Drum Lessons

When you are drumming, proper posture can make the difference between playing and injuring your self, or playing and keeping your body healthy. Most beginner drummers overlook posture and dismiss it as something that is un-necessary to learn, and it isn’t a big deal. This is totally wrong. Proper posture is what separates normal drummers from great drummers. You will find that when you use proper posture that you will have more energy, endurance, and control when you play the drums.

What is the proper posture for drummers?

Sit Up Straight When Drumming

This may seem like a fairly basic concept, but this is one of the most important aspects to proper posture. I often see new drummers sitting on their drum thrown in a hunchback position. This is terrible for your back and it will defiantly make things worse for you in the long run. When you sit on your drum throne your back should make a 90 degree angle with the floor. It should be perfectly straight up and down, this will help relieve some of the stress off of your lower back and you will instantly notice how much easier it is to play. It might seem a little bit weird at first to be sitting up so straight, but trust me, this is much better for the long term.

Set Your Drum Throne At The Correct Height

This is another mistake that I see. Drummers often have their drum throne too high up, or too close to the ground. If your drum throne is too high you wont be able to get as much power in your kick drum, and if it is too low then you will be working too much to lift your leg to hit the kick drum. Generally speaking, you are going to want an angle of 80-110 degrees in your knee. You want your legs to sit comfortable and be able to hit the bass drum with a fair amount of power, but you don’t want to have to work too hard to lift your leg up each time. Play around with a couple different throne heights, and find the height that will work most efficiently for you.

These two concepts will make your drumming much easier, and less prone to injury. Every time that you sit behind the drum kit make sure that you are sitting up straight and that your drum throne is set at the best possible height.

Many times drummers will get into a rut where they seem to get bored of the same practice routines. Many drummers often just put a CD into their CD player, jam along with it for 20 minutes and call this a good practice. This was not a good practice, this may have been fun, but it wasn’t a good practice. Here are a couple of quick practice tips that will make your drum practice sessions more efficient.

Use A Practice Pad

This is a great way to practice without actually dedicating a block of your time towards practicing. Many drummers find that they can mix their practice pad sessions with watching TV. Watching TV keeps the drummer relaxed so they don’t tense up or get too frustrated, and it also helps the time pass faster. The practice pad is a great way to practice your drum rudiments, and work on different patterns without the distraction of the full drum kit. However, it is important that you try keep your practice time equally divided between your practice pad and your drum kit.

Use A Metronome

Using a metronome is one of the best ways to improve as a drummer. Drummers who practice with a metronome on a regular basis improve much faster than drummers who don’t. Using a metronome will help you build an “internal clock” and will give you a better sense of timing as a drummer. If you do not have a metronome then try to practice to CD’s or any other form of music that has a steady sense of time.

Enjoy yourself When Drumming

This is the most important point of drumming, if you do not enjoy yourself when you are playing the drums, then you will not stay motivated. Drumming has to be something that is fun. To help keep drumming fun try to put yourself in as many challenging situations as possible, try play with as many musicians as you possibly can. Playing the drums with other musicians will give you ideas that you wouldn’t normally come up with, it is very easy to get caught in a rut when you are playing the drums. Many drummers end up playing the same beats over and over, it is the challenge of playing with other musicians that will help keep your drumming creative and your practice sessions fun.

These few tips should help strengthen your practice sessions. Try to practice the drums as often as you can. The only way that you are going to get better as a musician is with practice.

How You Benefit From Drumming

Many people thing that drumming is just for kids with ADD to give them something to “bang on” and release their energy. Although it has been proven to help people diagnosed with ADD there are many other benefits of drumming. Most of the techniques that you learn as a drummer you can also apply to other aspects of your life. The hand-eye coordination that you build with drumming can be applied to many other areas of life like: skilled trades, sports, and other musical instruments.

Drummers are musicians unlike any other musician. Drummers don’t have to worry about melody, or voicing of chords, instead they are in charge of rhythm, they make the song feel how it is supposed to feel. Not only do they have a different job than most other musicians in the band, but they also get more of a physical workout every time they play. Here are the main benefits from learning to play the drums.

Physical Benefits of Drumming

If you watch drummers like Taylor Hawkins, Travis Barker, or Joey Jordison you will notice that the drummers are physically the hardest working musicians in the band. More often than not if you are watching a rock band play, the drummer will be wearing a tank top, or even be shirtless, this is because drumming can be so physical that drummers don’t like how hot it makes them. When you are drumming you will develop a strong cardiovascular muscle system, and it you will find after a long practice session you feel as though you just went for a run, or a workout at the gym. When you engage in cardiovascular exercise for prolonged periods of time your body releases endorphins which is basically like your body’s “feel good” hormones. Many drummers purely drum for the exercise because they don’t like running, or going to the gym.

