FAQs
Notation Guide
VideosLearning to play drums requires a lot of memorization and practice. The goal is to develop your skills to a point where you no longer have to think about technique, so that you can execute parts freely. It can take years to develop, but a good teacher can guide you through the fundamentals so that you will progress more quickly. The more you play, the better you will be.
A gig is a show where you play drums. Gigs can last for several hours or as little as a half hour, depending on the type of show it is. Professional drummers are usually paid to play a gig, although many beginning and intermediate drummers play gigs for free.
Most drummers don’t have drum endorsements. Product endorsers are usually high-profile drummers whose name and reputation can help a company market percussion products. Most companies have adopted a tiered system in which many drummers pay a reduced rate while the minority receives free equipment. Very few endorsers are paid to play a company’s products, although most are expected to appear in advertising, give testimonials, make public appearances, and/or fly the company’s logo on their equipment, t-shirts, web site, and other types of promotional items.
Memorize the band’s songs in advance so that you feel completely comfortable and can easily play the drum parts. Show up on time. Make sure your drums look and sound good. Dress appropriately. Have a good attitude. Bring business cards with you and hand them to everybody at the audition. Get as many phone numbers as possible. Follow up after the audition.
A per diem, a daily stipend paid to performers on the road, intended to cover basic expenses, is enjoyed by musicians in well-known bands.
The best place to find a drum teacher is at your local music store or drum shop. You can also find teachers online by using a search engine. If you live in a remote area, you can find plenty of online drum lessons — some you have to pay for; others are free.
Even though most gigs don’t require a drummer to sight-read these days, it’s nonetheless a good idea to learn to read drum notation. For one thing, many of the top session and show drumming gigs still involve drum charts. It’s also a smart idea to be able to jot crib notes when learning new material with your band. And drum method books continue to be one of the most reliable ways to improve your technique – the better you are at reading drum notation, the quicker you will progress through increasingly advanced studies. For a tutorial on reading, go to the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A right-handed drummer typically places the left foot on the hi-hat pedal and right foot on the bass drum pedal. The snare drum is typically positioned between the drummer’s legs. The smallest tom is typically positioned behind the snare drum, and the floor tom is typically positioned beside the drummer’s right left. Ride cymbals typically are placed on the right while the crash and hi-hat cymbals are on the left. Left-handed drum sets are usually the mirror image of the above description.
The hi-hat clutch holds the upper hi-hat cymbal to the pull rod that, when the footplate is activated, clashes the two hi-hat cymbals.
Your upper hi-hat cymbal attaches to the pull rod, which threads into a receiver near the toe of the footplate, which allows you to clash the two cymbals together.
A snare stand holds a snare drum. It sits directly on the ground, typically on a tripod base, and features telescoping tubes and cams that allow the drummer to adjust the height and angle of the snare drum.
Most drums on a drum set have two counterhoops, which apply different amounts of tension to the top and bottom heads using a series of tension rods that thread into receivers on corresponding lugs mounted onto the drum shell. While the heads of certain hand drums like dumbeks and congas are tuned using counterhoops, others can be attached directly to the shell using tacks, ceramics, or elaborate rope systems.
The snare basket is part of a snare stand, and holds a snare drum in place by gripping the snare-side counterhoop.
A snare butt is a clamp that works with the throw-off to tension the snare wires on the bottom head of a snare drum. It is mounted on the drum shell opposite the throw-off, and is usually adjustable using a drum key.
A snare throw off works with the snare butt to tension the snare wires on the bottom head of a snare drum. The throw off includes a system for engaging and disengaging the snare wires onto and off of the bottom resonant head. It also usually includes a tensioning system for tightening or loosening the snare wires, which will typically be attached using a screw rod with a drum key head.
An isolation tom mount typically holds a mounted tom on a frame that allows the drum to hang from tension rods. This eliminates the need to install a bulky mounting system onto the shell or allow L-arms to protrude into the drum.
A double bass drum pedal enables the drummer to play double-bass figures on a single bass drum by using a secondary slave pedal to activate a second bass drum beater mounted beside the beater of the primary bass drum pedal.
