Is it easy to play drums without learning? Choosing a drum kit

The two main components of music are melody and rhythm. Drummers (or percussionists) are responsible for the latter in “live” groups. Drums and bass make up the band's rhythm section. Unlike the same bass guitar, they are clearly audible in any mix. Without drums, the music sounds boring and dull - the rhythm gives the songs dynamics and expressiveness.

Together with guitar and bass, drums form the classic trio of instruments that no band can do without. Therefore, there are plenty of people who want to learn how to play the drums. But not everyone can afford to buy a drum kit. The reason for this is their considerable cost and the traditional “love of music” of the neighbors of the newly minted drummer. Plus, learning to play the drums is difficult, painful, and extremely draining. If approached incorrectly, the path from green beginner to master of rhythm will take years. Therefore, we will figure out how to quickly learn to play the drums from scratch and without the drums themselves.

Introduction to Drums

First you need to get to know the tool. It’s better to do it in person: sit, touch, knock. But if this is not possible, then for the first time, correspondence acquaintance will be enough.

When a beginner looks at a drum kit (also called a “kitchen”), he sees two things: drums and cymbals. These are the main elements that make up a drum kit.

Drums are divided into three types:

• Bass drum. It is played with a special mallet, which is driven by a pedal. The barrel is needed to make a dull sound low sound. The kick drum is “boom”.
• Snare drum. It is also called a worker. The bright and juicy “thousand” that is heard on the recordings is on his conscience.
• Tom-toms. These drums are needed to additionally fill and decorate the rhythmic pattern. Classic version includes three volumes: two hanging and one floor.

There are incomparably more types of plates. But for a beginner drummer, it is enough to know about four: hi-hat, ride, crash and splash. The main cymbal is the hi-hat. It is a set of two cymbals mounted on a separate stand with a pedal. The hat acts as a metronome - the main rhythm is tapped on it. Ride plays a similar role. And the remaining plates are needed to place accents.

Hand placement and coordination of movements

It’s paradoxical, but at first a beginner won’t need drums. The student's primary task is to position the hands and develop coordination of movements between the limbs. For these purposes, you need to regularly perform basic exercises. Practice the correct position, beat the rhythm on your knees or on a pad - a special rubber plate that imitates a snare drum. The following exercise will help here:

• Begin tapping a simple four-quarter rhythm with your right hand. To do this, simply count “one-two-three-four” and make a strike for each count.
• Then start hitting eighth notes: “one-and-two-and-three-and-four.” The blows also go to each count.
• Add a left hand punch to each weak share. The weak beats are on “two” and “four”.
• Then, add an imaginary kick drum on each downbeat. The downbeats are “one” and “three”.

Practice this way until the movements become automatic. As soon as this happens, you can accept congratulations - you have mastered the simplest rhythmic pattern. And this important step on his way to becoming a modern-day Buddy Rich.

Performing such exercises to develop a sense of rhythm and coordination is critical for a beginner. They will help lay the foundations of the technique, which you will then have to hone in classes on a real installation. In addition, knowing the basics will help you not get lost when you finally get access to the coveted “kitchen”.

In addition, it is important to acquire a metronome and with suitable chopsticks. There are no questions about the metronome, but the choice of sticks can be devoted to a separate article. However, let's highlight the main points:

Choose the right size sticks. Beginners are advised to start from size 5A. But this is not a rule, and if it is more convenient to hold sticks of a different length and thickness, take them.

Buy quality products. Don’t save money - bad sticks limit your technique, break quickly, and the cheapest copies will cause splinters.

Practice

The simplest answer to the question “how to quickly learn to play drums from scratch” is to go to a teacher. This solution will save a lot of time and nerves. A competent teacher will help a beginner learn the basics of technology and point out flaws and mistakes.

If you don’t succeed in studying with a teacher, you need to establish the right approach to classes. We're talking about practicing on a real drum kit here, but these tips also apply to practicing with a pad.

Play along to a metronome. For a drummer, a metronome is indispensable. No matter how well the drummer feels the rhythm, the risk of “floating” when playing remains.
Dedicate time to working out basic elements. Even professional musicians we need to go back to basics. Take care of yourself and your technique. Flaws in technique result in tightness, loss of speed, fatigue and errors in the game. For progress, the landing position, the grip of the sticks, and the force of the blow are important.

Warm-up is required. To warm up your limbs, start your practice session by practicing simple rhythms, like the one discussed above. Start at a comfortable pace and gradually speed up. In addition, you can make the exercise more difficult by adding hits on different cymbals or toms.

Develop coordination. When playing the drums, all limbs are used and it is important to achieve their independence. To do this, add to basic exercises opening and closing the hi-hat with the left foot.

