How To Read Music For Drums Video
How To Read Music For Drums Video Transcript
right there breasts now I purposely letthe subject of rest until last in this
lesson not because I think that
particularly calm
hard to understand but because now that
we know the full family of subdivisions
rest are going to be easy-peasy
hopefully you could think of rests as a
way to fill up unwanted space within a
bar of written music unlike music notes
we don't play rests but we do count them
they're really useful when trying to
write a piece of music that requires
specific spacing between notes so if you
have a really complicated piece of music
notes falling in weird parts of the of
the bar and weird parts of the beat then
we can use rests to help move those
notes around and put them in the correct
place
let me explain further as we know all
notes have a duration that take up a
certain space within the bar but each
note also has its own equivalent rest
with exactly the same duration so a
whole note has a rest that looks like
this with the same duration as four
quarter notes the half note rest looks
like this and has a duration of two
looks like this and has a duration of
yep one quarter notes this is the eighth
note rest the sixteenth note rest and
finally the thirty-second note rest
horrible-looking squiggles aren't they
don't get freaked out by their random
looking shapes though the hardest part
about rest is remembering which one
represents which subdivision with that
in mind let me give you a few helpful
pointers the whole note and half note
rests are both these little black
crack-tip black rectangles the whole
note rests hang from the line while the
like this then we get the quarter note
rest which is the most distinguished
looking in my opinion it's also pretty
tricky to draw by hands like a like a
number three with the 7 on top really
weird it will shape hopefully you can
see that it looks kind of long and thin
just like a quarter note maybe that
become more obvious later on quarter
note rest kind of long and thin like a
quarter note at least the other rests
sort of look like the notes they
represent so the eighth note rest looks
like this with a single towel coming off
note house with mid single tail the
sixteenth note rest is exactly the same
but has two tails coming off to the
sides just like the sixteenth notes and
it's the same for thirty-second like
rests with three tails just like 30
notes it's worth pointing out that
unlike notes rests cannot be joined by
their tails and are always written on
their own because triplets use the same
note types as other subdivisions they
also use the same rests so for example
if you have a bar of eighth note
triplets like this then you could use
where you didn't want or don't want to
play any notes like this because the
rest appear under the triplet brackets
they have the same duration as the
eighth note triplets so any arrests
written underneath triplets the number
three or the brackets are counted and
played as the triplet they represent
staying with it example for a moment I
want to deviate from the subject of
rests briefly and talk to you about my
self-imposed rule when writing out
notation entitled loose ink is better
less ink is better I always try to use
music it's not only easier to read in
most cases but it also uses less ink and
writing out hence the name so b1 could
be rewritten like this instead of using
an eighth note and an eighth note rest
we could replace both with just a single
quarter note like this it's played and
called-- exactly the same as before but
the quarter note now takes up the
duration of both the eighth note and the
eighth note rest remember that the
relationship between the different
subdivisions always stay the same so a
quarter note is still equal to two
triplets but I don't like written this
that I didn't like writing this
particular rhythm like this I prefer to
notate the first and fir triplet note of
beat one like this the tails join over
the rest in the middle so there's no
need to write in the triplet bracket
either I think that joining the notes of
the tails has helped to make things a
little easier to read beat two can't
actually be written any other way well
you could replace the eighth note rest
with two sixteenth note rests like this
but what would be the point in that when
does the same job do you see how beat
free could be rewritten it's actually a
bit silly writing it as a triplet
because the first note falls on the
downbeat of beat three and then nothing
else is played for the rest of the beats
so why don't we just replace the whole
triplet with a normal quarter note
instead like this it's the same with
them
before it's the same as beat three it
can't really be written any other way so
we've moved from this to this we've used
listing and in my humble opinion made it
move on to sixteenth note triplets
sixteenth note rests written under the
triplet bracket have the same duration
as sixteenth note triplets just like
eighth note triplets rests we use cyclic
triplet rests to fill parts of the trip
that we don't want to play on well just
like any rest we use a rest to fill part
at the bar part of the beat we don't
want to play on and in case you're
wondering by the way yes this is a nasty
bar to read and play so don't worry
you're not alone in thinking that even I
would find this by lucky to play with
things a little easier for ourselves by
