Drums are one of the most popular musical instruments in the world and there is a high demand to be able to play them. The simple techniques and skills of playing the drums can be learned very quickly. However, it can take months or even years of practice and dedication before you can play the drums like a pro. With the habit of practicing, you can learn rhythm and the essentials, until you reach the stage of learning difficult rhythms and patterns when playing the drums. See step 1 for more information.
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Method 1 of 6: Familiarizing yourself with the Drum Equipment
Step 1. Get to know the basic drum kit
Each type of drum equipment has its own differences. There are different brands, sizes, sticks, and tunings on different drum setups that affect the sound of each drum kit. Still, many drum kits use the same basic equipment. Included in the basic drum kit are:
- The bass drum produces a low thumping sound when struck with a foot-controlled instrument.
- The snare drum is usually located on the non-dominant side of the drummer and struck with a stick in the non-dominant hand as well. The snare is a tight drum and produces a bright sound followed by a resonant beat from the drum.
- There are many types of '”drum tom-toms'”, but the three most common are Floor Tom (producing the lowest sound of the three tom-toms), Mid-Tom (producing the middle sound of the three tom-toms), and High-Tom (produces the highest sound of the three tom-toms). In basic drum kits there are only floor toms. In a complete drum kit there are many tom-toms. Each tom-tom¬ is tuned differently to produce a different array of sounds to play.
Step 2. Learn the different types of cymbals
There are various types of cymbals that vary in terms of type, shape, and sound produced. Cymbals are circular metal objects that vibrate when struck. The four most commonly used cymbals are the hi-hat, the ride, the splash, and the crash.
- The hi-hat is a pair of cymbals mounted on a foot pedal. The foot pedal is used to control the cymbals and is usually played with the left foot. When pressed, the cymbals will stick together. When not pressed, the cymbals will separate. You can hit the cymbals when the cymbals are together or apart, and you can bring the cymbals together with your feet at different rates of speed. Each will produce a different sound.
- '”Ride cymbal'” produces a smoother, deeper sound than other types of cymbals. This is because this cymbal is played repeatedly in many songs. These cymbals usually vibrate when hit until they are hit again, producing a long "finishing" sound vibration.
- '” Splash '” is a cymbal that produces a “splash” sound, similar to the sound of splashing in water. The sound disappears quickly and is usually used in addition to the basic sound of your beat.
- '" Crash '" is similar to splash, but produces a loud, long continuous sound. Listen to the crash at the end of a pop genre song or to a drama with orchestral music during tense situations.
Step 3. Master how to hold a drum stick
There are two main ways to hold a drum stick: the matched grip and the traditional grip.
- In the “matched grip”, you initially hold the stick a few cm from the bottom of the stick between your thumb and forefinger. After that, you hold the stick with the rest of your fingers. This is the most common way to hold a drum stick, allowing you to comfortably control your wrist.
- In a traditional grip, you hold the drum stick with your non-dominant hand between your thumb and forefinger and over your ring finger. Close your thumb, index, and middle finger around the stick. Hold the other drum stick using the matched grip. Some jazz drummers use traditional grips to control the snare drum in different ways. Plays with complex rhythms when accompanying songs.
Step 4. Do some research on drum starting equipment
If you are interested in playing the drums, research new and old drum kits before you spend your money on drum kits. Talk to the clerks in the shop and they will be able to direct you properly. Start by buying used drums before you decide what to buy.
You might also consider joining a school band so you can use the drum kit and learn the tutoring available. You might even ask the school band leader if you're allowed to practice a few times on the school's drum kit because you're interested in drums. Music lovers are usually friendly people. There's nothing wrong with asking
Step 5. Try different variations of drum sticks
There are many drumsticks out there, and there is no right or wrong drumstick. The 5A drum stick is a drum stick with the right weight for beginners.
Ask your drum teacher or store clerk to teach you how to hold the drum stick, how to hit the drum properly, how to tune the drum to match your height, and how to install drum kits at home. You can also find a lot of free information on the internet
Step 6. Learn how to sit behind a drum kit with proper posture
Correct posture will make you more comfortable when practicing and also make it easier for you to reach the drums. You will sound better and will be able to enjoy your game more by correcting your posture.
Sit up straight and lower your head slightly. Get close to the drum kit, so that you have the right distance to the foot pedal
Method 2 of 6: Learning the Rhythm
Step 1. Start learning the drums by hand
You don't need to have very complete equipment to start learning drums. In fact, you don't need any equipment at all. To begin basic exercises and learn the basic rhythm of playing the drums, use your hands and upper thighs in a seated position.
