Drum Lessons Online

I attended NAMM 2009 this year and was able to confirm my whole premise for starting GrooveisKing.com. This became more evident through the people I met, and most importantly some of the great drummers of our time.

One of those was Bernard Purdie. His playing echoes through the ears of generations past and present. His relaxed but confident style is one of the reasons I most respect him as a player. Listen to this video to get his take on what he thinks are the keys to being successful in the modern world of pop music.

Ok, so here is a breakdown of drum terms used in the industry.  Some of these you may have heard of, some maybe not.  But this gives you a better understanding of what I may be communicating in a module, or even how to communicate in a musical setting on your drum set with your band.  I Would love to hear any others you may have.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS 

“BIG PICTURE” TERMS 

• Technique:  execution of an artistic work or procedure; skillful or efficient way of  

   doing or achieving something. (I developed great technique from 

   doing the exercises at GIK.) 

• Concept:  the understanding of an idea or system of ideas; philosophy. (I got my 

   concept of pocket from GIK.) 

• Feel (musical):  emotion or sensation that affects a song or piece of music. (Thanks t o 

    GIK, he has a great feel.) 

• Fill:   punctuation at the end and/or beginning of a musical section (You 

   always lose the time in your fills, go check out GIK.) 

• Groove:  consistent, well-defined musical pulse that feels good/comfortable.  

   (Nice groove; you must have subscribed to GIK!) 

• Pulse:   rhythmic throb; musical beat. (Can’t you feel the pulse? You need  

   to check out GIK.) 

• Lope:   to move with a long bounding stride.  The way a groove “lays” in  

   the pocket. 

• Hook:   melody or phrase that gives immediate appeal and/or makes it easy 

   to remember. 

TECHNICAL TERMS 

• Stroke:  method of striking the drum; style of moving the arms, hands, and 

   fingers. (What a clearly defined stroke; did you study with GIK?) 

• Touch:  quality of sound produced by the manner of stroke. (He worked through 

   GIK and has a nice touch on the ride cymbal.) 

• Fulcrum:  the point on which a lever rests and on which it pivots. (My fulcrum is 

   jacked, I need to go back to the technique modules from GIK.) 

• Beat:   the steady pulse of a piece of music. (Hey, you lost the beat again, time 

   to check out GIK!)  

• Tempo:  the speed of a piece of music. (We ended up faster than the tempo we 

   started.) 

GENERAL MUSICAL TERMS 

• Measure:  a standard unit of size or amount. A bar of music. (There are 4 beats per 

    measure in most pop and rock songs.) 

• Metronome: a device used to indicate an exact tempo at any speed.   

   (You need to practice with a metronome.) 

• Click:   (a.k.a. click track) metronomic track used for live performance and  

   recording to maintain steady tempo. Similar to a metronome. (Do you 

   need some more click in your mix?) 

• Loop:   a rhythmic/musical fragment that repeats (loops) in order to provide 

   a feel, vibe, momentum. (A lot of music incorporates loops these days.) 

• Dynamics:  the varying levels of volume in music. (You need to utilize more  

   dynamics in your playing to give it some direction.) 

• Rudiments:  basic, standard patterns/stickings used in drumming. (i.e. rolls, flams, 

   paradiddles)  

• Time Signature: the time (or meter) of a piece of music, indicated by 2 numbers, one 

   above the other, at the beginning of a piece of music. (Most Pop/Rock 

   tunes are in 4/4. That means there are 4 beats per measure. That’s all 

   you need to know right now!) 

• Subdivision:  secondary division of a rhythm. (You can subdivide quarter notes into 

   8th notes in order to feel the space between the notes more accurately.) 

• Quarter Note(s): note value equaling ¼ of a whole note. (Most pop and rock music uses 

   the quarter note as the basic pulse or beat of the song.) 

• Eighth Note(s): note value equaling 1/8 of a whole note. (8th notes are twice as fast 

   as quarter notes and there are twice as many per measure.) 

• Whole Note(s): note having the value of 4 beats. It’s the longest note in common use. 

   Often referred to as a diamond (or football) in popular music. (A whole 

   note takes up an entire measure in 4/4 time. This isn’t very important right 

   now…) 

• Accent(s):  the emphasis of a particular note/beat; usually played louder than the 

   surrounding notes. (This is achieved with a higher sticking, usually.) 

• Downbeat:  the “strong” or felt beat(s) of a particular pulse. (The quarter notes are 

    the downbeats in 4/4.) 

• Upbeat:  the weak beat(s) or in-between beats of a defined pulse. (Upbeats 

   usually refer to the  2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th notes of a measure of 8th notes 

   in 4/4. The downbeats are 1, 2, 3,4. A measure of 8ths in 4/4 would be 

   counted like 1&2&3&4&. All the ands are the upbeats.) 

*Groove is King is dedicated to revealing the skills necessary to become an in-demand drummer in both the live performance and studio recording setting. This will be done through a system of lessons that deal with specific concepts and the techniques that relate to those concepts on the drum set and practice pads. 

I just wanted to wish the Groove is King Community a Merry Christmas, and say thank you for being a member of a group of drummers striving to become our best.  Hopefully, some of you will be getting some cool drum sets, drum gear, or something drum related on Christmas.  If so, shoot me an email and maybe we’ll see about posting some pictures up of you guys with some of your new toys.  Keep practicing and be sure to tell your friends about us.  

Don’t forget to ask me about how you can get your lessons FREE!

email:   ashley@grooveisking.com

Have a Merry Christmas!

