Drum Kit Basics 1.0
So you want to learn drums, welcome to the dark side!
Whether it’s your first instrument or your fiftieth, you will be playing a basic rock beat in no time with these few easy steps!
Before you start, familiarise yourself with the different parts of the drum kit.
The easiest thing about learning the drums is that you don’t have to worry about any melodic pitch (the highs and lows of notes). However, each drum/cymbal still has a spot on the musical staff.
All you have to do is read vertically as you move along the bar! If there are two notes directly on top of each other, you play these at the same time.
Give these basic 4/4 bars a go, playing your hi-hat with your right hand, your snare drum with you left hand and bass drum with your right foot.
Now its time for the big guns, an 8th beat drum groove. It looks a lot scarier but it’s just like the 3rd example above only double the amount!
And that my friends, is the most common drum beat in any 4/4 time signature music. Chances are you can tap this beat along to your favourite rock or pop song.
Happy drumming!