How To Play The Drums

So why have this variation at all? Well, for one thing, at the point where your right hand taps on the drum twice, your left hand has an extra little bit of time to move. On a practice pad, this doesn’t change much. Or does it?

Try playing it again, but this time accent the first note of each set of four notes. In other words, play R hard, then L-R-R soft; L hard, then R-L-L soft, and repeat. You’ll find that these particular notes can be accented easily because the double taps give you the time you need to raise your stick higher.

If you’re having trouble learning this one, don’t worry too much about it. Try slowing it down a little. If you’re using your metronome, drop the speed down a few notches. If that doesn’t work, take a break and come back to it later, starting slow and working your way up. Learning how to play the drums can be an exhausting process!

Another useful tip is to pay attention to how you’re manipulating the sticks as you play the paradiddle. If you speed up or slow down on certain parts, it’s natural. Also, think about the places where you tap twice throughout the rudiment. Try to use the same technique we discussed in Drum Roll, Please! Each double tap should be executed with quick, precise movements.

If you’ve mastered the paradiddle on a practice pad or single drum, here’s an exercise that will complicate things a bit. Try moving to the drum set (if you haven’t already) and using the paradiddle as a warm-up. Play the rudiment once on the snare, then once on the high tom, then once on the next lower tom, and so on until you play it on the lowest tom. You can end with a cymbal crash, or just wash, rinse, and repeat.

If that’s not hard enough, use the paradiddle as a drum solo, playing each note of the sequence on a different drum as you see fit. Add in a kick on the bass drum and a cymbal crash on the first note of the sequence, and you’ll have a home-brewed drum solo that you can break out at any time to impress your friends and family!

An important rudiment that many drummers use is called a paradiddle. You’re probably thinking, “A para-what? And what’s a rudiment, anyway?” A rudiment is a pattern in which the left and right hands alternate to form a particular rhythm or sound. Consequently, a paradiddle is one of several basic rudiments.

To start learning a paradiddle, get out your practice pad and your finest pair of sticks. Start by hitting the pad with your right hand, then your left hand, then right, and right again. This is the first half of the paradiddle, which, if you hadn’t noticed, contains four hits. You can think of each hit as a separate syllable of paradiddle (probably how it was named in the first place).

The second half of the paradiddle is the same as the first, except backwards. Hit the pad with your left hand, then right, then left and left again. It’s as simple as that! Altogether, the pattern is (with L’s standing for left and R’s standing for right) R-L-R-R L-R-L-L.

“That’s it?” you’re probably thinking. “That was simple!” Well, you’re right! Rudiments exist for exactly that purpose—because they’re rudimentary! The tricky part comes when you start trying to play it faster.

Rudiments are to how to play the drums as tongue twisters are to the human language. Anyone can say, “She sells seashells by the sea shore,” slowly, but what happens when you speed it up? Well, it’s the same thing with rudiments. A paradiddle is no sweat when you’re playing it at sixty BPM, but speed it up to 120 and it gets a bit more complicated!

A few tips on paradiddles might help you play them with greater ease. First of all, notice how the pattern consists mostly of alternating your right and left hands, except for two parts, where you tap with the right or left hand twice. If you play all eight notes of the sequence as steady quarter notes or eighth notes, it should sound like you never deviated from alternating your hands in the first place.

One of the most basic but most important techniques any drummer should know is how to do a drum roll. Drum rolls are infamous for being used for many things, including introducing performers or winners of a competition, or as a suspense builder in circus acts. Many people do drum rolls on their knees or on the table top when a speaker prompts, “Drum roll, please!” However, most people don’t really know how to do a proper drum roll with sticks and a real snare drum.

A proper drum roll is a little bit more complicated then just banging on the snare drum as fast as you can with both sticks. The technique demands a great deal of stick control, which is arguably the most important factor in how to play the drums, second only to being able to keep a steady rhythm.

First of all, grip the sticks as detailed in the section on stick control. Whether you’re using traditional or matched grip, the technique is the same: You will use a bouncing motion to get each stick to hit the drum head twice before switching to the other stick.

This is easier said than done; You are not simply bouncing the sticks one after the other, but doing it in a controlled fashion so as to create what sounds like a single, buzzing sound. First with the right hand, try hitting the stick twice on the drum head quickly. Use fast, sharp movements in order to make the two hits as close together as possible.

Now switch to the left hand and try the same thing, making sure not to simply let the stick bounce, out of the control of your hand. Keep a firm grip, and use controlled motions to hit the stick twice on the drum head as quickly as possible.