rewriting the bar using less ink so
check this out as I hope to blow your
mind all three combinations of a
sixteenth note and rest shown here are
actually the equivalent of a single
eighth note so we can replace each
combination with an eighth note instead
remember that an eighth note is still
equal to two sixteenth notes even when
written under triplets but guess what
beat one now has three evenly spaced
notes in it which is exactly the same as
eighth note triplets so the rhythm we
before using rests as well is actually
the equivalent of three evenly spaced
eighth note triplets like this at this
stage you might not fully understand why
this is but knowing little things like
this certainly helps to build a bigger
and stronger understanding of the
subdivisions as well as how they relate
to each other
going back to beat two in our example
then the first thing we could you do is
to replace the two sixteenth note rests
with their equivalent of one single
eighth note rest like this we could also
that means that we don't have to write
in the triplet brackets because we can
clearly see where all three notes of the
triplets start and finish
notice that this last note is still a
sixteenth note with two tails even if
the bottom tail has been drawn only
halfway across the beam we'll see more
examples of this later in the lesson so
don't worry about that for now moving on
do you see how beat three could be
rewritten using an
another subdivision well this single
sixteenth note triplet actually falls on
the end of b3 so we could write this
instead the eighth note rest fills the
first half of beat three which means the
eighth note then falls on the and
fitting the second half of the beat
using a rest has given us a way of
placing a note on the and without there
having to be any notes in the first half
of the beat if you think about it there
would be no other way of writing this
without the use of a rest this is this
is how powerful useful rests can be some
combination the rhythms just can't be
written unless you use rests pretty cool
huh
or maybe not depending on how
interesting you find this stuff me I'm a
total drum notation geek I love it going
back to our example then we don't need
to rewrite beat four there's only one
other way to rewrite it anyway as two
groups of three sixteenth note triplets
like this but again these two groups of
triplets are within b4 so let's group
them together with their tails and help
to make that clearer to the reader now
we can see they belong to the same beat
so we've gone from this squiggly mess to
this slightly less wickedly mess it
would still be a tough bar to read and
count but at least it's easier on the
eye and that's it for now
rest simply fill up spaces within the
bar we count them and don't play them
and each subdivision including triplets
has its own equivalent rest so before I
give you a load of music examples
involving rests let me first introduce
you to the final bit of udin new
notation in this video the dotted notes
and the dotted rest
any note or any rest can be written with
the DOS after it like this dots are used
to increase the note arrests duration by
half in other words the dot makes them
50% longer so because a quarter note is
equal to two eighth notes a dotted
quarter note is equal to three eighth
notes likewise an eighth note is equal
to two sixteenth notes so a dotted
sixteenth note is equal in duration to
three sixteenth notes and it's the same
for the rests as well so a dotted
quarter note rest is equal to three
eighth notes rests and the dotted eighth
note rest is equal to three sixteenth
note rests now for reasons that will
hopefully become more apparent over time
dots are commonly written after quarter
notes and eighth notes only in theory
any note or rest could be dotted and we
see that in music but you just don't see
it very often
I think if doctors being exclusively
used to turn the duration of quarter
notes and rests into three eighth notes
and eighth notes and rests into three
sixteenth notes so let's now dive
straight into some musical examples of
this because I find the best way to
learn these annotation is to see it
being used in action make sure to watch
all of these examples in full as I give
loads of tips and advice throughout each
of the examples here we go
as I've already mentioned I like to use
as little incus possible when writing
out drum notation and if possible group
notes into individual beats of the bar
using their tails as well this helps to
make music notation easier to read and
count and to help the reader to see
where the individual beats of the bar
fall so firstly let's take a look at how
we can take just single notes within
each beat of the bar falling on each of
the four sixteenth notes one E and a two
E and your etc so I'm going to show you
how to play one note folding on beat one
one note folding just on the e one note
folding just on the and one no falling
just on the earth remember that I'm
trying to use as little ink as possible
and I also want each beat of the bar to
be as obvious to the reader as possible
so to write a single note folding on the
downbeat and nothing else as we see here
for beat one we use obviously a quarter
notes for the second beat of the bar
however we want to play on the e and
nothing else so we use a sixteenth note
rest to skip over the downbeat of beat
two which means that this note then
falls on the e there'd be no other way