The Mental Benefits Of Drumming

The same endorphins that your body releases after the physical workout, will help you to think clearer, and to focus for longer periods of time for the rest of the day. Many drummers choose to play the drums right after work or school so they can clear their head of everything that has gone on in the day. It is a great way to just relax and drumming uses a different thought process and a different part of your brain than most of your other daily activities.

The Musical Benefits Of Drumming

When you start playing the drums you will find that you become more musically educated that you ever thought you would be by just “banging on some drums”. Drummers learn concepts like: various time signatures, how to read drum notation, drum rudiments, poly rhythms, and how to build a song if all the other musicians are playing the exact same thing the whole way through a song.

If you are a youth or adult, you will find that you have lots to learn, and lots to benefit from learning how to play the drums. It is a great stress reliever and you will defiantly enjoy yourself when you are playing the drums.

Good drum lessons are important to any drummer who wants to take their drumming to the next level. Most musicians can tell the difference between properly trained drummers and self taught drummers after only a couple minutes of hearing them play. There are a couple of options that all drummers have when it comes to taking drum lessons. Drummers can chose from Private Drum Lessons, Drum Clinics, Drum Books, Or Drum DVDs.

Private Drum Lessons

Private drum lessons are one of the most popular methods of instruction for drummers. Private lessons are good in larger cities where you have a good selection of drum instructors to choose from. In smaller communities you are often stuck with a less professional drum instructor, who has less experience and is less qualified to teach. Private drum lessons can also be one of the more expensive options for learning how to play the drums. Private drum lessons can cost anywhere from 50-70 per hour for instruction. However, if you do happen to find a qualified instructor for a decent rate the rewards will be un-measurable. Having a qualified drum instructor will get your technique corrected and refined faster than any other method.

Drum Clinics

Drum clinics are great for learning information about drumming, it is less practical that formal drum lessons, and is more intended to “inspire” drummer than to actually “instruct” them. Drum clinics can cost you any where from $0-$100. The main purpose of drum clinics is to build up the community of drummers in your area, and to introduce you to new drumming concepts.

Drum Books

It seems that every one who has learned the drums started with a basic “introduction to drumming” book. These books are great if you plan on going the “self taught” method, and they will introduce you to the main drumming concepts. Books are priced reasonably, and should cost you anywhere between $20-$50 for a decent sized book. The only dis-advantage of using books to teach yourself is that it is missing audio and video examples. You are unable to actually see or hear how each beat or fill is supposed to be played.

Drum DVDs

Drum DVDs are becoming a more popular instructional method of choice. The interactive menu systems, and self paced lessons are a great way to get started playing the drums. Drum DVDs let you learn how much you want to learn, and they let you learn when you want to learn. New innovations like the “Rock Drumming System” have changed the way that drumming DVDs are expected to be. This DVD package has 4 camera angles, and the sheet music on screen, so during every beat you can watch exactly what part of the drumset that you want to watch. There are other DVDs out there that focus mainly on “inspiring” drummers, these DVDs are like video versions of drum clinics, where you get to see all sorts of cool stuff, but nothing that you will actually be able to apply to your own drumkit.

It doesn’t really matter what way you choose to learn. You can uses one of these methods, or any combination of them. The most important thing is that you always focus on educating yourself, and making yourself a better drummer.

Another essential drum rudiment that you must have in your “drumming toolbox” is The Flam. This rudiment can easily be added to 95% of your beats or fills. The concept behind it is very simple and you should be able to pick it up fairly easily. Just like all the other drum rudiments, it is important to start slow and once you have mastered it at a slow tempo (with a metronome) then it will be time to start speeding it up, and applying it to your drum set.

Before we get started it is important to point out that you must first start with proper stick grip, I cannot express how important this is. With this rudiment it doesn’t matter at all if you are using match grip or traditional grip.

The Flam

Now the basic pattern for a flam is this: rL rL rL rL or lR lR lR lR. The lower case R and L represent a quieter sound. The only way that you are going to be able to achieve this quieter sound is by lowering the drumstick. So if you are doing the first example rL rL rL rL, your right hand should be 3-4 inches below your left hand. Bring them both down to the drum now and the right hand just hit the drum just before the left stroke. It the first stroke is almost foreshadowing the fact that a bigger stroke is coming.

