PASIC 2012 Drumset FUNdamentals Dan Britt
Drumset FUNdamentals PASIC 2012 Dan Britt Teaching Beginning Drumset Hello Everyone! And thank you for coming to the Teaching Beginning Drumset session! Let s first discuss introductory and comfort areas in teaching, then we will apply some basic excerpts from the book I wrote with Dr. Shahmir Kamalian entitled Drumopedia: A Handbook for Beginning Drumset. We will cover greetings, basic notation, 8 th notes beats, a 16 th note beat, short fills, and combining beats and fills. One of the very first things that I think is important to do is to make your new student feel comfortable and welcome! Greet the student and make him or her feel comfortable Ask a few questions (e.g., Did you get here ok? What made you want to learn the drums? What kind of music do you like? A little bit of everything? Do you have any favorite drummers, or drummers you like to watch? Awareness of the Students Newness to Drumset Simplify, simplify. Henry David Thoreau Learning drumset can be a totally new (and foreign) thing for students in many respects from holding drumsticks, to pressing down on the hi- hat, to engaging the bass drum pedal, to learning notation, etc. So, enter Reductionism: Reducing things to easier forms! Let s really break it down and gradually put it together. PASIC 2012 Page 1
Understanding Quarter and 8 th Notes To begin, the quarter note is the pulse the downbeat the numbers and usually what the metronome is beeping. Count and play quarter notes on a drum pad. Then try it with the metronome slowly. Every stroke, right and left, will align with the metronome beep. Now, let s try combining quarter and eighth notes. First say 1 2 3 4 1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an 1 2 3 4 1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an. Now play it First without the metronome, and then play it for 1 minute with the metronome. Now play it with just the right hand on the pad or snare. This will help prepare you to play beats. Playing 8 th Note Beats PASIC 2012 Page 2
Ok, let s now put together our first basic beat. Most beats in rock and pop music have an eighth- note ride pattern. Here are some of the most common and most popular beats in these styles. Play eighth notes repeatedly on the hi- hat counting 1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an. 1 limb: RH (Right Hand or The Riding Limb ) A Now let s try aligning two limbs at the same time. You will coordinate the right hand with the right foot playing the bass drum. Make sure the right foot and right hand are totally aligned (striking at the same time) on beats 1 and 3. 2 limbs: RH and RF (Right Hand and Right Foot) B Next try coordinating the left hand with the right hand. Make sure the left hand and right hand are fully aligned on beats 2 and 4. 2 limbs: RH and LH (Right Hand and Left Hand) C PASIC 2012 Page 3
Now it s time to coordinate the left hand with the right foot (as quarter notes distributed between these limbs). We are not playing eighth notes in this pattern. But let s still count eighth notes when counting this to avoid rushing (a common tendency due to it being a simpler pattern with fewer notes) and to keep perspective of where we are going next with it. 2 limbs: RF and LH (Right Foot and Left Hand) D Now repeat B, C and D. Do each one for approximately 1 minute, focusing on consistent strokes, total alignment and good timekeeping. We are now ready for 3- way coordination! Exciting! In all of the following beats, your right hand will play constant eighth notes, the left hand will play 2 and 4, but your right foot pattern will vary. In each exercise, your right foot and left hand will align with the right hand on the hi- hat. We will merge all of the previous exercises, which will include all 3 limbs. However, first play just the right hand and right foot parts first for a while. When you are ready, add in the left hand on 2 and 4. 3 limbs: RH, RF and LH (Right Hand, Right Foot, Left Hand) PASIC 2012 Page 4
1 #2 is a very common rock beat. Yet it only adds one more bass drum note than #1. The extra note is on the an of 3. 2 Now, we will omit the bass drum note on beat 3, creating a whole new feel! We now have more space. After the snare hit on beat 2, we are only playing one bass drum note on the an of 3 right before the snare hit on beat 4. 3 #4 is also a very common beat in rock and pop music. Beginner students sometimes confuse it with #2. Thus, keep focused on the fact that in #2, the foot does not come in again (after 1) till beat 3, whereas in #4, the foot comes in on the an of 2, which is directly after the snare hit on beat 2. In that sense, #2 is slightly more back- ended, while #4 is a bit more front- ended. PASIC 2012 Page 5
4 Next we will play a beat with a quarter note bass drum pattern. This is also known as Four on The Floor. The right foot plays each downbeat. First try aligning the right hand with the right foot. The right hand plays twice as many notes as the right foot. Make sure the right hand and right foot are in unison (striking at the same time). Now play it again, and when you are ready, add the snare drum on 2 and 4. The 3 limbs align on beats 2 and 4. 5 Some other beats using the eighth- note riding pattern are beats from Motown, Surf and 50 s/60 s Rock and Roll. We will play two snare notes in a row. Also try moving these two notes to the small tom: PASIC 2012 Page 6
6 7 Often times in learning new coordination in drumming, we may sound mechanical at first. So go back and play each exercise for at least 1-2 minutes each, and repeat this a few times per week. Play them in three tempo ranges: 1- Slow, 2- Medium, and 3- Fast. Understanding 16 th Notes Now let s play a common, popular sixteenth- note beat. But first let s go over 16 th notes, how to count and play them, and then get perspective on how they relate to quarter and eighth notes. A measure can fit twice as many sixteenth notes than eighth notes and 4 times more sixteenth notes than quarter notes. First count them the a is pronounced uh. Get in the habit of thinking and saying uh when you see the a. 1 e an a 2 e an a 3 e an a 4 e an a. Playing a full measure of 16ths, we are still playing all of the downbeats, and all of the 8ths, but we are also playing all of the notes in between the 8ths the e s and a s, which are equidistant from each eighth note. Count and play sixteenth notes: PASIC 2012 Page 7
Now let s see how sixteenth notes relate to the quarter and 8 th notes: Playing a 16 th Note Beat First, play alternating 16ths note strokes on the hi- hat while moving the right hand to the snare drum on beats 2 and 4. The circle around the R indicates moving to the snare drum. Concentrate on consistency and accuracy. PASIC 2012 Page 8
Now let s add the bass drum on beats 1 and 3. Short Fills Often times in drumming, a short fill is appropriate and really works well, especially at the end of a four- bar phrase. Sometimes playing a long fill is too much. Our short fill will begin on beat four and will be one beat long. This is extremely common. On beat 1, we will hit the crash cymbal and the bass drum simultaneously: 1 2 PASIC 2012 Page 9
3 4 5 6 Now let s put the short fill in the context of a beat. Try saying/counting first 1 an 2 an 3 an 4 e an a crash. Then stop, and repeat this a few times. Combining Beats and Fills Now try the one beat fill in the 4- bar context: PASIC 2012 Page 10
Now play it in the beat- fill- beat transition form. But first let s get comfortable with restarting the beat after the fill to ease the transition. Now let s get comfortable playing the fill, then restarting the beat. PASIC 2012 Page 11
Ok, let s put it all together! PASIC 2012 Page 12
The book Drumopedia: A Handbook for Beginning Drumset is published by DrumTVShow Publications and is available at www.dannybritt.com, Amazon.com and bn.com. PASIC 2012 Page 13