of placing a note on the e of something
unless there was a note falling on the
on the beat two on the downbeat of beat
- so the rest has helped us to put just
one though onto the e now we don't want
to play any more notes in beat two so
this note needs to need to take up the
duration of three sixteenth notes the E
and the and and the ur a normal eighth
note would just take up two sixteenth
notes the E in the end so I've given
this eighth note a dot this has
increased its duration to three
sixteenth notes meaning that the whole
of beat two has now been filled and no
other rests are now needed we could have
written beat two like this but this
would have beat listen this would have
required are using a sixteenth note rest
to fill up the earth instead I made the
eighth note dotted thus increasing the
eighth notes duration and so removing
the need for a rest with me so far
don't worry if you're not I have many
more examples to come that will
hopefully make all this a lot clearer
for you so bear with me and stick with
it
really want to beat three then we can
see that this eighth note rest takes up
the first half of beat of the beat the
one and the e which means that this
eighth note then falls on the and
filling the duration of the earth as
well
now beat four uses a dotted eighth note
rest to
the last note onto the earth the rest
falls on the downbeat of beat four and
because it's dotted it has the duration
of the first three sixteenth notes 1e
and we use a sixteenth note for the
final note because we don't want its
duration to roll over into the next beat
of the bar into beat 1 of the next bar
in this case the sixteenth note only
fills the earth and doesn't roll over
into the next bar we could have
rewritten beat four like this using an
eighth note rest and a sixteenth note
rest to replace the duration of the
dotted eighth note rest but this uses
extra ink and we don't like that do we
so each beat of the bar has its own set
of notes and rests and itself contains
so let's now hear how this bar would be
played and counted out loud three and
four and one and two and three and four
and one and two and three and four and
one and two and three E and a four E and
O one and two E and three E and four E
and O one notice how I changed the
counting level we go on to how we count
loads or how I like to count specific
rhythms later on in this lesson next
let's take a look at how we would write
two notes for you on each of the four
sixteenth sentence so one e e and and ER
a 1 etc etc here we go so here's our
next example we want the first two notes
of beat 1 to fall on the 1 and the e so
we write it like this the first note is
a sixteenth which means that the second
note falls on the e as desired I've made
this a dotted eighth note so that it
takes up the duration of the e as well
as the and
and the earth thus removing the need for
a rest at the end of the bar another
common way to write this same rhythm
would be like this two sixteenth notes
and an eighth note rest to fill up the
second half of the beat it's even a
little friendlier to read if you're not
used to dotted notes but we want to use
as little English possible so let's go
back to the first version notice how
these two notes have been bridged
together by their tails here's a
sixteenth note with its two tails and
here's the eighth note with its single
tail
the sixteenth notes can't be joined to
the eighth note with both of their tails
because this is this would then turn the
eighth note into a sixteenth note like
this instead
the second sixteenth note tail is drawn
only halfway across the beam like this
we want the notes in beat two to fall on
the E and the and so a sixteenth note
rest has been used to fill just the
downbeat of beat two this means that
this sixteenth note can then fall on the
E and this eighth note on the and the
eighth note takes up the duration of the
earth of b2 as well so we do not need to
use any more rests again notice how only
one of the two sixteenth notes tails
have been breached over to the eighth
note keeping the eighth note as an
eighth note and the sixteenth notes are
sixteenth notes otherwise it would look
like this and we would have to use a
sixteenth note rest to fill up the earth
like this b3 is relatively simple to
read them right the eighth note rest
fills the downbeat of three and the e
which means that these two sixteenth
notes then fall on the and and the earth
now beat four is very interesting we
want the notes to fall on the downbeat
of beat four and the only the first and
the fourth note of the beat so this is
the way to write it using as little ink
as possible the dotted eighth note takes
up the duration of the first three
sixteenth notes allowing this sixteenth
note to then fold on the earth the two
notes have been joined by only a single
tail so that the first note remains an
eighth notes like a lot of notation we
can rewrite this with them another way
surprise surprise but why would we want
to use a rest and we can simply increase
the eighth notes duration using a dot
instead we have the dot at our disposal
so let's use it in our notation all of
the notes within each beat of the bar
have been joined using their tails where
possible and we've used this little
little ink as possible mission
accomplished so let's now hear how this
bar will be played in counted here we go
four and one E and two E and A three E
and a four E and a one E and two E and