It is essential that you practice both variations of this technique, leading with the right and and leading with your left hand. You will find this fairly easy to add into your beats and fills.

When you look at professional drummers, what do they do that is any different than yourself? If you listen to a band on the radio, most likely you’ll hear the drummer playing a pretty simple beat. What makes them so their drumming so much better than yours? What can you do to impress a band that you are auditioning for?

There are many different aspects of dynamic drumming, and it isn’t possible for me to go into great detail of each aspect, but I do what you get you on the right path. There are a couple simple things that once I show them to you it’ll make you wonder why you didn’t think of it before.

What Is Dynamic Drumming?

When someone tells you that they want you to play with more dynamics, it is usually referring to the volume and the amount of “space” in the band that you’re drums are taking up.

Something like volume can be changed very easily, you can change your sticks (heavier for louder, lighter for quieter). You can use some of the tips below to play the same beat, with the same sticks, but it will make your drumming sound more dynamic.

Just like every other instrument of a band, drums have their place, every band is different  so you will have to depend on your ear to tell you if you are over playing the song, or not adding enough to it. This is something to definitely keep an eye on.

Quick Dynamic Drumming Tips

Kick Drum

• Heels-up – For heavier, louder, and more powerful strokes playing with your heels up is often the best choice. This is most commonly used in rock drumming because it helps bring the “drive”
• Heels-down – For softer playing, or any situation where you don’t necessarily need the bass drum to drive the beat this is usually the best bet. This is best used with genres like jazz.
• Feathering – This is a variation on the heels-down technique, it is often used to either very fast, or very light drumming. Once you get up to higher speeds it requires more of a “controlled twitch” to keep this technique going.
• Heel-Toe Technique – This method is more advanced than that other three methods, but this unique technique is used to achieve speeds up to 1300bpm on the bass drum. For more information visit Bass Drum Secrets.

Snare Drum

• Normal Stroke – Hitting the snare drum with a normal stroke, making contact in the center of the drum skin with a single motion.
• Ghost Notes – Playing very quiet notes on the snare, this is usually used between accents to help keep time. The stick should never be lifted more than an inch off of the snare when using this technique
• Cross Sticking – Playing the stick by holding the tip end of the stick in your hand, placing your hand on the center of the drum, and having the butt end of the stick click on the rim of the drum
• Rim Shots – Hitting the rim of the snare drum at the same time as hitting the skin of the drum, this produces more of a “crack” sound than normal strokes.

Hi-Hats

• Open – Play the hi-hats without any pressure on the foot pedal. There should be a large gap between the two cymbals
• Sizzle – Play the hi-hats with a light pressure on the foot pedal to keep the hi-hats loose, but they still make contact.
• Closed – Apply full pressure on the foot pedal keeping the hi-hats tightly closed
• Alternating – Experiment with any combination of the three methods above
• Stick Position – Try hitting different spots on the hi-hats, the edge will produce a different sound as the bow of the hi-hats

Ride Cymbal

• Bow – This is the most common way to play the ride, playing right between the edge and the bell. Gets the “largest” sound out of your ride.
• Edge – This is also known as “crashing the ride” play the ride like you play your crash cymbals.
• Bell – Playing the bell is great for making notes come through all of the other sounds, not only that of your drum kit, but often the bell can be heard above the rest of the band.

Learning to how to count, and how to play in time is your job as a drummer. Then entire band is counting on you when it comes to keeping time. If the lead singer tells you to cut the time in half, would you know how to play? If bass player ever tells you to play sixteenth note triplets would you know what to play? I’m writing this article to make everything to do with note values and time keeping as simple as counting to four.

Time Signatures

Time Signatures tell you how many notes there are in every bar. There is usually a times signature at the beginning of a bar letting you know what to expect. There are two numbers associated with time signatures a top number and a bottom number. They are normally expressed as a fraction.

For example 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/4.

The top number tells you how many notes there are in that measure. So if you are looking at our examples above 4/4 has four notes in the measure and 5/4 has five notes per measure. This is important because in order to properly structure a beat or fill you need to know how many counts are in that bar.

The bottom number tells you what note values are used. Here is a little table I have designed to help make this more simple

Now, lets use this table to define the bottom numbers to complete the puzzle, don’t worry this will start making sense very soon.