Many beginners get frustrated with using drum kits and can't play simple rhythms. It's best if you can get a feel for the rhythm first before spending money on bulky drum kits to practice with, or before you get frustrated
Step 2. Learn how to count quarter taps
There are many ways to count the bars in a song, but for starters, let's talk about 4/4 beats. 4/4 beats means there are 4 beats in each bar. Tap 4 beats in the same time lag with your one hand, this beat is called a quarter tap.
- Count out loud when you're just starting out. This is important so you can maintain your rhythm, you can learn what you're playing, and you can develop a feeling for harder beats.
- It's best to use a metronome or click track to practice your rhythm. These items are easy to find online, in the GarageBand program, or on your cell phone. Alternatively, you can count the beats contained in the song you are playing.
Step 3. Learn how to count eighth beats
Every quarter of a beat is two out of an eighth of a beat. Keep tapping a quarter of a beat with one hand and then try an eighth beat at the same tempo. These beats are counted as “1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and…” Try to pronounce them steadily and tap with your hands.
Step 4. Exercise your other hand
Continue with your first hand, counting one-eighth of the beat. Now, when you say "Two" and "Four," tap the table or the top of your thigh with your other hand. This will be done when you hit the snare while you are sitting behind the drum kit.
Step 5. Practice your downbeat
Keep tapping with both your hands. However, whenever you say “One” or “Three”, tap your right (or left) foot. This is called a downbeat, and this beat you will make on the bass on the drums.
You are currently playing rock music simple drum beats! Learning the drums is divided into two major parts: rhythm and technique. Without drum kits, you can learn rhythm but not technique. By learning all about rhythm and developing your sense of steady beats and counts before you buy drum kits, you'll become a better drummer and be able to learn more about being a drummer fast
Method 3 of 6: Practice Properly
Step 1. Buy a metronome
It's not enough to mention it once: you need to learn to play steady at the same tempo. The easiest way to do it out of your head is to practice using a metronome. If you can't afford a metronome, you can look for click tracks anywhere. A click track is a recorded metronome, which you can play while you practice on your stereo, your walkman, or on your computer.
Step 2. Play your simple hand beats on the drum kit
Play an eighth beat on the hi-hat, hit the snare drum on beats 2 and 4, and hit the bass drum pedal with your foot on counts 1 and 3.
- Make sure you count out loud when you play. In the end, you don't have to do that. However, you need to do it when you are just learning and practicing.
- Vary your strokes and familiarize yourself with your drum kit. Hit anything on your drum kit other than the snare on the "two" and "four" counts.
- Develop your groove and get into the habit of playing steady when you count out loud and when you play click tracks.
Step 3. Exercise your feet on the hi-hat foot pedal
Learn how to cover the hi-hat with your left foot when you hit it with your hand. The resulting sound is a different and shorter sound. This is the position most often used by drummers.
Play a continuous eighth beat with your right hand. Use your left hand to hit the snare on a count of “Two” and “Four”. Take your foot off the hi-hat pedal at any time, so you get used to the sound it makes. You can open your hi-hat wide, open it slightly, and hit it in different places. Examples such as on the outside of the circle or on the bell in the middle to produce different sounds
Step 4. Develop your leg flow
Practice your rhythm on the bass drum as you hit the hi-hat to develop your muscles.
Try to play with your right foot and right hand at the same time, your left hand playing freely, or all your hands and feet together to practice the movement of your muscles
Step 5. Try to change the way of playing
Play in the same way as above, but instead of hitting the snare at “two” and four”, you hit the hi-hat. When you lift your right hand from the hi-hat, move your left hand to hit the snare. Now you're basically playing the snare drum between each hit of the hi-hat.
When you do this, count out loud "One e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a" continue hitting the hi-hat with your right hand on the count of "One and two and three and four and" but hitting the snare on the count of "e and a"
Step 6. Relax while practicing
If you're too tense or struggling to steady on the beat you've set on the metronome, try slowing down the metronome until you can play at a leisurely pace.
Method 4 of 6: Getting used to the limbs
Step 1. Learn the basics of playing the snare drum
The basic “singles” and “doubles” strokes are essential for developing the habits of your limbs and the complexity of your drumming. If you hit the drum on a single beat with two alternating hands, you're doing a single stroke pattern. However, if you hit the drum in one stroke with alternating hands, and then you let the stick "bouncing" each time you hit it, hitting it twice each time, it's called a double stroke pattern.