Once you have done this a few times with each hand, try switching back and forth, starting slowly and gaining speed as you go. The goal is to get all four hits–two with the right, followed by two with the left–to all be spaced apart equally. You also want all four hits to strike the drum with the same amount of force. If they’re equal, the roll will come out smooth and clean. If they’re unequal, it will fluctuate in volume, and make for a more awkward roll. That way, if the roll is evenly spaced and smooth, once you start going faster, it will sound like one continuous roll.

The Bass Drum

Next is the bass drum, another essential part of keeping the beat on a drum set. The bass drum occupies the largest amount of space, resting on the floor in the center of the kit. It also has a pedal, like the hi-hat, which the right foot controls.

When hit, the bass drum (also known as the kick drum to eliminate confusion between it and the bass guitar) creates a deep, booming sound. It is the lowest frequency among the drums, and in a sense provides a backbone for the rest of your playing.

The Tom-Toms

Next, we should examine the tom-toms, also simply called toms. The toms can range in size from eight inches in diameter to eighteen inches, and are typically arrayed in a row across the middle of the drum set. While learning how to play the drums, you’ll notice that they produce a sound similar to the kick drum, but higher, and are used mainly for fills and transitions. They can sometimes be used as the steady part of the rhythm, or even to create the rhythm itself.

Cymbals

Finally, let’s talk about cymbals. Cymbals are the gold colored disks that typically line the back of the set. There are many different types of cymbals, including the crash, splash china, ride, and trash, each providing different sounds when hit.

Splashes are usually small, and have a relatively quiet splashing sound, hence the name. Crashes are bigger and louder, and also create a sound similar to their name.

Rides make a light pinging sound. Unlike crashes and splashes which are used to accent the rhythm, the ride tends to be used in the same way as the hi-hat, keeping a steady groove while the rest of the drums are used to accentuate.

Playing with a metronome is the best way for any drummer to master the technique of tempo. Practicing with a metronome will develop an innate sense of timing that you otherwise might not have.

Begin with a slower tempo, somewhere in the fifties or sixties. The numbers on your metronome stand for the amount of beats per minute, abbreviated as BPM, so the lower the number, the fewer BPM’s, and the slower the tempo. When learning how to play the drums, or any musical instrument for that matter, it is a good idea to start out slow and gradually work your way upfaster.

This system is the most efficient way of recording tempo, since everything from orchestral music to the most popular, modern songs can use it to record how fast a song is supposed to be played. This applies not only to how to play the drums, but also to how to play guitar for beginners and a vast array of other instruments.

Whether you’re using a practice pad or a full kit, start by tapping along with the beat. With the BPM’s so low, this will probably be harder than it sounds. The difficulty here will be in timing the spaces between the notes accurately. Being able to hit the drum at the same time the sound goes off will be a good indicator that you can keep the rhythm.

If you can do this, congratulations! If not, don’t sweat it. Try adjusting the BPM’s, raising them if it’s hard to judge the timing, or lowering them if you want a new challenge. If you’ve mastered this, or you just want something else to try, here’s another technique.

With the BPM’s set low (try the fifties again), try tapping four times per beat with your right hand and once per beat with your left. If you space the beats with your right hand equally, you should find it easier to keep tempo. If you’ve mastered this, congratulations! You’re well on your way to playing a full drum beat.

A metronome is a piece of equipment that keeps time. Many musicians (not just drummers) use them to keep tempo while they play. They are also used to measure the tempo at which a song is being played so that it can be recorded.

Let’s talk about using a metronome. Your local used musical instruments store should be the first place you check for a metronome; most music stores will have them. If not in your music store, bigger music chains, like Guitar Center, are guaranteed to have them. And when all else fails, do some online shopping! In fact, this might be your best bet, as shopping online will allow you to compare prices from a number of different retailers.

Prices for a metronome will probably range between ten and forty dollars. Don’t worry though. The higher end models typically come with a lot of bells and whistles which you probably won’t need. If your bank account looks scarce from buying that drum set, don’t bother to spend too much on it. Besides, all you need it to do is keep time, so a lower end model will work just fine.

Some good brands to look for are Sabine, Quartz, Korg, and Boss. Older metronomes were analog but any modern one should be digital. Your metronome will probably offer an electronic noise to keep time with as well as some kind of visual indicator, such as an LED display. In fact, some even come with a pair of headphones so that you can hear the tempo in-ear instead of having to play it out loud.

This means that you can use it with something quiet, like a practice pad, or with a full drum set. Use that to your advantage, especially if you don’t want to learn how to play the drums with just a pad! Set the metronome somewhere you can see it, plug in your headphones (if yours has them), and let’s get started!

