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Drum Lesson 101

The document provides information on the basic parts of a drum set including the bass drum, snare drum, toms, hi-hats, crash cymbals, and ride cymbals. It then discusses drum equipment such as sticks, mallets, brushes, and rods. It also covers the main grips for holding drum sticks - match grip, traditional grip, German grip, French grip, and American grip. Finally, it introduces basic drum rudiments like the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, and paradiddle.

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365 views

Drum Lesson 101

The document provides information on the basic parts of a drum set including the bass drum, snare drum, toms, hi-hats, crash cymbals, and ride cymbals. It then discusses drum equipment such as sticks, mallets, brushes, and rods. It also covers the main grips for holding drum sticks - match grip, traditional grip, German grip, French grip, and American grip. Finally, it introduces basic drum rudiments like the single stroke roll, double stroke roll, and paradiddle.

Uploaded by

alexonting
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DRUM LESSON 101

JIBC WORSHIP MINISTRY


Parts of a Drum Set
Bass drum: Also known as a ‘kick drum’, this is the biggest piece of the kit. It rests
on the floor, has two small ‘legs’ to keep it in place, and gives your rhythms that
low ‘boom’. Drummers use a bass drum pedal (or ‘kick pedal’) with a beater (or
‘mallet’) to strike the surface of the bass drum. Most drummers use a single pedal,
but some drummers (especially metal and rock players) might use a double pedal
for quick patterns.

Snare drum: This drum sits right in front of you. The snare wires beneath the
drum vibrate when you strike it and gives it its signature sound. If you want to
change the amount of ‘snare’ sound, this drum has a lever (or ‘throw off’) and dial
you can use to adjust the tension.

Tom-tom: Usually abbreviated to ‘tom’, this drum can come in a variety of sizes


and is useful when playing drum fills and tribal rhythms.
Hi-hats: The hi-hat is a combination of two cymbals that sit together. They’re
mounted on a hi-hat stand, and the stand’s pedal allows the top hi-hat to open
and close.

Crash cymbal: These cymbals can come in a variety of sizes and add a burst of
sound when punctuating or accenting notes in your drum parts.

Ride cymbal: Rides are usually the biggest cymbal on the kit and they have the
biggest surface area. You’re more likely to ‘ride’ (play consistently) on this cymbal,
and it has a distinct ‘ping’ sound.
This is the anatomy of a tom:
These are the parts of a snare drum (the one on the right has been turned upside down):
Types of cymbals

These are the most common types of cymbals, and the ones you’ll need for your
first kit:

Hi-hats: The hi-hat is a combination of two cymbals that sit together. They’re


mounted on a hi-hat stand, and the stand’s pedal allows the top hi-hat to open
and close.

Crash cymbal: These cymbals can come in a variety of sizes and add a burst of
sound when punctuating or accenting notes in your drum parts.

Ride cymbal: Rides are usually the biggest cymbal on the kit and they have the
biggest surface area. You’re more likely to ‘ride’ (play consistently) on this cymbal,
and it has a distinct ‘ping’ sound.
These are the parts of a cymbals
Drum Equipment
The first piece of drum equipment that we recommend for students is free and
readily available: your own body. Start with hand drumming, whether that’s
playing on your thighs, a pillow, or anything else you can think of that won’t get
damaged from repetitive hand tapping.

Start by tapping along to your favorite songs and focus on playing along with
the drummer or another instrument in the song. If you don’t have immediate
access to music, then simply practice keeping a steady tempo, alternating
between tapping with your right hand and then your left hand.
Drum Sticks

Here are the main sizes you can


expect to find in most brands:
Drumsticks consist of: •7A – Thin, ideal for jazz
•A tip/bead – which shapes vary •8D – Same as 7A but a bit longer
•A taper – which length vary •1A – The longest stick
•A shaft – which length AND thickness vary •5A – The “standard” drumstick
•A butt – which in some models has a playable •3A – Slightly longer and thicker than
end to offer more versatility to the stick 5A
•5B – Shorter but thicker than 3A
•2B – The thickest of all, ideal
for rock/metal and practicing.
Other Type of Drum Sticks
1. Brushes 
Brushes are made of many wires which can be
made out of:
•metal – which produces the typical “swishing”
sound used in jazz ballads, for example.
•nylon – which produces a duller and warmer
sound. The advantage is that the wires don’t bend
as much as the metal ones.