Don't chase speed. If playing at the chosen tempo is not comfortable (you feel tired or tense muscles), reduce the metronome tempo. With the development of technology, speed will come on its own.

How to learn to play drums with your hands

Percussion instruments are not limited to drum sets. In addition to the drums themselves, they also include percussion. This percussion instruments, which differ in design from classical drums: darbukas, djembe, bongos, tambourines and others. There is only one answer to the question of how to learn to play such drums with your hands - play. The principles of playing percussion instruments are the same. The only difference is that the sound is produced not with sticks, but with hands and depends on the place where the performer hits.

Music, and especially music performed live, is something that has the strongest influence on a person. Having gone through its centuries-old life, music today is a combination of performing skills of the highest level, high technology in the field of recording and sound design, as well as serious development business musical styles and individual performers. Our article will talk about where a future drummer needs to start his journey. So:

How to play the drums and what is needed for this?

The subject of our conversation will be an ordinary drum kit, which is a mandatory attribute of any studio. Let's first talk about what it is, and then we'll go through the basic requirements for playing technique on the kit.

A drum kit or “set” (as musicians call it) consists of different drums, which differ in the tone of the sound and the method of playing parts on each of them. Here is a list of tools that are common features of any modern installation:

• Big drum (kick or kick). This instrument stands on the floor and the head is turned towards the musician, so it rests on the body. The plastic is the area where the pedal hits. Kick drum is played with the foot using a pedal or double pedal. Particularly dexterous drummers sometimes use three pedals. As a rule, it is placed on the pedal right leg.
• Snare drum. One of the most important attributes of a drum kit, without which it cannot be considered complete. You can't play drums without it. The snare drum is installed in front of the drummer at the level of the bend of the arm at the elbow at an angle of 90 degrees. This positioning is necessary to perform a correct and powerful hit on the snare drum. It is usually equipped with a white top head and an adjustable snare, which is used to change the sound of the instrument.
• Toms are drums of a lower pitch than snare. They are used by the drummer during transitions in the composition, during the so-called “breaks”. Depending on the style and desire of the drummer, he can set at his discretion from zero to large quantity volumes. The maximum limit of toms is the drummer's ability to reach them to make a full hit. A typical setup comes with three toms of different tones. Above the snare is the highest sounding tom, to the left is the lower tone, and the floor tone is the lowest sounding instrument, with the exception of the kick drum, of course.
• Let's move on to the hardware, that is, to the plates. An indispensable attribute of any installation is the hi-hat. Without it, you won't learn to play the drums. It is located near the snare drum on the left. Only the hi-hat has unique properties and structure. The fact is that it includes an upper and lower plate. A special stand allows the musician to open and close them, which significantly affects the sound of the hat.
• Another indispensable tool as part of the hardware it is a ride. This is the largest cymbal in diameter, which is located to the right of the drummer and gives a gentle, airy and sonorous tone when played correctly.
• Well, a set of cymbals, such as crashes. This includes a variety of cymbals of any sound and tone. The main cymbals used by everyone are crashes of a different tone, China, and splash.

That's probably all the instruments that drummers use. Let's move on to the principle of drumming. It's no secret that a good drummer must have perfect coordination and a sense of rhythm. It is these two indicators that determine the success of a particular drummer. The principle of the game comes down to the following. Each composition has its own time signature. The most common of these is the bar, which contains 4 beats. So the drummer must fill these four beats correctly to play the drums well. Proper filling comes down to this idea. The barrel performs the first blow in the measure on the count of times. Further, the game of barrel may vary. The snare drum creates the rhythm of the song. The snare drum hits the downbeat of the measure. Thus, the bar pattern is: 1-kick, 2-snare, 3-kick, 4-snare. To give the composition a more pumped and slow sound, play this way: 1-barrel, 2-barrel, 3-snare, 4-barrel. At that moment, until the right leg and left hand the musician hits the kick drum and snare, respectively, the drummer's right hand plays any of the cymbals in this way: 1-cymbal, 2-cymbal, 3-cymbal, 4-cymbal.

Only in this way and in no other way can you achieve a sound similar in its composition to the sound when a professional drummer plays. A few words about what drumsticks are and how to use them correctly. The drumsticks are two processed wooden bars having tips for playing instruments. The stick should be held by the thicker end, and hit with the side where there is a tip. The correct grip of the stick is to hold it not with your entire palm, but only with your fingers. The palm only holds the stick, stabilizing its trajectory. This is exactly how you should play the drums. The drum can be struck three times different ways, depending on the genre and nature of the work. The first method corresponds to light music, such as jazz. Played with fingers only. With the help of special finger work, the drummer performs light blows on the heads of percussion instruments. The second method, which is used everywhere, involves using a brush. The musician's hand and fingers are used to strike. Well, the strongest blow, which transfers maximum energy to the instrument and extracts maximum decibels from it, is performed using the elbow or shoulder part of the hand. This method is used extremely rarely and in special moments of the composition.

