Reading drumming sheet music seems to be a real struggle for many students. When I first started teaching, this was a big surprise to me. I’ve personally been reading music since I was a little kid. I studied the piano as a child. Later, I had lots of opportunities to continue to develop my music reading abilities as I took lessons on the trumpet, baritone, drums and guitar. I also took a year and a half of voice lessons. Many drummers have not had all these opportunities though.
I’m going to start at the very beginning, and assume you don’t know how to read a note of music yet. Here is a simple reading exercise in 4/4 time, also known as common time. It’s called common time for a very good reason. About 99% of all the songs you hear on the radio are in 4/4 time. This exercise uses 4 quarter notes per measure. 4/4 literally means four-fourth’s, or four quarter notes. Unlike the way we normally count, after we count up to four, we just start over. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. We will start by playing on the snare drum or practice pad only, as that’s easier to understand in the beginning. Every time you see a note, you’re going to count and play the note, till you get to the end of the exercise.
Now that you understand how to read and play quarter notes we’ll move on to 8th notes. Reading 8th Notes On The Drums
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