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Lesson 1: Beginnings, some DRUMPATTERNS to start with

First you need to know what I mean by using the following symbols:

The contents of this first lesson are:

1) four hihat beats with bassdrum
2) a snaredrum added on the third count
3) combining two patterns, counting /8th-notes
4) a fill with /16th-notes

The first thing you do when you're actually going to play the drums, is relax, and when you sit down, you start with COUNTING.
"Yuk, counting what?", you'll ask...
Well, counting BEATS, of course, but how to do that...?

Every drum-rhythm contains several beats that have a structure among themselves: you can divide the whole rhythm in more or less equal spaces of time, that create a diffence in sound and rhythm.

Let's start to play a pattern on the "hihat" and the "bassdrum".
You use your right hand to play the hihat. Make sure you kick the bassdrum exactly at the same time (on the One-count) as the hihat. You will hear every irregularity. So be allways accurate when playing something new!
The basic rule with new exercises is EVER: "practise them slowly", that's the only way to do it properly. Add speed only once you're really sure on your pattern. You'll find out that it's even harder to play the pattern slowly than fast ....

You count the pattern like this:
"One-Two-Three_Four"

On the first count you hit both "hihat" and "bassdrum", on the other three count only the hihat.

  1)            1       2       3       4


                 |       |       |       |
                 |       |       |       |
      HH        X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
           |--------------------------------------|          
           |                                      |
      SD   |:------------------------------------:|
           |                                      |
           |--------------------------------------|
      BD        0
               |
               |
When the result of this practising pleases you enough, go on with the next episode...
On the third count you now add a snaredrum, and the result should be like this:

      
  2)            1        2       3       4 

                 |        |       |       |
                 |        |       |       |           
      HH        X . . .  X . . . X . . . X . . .
            |-------------------------------------|
            |                                     |
      SD    |:-------------------0---------------:|
            |                   |                 |
            |-------------------|-----------------|
      BD        0
               |
               |
Those of you who like to see a more regular notation of the same will be glad with this picture, courtesy of Bill Powelson, which shows the same four counts, but now with a basedrum and a snaredrum alternating on every count:
If you want to combine more patterns you're free to do so. Let's take for example an "eighth-note-pattern".
You'll notice in lesson 2, that counting according to this pattern gives you freedom to add things, for example a bassdrum.

You count the pattern like this:
"One-plus-Two-plus-Three-plus-Four-plus"

NOTICE: You do have to count with regular intervals of time, for the rhythm 'only "grooves" if you learn it slowly and accurate... Don't let that stop you from having fun with it.. Practise makes perfect!

  3)            1   +   2   +   3   +   4   + 
                 ____    ____    ____    ____          
                 |  |    |  |    |  |    |  | 
      HH        X . X . X . X . X . X . X . X .
            |-----------------------------------|
            |                                   |
      SD    |:----------0---------------0------:| 
            |          |               |        | 
            |----------|---------------|--------|
      BD        0               0
               |               |
               |               |
Finally, for there's certainly more on a drumkit than only the three musical instruments (for that's what they really are) you've played on so far, we'll play another exercise, in which we use all three tom-toms for something called a "fill" (or "break").

This "fill", meant to give the drummer time to show his skill, is commonly used by many drummers, so you might have heared it. Anyway, this is how we do it....

There's a slight difference in counting for we play something called "sixteenth-notes". (In this revised version I changed the count from "one-and-plus-and" to the more common "one-e-plus-a" to avoid confusion, because many books do so). We use the "full" notation, of course. It goes like this:

"One-e-plus-a, two-e-plus-a, three-e-plus-a, four-e-plus-a", ... and so on. 

          
  4)              1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a 

                           ======= 
                           | | | | =======
                           | | | | | | | |
     Tom1     |-----------0-0-0-0--|-|-|-|----------|
     Tom2     |-------------------0-0-0-0-----------|
     SD       |:--0-0-0-0--------------------------:|
              |--|-|-|-|----------------------------|
     FT       |--|-|-|-|------------------0-0-0-0---|
                 =======                 | | | |
                                         | | | |
                                         =======
So much for your first "fill". You have seen I filled in
the non-used spaces from previous patterns, (".") with "&"'s.
But, you also noticed the ":"-signs I used in
these bars.This is a musical sign, that indicates you have to repeat
the pattern inbetween those two signs ( |:---:| )!

Have fun with the patterns!

In case your looking for something to practice on, I'd say: Take a look at the Drum Sticky Page.
Here you can find "Drums on the Internet".

Any questions for the pagekeeper can be asked by E-mail.
All you have to do is write to: [harald@drumsworld.zzn.com]