When playing drums, maintaining good control of your sticks is one of the most important techniques you can master. After all, dropping your sticks in the middle of a performance is embarrassing (I should know!). So what makes for good control of your sticks?

First of all, let’s discuss the different ways of holding your sticks. The traditional grip is an older style of holding your sticks so that your left stick is perpendicular to your right. We’ll go over the traditional grip in a minute. There’s also the matched grip, in which both of your hands are holding the sticks the same way. We’re going to talk about the matched grip first.

Matched Grip

First, let’s talk about holding the sticks properly. For the matched grip, you’ll hold both sticks the same way. You want to get the best grip and the most control possible, so start by positioning the hand about one inch from the bottom of the stick.

You don’t want to hold it much closer to the top because your movements will have to be much more exaggerated in order to have the same effect. Similarly, holding the sticks closer to the bottom will result in a tendency for the stick to fly out of your hand more easily. About one third of the way up the stick with the bottom of your hand one inch from the bottom will give you optimal control over the stick. Try to maintain a firm grip on the sticks so that you can hold onto them.

Don’t squeeze them though, because that will not only tire you out faster, but your wrists will naturally tighten up as well. The tighter your grip is, the more locked your wrists will be, and you don’t want that since the majority of the control is in your wrists.

The other thing you’ll want to consider is the positioning of your fingers. You’ll want to grasp it so that your fingers are at about a forty-five degree angle from the stick. Also, the pad of your thumb should rest on the stick so that your thumb is parallel to it. This type of grip should feel natural to you. If not, feel free to play around with different grips until you get a feel for how to play the drums and get a comfortable grip.

Traditional Grip

For the traditional grip (if you’re right-handed), start with your left hand face up, palm open. Curl your ring and pinky fingers until they’re about half way to the palm, then lay the stick across the joint between your thumb and forefinger and the side of your ring finger.

Finally, curl your forefinger, then your thumb around the stick. Keep your middle finger straight as if flicking somebody off (but please, don’t really). The grip for this style is mainly in the forefinger and ring finger , with the thumb and middle used to guide it. The pinky is pretty much useless. In the same way as the matched grip, try to maintain a firm grip without strangling the stick.

It’s All in the Wrists

Finally, the most important part of controlled playing is using your wrists to control the stick. When you’re first learning, it’s easy to try to use your whole arm to play with. Granted, when going for a louder sound, you’ll want to use more of your arm to hit harder.

This is natural, and feel free to play around with it as you practice to find out what works best for you. You’ll find that, especially, when playing faster, using more of your wrist and less of your arm will give you generally better control and more speed.

You want to be free to use your arms to move from one drum to the next and use your wrists for the majority of the control. If you want increased control over your sticks, try using a finger exercise machine or finger strengthening techniques. This will allow you to grasp the stick more securely.[phpbay]keyword(s), 10[/phpbay]

As a drummer, your biggest and most important function as you discover how to play the drums is to keep the beat. While rolling fills and ridiculous drum solos are fun, your main job will be to sustain the rhythm for the rest of the instruments. They will depend on you to keep time for them so that they can worry about their jobs.

For some people, keeping a steady beat comes naturally. For others, it means lots and lots of practice. If you’re one of those people, there’s nothing wrong with that. Chances are another aspect of drumming comes more naturally to you than tempo does. After all, proper timing is something that can only be learned through listening, patience, and practice.

That being said, tempo is something that all drummers need to practice. The best way to do that is with a metronome. Now, I know it doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but before you go off to practice your heavy metal fills, let me offer you one piece of advice: Rhythm is a drummer’s best friend!

As I’ve told people time and again (both drummers and non-drummers), you can be the fastest, most elaborate drummer in the world, but if you can’t keep a steady beat you will be all alone.

What I mean by this is that every band needs a drummer who can keep the rest of the group in order. You are the backbone of the group; you keep the tempo so that the rest of the band can worry about the rest of the music. Without that essential ability, no band will want to rock out with you. You might be able to find some gigs playing drums alone, but I doubt it. Truthfully, you don’t need to be able to pull off all kinds of sick, complicated fills in order to be a great drummer.

Those things are good, but only supplemental to keeping a steady rhythm. You’ll get much further in the world of music by learning to keep a beat first, even if your playing is simple, then worrying about the fancy stuff later.

