A Guide to Drumming Techniques and Styles

A Guide to Drumming Techniques and Styles The Drummer’s Guide to Musical Genres ChaptersRock DrummingJazz DrummingMetal DrummingWriting Music for DrumsVocabulary“It's been years and years and years I've been playing the drums, and they're still a challenge. I still enjoy using drumsticks and a snare drum.” - Charlie WattsA lot of teens listen to hip hop, pop music, r ‘n’ b, reggae, electro and rock.But where do metal and jazz come into it?Aspiring drummers can listen to and play any style of music they want.  However, you have to learn how to play the drums before you can start playing rock, jazz, metal, or any other musical style.In this article, we're going to be looking at a few different musical genres, which are the best for learning to play the drums too, and what makes their drumbeats so special.the drumbeat to learn! It’s used in more than just rock songs, too.If you're going to put on the metal show of the century, you're going to have to get practising! (Source: Donations_are_appreciated)To make your rock beat a metal beat, you can slightly o pen the hi-hat. This is called half-open hi-hat.Metal has a more aggressive sound than rock music. Don’t hesitate to put all your strength into hitting the snare and the bass drum.  It can be tricky finding a drum tutor who specialises in using a double pedal. That said, you can achieve a metal rhythm without a double pedal.The snare is still played on the 2nd and 4th beats. However, the bass drum is also played during the off-beats.Here’s an example of a few metal drum beats.1:1: Hi-hat and bass drum2: Bass drum3: Hi-hat and bass drum4: Rest2:2: Hi-hat and snare drum3: Bass drum3: Hi-hat and bass drum4: Bass drum3:3: Hi-hat2: Bass drum3: Hi-hat and bass drum4: Rest4:4: Hi-hat, bass drum, and snare drum2: Bass drum3: Hi-hat.4: RestYou’ll see that we count four beats rather than the two we’re used to in rock.  Make sure you break down each part and play it slowly before you start putting it all together.If you like playing metal, then you should probably look into getting a P earl or Ludwig double pedal.  Don’t forget that metal, like other musical genres, has fills, licks, and breaks, too.Writing Music for DrumsWe can’t start improvising or writing music if you don’t have an understanding of the fundamentals.  Before you get started, I recommend having a look at this basic song structure. Unlike what you might think, most songs will fall into this kind of structure.IntroVersePre-chorusVersePre-chorusChorusBridgePre-chorusChorusOutroEach part usually lasts 8 measures except for the bridge and the outro. Most popular songs last less than 4 minutes and are in standard 4/4 time.Are you ready to take to the stage? (Source: Pexels)Once you’re aware of that, you can start laying the foundations for your song. You’ll need a guitar part, a drumbeat, a bassline, and a vocal melody.Ready?When using the structure outlined above, the main drumbeat will be played during the verse with a variation being played during the chorus. You’ll need fills to transi tion between parts and musical breaks, such as a drum solo!Accentuate the powerful parts with the crash cymbal.Even if you’re not familiar with music theory and don’t know how to read sheet music, you can always write down your ideas in a way that you’ll understand.Once you’ve finished your piece, you should get an expert to listen to it before showing it off to the general public.Keep in mind that if you want to learn any of these styles or just how to play the drums, private tutors are a great option as they'll tailor their lessons to you. With a private tutor, you can decide upon what you want to learn, the musical style you want to focus on, and your own personal learning goals and how to achieve them.If there are no private tutors near you, don't forget that you can always look for online private tutors. These tutors will teach you via online video conferencing software (such as Skype) and are a great option for people living rurally or those who work late nights or shi fts who would be unable to attend a regular class at a school. Of course, you don't want to schedule your lessons early in the morning when you'd wake up your neighbours.If a tutor seems to be the option for you, then start your search on Superprof!VocabularyAd LibitumIf you play jazz, you’ll probably see this on the sheet music. It means “at one’s pleasure” or “as you please” and means you can do whatever you want.AccentThis is a note that’s clearly struck for emphasis. Accents are marked above the stave with an arrow over the accent notes.