Ashley Appling

OK, Christmas music is officially the most complex music to play, IMHO.  All of the time signature changes, odd phrasing, and tempo changes makes for interesting twists and turns.  It’s fun because it challenges you if you are used to just your standard pop music.  

This weekend I played a Christmas show and had a blast.  I’ve been playing a similiar style of music for a while now and kind of got in a rut.  So, needless to say it was refreshing to play some different stuff.  We played Michael Buble, Relient K, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Melissa Ethridge, etc…  The list was pretty diverse.  My band mates were killing it.  The mix was great, and very inspiring.

That’s one thing to try and attain in order to have a good performance, a GOOD in-ear or monitor mix.  If it doesn’t sound right then your technique will go out the window.  You will have to compensate and overplay because you can’t hear yourself.  That makes you tense up, which kills your tone and feel.  Then you tire quicker because of your tension.  Then your stressed because you know your not on your game like you could be.  You can see the downward spiral this can cause.  Of course, you have to be considerate of your other band mates and the time your allowed.  But, if at all possible, warm up to the monitor guy and befriend him.  He has the power to make or break your night.

Merry Christmas to all you Groove Is King players out there.  Hope your holidays are great and you’re getting some cool new drum stuff.  See ya online.

In trying to describe to someone what makes a great drummer, it always comes down to, “Do they really know how to play drums?” Do they understand that drumming is more of an art form, and takes a tremendous amount of time and dedication to the craft before one can say, “I know how to play drums.”

In my experience as a professional drummer, it has been an ongoing pursuit of skill refinement, and fine-tuning each and every aspect of my technique. In drumming, you have to be able to hear what it is you are trying to communicate in order to express that on the drum set. Take the snare drum for example. There are so many nuances that you can inflect just by the amount of pressure you apply to the drumstick. If you don’t know what those sounds are like, then it will be hard for you to communicate them on the drum kit.

So, finding a good offline teacher or online lesson source is an important place to start when you are first looking into learning to play drums. With most drum lessons, you will usually start out on the snare drum. This is intentional because of the potential distraction and intimidations the entire drum kit could initially pose. This starting point is where the rudiments, stick technique, and basic drum notation are introduced. This is such a foundational part in learning to play the drums. In order to progress in your ability, you must have this foundational piece in tact. Not having the initial focus on this foundational truth, will lead to major progress roadblocks later in your drumming pursuits. Some of those might be, the inability to expand in your creativity on the drum kit, your inability to develop proper precision and speed at all dynamic levels, and your inability to function in a musical setting within a band environment.

As you can see, having an understanding of the proper steps necessary to get started can have a dramatic impact on how quickly you progress towards learning to play the drums. Most young aspiring drummers think it is as simple as banging out beats on the their custom drum kit, but they don’t realize that the professionals they aspire to be like have spent countless hours honing their craft. This is what gives them the ability to do the things they do. Even if it is a lightning fast double bass pattern, that is an art that takes commitment and dedication to learn as well.

The point I hope to make in writing this article is, that when you set out to learn to play drums, understand you are beginning a journey that thousands of drummers prior to you have started. The great ones knew the importance of building a foundation. They also knew the commitment of time needed to develop all the nuances required that would give them the ability to be unique in their own personal style.

With all of the information that is available to you today, be sure that in your pursuit of learning to play the drums, you build a foundation of the core essentials that are necessary. The rudiments, techniques, concepts, and thought processes that separate the ok drummers from the great ones.

When I encounter most young drummers today, the most prominent question seems to be, “How can I develop speed around the drum kit?” I always follow that up with, “What is your purpose for playing fast?” Often that leaves a pause, with an uncertain answer that leaves them wondering, “What is the reason I want to play fast on the drum kit?” Usually it is selfish in nature. For example, “I want my friends to see how fast I can play”, or “I want to play fast like this particular drummer”, etc…

In most cases, they never understand that speed on the drum kit takes years to develop properly. Sure you can hammer out blazing fast rudiments on the snare drum in a reasonable amount of time, or hammer out drum fills around the toms, but does it sound musical? Does it have dynamics? Is their feel and groove to it. Usually the stuff these young drummers are trying to emulate are pieces of a solo, of something they heard not in the context of a song. Drum solos are a percent of a percent of most modern pop music. Now, in jazz and some other free from types of music, they are more prevalent. But, even then, they are tasteful, and musical, with a dynamic element to them that makes them unique to the drummer performing them.

So, in teaching students speed on the drum kit, I try to focus them on how to develop and use that speed in a way that is beneficial for whatever type of music they are playing. What I have found through the years is that “Precision” is more the focus I am going for. I usually achieve this by starting SLOW and then gradually building up to speed on the drum kit. Starting slow let’s you focus on technique and form. Once form and technique are there, the speed just seems to allow you to put the more simple things in slower motion. This helps you with being more precise with the placement of each note on the drum kit.

Another important element of developing speed, is actually being able to hear what it is you are trying to get faster at. If you can’t hear the sticking or drum fill at the speed you are wanting to play it at, then you most likely will not be able to perform it, and most certainly not with any type of precision and feel. There isn’t a lot of material available that teaches you to develop your hearing, but it is a crucial element in the process of developing precise speed on the drum kit.

So if speed on the drum kit is your poison, at least learn to develop control and dynamics along with it. Learn to hear and sing what it is you are trying to play fast, before you try to perform it on the drums. Play it on the snare drum, or practice pad first, use a metronome at slower tempos to help you internalize the sound of it. Then after some time of really getting it under hands and in your head, take it to the drum kit. Don’t develop speed to show off on the drums. Develop it so you can be precise and perform with confidence any drum fill you hear or feel.