So we know that 4/4 has four notes because of the top number, and we look at the chart above to see that it is made up of quarter notes, so 4/4 has 4 quarter notes per measure.

5/4 has five quarter notes per measure.

6/8 has six eighth notes per measure.

7/4 has seven quarter notes per measure.

Now for simplicity we are going to use 4/4 time in the rest of the examples. 4/4 is also referred to as common time as it is the standard for music. Unless otherwise noted it is assumed that the music is in common time.

Quarter Notes

Now using what we know from above we know that if we are in 4/4 time, there would be four quarter notes needed to fill up the bar. Here is what this would look like.

To count this we would simply count 1, 2, 3, 4. If we were using this to do a Single Stroke Roll it would simply be Left, Right, Left, Right.

Eighth Notes

Now eighth notes are fairly basic, so try to stay with me here. If you are playing eighth notes you can think of it two ways either 8/8 time signature or you can think of it as 4/4 with twice as many notes, so we add one note between each quarter note. Most people generally still think of it as 4/4 basically just because its easier to count. Instead of counting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 we count 1 &, 2 &, 3 &, 4 &.

Is this starting to make sense now?

Sixteenth Notes

Sixteenth Notes use the same concept as eighth notes, except they are twice as fast as eighth notes. Instead of their being 8 notes in a measure, there are now 16. To count this without getting our tongue all twisted up we count it 1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a.

Conclusion

I hope this was able to help you get solid footwork when it comes to reading music. Feel free to leave comments with suggestions for this page to help make it more simple. Thanks!

The Single Paradiddle is a great rudiment to add to your growing library of rudiments. I recommend that this should be the third rudiment that new drummers learn. Before starting this pattern I like to recommend to my students that they already know the Single Stroke Roll and the Double Stroke Roll. I say that because this rudiment requires the techniques that you have developed when working on those rudiments. Also, this should go without saying, but before starting this rudiment it is a good idea to make sure that you are using Proper Stick Technique for holding your drumsticks.

The single paradiddle is different from the first two rudiments that we have learned, because it takes eight strokes before the rudiment repeats. The single stroke roll repeats after two strokes, and the double stroke roll takes four strokes to repeat. I’ve said this in all of my other articles, but I’m going to say it again, it is way better to start slowly and learn it correctly than it is to rush yourself and play it sloppy.

The Single Paradiddle

The Single Paradiddle goes like this. Right Left Right Right, Left Right Left Left (RLRR LRLL)

Now start slowly with a metronome and just practice this over and over. If you are looking for an easier way to remember this while playing think of the word Paradiddle. par- a – diddle, par – a – diddle. Saying this in your head will help you keep the rhythm in your head and let you focus on keeping your hand technique proper and in time.

Now there are two ways that we can practice this rudiment. The first way we can use all wrists. So every single stroke we can move our arm up and down and get a stroke each time. The second way is on the RR or LL you can us the rebound technique that we discussed in the Double Stroke Roll Article. So we go Single Stroke, Single Stroke, Double Stroke, Single Stroke, Single Stroke, Double Stroke. As you speed this up you will find it harder to stay in time if you don’t relax. So make sure that you stay relaxed the whole times, if you arms start to tense up then take a bit of a break. Muscle “burn” is good, but muscle pain is bad.

Uses For The Single Paradiddle

The Single Paradiddle is an essential part in many beats and fills. Until recently it has been that way for quite sometime. Mike Michalkow has recently been pushing it to the foreground in his Moeller Method Secrets DVD, in this DVD he made an entire drum solo entitled “Paradiddle Madness” He goes for 4 minutes straight doing insane beats and fills, all the while keeping a perfect single paradiddle.

The Double Stroke Roll is one of the most important drum rudiments that you should be learning. It the second most significant rudiment (the Single Stroke Roll is the most important) and it once you have mastered it, you will notice that learning other rudiments will be easier to develop.

The Double Stroke Roll in itself is very similar to the Single Stroke Roll because of how simple it is. Nearly anyone can be playing this rudiment within two minutes of reading this article. However it is a hard rudiment to play correctly. Just like the Single Stroke Roll just playing this pattern isn’t enough, you must always be critiquing your technique and timing. You will never be finished working on this technique, even the worlds best drummers still spend time working on their Double Stroke Roll. It is so vital to your drumming success that you cant afford not to practice it regularly.

First you want to make sure you are holding the stick correctly, there are many different articles with pictures and video on the internet to help you do this. I have also written an article on the correct way to hold your drumstick.