The first thing you need to consider when deciding on the right pair of drumsticks is what type of stick you want to use. Different types of sticks produce distinctly different sounds when used on the drums, and you will want to take this into consideration for whatever type of drumming you want to do. The types of sticks include brushes, rods, regular sticks, mallets, and more.

Brushes

Brushes are a special type of drumstick that really isn’t a stick at all. Brushes consist of a handle, usually made of wood, rubber, plastic, or metal, out of which a cluster of thin, stiff strands of material protrude. These strands can be made up of many things, including wire or plastic. They may or may not be able to retract into the handle through the use of a pull ring at the opposite end of the handle. This depends only on the design of the brushes.

If you are looking for a soft, smooth, jazzy sound with your drums, brushes are the way to go. While wire brushes may produce a harder, more scratchy tone, plastic ones will give you a softer, more sweeping tone. Brushes are some of the quietest sticks available, and are optimal for coffee houses and other low dynamic settings.

Rods

Rods, or dowel sticks, are another special type of drumstick that consist of a bundle of tiny drumsticks wrapped in tape or rubber. The handles of these kinds of sticks are usually wrapped completely in rubber, and the opposite end of the stick tends to be held together with one or two more sections of rubber, or a small rubber ring.

These rods come in a number of sizes, depending on the thickness and number of the individual rods. The smallest among them consist of the thinnest breadth of sticks but a higher quantity, and tend to have the softest sound. The bigger sticks have fewer but thicker rods, and are used for a louder sound. Rods are the happy medium between brushes and regular sticks, perfect for playing with a group that plays at an average volume range.

Mallets

Mallets almost occupy a different category altogether, typically used for school bands and marching bands more than anything else. However, they can be used when learning how to play the drums as well. Mallets can be made of any number of materials, including plastic, metal and felt. Timpani mallets are most commonly used to play on a drum set, and have a circular head made of felt, as opposed to the round head most mallets have.

These also produce a relatively soft sound, but may be cumbersome when trying to play quickly. Some drummers keep mallets in their stick bag to use on cymbal swells, which are perhaps a mallet’s most effective use. Because of the soft but sturdy construction of a mallet, it has potential for great dynamics.

A drum set is a large, complicated piece of musical equipment, and when looking at a drum set as a whole, it can be at times overwhelming. That’s why, before jumping into rocking out on sick grooves, we should take a look at the way a kit is set up.

What Is a Drum?

Let’s start with the basics and talk about what makes a drum a drum. A drum usually consists of a shell which is either made of metal or multiple layers of wood. On either side of the shell are two heads, which are called the batter head (the side you hit) and the resonant head (the side that allows the sound to reverberate). The heads are held on by rims, or metal loops which are attached to the shell via lug nuts.

The Hi-Hat

First, let’s pick apart a drum set, looking at its parts individually. The hi-hat is a good place to start, as it will provide the main beat-keeping piece. When looking at a kit from the perspective of sitting on the throne (the stool or seat), assuming we’re talking about a right-handed drum set, the hi-hat should be on the left.

Hi-hats consist of a pedal, controlled by the right foot, a stand, and two cymbals positioned one on top of the other. The hi-hat is arguably the most complex piece of the set because of its complicated internal workings. It may take you the longest to get used to playing this piece of the kit while you’re learning how to play the drums.

The control of the hi-hat is in the pedal, which is attached to a pole that runs up through the center of the main stand. When the pedal is pressed down, it pulls on the pole. Attached to the pole is the topmost cymbal, so that when the pole falls the two cymbals come together.

Conversely, when the pedal is released, the pole rises under the influence of a spring so that the two cymbals come apart again. The reason for this complexity is because the drummer can have more complete control over the hi-hat so that he or she can add variation to his or her rhythms.

The sound of the cymbals being pressed together is unique, and is typically used to give a drum beat a steady backbone, usually of quarter notes or sixteenth notes.

The Snare Drum

Let’s take a look at another essential part of the drums, the snare drum. The snare drum is positioned just to the right of the hi-hat and is a unique drum in its own way. Although it looks like a typical drum that you have probably already seen, it is different in that it has a snare attached to the bottom. A snare is a system of coiled metal that runs along the resonant head and attaches to the sides of the drum.

The snare gives the drum a loud, cracking sound when hit, but it can be turned off via a switch on one side of the drum. The reason it has a snare is to differentiate it entirely from other drums in the set.

The snare allows the snare drum to cut through the sound a lot of the other instruments ina band produce. In this sense, it can become the main beat-keeping source in a band, especially in that people are typically encouraged to clap along with the snare drum, which has a clap-like sound of its own. The snare drum usually rests ona stand that allows it to resonate clearly.