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How To Play Drums
By Joshua Jenkins
How to play drums
Do you wanna learn how to play drums? Learning to play the drums is easy, anyonje can learn how to play drums. Drums are one of the easiest instruments to learn, and one of the hardest instruments to perfect. Time and patience will ensure you achieve your goal of learning them, it is a matter of personal effort. The thing to remember is that you will never progress without practice, it is the most important part of learning how to play and instrument and the drums are no exception. Buying a drum kit would be a good step in the right direction. You don't need the most expensive kit but quality will become very important as your skill level increases.
Get to know the drum kit. Every drum kit is different, how you set it up is up to you, when you play them you will get used to various patterns and swap and mix them up. Your left foot sits on a pedal which controls the hi-hat, this is the mechanism with two rhythm cymbals, when you put your foot down the two cymbals come together. Your right foot controls the pedal for the kick drum. This drum lays the base for the beat and is a vital part of the kick. The snare sits near your knees and is hit often. Play around with the snare position, feeling what is best for you, the pitch can also be adjusted with the right tools. The tom-toms sit in front of the kit, connected to the kick drum via a two pronged bar. These are tuned percussion and thus should be listened to for the right sound. Keep an ear out because an un-tuned tom can be quite annoying. However you shouldn't be worrying about it too much. The floor tom sits on your right, on the ground. It is much larger than the tom-toms and thus it is set at a deeper pitch. Sticks are very important. You cant actually play the drums without sticks, unless you want to get very sore hands (it's been done before). Sticks come in all shapes in sizes, as you learn how to play the drums you will get a feel for which sticks are best for you. Brushes are used in Jazz drumming, they give a very dull snare sound and creates a unique atmosphere. Modern rock drummers favours the larger, thicker sticks due to the louder sound.
Drums are the fundamental element of modern music. A good drums player (drummer) understands the ins and outs of dynamics, a very important concept. Dynamics are basically how loud or soft any piece of music is. The dynamics of a single song can be very diverse, making the drummers' job even harder. If you want to be good at playing the drums then get familiar with the dynamics and acoustics of the instrument.
If you want to learn how to play the drums well you should join a band as soon as possible. Even if your skill level isn't very high you will progress at such a high rate it wont matter. Playing in a band is the single most effective means of improving. Practice at least once a week with the band, and everyday by yourself. Your parents, neighbours or flatmates may get angry but screw them. You can enjoy the benefits of practice with less noise if you muffle the sound. This can be achieved by getting and learning how to use mats which are draped on the skins, however these can be expensive. I would recommend setting the drum kit in a small room. Get an old blanket and stuff it into the kick drum, this will deaden the noise. You can also hang blankets from the walls, this will absorb the noise making it quieter for those on the outside.
Practice and persistence, your two biggest motives in learning how to play the drums. Remember that everyone has to start somewhere, it is up to you how quickly you progress.
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