AH three and AH four E and a one E and
two E and three E and AH four E and a
one E and two E and three E and four E
yeah this next example is going to show
us how best to write three notes per
beat
so one E and E and ER and our 1 1 e all
those four combinations hopefully you
already recognize the rhythms in beat 1
and free from the first video lesson I
did using combinations of two sixteenth
notes and an eighth note we have notes
that fall on the one E and and the one
anda the E is skipped without the need
for using rests like this
a sixteenth note rest has been written
on the downbeat of beat two which means
that these three sixteenth note rests at
sixteenth notes condemn fall on the E
and earth of b2 b4 is one of those
rhythms that first looks really weird so
let me try and unweaned it for you first
of all we can rewrite this with them
like this you'll probably agree that
this with them it's now a little clearer
to read we're playing on the downbeat of
four on the e skipping the end and then
playing on the earth but in order to use
less ink we can remove this rest by
replacing the second sixteenth note here
with an eighth note instead like this
what freaks people out about the look of
this with them are the haft bean tails
across the top
hopefully why they've been joined by
their tails like this it's now starting
to become or is now starting to make a
bit more sense to you by beaming them
this way this remains a sixteenth note
crucially this is still an eighth notes
taking up both the e in the end of the
beat and so this remains a sixteenth
note falling on the earth there's no
reason why you couldn't write this with
them like this but we want to use all
the notation tools available to us and
enforce myself and post rule of less ink
is better let's now hear what this bar
sounds like played and counted here we
go one two and three and four E and a
one E and a two E and uh two E and uh
and a 1 e 1 2 e and a 3 E and a 4 E and
a one E and two E and AH three and AH
four E and a one E and a two E and three
and four E oh one before we move on to
our next example let me quickly
summarize view all of the common ways
used to notate the four sixteenth note
positions so the past three examples
I've shown you you might want to press
pause and become familiar with these
very common commonly written rhythms
you see them all over the place in
written music I write my rhythms like
this all the time and so do a lot of
musicians okay so let's now look at some
examples that use other subdivisions as
well for we leave on the downbeat of
beat one is a dotted quarter notes this
means that it takes up the same duration
as three eighth notes which means that
these two sixteenth notes are followed
on the and and the of beat to the
downbeat of beat one the and and the
downbeat of beat to have all been taken
up by the dotted quarter notes remember
that a dial quarter note is equal to a
beat and a half in 4/4 common time or
three eighth notes we could use an
undoubted quarter note and then they
don't rest to write the same rhythm like
this but we have the dotted note in our
arsenal so let's use it by the way this
is the only time you ever see me write a
note that rolls over into the next beat
of the bar a note that has a duration
that lasts longer than the beat the
dotted quarter note is really useful for
representing a beat and a half so I tend
to use it quite a bit we've covered beat
two so moving onto beat three we have
four thirty-second notes taking up the
first half of the beat and two sixteenth
notes taking up the and in the earth
remember that four sixteenth sorry
remember that for thirty second notes
have the same duration as two sixteenth
notes also notice that the two sixteenth
notes in beat two have not been joined
by their tails to the four 32nd notes
this is to help the reader clearly see
where beat two ends and where beat three
begins again it just makes it easy to
read and that's got to be a good thing
right
and finally beat four has been filled
with eighth note triplets the first note
has been rested so a triplet bracket is
used to clearly show the rest is
included within the triplets so all
three notes were played and then joined
by their tails who wouldn't have to use
a bracket but because the first note is
a rest
and it can't be joined by tail we have
to use the bracket to clearly indicate
to the reader that that rest is included
within the triplets before I play this
example I want to quickly talk to you
about how I like to genuinely count bars
of music as a default I always count
eighth notes so if counting nothing else
so sorry if nothing else is being played
then I will count one and two and three
and four and I only start counting the
sixteenth notes on the e in the earth of
the beats if notes are actually being
played on them so an X in this example
you can see that the first beat and a
half is just counted eight notes then we
count the earth because a note is played
on it all of the sixteenth notes are
counted in beat three because they're
all played and four beat four unchanged
my counting two triplets another that
was side point I want to show you or
talk to you about when I was learning
how to read and count I would practice
counting up loud as much as possible of
course once you have internalized the
rhythms you can count it in your head
instead but be honest with yourself if
you're not clearly counting it in your