The Double Stroke Roll

The Double Stroke Roll is very simple. The pattern is this: Right, Right, Left, Left. Isn’t that easy? There are two ways to practice and develop this drum rudiment. The first way is using your wrists for every stroke, and the second way is by using rebound.

Using Your Wrists

If you are using your writs for every stroke it is very important to keep your stick heights at the same level for each stroke. If you bring your stick up higher or lower it is going to be harder to maintain the same pitch for each stroke. Also one more tip for doing this method, once you get good at the rudiment and start to get faster and faster make sure that your arms don’t tense up at faster speeds. It is very important that you keep your arms very relaxed as you speed up. It is recommended that you learn this method first and once you feel that you have “maxed out your speed” then you should learn to do the method with rebound.

Using Rebound

Now we move onto rebound. If you are using proper stick technique you should be able to get 6-8 bounces off of every stroke. For the Double Stroke Roll we only need two bounces. We are going to start developing your rebound technique one hand at a time, don’t jump right into the rudiment. Were going to start slowly, just practice using your wrist once, letting the stick hit twice, and lifting your wrist again (to prevent a third bounce). Once you have got both hands up to a good speed individually then start to let them work together on this rudiment. RR LL RR LL

Additional Exercise Tips

Remember the same tips from above, you still want to keep each stroke equal in volume, and you want all of your strokes to hit the same small area, around the size of a quarter, on your snare drum or practice pad.

Once you get comfortable with this rudiment, try the Single Paradiddle. It is the first rudiment to break away from the RL RL pattern that the single stroke roll and the double stroke roll have.

The Single Stroke Roll is the foundation, and the starting point for working on rudiments. This pattern is not complex in any way, but there are a couple tips that will make your success easier to achieve. My words of caution are this: Even though the rudiment is easy, don’t dismiss it by telling yourself that you know how to do it, and its too simple for you. I have been drumming for the last 8 years and I still take a good part of my practice time working on the single stroke roll. You are always able to tighten it up, add accents, and speed it up. You will never be finished developing this rudiment, there is always work to be done!

Advantages Of Learning This Rudiment

The whole point of learning the single stroke roll is to give you a very “elementary” foundation for the other rudiments. Once you get this roll you will get a basic concept of keeping time and it gives you something to practice while working on Developing Your Hand Techniques.

When learning this rudiment you can used either the traditional grip, or the matched grip. The main detail that you want to focus on is keeping your strokes in time, and with equal intensity and volume. You also want to make sure that you’re not wasting any time, its a good time to make sure you have proper hand technique, before you get started practicing.

The Single Stroke Roll

The Single Stroke Roll is quite easy. You basically just alternate your strokes: Right, Left, Right, Left. Another very importing thing to focus on when developing the Single Stroke Roll is accuracy. I recommend you take a quarter or small coin and place it on the middle of your practice pad and trace it with a felt pen. Every stroke you should aim to make contact inside this circle. This will give you the most consistent sound possible.

I’m assuming that you know how to count in time so I’m not going to cover that in this article. Set your metronome to 60 BPM and go through this exercise counting out loud… If you can stat with eighth notes and count 1 &, 2 &, 3 & 4 &,…

Once you get that up to speed you can try doing sixteenth notes 1 e & a, 2 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a…

Its a good idea to start developing your single stroke roll on a practice pad. Practicing on a practice pad takes away all of the distractions that your drum kit has. It also makes it quieter for you so you can hear your mistakes and develop your technique faster.

Additional Exercise Tips

Now, as you are practicing the Single Stroke Roll, it is important to also watch the height of each stick after your bounce. The height itself is not critical however you want to make that your hands are coming up to an equal height. As you practice change the heights, start really low always keeping both strokes even, then slowly raise each it up until each hand is coming up around 15 inches off of the drum, then bring it back down low, somewhere around 3-5 inches off the practice pad. When you are doing this, make sure that you stay in time. Always use a metronome when developing techniques like this.

Tips

Since the purpose of the Single Stroke Roll is to help build stamina and strength, it is a good idea to pick up some heavier sticks (2A, or 2B) and then set up a metronome start at something slow like 60 BPM and play for five minutes straight on your practice pad. This will help you up stamina. Do not increase the tempo until you can play it flawless for five minutes straight. Let those muscles burn! This is a great Exercise for when you are watching your favorite TV show… Keep practicing Left, Right, Left, Right.

Once you are comfortable with your progress with the single stroke roll, the next rudiment that you should learn is the double stroke roll.