We hope that the material we presented will help beginning musicians master the basics of mastering such a multifaceted and complex instrument, like a drum kit. For those who strive for the highest level of skill, there is a video of how to play the drums.

Playing drums is more than just a hobby, it is a way of life - the one who puts in a lot of effort and diligence will always win in any business. However, the training costs are quite huge. If you want to be a drummer, it could be one of the longest journeys of your life.

How to get there high level musicality? There's definitely a difference between a drummer who plays an instrument as a hobby and a drummer who makes drums his life. This big difference lies in the approach and practice habits. The only way Improve your drumming - only if you learn self-control and stick to regular practice.

There are a few secrets that I have developed over the years of playing drums that will greatly help any drummer. Tips that will speed up your learning process and make drumming an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. They will be described below and are designed to help you in your drumming.

Shock work

If suddenly in a club where a rock band is performing, the electricity on stage goes out, then most of the musicians will be out of work. Will come finest hour drummer! He must give such a solo so that the audience does not get bored until the electricians fix the problem. Then the concert will be saved!

In an army orchestra, one musician beats a large (“Turkish”) drum with a mallet, while another uses sticks to beat out a roll on a small (“Pioneer”) drum. The third has cymbals in his hands, and in the pathetic moments of waltzes and marches he hits one against the other... In rock bands and jazz ensembles, percussion instruments, as a rule, are subordinate to one person.

The drummer always sits in the background. Maybe that's why people of this musical profession most often they lack excessive ambitions and do not pretend to be stars. Even the drummers of great bands, who are de facto stars. Who was the most humble of the Beatles? Right, Ringo Starr. And from Rolling Stones? Perhaps the drummer is also Charlie Watts. Meanwhile, the role of a drummer in a small rock band is always decisive, especially at live concerts. The success of a studio recording depends on many factors - on the skill of all musicians, on originality musical material, the content of the lyrics, the vocalist’s performance style, the “hit” nature of the songs... The success of a rock concert is determined primarily by how well the rhythm section: the drummer and bass guitarist “pumps up the drive.” Moreover, if the person behind the drums plays unevenly or clumsily, neither virtuoso guitar cuts nor soulful vocals will save the group. The job of that unassuming guy (and sometimes gal) behind the pile of brightly colored drums and enticingly shiny cymbals is not just to beat out a rhythm that everyone else follows. He is also a musician, he does not knock, but plays. His many-sided and multi-component instrument is called a drum set.

Why and how to play with a metronome?

There are two reasons why a drummer should be able to play with a metronome, and both of these reasons are essential to learning to play the drums well.

1. Development of a sense of time. This allows the drummer to maintain a smooth playing pattern without slowing down or speeding up.
2. Possibility to record in the studio with a metronome or click track. This ensures that any editing of your recorded tracks can be done quickly and easily.

Reason number 1 is the most important because not every musician records music in a studio, but every drummer should be able to play on time. The ability to play smoothly cannot be developed without using a metronome.

You'd be surprised how many drummers can't play to a metronome. They believe that it is easy and that if necessary, problems will not arise. However, when you come to the studio, you discover a complete inability to play with a metronome, and it’s too late to do anything about it.

Igor Chili: "Pace and sense of time"

Eh, a sore subject for many drummers. Nowadays you don’t often meet a drummer who asks questions of tempo on first-name terms. Often everyone just switches to working with a drum machine or metronome. Anything can happen on stage, so drummers often protect themselves this way. It's not bad. But still, don’t forget to play without clicking. Still, the group must be alive. Always remember the pace. After all, every song has its own, and you shouldn’t forget about it. Let the song breathe freely as you do. Don't make her choke.

Drummer's sense of time – essential component drumming. The feeling and mood of a song depends primarily on the drummer. On how well he creates a sense of time in the song. The drummer's stable and confident sense of timing creates a support and foundation for other musicians. Much also depends on the style of music. If it’s “Sad But True” by Metallica, then it should be played with passion, and if it’s “Birdland” by Winul, then on the contrary, add aspiration and movement.