This is what allows drummers to play very fast strokes and patterns. By learning the 26 basics of the American Drum, you'll be able to master single, double, triple, and quadruple stroke patterns
Step 2. Join your two legs
This will be the same as when you try to stroke your stomach at the same time as you pat your head. Learning to play the drums means that you end up having to be able to do a lot of complicated things at the same time. Instead of doing one movement up and one movement down, you should be able to do one move double, triple, or even quadruple with one part of your body while the other part of your body does the other on the other part of the drum. different.
Count the beats equal to the one-eighths you use. On each beat, close your hi-hat with your left foot and open it on the offbeat, or on the “and” count. Hit the snare drum on a count of “two” and “four” to create a basic rock beat. With your hands maintain an eighth beat (one and two and three and four and) on the end of the snare or on the ride cymbal if it is on your drum kit
Step 3. Try playing the kick drum with your right foot
Experiment with varying beats using your right foot while the rest of your body is locked by playing the main pattern. Here, the trouble begins. However, don't worry, because the more you play the easier it will be to do. You have to get used to your limbs moving on their own. There is no quick way to do this. Be patient and think about what you are doing. It will make it a little easier for you if you divide up the beats each time.
Method 5 of 6: Learning More Complicated Rhythms
Step 1. Learn the system (three strokes)
For triplets in a quarter of a beat, you have to think about half a beat. Count 1-la-le steadily within half a beat. It's the same for triplets in one-eighth of a beat, but with three separate beats within a quarter of a beat
- Triplets aren't used much in rock music, but you'll often find them in drum accompaniment and used in the percussion lines of school band drums. Basically, a triplet is that you play three beats when you normally only play two. You can hit three strokes on a quarter, eighth, one-sixteenth, and one-thirty-two beat.
- We have a cool accompaniment sound to accompany the triplet. Count like this “[Tu-Trip-Let][Wa-Trip-Let][Ga-Trip-Let][Pat-Trip-Let]” or use any word that has three syllables. Play this hand in hand with a metronome. Each “click” sound on the metronome is one bar and each bar can be subdivided.
Step 2. Learn the sixteenth beat
Basically, the sixteenth beat is what you play in the beginning when you learn to move your hand in the opposite direction. The calculation is as follows “[1 e and a] [2 e and a] [3 e and a] [4 e and a]”
Triplets of one-sixteenth beat are counted as follows [1 trip let and trip let] [2 trip let and trip let] [3 trip let and trip let] [4 trip let and trip let]
Step 3. Learn the thirty-second beat
The thirty-second beat is calculated as follows “[1 e and a and e and a] [2 e and a and e and a] [3 e and a and e and a] [4 e and a and e and a]”
There are triplets of thirty-second beats that require a lot of subsections to count and are relatively too fast to pronounce out loud. However, if you want to listen to the thirty-second and thirty-second beats instead of the triplets, try Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe". These beats are difficult to play properly because you have to be able to play them steadily, make the same sound on the drums with your two hands and have to be able to play the beats across your drum kit in perfect timing throughout the entire song
Step 4. Remember that each subsection must fit into the metronome
Each “click” is a quarter of a bar.
Step 5. Pause is used in the song when no punches are sounded in the beat
Listen to some of your favorite songs and use small subsections like the eighth or sixteenth count beat and you will hear that there are many silent pauses when you count. This is called a pause.
Step 6. Learn how to perform sub-sections of beats and pauses in practice using only the snare drum
Your goal is to be able to make a steady sound with your two hands. Your two hands should make the same sound when you make a pressing stroke. Your two hands should also make the same sound when you hit normally. The same is true for other types of strokes.
A pressed hit is when you hit the drum harder than the rest (usually at the end of the drum, commonly known as a rimshot). Pressed punches give the song a more dramatic effect. In musical notes, stress is indicated by the mathematical symbol “more than” (>)
Method 6 of 6: Play Fills
Step 1. Use fills to add sound to the song you're playing
The purpose of drum fills is to add something different to your song. A guitar player does something different by licking the strings, a singer doing it by shouting and dancing, and a drummer doing it by fills. Fills are performed between beats, usually on tom-toms and cymbals. Listen to John Bonham's tunes and immerse yourself in the masters of drum fills.
Step 2. Start by playing the basic beats
Play "1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +" and play as before with your right hand on the hi-hat and your left on the snare. Use your right foot on the kick. Repeat as you warm up. Now continue counting aloud and only play "1 + 2 +" then stop playing with your limbs and complete the "3 + 4 +" aloud over and over.
