Minggu, 14 Juli 2013

Learning The Drum Online

By Daniel Sears


Learning to play any musical instrument like the drum can be a challenge. Thus, it typically demands patience, devotion, and lots of hard work. Although experienced drummers make playing the drum appear to be very easy, it often requires years of dedicated practice to play with professional-level quality. This should not discourage you, however. Even expert drummers had to start out with "baby steps" and persistently develop their skills over time. Keeping that fact firmly in mind, below are some excellent hints for learning the drum online.

Learn to Read Drum Notations

Learning sheet music is considered by many to be the best approach to learning the drum; although it is possible to learn without doing that, it means that you may not find it as easy to explore different musical styles. You can improve your overall skill as well as your technical expertise by experimenting with different styles of music and it is not as difficult as you might think to learn sheet music. The pace at which an instrument is played is known as the tempo, and understanding this and other musical terms is one of the first steps.

Sheet music uses five horizontal lines, along which the music notes are placed, as well as one note and number to show the tempo. The time signature consists of two numbers, and each beat's worth is indicated by the number on the top, while the number of beats per bar is shown by the lower number; the time signature is an important drum notation to understand. To prepare physically and mentally to play the drum, get into the habit of reading the drum notes a little ahead of the ones you are playing at the moment, which are indicated by drum keys.

Develop Good Rhythm

Rhythm can mean the difference between superb and substandard music. Drummers must develop an excellent sense of rhythm in order to ensure that all other aspects of the music remain properly synchronized. It should be noted that music which lacks rhythm is merely noise. Unfortunately, no shortcut to good rhythm development exists for drummers. Thus, you must repeatedly practice until you get the hang of it. For example, you may set a tempo on your metronome and then try to play at the pre-set tempo. You should, however, avoid the temptation to set a rapid tempo in the beginning. Instead, begin slowly and then gradually increase the tempo as you build confidence in your drum-playing skill. You may also try to play along to pre-recorded music. This helps you cultivate a sharp sense of rhythm and timing.

Hone Your Drum Techniques

Drummers conventionally used only their hands to play the drum. Today, however, they utilize both their feet and hands to play the drum. This means that you must learn and master drumming techniques that entail the feet. Examples of popular drumming techniques include the heel-up and heel-down methods.

To hit the drum with the heel up technique, you will need to apply the weight of your entire leg to the drum's foot pedal and keeping your heels a couple of inches off the floor is strongly recommended. The heel down method of drumming means that you use the ankle joint and calf muscles to apply force to the foot pedal on the drum.

It can be difficult for beginners to master the heel down technique, and to do so you will need to keep your feet constantly in contact with the surface of the foot pedal. Staying relaxed and practicing as much as possible is the key to success, although you should also have your feet in an ergonomically correct and natural position.

Get a Practice Kit

Improving and sharpening your drum-playing skills demands practice. However, drums produce lots of noise. Thus, you may find irate neighbors at your door if you live in a block of apartments. One way to avoid this is buying a practice pad kit. Unlike actual drums, practice pad kits contain rubber-covered wooden blocks. This enables them to be played much more quietly, and you may practice often without disturbing your neighbors. You may also purchase sound-off pads to put on top of your drums.

Although learning the drum is not a "cake walk," you may enhance your skills through regular practice. Begin by learning how to read drum notation. Afterward start developing good rhythm and fine-tune your drumming techniques. If possible, buy and use a practice kit.




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