Drums For Dummies

Become a different drummer Drumming is natural to all of us—after all, it mimics the regular beat of our hearts. But some of us want to go further and really lay down a big beat. And no wonder—whether you want to become the powerful backbone of a band or just learn how to play a hand drum for pleasure, drumming is a lot of fun. Oh, and it’s scientifically proven to make you smarter. Bonus: healthier!   Drums For Dummies gets you going on the road to becoming the drummer you want to be. Get started with the basics—what drums to buy, exercises that build your skills, and playing simple rhythms. Then move into more complex topics, explore drumming styles from around the world, and add other percussion instruments to your repertoire.   Written in an easy-to-follow step-by-step style by respected instructor Jeff Strong, you’ll go from banging out basic rhythms—with or without sticks—to acquiring versatility with different styles and types of drum. The book also provides online audio files to drum along with, as well as suggestions for solo approaches to wow your bandmates.   Understand fundamental techniques.  Hone your technique with exercises.  Explore other percussion instruments.  Care for your drums. The all-time drumming great Neal Peart of the band Rush once said that when he saw a good drummer, all he wanted to do was practice. Drums For Dummies is your best way to do just that—and start hitting your perfect groove.  P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, you’re probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Drums For Dummies (9780471794110). The book you see here shouldn’t be considered a new or updated product. But if you’re in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. We’re always writing about new topics!

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You’re Not to Read 3 Foolish Assumptions 3 How This Book is Organized 3 Part 1: Setting a Solid Foundation 4 Part 2: Digging into the Drumset 4 Part 3: Dressing up Your Drumset Skills 4 Part 4: Pounding Out the Beat: Traditional Drums and Percussion 4 Part 5: Choosing, Tuning, and Caring for Your Drums 5 Part 6: The Part of Tens 5 Appendix 5 Icons Used in This Book 5 Beyond the Book 6 Where to Go from Here 6 Part 1: Setting a Solid Foundation 7 Chapter 1: Drum Basics 9 Picking a Drum Apart from Head to Shell 10 Exploring How Drums Create Sound 11 Deconstructing the Drumset 12 Appreciating the Old-timers: Traditional Drums 15 Swingin’ Sticks and Slapping the Skins 16 Chapter 2: I’ve Got Rhythm 19 Developing a Sound Vocabulary 20 Adding Some Drumming Definitions 25 Becoming One with the Pulse (and I’m Not Talking Heartbeat) 27 Feeling the Meter 28 Embracing Odd Meter 29 Chapter 3: Tapping into Drumming Techniques 31 Talkin’ Technique: What You Need to Know 31 Perfecting your posture 32 Preventing injuries 32 Hitting the drum: It’s (not) all in the wrist 36 Speaking Softly and Carrying Big Sticks 37 Holding the sticks 37 Understanding drumstick strokes 40 Painting a Variety of Textures with Brushes 43 Getting to know brush styles 44 Getting a grip on brushing techniques 44 Forging a Foundation with Rudiments 47 The single-stroke roll 47 The double-stroke roll 48 The paradiddle 49 The flam 49 The ruff 50 Getting the Most Out of Your Practice Sessions 50 Starting slowly 50 Counting out the rhythm 50 Thinking it through first 50 Toughing out practice 51 Knowing when to stop 51 Chapter 4: Getting a Handle on Hand Drumming Techniques 53 Taking Matters (and Tones) into Your Own Hands 53 Opting for Open Tones 54 Basic open tone stroke 54 Thumb stroke 55 The open slap tone 55 Bass tone 56 The rim stroke 57 Mastering Muted Tones 58 Basic muted tone 58 The closed slap stroke 58 The palm stroke 59 The heel-tip stroke  59 Venturing into Some Alternative Strokes 60 Brushing stroke 60 Drone tone 61 The snap 61 Trills 61 One-handed rolls 62 Keeping Your Options Open 63 Part 2: Digging Into the Drumset 65 Chapter 5: Settling In Behind the Drumset 67 Setting Up Your Drumset 67 Sitting on the throne 68 Positioning the pedals 69 Securing the snare drum 69 Placing the tom-toms 70 Adjusting the ride cymbal 71 Angling the crash cymbals 71 Raising the hi-hats 72 Putting Your Foot Down 73 Beating the bass drum 73 Playing the hi-hats 75 Working Out: Exercises to Improve Your Hand- and Footwork 75 Chapter 6: Rolling into Rock Drumming 81 Harnessing the Backbeat 82 Mastering the Basic Beats 83 Eighth-note feel 84 Sixteenth-note feel 84 Half-time feel 86 The rock shuffle 90 The half-time shuffle feel 92 Dressing Up the Basic Beats 94 Mixing up the hi-hat 94 Moving the backbeat 96 Adding syncopations 