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Playing Drums Tutorial

The drummer is one of the foundations in a musical group. The drummer keeps time and guides the other musicians through sections of the song by playing fills into the different sections. Learning to drum can be challenging at first but once you learn the basic coordination needed to play basic rock grooves, you can build on your skills from there and even start to build drum solo chops as well. It's best to start with learning a basic rock groove.

Things You'll Need

  • Drum set Drum sticks Metronome Headphones
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Instructions

  1. The Basic Rock Groove Step by Step

    • 1

      Sit at the drum set on the drum stool facing the drums. Make sure everything is reachable, meaning you can easily hit each drum and reach both foot pedals on the hi-hat and bass drum. (A hi-hat is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists.) Put your headphones on, making sure they are connected to your metronome. A good starting tempo is 60 beats per minute. Using your right hand, pick up a drum stick and place it on the hi-hat, keeping the hi-hat closed by placing your foot down on the hi-hat pedal. Hit four counts on the hi-hat slowly. Repeat this exercise four to eight times.

    • 2

      Keeping your hi-hat motion going with your right hand, place your left hand on the snare drum with a drum stick in your left hand. Hit the snare drum on the counts of two and four. Slowly do this exercise, so your right hand and left hand line up together on the counts of two and four.

    • 3

      Lastly, add your bass drum. Hit the pedal with your right foot on counts one and three. Slowly add this as you keep your hi-hat and snare drum motions going. Practice slowly with all three limbs, gradually speeding up with your metronome every five clicks.

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