head then go back to practicing counting
out loud
learning to count these rhythms is half
the battle when learning how to read
music think about it you can't count
them then you know you're not gonna be
able to read them off the page also a
little bit of advice is that don't
always count the rhythms out loud like I
said once you've got them internalised
you can count them inside your heads
I've had pupils in the past that can
only ever read music unless they're
counting out loud and of course that's
no good if you're playing a song with
your band you'd only be counting out
loud as you're playing so you do want to
practice reading counting in your head
but like I said be honest with yourself
you can't do it then start counting out
now and again listen till you have the
rhythms internalized so going back to
our example let's now hear what this
sounds like when played out loud 1 & 2 &
3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 triplet 1 & 2 & 3
4 triplet 1 & 2 & 3 4 triplet 1
and two and three four triplet one in
this example the notes that fall in beet
one fall on the downbeat of beat one the
e the and is skipped and the earth so
one e earth the and is skipped over the
eighth note on beat two takes up the
first half of the beat with a set of
16th note triplets filling the second
half just for some variation I've
written in the triplet bracket above the
notes even though I didn't have to beat
three is played one E and a and the
earth skips the first half of beat
forest filled with 16th note triplets
while the second half contains two
sixteenth notes the beat is counted for
two and so here's the whole bar played
out loud then here we go one and two and
three and four and one and one b one
contains a combination of thirty-second
notes and sixteenth notes that you'll
very rarely come across at faster tempos
but that work really well when played at
slower tempos the first two
thirty-second notes take up the downbeat
of beat one which means that this
sixteenth note then falls on the e the
and is filled with two more
thirty-second notes whilst the earth is
rested with a single sixteenth note rest
both beats two and three have been
filled with a half note another way you
might see this written is with a quarter
note and a quarter note rest like this
but we want to use less it less ink so
let's stick with a half note for now for
b4 we have a set of eighth note triplets
and the third triplet note is rested
here's what this bar sounds like quite a
tricky one to count here we go one and
two and three and four E and a 1 P 2 & 3
& 4 triplet 1 P 2 & 3 & 4
or trip 1 P 2 & 3 & 4 triplet 1 2 & 3 &
4 triplets rule nasty but there we go
so let's now start to orchestrate our
rhythms around the drums this obviously
makes reading a little trickier as we
now allow only have to count the rhythms
but also read where each note falls on
the drum kits hi Tom crash cymbal hi-hat
Beit Shean etc etc but don't worry
though you won't be alone in finding
these hard to read I've always found
reading with them spread over the toms
tricky to read still to this day that
being said though I don't really need to
be able to sight-read quickly because
I'm not a studio drummer I'm just a guy
who likes to drum if I wanted to learn
the piece of music then I can play it
slowly and repeat it until memorized I
don't have to read it straight off the
page like that that's the power of
written music gives you being able to
learn at your own pace and in your own
time
ok so here's our first orchestrated
example hopefully you remember from our
first lesson that notes written here are
played on the bass drum here for the
high tongue here for the medium Tom and
here for the full floor Tom and this is
what the whole bar sounds like plating
counted out loud here we go then one two
and three and four E and a one E and a
two E and three turns and up to 4 E and
a 1 a 2 P and a 3 enter and enter for e
1 a 2 and a 3 enter and enter for e a 1
a 2 e and a 3 enter enter double e
take a look at this next example playing
a bar like this with mixed subdivisions
and various drums being played can be
quite hard to read my advice is to play
all the notes on just one drum to start
off with so that you at least get used
to reading the rhythm first so if I were
to play this bar on just a snare drum it
would sound like this one two and three
E and a four E and a one E and a two E
and three E and uh one E and third two
and three E one two and three E and now
that we can read and count the rhythm we
can now look at the orchestration crash
cymbals are written above the top line
like this as we know from our first
lesson so we're playing the snare drum
and crashing bass drum here the high Tom
and crashing bass drum here the medium
Tom and then crashing bass drum here and
the floor tom and then the crashing bass
drum here notice that we're moving
around the drums from snare drum to
floor tom noticing patterns like this
helps us to play the bar easier before
is being filled with sixteenth note
triplets and just for fun I've grouped
them into two groups of three for no
reason so let's now hear what the bar
sounds like when played and counted out
loud one and two and three and four E
and a one E and two E and so one key
one two and three and by the way this is
my high Tom this is my medium Tom this
is my floor Tom you could also make that
the high Tom that William Tom that the
floor Tom up to you depending on how