Mark Shulman's video tutorial “A Day At The Recording Studio” shows three examples of timing: playing slightly ahead of the metronome, slightly behind and exactly one meter away, like a drum machine. John "Bonzo" Bonham played mostly with a pull, Stewart Copeland, on the contrary, was slightly ahead, and Jeff Porcaro was exactly a meter away. Not always, of course, because... it also depends on the nature of the song, and not just on the drummer, but this is how the mentioned drummers acted predominantly.

Warm-up and stretching before playing the drums

Warm up. How necessary it is during physical labor and especially before practicing on a drum set. Every professional athlete knows about the benefits of stretching muscles; to some extent, drums are also a sport, because the whole body works here: from the muscles of the foot, legs, pelvis, back, spine, neck, to the arms, forearms, hands and fingers. Our limbs, which are most used when playing the drums, are especially susceptible to injury, which means we need to devote time to warming up these parts of the body. Special attention. Although the topic of health care and warming up is not new to anyone, we hope that this article will help you understand the importance of warming up your muscles before practicing drums. Here we will talk about pain and injury prevention and clearly find out what activities there are for warming up.

"It's no secret that drumming requires the most physical effort than playing any other instrument. Because of this, drummers are prone to various types of injuries. Some drummers can play for decades without injury. Unfortunately, this does not apply to everyone. Whether you are a beginner or a professional, anyone can get injured while playing.".

Let's get acquainted with ghost or ghostly notes (ghost stroke/notes) and grace notes (flams)

Today we will look at such concepts as “ghost stroke/ghost notes” and grace notes (flam). Ghost notes are very useful in changing the dynamics of a groove; they are played very quietly, but at the same time they radically change the feel of the game. For example, you can play a hat with a regular beat, but when you play with an updown, the pulsation of the rhythm changes. Similar sensations arise in the use of ghost notes. On the staff it is indicated as a note in parentheses (if the note is played quite quietly compared to the accented one) or in square brackets (if the note is played an order of magnitude quieter than the accented one).

A grace note is a game element based on shifting one of the notes for a split second, resulting in a “tram” sound. On the staff, it is indicated by a small note on the same note line near the accented note (sometimes connected by an arc).

Bart Elliot: Warm Up Before Drumming

The drummer puts in more physical effort when playing than any other musician. . Therefore, you should pay special attention to your muscles, exercise in a rocking chair, or simply pay attention to sports and keep your body in shape. Physical warm-up before a game is a way to gain the desired shape before classes. Muscles need time to gradually stretch and work to their maximum, and therefore you need to prepare and train them before each game and in free minutes. How to warm up your muscles before a game knows part of “How to become the best drummer", where we learned about improving your sound, namely about tuning, scoring and recording drums, as well as about dealing with noise, improving the rehearsal process and tips independent studies. If you missed any part, it's best to go back and read it all over again. Now the time has come to the third part and here you will get acquainted with information regarding the group and performances. Read in this part: three ways to find a band, seven ways to prepare for an audition and four ways to prepare for a concert, seven tips for performing in front of an audience and five tips for soundcheck, seven CDs, three DVDs and three books every drummer should have , plus three things you need to know about music theory. If you managed to read the previous sentence and I haven’t tired you yet, then feel free to proceed to reading the article. Here is only helpful information from the best specialists in the world!

The question of how to learn to play the drums is difficult to answer unequivocally. Almost every drummer has passed the hard way from simple rudiments to incredible solos. But there is a secret to success: play thoughtfully and regularly. And the results will not keep you waiting.

To become cool drummer, we need to work in three directions, that is, develop:

• sense of rhythm;
• technology;
• the ability to improvise.

Only by developing these 3 skills will you blow the audience away at your performances. Some beginning drummers only work on technique. WITH good sound even simple rhythms sound great, but without improvisation and the ability to compose parts you won’t get far. Ringo Starr from The Beatles or Megan White from White stripes they played simply, but their music went down in history.

To quickly develop all three skills, you will have to work hard. To help you, exercises and tips from famous drummers that will help beginners and those who want to move on.

Improvisation and development of musicality

When a person already knows how to play the drums, he needs to figure out what to play. Everyone advises listening to other musicians and filming their parts. This is necessary, but some aspiring drummers simply copy rhythms from their favorite songs without even considering whether they are suitable for the group or not.

Gary Chester, famous session musician and one of the best teachers, created a system to develop not only technique, but also musical imagination. Book New Breed requires a lot of effort, but after practicing with it you will learn in practice how to write drum parts.

Bobby Sanabria, a renowned drummer and percussionist, recommends listening to different genres of music to develop musicality. Start learning percussion or other musical instruments, such as or. Then it will be easier for you to choose a suitable party.

In addition to the three pillars of the art of drumming, there are others. Every beginner needs to learn:

• correct landing;
• good grip of sticks;
• basics of musical notation.