A bass drum pedal allows the drummer to strike the bass drum batter head with a bass drum beater using one or both feet.
A bass drum beater is a part of a bass drum pedal. It is composed of a metal rod topped by a circular felt beater that, when activated by foot, strikes the bass drum batter head.
Drumheads are typically mounted onto various types of drum shells. Drum set heads were originally made from animal skins, and are now made from plastic film, although a small number of companies continue to offer calfskin heads for drum set. The opposite is true for hand drums, which are often fitted with animal skins, and occasionally feature synthetic heads, although that trend line seems to be gradually reversing itself over time.
Batter heads are mounted on the side of the drum that drummers strike with sticks or hands.
A drum shell is typically a cylinder made from various types of materials, namely wood, metal, acrylic, carbon fiber, clay — even glass and materials made from reformulated wood waste. Drum set shells are typically fitted with two heads, while many types of hands drums are single headed. The type of shell material, width of the shell, and shell depth influence the sound of every drum.
Resonant heads are typically mounted on the bottom of toms and snare drums, and on the front of bass drums, opposite the batter head.
Most drum thrones feature a cushioned seat attached to a tubular frame with a double-braced tripod base. Other drum thrones feature a cushioned seat fitted on top of a hollow base, which often is used to store small hardware or a stickbag. Otherwise, any stool or chair can be called a drum throne within the context of a drum set.
“Snare side” refers to the bottom of the snare drum, where the snare wires are mounted. The term is most typically used to differentiate the bottom resonant head from the top batter head.
Trap cases typically hold your drum set hardware, although more elaborate traps cases can also accommodate a snare drum and cymbals. Trap cases can be made from stiff fiberboard, but can also be made of soft, pliable material.
Most sticks come is prematched pairs that are roughly equal in weight and balance. The weight of unmatched sticks can be tested first by feel, and secondly by turning both sticks around, striking a hard surface with the butt ends, and comparing the tone of both sticks. Closer tones indicate a pair similar in density and weight. Unmatched sticks should be rolled on a flat surface to separate warped singles from straight singles. Never use sticks that are warped or show irregularities in the wood grain.
Drum cases protect your drums and cymbals during transport and storage. Cases can be made of fiberboard, wood panels, soft materials, and plastic.
Drummers use practice pads to play at reduced volumes when warming up or practicing sticking techniques. Practice pads are made from a variety of materials and are designed to emulate the feel of a tensioned drumhead.
Ride cymbals are generally larger cymbals — typically from 18" to 22", although some drummers use larger sizes. They are generally heavy in weight, are placed on the side of the kit nearest the drummer’s dominant hand, and are “ridden” with the tip on the bow of the cymbal.
Hi-hat cymbals are mounted on a hi-hat stand, which allows right-handed drummers to “clash” the cymbals with the left foot. In general, the bottom hi-hat cymbal is heavier than the top. Drummers play hi-hats either by “chicking” the cymbals together while riding on the ride cymbal or by riding on the hi-hat cymbals.
Crash cymbals are generally smaller than ride cymbals — typically from 16" to 20", although some drummers use larger sizes. Crash cymbals can be placed around the drum kit, although at least one is traditionally set up between the hi-hat cymbal and mounted tom. Crash cymbals are typically lighter in weight than ride cymbals and are played by “crashing” the stick onto the outer edge of the cymbal.
China cymbals have flat bells and flanged bows, are usually mounted bell-down, and can come in virtually any size — from 10" to 22". They typically provide a quick, loud, trashy accent.
Splash cymbal are typically the smallest in the drum set — typically between 8" and 12". They have a very quick sound and are used for accents.
A bass drum spur is typically one of two pointed legs that protrude outward and downward from a bass drum. The two spurs provide traction that helps keep the bass drum stationary while playing. Many spurs telescope inside of the bass drum shell, while others drop down from the side of the shell.