many drums you have but just to make
things simple hi Tom medium Tom floor
tom in this lesson this is a really cool
rhythm that uses two new pieces of
notation we haven't seen yet the first
thing to point out is that the notes
that fall on this line are played with
the auxiliary pedal of a double bass
drum pedal so as we already know the
first bass drum note written here is
played with your leading foot in my case
I'm left-footed with my bass drum you're
most likely to be right footed if you're
right-handed and the second note written
here is supposed to be played with the
other foot or the other pedal on your
double bass drum pedal if you've got two
bass drums and obviously you're playing
the other bass drum if you don't have a
double bass drum pedal then you would
obviously try to play both notes with
just the one pedal if you came across a
piece of music like this so going back
to beat 1 we can see that the first
three notes are sixteenths and the earth
of beat one contains two thirty-second
notes played on the double bass drum
it's the same for the e and the earth of
beat two the other piece of notation I
want to show you are these little notes
here these are used to represent flam's
played either right-handed a
right-handed flam or left-handed a
left-handed flam the little notes are
called grace notes and indicate the
light strokes played just before the
main notes so in the right-handed flam
left hand place the grace note left
hands come down nice and low and the
right hand is the main note or main
stroke also do you see that the last
sixteenth note of beat one has been
joined to the 32nd notes with two tails
instead of just the one as we've seen in
previous examples this is all fine and
dandy because both notes still retain
their value the sixteenth notes still
has two tails and the 32nd note still
has three we could join the notes with a
single tail instead like this or have
them not joined at all like this it
really doesn't matter and has no effect
on the way the notes are counted or
played it's just another choice open to
us when joining notes by
tails okay let's hear what this bad boy
sounds like then you ready for this okay
here we go one two three and four E and
a one E and a Dookie and a visitor and a
poor triplet one E and a two E and a big
litter and a board triplet one E and a
two E and a visitor and a 4 triplet 1 e
and a 2 e and a visitor and abroad trip
Oh
in the last part this video I want to
focus purely on notating drum beats so
let's take a look at our first example
now
the first thing to notice in this file
are the two new pieces of notation the O
represents an open hi-hat and the plus
the little plus sign represents a closed
hi-hat so in this drum beat the hi-hat
is opened on the and of beat 1 as
indicated by the little o and close
again on the downbeat of beat two is as
indicated by the little plus sign some
drummers like to write a note to where
the hi-hat closes like this this X note
head written in this position on the
stave represents the hi-hat played with
the foot but in it is but it's inclusion
isn't necessary if there's already
another note written in the same place
where the hi-hat closes so if we took
away the hi-hat and snare drum notes on
beat 2 like this then we would need to
write in the hi-hat footnote in order to
purge our little plus above it also
notice that I have included the
suggested sticking for the two snare
drum notes at the end of the bar the R
represents the right hand and the L the
left but I subversive your left handed
whenever you see a suggested sticking
like this use whichever hand you
naturally lead with so if you're left
handed the up then the R is going to
represent left for you whenever I'm
checking out a drum beat on paper for
the first time one of the first things I
look at is what the leading hand is
doing in this example you can see that
the leading hand is going to be play
continuous eighth notes on the hi-hat
right up to beat four of the bar next
you want to find out where the snare
drum that beats full in this case they
fall on beats two and four then I
finally check out the bass drum in order
to get a good idea of what the rhythm
being played is I'm now going to show
you another way we could write this bar
to help make this clearer as we know
from our first lesson notes joined
vertically by the stem are played at the
same time as each other
so any two notes joined by the same stem
fall down at the same time on the drum
kit but we could rewrite the bar like
this the bass drum now has been given
its own set of notes and rests at the
bottom of the bar so we now have two
lines of notes one for the hands and one
for the feet you can see that a good
writer of music like myself of course
will still try to line up the notes
vertically with each other even though
they're not joined by the same note stem
anymore so even though they're not
joined by the same vertical stem I'd
still try to get them underneath where
they fall
with each other so I don't to make the
reading too difficult for people
although in theory you wouldn't have to
just want mention it because if you're
reading the notes and rests for their
values and durations then you wouldn't
have to worry about do they line up with
each other on the paper the notes and
rests tell you that writing two sets of
notes like this allows the reader to
very quickly read the rhythm being
