Beginner / Intermediate Drum Set (Mini Book)

Book Pages

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  p.1 — Sixteenth-Note Phrasing (A)

  Many drum beats in popular rock music use sixteenth-note phrasing. In the beginner drum set book, you played drum beats with eighth-note phrasing, which means that all of the snare drum, bass drum and hi-hat strokes were played on an eighth (i.e. counts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &). Now, you’ll explore beats that have strokes in between the eighth notes (i.e. sixteenths).

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  p.2 — Sixteenth-Note Phrasing (B)

  Learn to play more complex drum beats that use sixteenth-note phrasing on the snare drum.

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  p.3 — Sixteenth-Note Bass Drum Phrasing (A)

  Make your beats even more powerful by using sixteenth-note phrasing on the bass drum.

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  p.4 — Sixteenth-Note Bass Drum Phrasing (B)

  Explore more drum beats that use sixteenth-note phrasing. These grooves focus on beats with two bass strokes in a row. Practice these slowly at first to build up your muscles and coordination.

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  p.5 — Sixteenth-Note Snare and Bass Phrasing

  Rock, pop and funk grooves often use sixteenth-note phrasing on both the snare drum and bass drum within a beat. Step up your game with these grooves that incorporate sixteenth-note phrasing on snare and bass.

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  p.6 — Embellishing with Open Hi-Hat

  Grooves can be “embellished” by adding different sounds, stroke types and dynamics. The open hi-hat is perhaps the most-used groove embellishment. A circle above a hi-hat note means to hit the hi-hat cymbal with the two cymbals note touching (i.e. open). Be sure to close the hi-hat again on the next regular hi-hat stroke.

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  p.7 — Drum Beats and Fills

  Continue practicing your sixteenth-note phrasing, while adding some rock drum fills into your repertoire.

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  p.8 — Ghost Strokes

  Another very common embellishment is the ghost stroke. A ghost-stroke is played by tapping the drum head lightly instead of a normal stroke. Usually, the stick starts the ghost stroke about two inches above the drum head.

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  p.9 — Beginner / Intermediate Drum Set – Test Yourself

  Test your progress with this 32 bar piece that incorporates all of the techniques learned throughout this mini-book.