You choke a cymbal by grabbing it with your hand immediately after crashing it with a stick, which creates a quick, explosive accent.
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You feather a bass drum by striking it very lightly with your bass drum beater. This technique is most commonly used in jazz swing drumming, although not exclusively.
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Ghost or ghosted notes are soft grace notes played within a pattern between primary accented notes, such as between the 2 and 4 of a backbeat. They are typically played on the snare drum but can be applied to the entire kit to add an extra degree of phrasing to a pattern. Ghost notes are typically played as single hits or short buzz rolls.
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Double bass drumming involves bass drum beats and fills played by both feet, either on two bass drums or a single bass drum fitted with a double pedal.
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Rudiments are basic patterns played by two hands, which comprise the building blocks of more complex patterns and drumming coordination.
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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.
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A backbeat is played on beats 2 and 4, most typically on the snare drum, although drummers occasionally voice the backbeat on other parts of the drum set, such as the bass drum in “one-drop” reggae.
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Patterns phrased by both hands are referred to as “stickings,” and are made up of rudiments. Stickings can also be used to describe patterns played by both feet, or by the feet and hands played together.
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A rimshot is a stick stroke that strikes the drumhead and counterhoop simultaneously, which brightens the sound and increases volume. They are typically played on snare drums, although they can also be played on toms.
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A rim click involves resting your backbeat hand on the snare batter head while striking the counterhoop with your sticks, which produces a woody clicking sound. Drummers very often turn the stick around while playing rim clicks, so that the butt end strikes the counterhoop, which produces a thicker tone.
See side stick.
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