different part of the drum kit
Click here to play online
virtual drum kit!
Rhythm
Rhythm is basically
'counting', if you can count... then you can learn
rhythm (ever thought to yourself " I don't have a
sense of rhythm"?..... rubbish... can you count to
4? If you can, then there's nothing stopping you
from having a good sense of rhythm.
When you listen to a song and
nod your head or clap your hands what your actually
clapping to is the beat. When you learn & play and
instrument you count these beats 1, 2, 3,
4, 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. In
music notation a whole note is worth 1,2,3,4 - a
half note is worth 1,2 - a quarter note is worth 1 -
each time dividing......
First exercise - Ex 1
Have a go at playing 1/4 notes
then 1/8th notes and then 1/16th notes (HANDS
- right left right left and so on)
- Count whilst you play, when
you play the 1/4 notes just count 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
- When you're
playing 8th notes basically what you're doing is
putting an extra beat in between the 1,2,3 & 4 so we
count 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
-When playing 1/16 notes you
taking 1 beat and splitting it into 4, count 1 e + a
2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
Start off by playing this
exercise slow, gradually build up in speed
OK now you're ready to learn a
beat ..........
Playing a beat - 1/4
note groove
To learn the following groove
the only notation you need to learn is bass drum
(played with your right foot) / snare (played with
your left hand / hi-hat (played with your right
hand). Use opposite hands & feet if you're left
handed.
1. Count 1,2,3,4 - with each count play the hi-hat
2. Whilst playing the hi-hat, play the bass drum on
beat 1 and 3
3. Whilst playing hi-hat &
bass drum, play the snare on the 2 and the 4
Well done! You've just played a
1/4 note groove! Start slow, keep it steady and
gradually get faster. This drum beat will fit most
modern songs that you hear.
Now lets play an 1/8
note groove
Simply play an extra hi-hat
between each count
How did you do? The key to
learning drums is PRACTICE! The more you
practice the faster you'll improve... that's it!
If you find something hard
just SLOW it down, count out loud and keep going.
Practice everything you have
learnt on this page for perhaps a day or two then
come back and go through lesson two.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE
SECOND LESSON
All lesson content written &
recorded by Jason King |
