ROCK MUSIC ONLINE
lesson 1: beginnings
some
DRUMPATTERNS to start with
First you need to know what I mean by using the following symbols:
"X" indicates the "hihat/HH"
"0" indicates either a "snaredrum/SD", on the
second line
or a "bassdrum/BD", below the third line
"-" above a "hihat" indicates "hihat
closed" and "*" above a "hihat"
indicates "hihat open" (at that count)
"|" in combination with "_" indicates my
version of an eigth-note pattern marker. Sorry, but the system
won't allow me to do better than this! Please use a little bit of
your imagination...
The contents of this first lesson are:
1) four hihat beats with bassdrum
2) a snaredrum added on the third count
3) combining two patterns, counting /8th-notes
4) a fill with /16th-notes
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The first thing you do when you're actually going to play the
drums, is relax, and when you sit down, you start with COUNTING.
"Yuk, counting what?", you'll ask...
Well, counting BEATS, of course, but how to do that...?
Every drum-rhythm contains several beats that have a certain
structure : you can divide the whole rhythm in more or less equal
spaces of time, that create a diffence in sound and rhythm.
Let's start to play a pattern on the "hihat" and the
"bassdrum".
You use your right hand to play the hihat. Make sure you kick the
bassdrum exactly at the same time (on the One-count) as the hihat.
You will hear every irregularity. So be allways accurate when
playing something new!
The basic rule with new exercises is EVER: "practise them
slowly", that's the only way to do it properly. Add speed
only once you're really familiar with your pattern. You'll find
out that it's even harder to play the pattern slowly than fast
....
You count the pattern like this:
"One-Two-Three_Four"
On the first count you hit both "hihat" and "bassdrum",
on the other three count only the hihat.
1) 1 2 3 4
| | | |
| | | |
HH X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
|--------------------------------------|
| |
SD |:------------------------------------:|
| |
|--------------------------------------|
BD 0
|
|
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When the result of this practising pleases you enough, go on with
the next episode...
On the third count you now add a snaredrum, and the result should
be like this:
2) 1 2 3 4
| | | |
| | | |
HH X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
|-------------------------------------|
| |
SD |:-------------------0---------------:|
| | |
|-------------------|-----------------|
BD 0
|
|
Those of you who like to see a more regular notation of the same
will be glad with this picture, courtesy of Bill Powelson, which
shows the same four counts, but now with a basedrum and a
snaredrum alternating on every count:
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If you want to combine more patterns you're free to do so. Let's
take for example an "eighth-note-pattern".
You'll notice in lesson 2, that counting according to this
pattern gives you freedom to add things, for example a bassdrum.
You count the pattern like this:
"One-plus-Two-plus-Three-plus-Four-plus"
NOTICE: You do have to count with regular intervals of time, for
the rhythm 'only "grooves" if you learn it slowly and
accurate... Don't let that stop you from having fun with it..
Practise makes perfect!
3) 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
____ ____ ____ ____
| | | | | | | |
HH X . X . X . X . X . X . X . X .
|-----------------------------------|
| |
SD |:----------0---------------0------:|
| | | |
|----------|---------------|--------|
BD 0 0
| |
| |
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Finally, for there's certainly more on a drumkit than only the
three musical instruments (for that's what they really are)
you've played on so far, we'll play another exercise, in which we
use all three tom-toms for something called a "fill" (or
sometimes "break").
This "fill", meant to give the drummer time to show his
skill, is commonly used by many drummers, so you might have
heared it. Anyway, this is how we do it....
There's a slight difference in counting for we play something
called "sixteenth-notes". (In this revised version I
changed the count from "one-and-plus-and" to the more
common "one-e-and-a" to avoid confusion, because many
books do so). We use the "full" notation, of course. It
goes like this:
"One-e-and-a, two-e-and-a, three-e-and-a, four-e-and-a",
... and so on.
4) 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a
_ _ _
|_|_|_| _ _ _
| | | | |_|_|_|
| | | | | | | |
Tom1 |-----------0-0-0-0--|-|-|-|----------|
Tom2 |-------------------0-0-0-0-----------|
SD |:--0-0-0-0--------------------------:|
|--|-|-|-|----------------------------|
FT |--|-|-|-|------------------0-0-0-0---|
|_|_|_| | | | |
|_|_|_| | | | |
|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|
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So much for your first "fill". You have seen I filled
in
the non-used spaces from previous patterns, (".") with
"&"'s.
But, you also noticed the ":"-signs I used in
these bars.This is a musical sign, that indicates you have to
repeat
the pattern inbetween those two signs ( |:---:| )!
Have fun with the patterns!
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