played on the bass drum separately to
the hands and vice versa so the so for
the bass drum we have a quarter note
fully on beat one the dotted eighth note
rest takes up the first three sixteenth
notes of beat 2 which means that this
sixteenth note falls on the earth
it hasn't been joined to the eighth note
on beat three bites tell because it
belongs in a separate B at the bar these
two eighth notes fill beat three and
then beat four it's rested with a
quarter note rest so if we read the bass
drum line only then we get this rhythm
an and two and three and four and one
and two three and four and one and two
and three and four and whilst the hands
are playing this here we go one two and
three and four and one and two and three
and four and one and two and three and
four and so now let's write the two
lines together again and hear what this
groove sounds like when played as a
whole here we go
one and two and three and four and one
and two and three and four and one and
two and three and four and one and two
and three and four and one and two three
and four for this next example let's
stick with writing the hands and feet
separately it's very common for the bass
drum to be written on its own like this
when playing a repeating pattern
especially for hands doing something
more complicated over the top playing
quarter notes on the bass drum like this
is commonly
referred to as playing four on the floor
hopefully for obvious reasons notice
that no high hats are written above each
of these snare drum notes this suggests
to the reader that the hi-hat pattern is
to be played as a double handed hand to
hand hi-hat pan because obviously when
you come off the hi-hat the snare up to
play the snare drum the hi-hat is going
to be played at the same time most of
the time though a writer will make this
obvious by writing this suggests is
sticking underneath like this this makes
it nice and clear let's now hear what
this drumbeat sounds like to be played
up to speed out loud
double handed here we go one and two and
three E 4 E and a 1 e a d P 3 P and E
and a 1 e and a 2 e 3 E 4 E and a 1 e
and a 2 e 3 E and a 4 E and monkey 1
take a look at this drum beat first
thing you might notice are these angle
brackets above the notes written here
and these round brackets around the note
heads here the angle brackets are called
accents and represent notes that are to
be played loudly yes more loudly than
neut than usual usually on the snare
drum and usually as rimshots accents can
be written over any note and played on
any part of the drum kit including
cymbals the round brackets are used to
represent what are commonly called ghost
notes these notes are played as quietly
as possible their ghostly goes nuts just
like actions ghost notes can also be
written around anywhere any notes and on
any part of the drum kit so these
accented notes are going to be played as
rim shots on the snare drum like this
I'm hitting the edge and the center of
the drum at the same time
and the ghost notes are gonna be played
quietly with little tap strokes on the
snare John liked this so many coming up
a little bit not very high at all just
for fun let's separate the two lines and
take a closer look at what's actually
being played you can see that we're only
playing the bass drum on one end and
three ends and then we're actually
playing quarter notes on the right
cymbal I can make that even clearer for
you by separating the rides from the
other notes like this these four quarter
notes are played on the right cymbal on
beats one two three and four and you can
see that the bass drum and snare chime
are actually playing this rhythm here we
go try and play just the motion and
snare drum part one and two and three E
and four E and O one and two E and four
E a 1 and 2 E and E 1 but let's go back
to the missional example this is how I
like to write my drum beats most of the
time with all the notes joined together
by the stems by the way any sufficient
reader should be able to read the
previous very any of the previous
variations with equal ease so if you
find that one is easier to read than the
other then this is probably because
you're still not familiar enough with
the way notes can be grouped by their
tails and stems don't worry though this
is exactly how it started for me as well
so this whole drum beat example would
sound like this here we go one and two
and three and four and one and two and
two for our next example let's take a
look at a drum beat written exclusively
in triplets notice that we're playing
the first and third note of each group
of triplets on the hi-hat as I mentioned
earlier drummers commonly call this
rhythm the shuffle and it sounds like
this
playing the first and third note with
each triplet 1 triplet 2 triplet 3
triplet 4 triplet 1 and 2 and Dada Dada
Dada Dada that that's the rhythm called
the shuffle I've written an open hi-hat
represented by the little o above the
last note would beat 4 which then closes
on beat 1 when the bar is repeated hence
why I've written the plus above down via
beat one when you first play the bar the
plus little plus thing tells you nothing
but when you get to the end of the bar
and then repeat it you need to know
where to close the hi-hat after it's
been opened that's why it's been
included now I want to hopefully you
blow your mind just one more time by
rewriting this bar as a bar of 12/8
that's a time signature twelve eight