A tension rod is a straight, threaded screw with a flat tip and a square head, which threads through the eyelets of a counterhoop and into receiver nuts inside a drum lug. Using a drum key to turn a tension rod clockwise will compress the counterhoop onto the shell’s bearing edge, thereby tightening the drumhead. Turning the tension rod counterclockwise will loosen the head. Most drum companies use tension rods and lug receiver nuts that employ a coarse industry-standard pitch (the distance from the crest of one thread to the next) except for DW and Sonor, which employ tension rods with a finer pitch. Also, the heads of some Sonor tension rods are slotted, and marry with an internal wedge inside Sonor’s drum key, which works similarly to a screwdriver.
The tips of wood-tip sticks are shaped into one of a number of standard forms using a lathe, depending on the model type. Nylon-tip sticks feature a hollow nylon tip contoured into one of a similar variety of shapes, which is mounted onto a post at the playing end of the stick and glued into place. Drummers tend to choose one over the other because of the way the tips react to cymbals – generally, wood tips provide a darker, woodier sound while nylon tips provide a sharper, brighter sound.
Drum lugs (aka tension casings) attach to the shell at points that correspond to the spacing of eyelets in the counterhoops. A tension rods fits through each eyelet and screws into the lug, which features internal threads that share the same pitch and lead as the tension rod. Several types of lugs are commonly used, including tube lugs (which generally span the length of the shell), low-mass lug casings (which receive a single tension rod in a threaded insert), and double-sided lugs (which accept two facing tension rods).
A music staff is separated into individual measures (or bars) of music with thin vertical lines called bar lines. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
Bar lines separate individual measures on a musical staff. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
The number of beats in each measure is determined by the time signature. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
The first thing you’ll see written on the staff is the clef; the drum/percussion clef looks like a vertical rectangle and is used with non-pitched percussion instruments. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
Music is written on a music staff, which features five parallel horizontal lines. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A crescendo denotes when music should gradually increase in volume. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A decrescendo denotes when music should gradually decrease in volume. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A double bar line indicates where the music ends. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A triplet indicates when a note is divided by thirds. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A dotted note indicates that the note will last 50 percent longer, or 1 1/2 times its normal length. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A rest indicates a pause in your part. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A note value indicates the length of a note. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A repeat sign indicates that you should repeat a specified number of measures. See the DRUM! Notation Guide.
A drum fill is typically used as a transition between two parts of a song. It normally appears at the end of musical phrases, and is often played as a quick figure on the drums that ends with a cymbal crash, although many possible variations exist.
Most bass drums are muffled using a number of possible materials and techniques. Drummers are known to use pillows, towels, packing blankets, foam rubber, felt strips, and newspaper, as well as commercial bass drum muffling systems. Some drummers barely touch the batter head with muffling material for an open sound; others choose to deaden the head.
Drummers use different methods for muffling a snare batter head. Many use mass-marketed products like Moongel to muffle a snare batter head. It’s also common to use small pieces of duct tape for the same purpose. Avoid muffling your snare drum’s resonant head, so as not to inhibit the response of its snare wires.
Wide open tuning indicates that a drum hasn’t been muffled internally or externally — or is muffled only minimally — in order to maximize its resonance.
The answer largely depends on your budget. Under optimal circumstances, you should change a batter head when you begin to see pitting, or the film begins to deform, or you begin to hear a buzz, or the head loses its resonance, or any other indicator that the head is beginning to lose tone. However, many drummers need to stretch the life of their heads for financial reasons, which often requires more frequent tuning adjustments or some form of muffling to disguise offensive buzzes and overtones. The worst thing is to wait to change a head until it breaks. That typically indicates that you have played the head long beyond its intended lifespan.
Drummers use different tuning methods depending on their preferences, although it breaks down to three formulas: 1) Tune the top batter head higher than the bottom resonant, 2) tune the bottom resonant head higher than the top batter, and 3) tune both heads evenly. While the tension of both heads will affect both pitch and tone, the tension of your resonant head generally plays a large role in the pitch and resonance of the drum while the tension of the top head generally plays a large role in the feel of the drum and serves to fine-tune the pitch. For more details, see How To Tune Drums In Four Steps.
Yes. It’s best to use the crisscross pattern below to ensure that the head is tuned evenly and stays square to the drum.
For more details, see How To Tune Drums In Four Steps.
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