It will sound like “Boom tic Pap tic” and on the count of “3 + 4 +” do something else like moving every part of your body and simultaneously on the count of “3 + 4 +” you can hit a crash (if it has on your drum kit) on the first count in the next bar. With this you have done your first fill
Step 3. Get creative
Do each combination and variation on this basic count, while you work out "3 + 4 +". Some will sound good to you and some will sound bad. Some of the basic moves can be: Snare batting with alternating hands, two kicks and two snares, two snares and two kicks. As long as your tempo is steady, it doesn't matter which one you choose.
Step 4. Play harder fills
Continue playing “1+2+” as you did above. Now select some sub-sections¬ on the beats written between the quotes above for “3” and “4” beats. Like the following “[3 trip let] [4 e + a] play notes when you count out loud and use all parts of your body together as you did above.
- Now select another subsection for the “3” and “4” beats as you count “[3 +] [4]” or “[3 +] [4 trip let]” or “3 e + a] [4 +]” or whenever. Starting to get easier, right? As long as the beat is played steadily and over time you can play many combinations for fills.
- You don't just have to play fills on beats [3] and [4]. You can play entire bars as fills, by selecting from any subsection for each beat, then combining them like this “[1 e + a] [2 trip let] [3 +] [4 trip let]” or whatever you want. choose. Say subsections out loud and play with your whole body. Then play the drums using different sounds and sound combinations for each subsection.
Step 5. Use your fills wisely
Learn how to hold fills even if you are a great drummer. Some of the songs from AC/DC have simple fills and some have no fills at all. This fits perfectly with their reputation as a band with no fills. It would sound ridiculous if they played a drum solo on the song "Back in Black".
You don't need to include a fill on the initial tap. Count "ones and twos" and play as you played them before with your right hand on the hi-hat and left hand on the snare. But when you count "and three and four and" start playing fills instead of waiting for the beat of "three"
Tips
- Do not be discouraged. When your brain thinks of a beat, your arms and legs learn where to move. Your arm and leg movements will develop on their own.
- Be a musician first, then be a drummer. The best drummers in the world play the drums in a very musical way. They always put the song first before hitting too fast. There is a time and a place to do everything.
- If you want to get started with drumming, start with inexpensive drum kits or student drum kits. The equipment can be purchased for only a few million rupiah. These drum kits usually have hi-hat, crash-' ride cymbals, kick drums, snare drums, one or two tom-tom sections placed on the kick drum, and floor tom-toms. You will always be able to add parts to your drum kit next time.
- Let the drum sticks "work for" you. Let the drum stick bounce, you don't have to pull it up or you'll get tired easily.
- When you're starting out, don't focus on speed. Focus on the timing and stability of your strokes, so that each stroke produces the same sound.
- Practice every day for 15 – 20 minutes even if there is no drum kit in front of you. Practicing every day for 5 minutes will be better than practicing once a week for 35 minutes.
- Don't hit your drums or your drumsticks and drum heads will break, your cymbals will crack, or your bones will break until you can't play anymore. Play casually, unless you're John Bonham or Keith Moon. Gloves for playing drums can also be used to avoid these things.
- When playing the drums, always wear protection such as earplugs. The snare is designed to produce a loud sound and is played close to your head and ears.
- Buy a book or video recording. Make sure you search the book or video beforehand on the internet to see what reviews will be on the item before you buy it. Not all video recordings and books can help beginners, even if the video recordings or books say "For Beginners".
- Take lessons with a private tutor and see if you enjoy them.
- If you don't want to buy drum kits in advance but you have electronic drums like RockBand drums, you can connect them to your computer and use the Drum Machine program as an electronic drum kit. You can change the sound of each drum. The downside to this is that your drums may play late and can cause you to miss beats.
- Learn the basics of playing the drums, but learn from someone who can teach you the basics of playing the drums musically. Don't just practice playing the basics as fast as you can without knowing how to incorporate them into the music. Purchase books called “Stick Control for the Snare Drummer” by George Lawrence Stone and “Savage Rudimental Workshop” by Matt Savage. Also look for a book called “A Funky Primer for the Rock Drummer” by Charles Down. The basics of playing the drums are used when playing drums, unless you want to be a person who can play but can't practice the basics of playing.
- If you want to be a good drummer, learn feels first, then learn forms, then learn figures, and finally learn fills. The band doesn't need to know how well you can play a drum solo. However, they want to know if you can play the groove well and play the form. It might be boring, but you'll be a better drummer than someone who just plays drums all day long.
- Use metal cans or baskets if you can't afford drum kits. Or you can buy a drum pad for basic practice.
- Think of your family and neighbors by practicing in a secluded place, using a drum silencer, and asking their permission.
- Make sure there are no loose parts on your drum kit.
- Play comfortably. If you feel tense, slow down your tempo, or you won't see any results.
