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Playing
Drums: The Simple Approach
©2009
Sandra Hudson
You
don't need to be a professional to play drums. You don't even
need to own a drum set, although it helps. The only thing you
really need is to get started, and to practice with specific goals
in mind. But where to start, and which goals to aim for? Know
the drum set. In
addition to knowing the names of the parts, learn to identify the
sounds each one makes and the basic techniques that result in such
"voices". As you listen to music, train your ear to
identify the drum parts being played. Understand
the elements. In a band, there's voice and
instruments. In a song, there's rhythm and melody. The
drums keep the rhythm. In a drum part, there's the backbeat and
fills. The backbeat repeats itself throughout the song, while the
fill is different and played as accent, or as transition between
verses, or as a highlight or solo in a musical interlude.
As
you listen to music, try to identify the drum backbeat and the fills,
and to determine whether a fill is used as accent, transition, etc. Learn
to count. Keeping a beat means keeping time, which in turn
means "counting." Learn to "measure" your
time, whether quarters (where one measure contains four counts
"1, 2, 3, 4"), or eighths (where one measure contains
eight counts "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and... each
"and" counts), sixteenths ("1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e
and a 4 e and a"... each "e" counts, each
"and" counts, each "a" counts, making up a total
of sixteen.) The count may be slow or fast, of course,
depending on the song. As you start playing, begin with
quarter notes. Later on, a metronome will help keep a steady
timing on your count. As
you listen to music, try to determine which count is being used and
which drum part plays each count. Train
your limbs. Get yourself a pair of drumsticks or anything
else that may work like drumsticks. If you have drums,
great! Otherwise, any resilient surface will do. Train
your right hand (plays the hi-hats) and left hand (plays the snare)
by playing predefined sequences to follow a count (L R L R, L L
R R, R L L L R, etc.) Practice accents, hitting from higher up for a louder sound or
closer to the drum for softer sound (L r l r, or L r R R, etc.)
Train your feet
(right to the base pedal, left to the hi-hats pedal) so that they
obtain
some of the coordination needed to be able to play hands and feet,
together or alone, in many possible different combinations while
still keeping your time (RH LH (LH+RF) (RH+LF), where H
is hand and F is feet.) The fine tuning of your limbs will happen at
a later time, as you practice specific beats. Learn
drum notation. It will allow you to find practice sheets and
learn new beats and fills. Although there's much more to
know about drum notation, here's a brief summary of how notation
indicates which part of the drum set to play, what the count is, and
when to play or skip: 
Keep
the backbeat. Find notation for simple beats (begin with
quarter notes), and practice playing these. Aim to get better
at notation reading ("what you see is what you play"), to
play correctly and consistently to your count (not to miss what
corresponds to 1, 2, 3, 4), and to be able to play the beat at
different speeds (if you use a metronome, try 80, 120, 160, or
increments of your choice.) Here's a couple samples of simple
quarter note beats: 
Play
a fill. Whether you learn or invent a fill (ad-lib), fills
are fun and make your playing unique. However, until you are
able to keep your timing through the fill and, more importantly, are
able to return to the backbeat without losing your count, resist the
temptation to get fancy! First master simple fills, aiming to
keep your count while moving into and out of your fill: select a
backbeat, play the measure three times (1234,1234,1234), then play
the fill once (1234) and return to playing the backbeat (1234,
etc.) Here's one simple fill sample: 
Practice.
Practice will not only make your sound and timing perfect, but will allow
you to "fancy up" the simple skills you developed while following
this simple approach. Aim to master each beat you
tackle. Aim to master different speeds (sometimes slower is
harder!) Aim to master your transitions. Aim to master
your fills. Aim to be able to put it together nicely to the
point of being able to play along with other instruments. Aim
to be the steady "heartbeat" of a band. Then raise
your bar and repeat this process for eighths, sixteenths, and mixed
counts. Challenge yourself when
you listen to music: try to figure how the drum part goes and try to
play it. Expand.
Once you have achieved your main goal and are able to play, set new
goals. There's so much more to learn! Learn rudiments,
linear beats, triplets, hi-hat techniques, dynamics, jazz, Latin
beats, etc. Pursue mastery of each goal you set for yourself
by identifying and developing the skills it requires, and by
dedicating it a little bit of time on a consistent basis until it is
part of your drumming style.
And
here is where our program can help!
Our
classes will not make you a professional, but will help you acquire
the skills you need to make yourself a professional if you
apply what you learn. We will guide you through the steps
outlined above, give you plenty of things to practice, and set you
in the path of "drumming fun".
Follow
the simple approach with patience and perseverance... it will get
you there!
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