Bill Powelson's School of Drums

Provided by: Bill Powelson's, Homestudy Institute of Drums.

Drummers Aptitude Test

FOLLOW ALONG . . .

. . . and I promise that you will be playing drums almost before this page has finished loading. It is EASY to begin playing drums.

DO THIS, NOW!

  • With your RIGHT-HAND . . . , tap FOUR times on the desk in front of you
    ONE . . . TWO . . . THREE . . . FOUR.

Now we will DO IT AGAIN, but this time you will pat your RIGHT-FOOT on the count of ONE and tap your LEFT-HAND on the count of THREE. Think of it this way:


COUNT           ( 1   2   3   4)

R=RIGHT-HAND      R   R   R   R
L=LEFT-HAND               L
F=RIGHT-FOOT      F

REPEAT! REPEAT! REPEAT (20-times!)

Work very slowly at first until you get the hang of it. Keep it steady! Repeat this pattern over and over until you can play it comfortably and rapidly from memory. It might take four or five minutes of intense concentration before it becomes easy to do.

LISTEN TO THE SOUND FILE.
IT'LL HELP YOU GET THE 'FEEL' OF
THIS VERY IMPORTANT BEAT PATTERN:

HEAR THE . . .
Basic Rock Beat

Now for the fun part . . .
Play a song!

Pop on some music. ANY MUSIC! It doesn't matter what style of music you choose. Just get a song playing on the radio or sound system.
There is a 50/50 chance that any song you may choose will be in this (8TH 'ROCK' 4/4), beat category.

    * DON'T CHOOSE SONGS THAT ARE TOO FAST FOR YOU, AT THIS POINT. Pick songs of medium or slow speeds, at first.

    THIS BEAT YOU'VE JUST LEARNED, is called EIGHTH 'ROCK' 4/4.

    NOW, TRAIN YOUR RHYTHMIC 'EAR' . . .
    LEARN TO LISTEN deep into ALL the music you hear. Can you hear the drums? Listen for the consistent BOOM sound of the BASS DRUM. Pat your foot in-time with the bass drum in the music.

    Next, listen for the SNARE DRUM in the same song. It will be falling opposite the bass and will be more of a repetitious 'SNAP' sound, within the music. Tap your LEFT-HAND along with this repeating, dominant SNARE sound, (it's called the BACKBEAT).

    If you are following along IN-TIME with the music, YOU ARE PLAYING DRUMS! Next, add the RIGHT-HAND (CYMBAL OR CLOSED HI-HAT) like it is written above.

    Get into the habit of doing this with EVERY SONG you hear, as you go through your day. Like magic, you will QUICKLY become a drummer!

    The shocking news is that it is easy to play about 50 percent of ALL songs, with this one beat.


    OK, there is a more to learn, BUT . . . it is ALL this easy, if only you will devote another five-minutes, and . . .

    Learn to READ DRUM NOTATION.

    Go back to the Lesson Menu . . .


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