meaning that meaning that there are now
12 eighth notes in the bar you might
notice something familiar yep it's
exactly the same as the bar four four
and in fact will also be played exactly
the same as well the only thing that
changed was the time signature and so as
a consequence the way the eighth notes
in the bar were counted this is because
a bar of 4/4 can hold up to twelve
eighth note triplets the same number of
eighth notes as a bar of twelve eight
can hold because of this some music
that's played in 4/4 common time
triplets especially slow-tempo ballads
tend to be written using the time
signature twelve eight I think this
magical time signature as the triplet
base time signature as it allows the
writer to work in groups of three
without having to constantly write
triplet brackets so it doesn't matter
whether this bait this drumbeat is
written in twelve eight or in four for
using eighth note triplets both bars
sound and are played exactly the same
the only thing that's different is the
way it's written and counted speaking of
which let's have a listen but before we
do I want to quickly show you some other
things that you'll commonly see written
in bars of 12/8 because a bar a 12-8 can
be thought of as four groups of three
eighth notes the dotted quarter note and
the dotted quarter note rests are
commonly used to represent each of those
groupings remember that a dotted quarter
note or dotted quarter note rest is
two three eighth notes in duration so
you tend to see a lot of dotted quarter
notes and rests in the time signature of
twelve eight and even in 6/8 which is
just half a bar of twelve eight if you
think about it just like a bar of two
four is half the length of a bar four
for moving now on to the subject of
counting shortcuts here's the example of
a shuffle rhythm being played on the
hi-hats counting all three triplet notes
1 triplet 2 triplet 3 triplet 4 triplet
1 triplet 2 triplet 3 triplet 4 triplet
can become a real mouthful especially at
faster tempos so drummers tend to count
shuffle triplets one and two and three
and four and one and two and three and
four and you can hear that I gave the
counting a little lute dirt not dip dip
dip dip but I'm only counting the first
and third triplet loke of each peak as I
mentioned earlier and skipping over the
middle notes 1 triplet 2 triplet 3
triplet 4 triplet 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 2 3
4 1 the counting is said to have been
swung or shuffled for B to the bar where
the middle triplet is played though such
as here in beat 3 I like to count the
triplets in full so this whole bar would
be counted like this so just the
counting 1 & 2 & 3 triplet 4 triplet 1 &
2 & 3 triplet 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 triplet 4 &
1 & 2 & 3 triplet 4 and let's now hear
what the whole drumbeat sounds like when
played all over the kit using this new
counting system one two and three
triplet four and one and two and three
triplet four and one and two and three
triplet four and one and two and three
triplet four and one and two and three
triplet four and one
for the final example in this lesson I
want to stay in triplets and look at the
rhythm commonly known as the Jazz ride
cymbal pattern this is the writable pand
a lot of drummers play in jazz music
of course drummers also tend to
improvise a lot within this style of
music but this is the standard pattern
that you'll find in all jazz drumming
101 standard exercise books in jazz the
hi-hat foot also tends to be stepped on
beats two and four the bar as shown here
so using the new swung eighth notes
canting system the whole bar bit sound
like this one and two and three and four
and one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four and one
let's now add in some snare and bass
drum notes to make it a bit more
interesting to play and finally hear
what that sounds like 1 & 2 & 3 & 4
triplet 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 triplet 1 & 2 & 3
& 4 triplet 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 triplet 1 & 2
& 3 & 4 triplet 1 and just a fun play it
up a little bit faster sort of sounds
like this
jazz alrighty so there's any the lesson
for you I hope you found it useful like
most things in life reading a writing
drum notation becomes easier than more
you practice it obviously for me
learning to read music was a
step-by-step process that I got better
out over time I found the whole subject
of reading music a little overwhelming
at first but the potential really
excited me I could imagine writing out
my own drum part so I would never forget
them again or being able to read and
understand the thousands of available
drum education books and DVDs or even
being able to transcribe note-for-note
and then teach myself my favorite songs
drum beats filled solos etc the
potential is enormous and being able to
read and write new drum music has been
the most useful skill I ever
for the drums so I hope you find your
own motivation for learning drum
notation as I did and remember learn to
read and write music becomes easier with
practice so don't give up and I promise
you won't regret it
in fact you'll look back and wonder how
I know if you ever survived about being
able to read and write music in the
first place promise you of that thanks
for watching this lesson and please do
check out the hundreds of other products
so I have available on my website at
www.extracareanimalhospital.net