2. Rods
These are the perfect middle ground between the
very low volumed brushes and the high volumed
regular drumsticks.

3. Mallets
The tip of this drumstick is covered in felt,
producing a very muffled sound.
Holding a Drum Sticks

Match Grip
Broadly speaking, there are two main types of grip: match and traditional. Put simply, match
grip is where the left and the right hand hold the sticks the same way, with the stick held
between the thumb and the fingers.

• German Grip
German grip is the most powerful of the three.
When playing match stick with German grip, the
sticks should be at a 90 degree angle to each
other. Rotate your wrist so your palms face
towards the floor and use your wrist and forearm
to generate the stick action. Your fingers should
help the stick rebound from the drumhead or
cymbal.
Holding a Drum Sticks
• French Grip
French grip offers more finesse than German grip but sacrifices power. When playing match stick
with French grip, the sticks should be almost parallel to each other. Turn the wrist so the hand is
facing inwards, parallel to the floor, and generate the stick action by pulling the stick with your
fingers. More power can be generated with the wrist and small movements of the forearm.
Holding a Drum Sticks
• American Grip
American grip is a middle ground between German and French. When playing American grip,
keep your sticks at a 45-60 degree angle to each other. This grip utilizes the fingers, wrist, and arm
in equal measure and is probably the easiest grip to begin to play.
Holding a Drum Sticks

Traditional Grip
In contrast, traditional grip is where the
weaker hand (left for right handed players
and right for left handed players) holds the
stick between the middle and third finger.
This originates from the marching tradition.
Drummers had to walk with their drums by
their side, which meant it was uncomfortable
to strike the drum head using match grip.
Traditional grip allowed these early
drummers to strike the drum head centrally
without having to raise their arms
uncomfortably.
Metronome

One final piece of equipment that will help you begin


your journey of learning how to play the drums is a
metronome. Drummers are expected to be able to
maintain a steady tempo, and nothing keeps a
steadier tempo than a metronome. Metronomes
come in both analogue and digital.

We recommend practicing with a metronome at the


beginning of your drumming journey, as it’ll help you
develop a strong sense of time and rhythm. This will
save you a lot of headaches later on. The accent
feature on your metronome can change the feel of
what you are playing and help you explore different
time signatures.
Drum Rudiments
Single Stroke Roll
The single stroke roll is simply an alternating sticking pattern where each hand plays
only one note. There isn’t much more to it than that.

Double Stroke Roll


You are now looking to create two notes with your first hand and then alternate to
your other hand and create another two notes.
Drum Rudiments
Paradiddle
The Paradiddle is an awesome rudiment. It can be used a lot around the kit such as a
drum beat or in a fill. The fact that you’re combining a single and double stroke roll
allows you to have multiple options on how you want to apply.
Drum Sheet Music
Ex:

Each section of music always starts on beat


1, so you’ll play the bass drum on beat 1.

Then beat 2 you will play snare drum

So if you were to count the first 2 beats out


loud (1! 2!) you would play a bass drum on
the 1 and a snare drum on the 2. This then
repeats in beats 3 and 4.

While in hi-hats you would count the hi-hats


as 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
Drum Tabs
Drum tabs are different from sheet music
because they’re written specifically for the Here’s an example of this practice in the “two
instrument. They use the parts of the drum and four” beat
set that we talked about earlier. Drum tabs
use abbreviations for the drum parts, for 1–2–3-4
example: •HH: X X X X
CC – Crash Cymbal •SN: X X
HH – Hi-Hat •B: O O
Rd – Ride Cymbal
SN – Snare
T1 – Hi Tom
T2 – Low tom
FT – Floor Tom
B – Bass Drum
HF – Hi-Hat (with foot)
O – Bass Drum hits
X – Snare and Hi-Hat hits

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