To sit straight and hold the chopsticks correctly, just watch this for the first month of classes. If you play incorrectly, you will quickly reach speed limits and your grooves will seem boring to the audience. Overcoming poor grip and positioning is difficult because your body is already used to it.

If you try to gain speed by playing incorrectly, it can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. Travis Barker, Thomas Lang, Chris Dave and other celebrities encountered this disease, then they began to devote more time to gripping sticks and playing easily.

How to start practicing?

Many beginners never start playing well. They want to get down to work on the installation as quickly as possible. tap out simple exercises It’s boring to play on a pad for several hours in a row, but otherwise your hands won’t learn all the movements. To stay motivated, watch more videos with the masters, it’s incredibly inspiring. Practice exercises to your favorite music - practicing will become more interesting, and your musicality will gradually increase.

There is no clear answer to the question of how to learn to play the drums; every great drummer has a special sound. The tips given in this article will help you really make your voice heard. Daily practice can sometimes be exhausting if you play inattentively, thinking about other things. Practice thoughtfully, then the exercises will become interesting, and your skill will grow every day.

Learn to fight laziness and don’t quit if something doesn’t work out.

Firstly, this activity is very expensive. Your neighbors won't let you play without properly soundproofing the walls, floor and ceiling of the room where you intend to install the drums, and this is expensive.

Secondly, in an ordinary apartment you wouldn’t even dream of banging on drumsticks to your heart’s content, since knocking on radiators, doors, etc. (including calling the police) will be provided for you. This is a very loud activity.

Thirdly, it will take a long time to study. You will, of course, learn to just bang on the drum, annoying everything around you, but you won’t be able to extract music from the drums without painstaking and monotonous practice.

Fourthly, it is unlikely that you will be able to learn to play the drums using a self-instruction manual. Additional classes with tutors will be necessary, which, by the way, are also very expensive.

Fifthly, a home drum set is a stationary thing. To show your skills to your loved ones and friends, you will need to invite them to your place.

And if after these five “cons” you still have the desire to learn to play, then start saving money for instruments and soundproofing your room. Then, while waiting for the required amount to accumulate, you can begin to imagine yourself as a cool rocker behind a drum kit. But seriously, you can learn to play the drums, like any other business, if you have the desire, if you have patience and if you have enough hard work and perseverance. Drummers are valuable musicians; if you become a professional, they will appear real chances make good money.

If you do not have sufficient conditions to fully beat the drums, then we can recommend the following:

1. Buy a special training unit (pad). Such installations are practically silent, but allow you to practice whiplash, rhythm, and movements. You won't disturb your neighbors, but there won't be any music either. The price of such installations varies depending on the configuration (drum sticks, stands, imitation drums and cymbals).
2. If you decide to save on pads and wait until you have enough required amount for real drums, but at the same time there will be a desire to start practicing the movements, then there is only one way out - to make something yourself that vaguely resembles drums, and knock on something until you master the movements. Here, old tires, plywood, rubber, and plastic are usually used.
3. You can also use someone else's drum set. For example, available in music school or a nearby cultural center.
4. You can try to learn to play the guitar.

Now let’s consider a situation where both money and premises are available, not to mention the desire to turn a hobby into a profession. IN in this case necessary:

• Take training at a music school or with a professional tutor. Musical basics are simply necessary; without them, despite having an expensive setup and knowledge of terminology, no one will take you seriously. It is necessary to study the theory. The teacher will guide you through the correct movements and reveal many nuances - from sitting at the machine to the correct swing. Fine motor skills must be brought to perfection, and the posture behind the drum and correct movements of the arms and legs will help to avoid professional incompetence.
• Let's consider the issue of choosing a drum set. In this matter effective assistance Special literature and advice from an experienced drummer will help. In this matter you must be knowledgeable professional level. You must find out which company's equipment you want to purchase, and for this you will need professional advice.
• How much it might cost to buy a kit for a beginning drummer is difficult to say down to the dollar. It all depends on the place of purchase, on the method of purchase and on the manufacturer. We can only say that the minimum amount may be 700 US dollars. The tool must be of high quality, which, of course, determines its cost.
• Typically in stores musical instruments We employ savvy people who are able to talk about all the advantages and disadvantages of the instrument, focusing on the buyer’s complaints about it. It makes sense to discuss a future purchase with the seller. Based on your capabilities and skills, test the instrument if, in your opinion, it will show excellent sound, and appearance If the instrument is flawless, then it can be “taken”. But, since you do not know how many people have tested the installation before you, you can ask to change the plastic parts, this will be done quickly and without objections.