99 Incorporating fills 100 Chapter 7: Beating the Blues 105 Finding the Pocket and Staying in It 105 Playing Blues 106 Slow tempo 106 Medium tempo 108 Fast tempo 110 Filling in  or not 111 Understanding Blues Song Structure 113 Chapter 8: Rallying Around R&B and Funk 115 Playing R&B Grooves 115 Keeping time 116 Adding ghost notes 118 Opening and closing the hi-hat 122 Getting Funky: Exploring Funk Drumming 123 Incorporating syncopation 123 Syncopating the snare drum beats 125 Including ghost notes 126 Opening and closing the hi-hat 127 Chapter 9: Swinging into Jazz 129 Getting Into the Swing of It 129 Varying the tempo 132 Tackling different textures 133 Adding to the beat 134 Expanding Your Horizons 136 Riding the cymbal 137 Adding accents 138 Incorporating the snare drum 140 Including the bass drum 142 Mixing up your accents 144 Telling Your Story: Soloing 149 Making two-bar phrases 149 Creating four-bar phrases 150 Blending Styles: Jazz-Fusion 151 Playing Fusion Rhythms 152 Knowing that more (not less) is more 153 Forgetting swing (at least for now) 153 Dealing with odd meter 154 Chapter 10: Looking at Latin and Caribbean Styles 157 Building On Traditions 158 Playing Afro-Cuban Rhythms 159 Bolero 159 Cha-cha 160 Mambo 160 Nanigo 161 Playing Brazilian Rhythms 162 Samba 162 Bossa nova 163 Playing Caribbean Rhythms 164 Reggae 164 Calypso 168 Filling It Out 170 Chapter 11: Ratcheting up Your Rock Drumming 171 Building on a Solid Foundation 172 Exploring Some Great Drummers and Their Grooves 173 Peeking into the pop drumming of Kenny Aronoff 173 Checking out punk’s Travis Barker 176 Catching up with the jazz influence of Carter Beauford 178 Discovering rock legend John Bonham 180 Looking at Dave Grohl’s alternative drumming 183 Jamming with a drummer’s drummer: Jeff Porcaro 184 Examining Spüg’s heavy rock style 187 Finding Your Own Inspiration 189 Part 3: Dressing Up Your Drumset Skills 191 Chapter 12: Getting Into the Groove 193 Getting the Feel of the Music 193 Playing Musically 194 Understanding song structure 196 Fitting your playing style to the song 196 Choosing the Perfect Rhythm 197 Getting hints from other musicians 197 Using the music as a guide 198 Adding Your Personality 200 Choosing the bass drum part 200 Selecting the snare drum part 200 Picking the cymbals 201 Electing embellishments 201 Chapter 13: Expressing Yourself with Fills and Licks 203 Enhancing Your Drumming with Licks 204 Increasing Your Impact with Fills 206 Marking the phrase 206 Supporting dynamic variation 206 Playing Some Fills — From One Beat to Four 207 Creating Your Own Fills 212 Fitting the musical situation 213 Syncopating 214 Rolling 215 Chapter 14: Flying Solo 217 Soloing Basics 218 Keeping time 218 Playing musically 218 Thinking melodically 222 Pushing the limits 223 Part 4: Pounding Out the Beat: Traditional Drums and Percussion 225 Chapter 15: Handling Hand Drums 227 Embracing the Variety in Drums 228 Beating the Bongos 228 Playing position 229 Understanding the rhythms 230 Carrying On with the Congas 231 Playing position 232 Understanding the rhythms 234 Discovering the Djembe 235 Playing position 236 Understanding the rhythms 237 Uncovering the Udu 238 Playing position 239 Understanding the rhythms 240 Deciphering the Doumbek 241 Playing position 242 Understanding the rhythms 242 Touting the Tar 243 Playing position 244 Understanding the rhythms 245 Tapping the Power of the Tambourine/Riq 246 Playing position 247 Understanding the rhythms 248 Partying with the Pandeiro    249 Playing position 249 Understanding the rhythms 251 Chapter 16: Singling Out Stick-Played Drums 253 Bopping to the Bodhran 254 Playing position 254 Understanding the rhythms 254 Detailing the Djun Djuns 256 Playing position 257 Understanding the rhythms 257 Rubbing the Cuica 258 Playing position 259 Understanding the rhythms 259 Striking the Surdo 261 Playing position 262 Understanding the rhythms 262 Rapping the Repanique 264 Playing position 265 Understanding the rhythms 265 Tapping the Tamborim 266 Playing position 267 Understanding the rhythms 267 Tinkering with the Timbales 269 Playing position 269 Understanding the rhythms 270 Chapter 17: Shake, Rattle, and Roll: Exploring Other Percussion Instruments 273 Ringing the Agogo Bells 274 Playing position 274 Understanding the rhythms 275 Twisting and Shaking the Afuche/Cabasa 276 Playing position 276 Understanding the rhythms 277 Keying in to the Clavé 278 Playing position 279 Understanding the rhythms 279 Clanging the Cowbell 281 Playing position 281 Understanding the rhythms 282 Scraping the Guiro 282 Playing position 283 Understanding the rhythms 283 Movin’ to the Maracas 284 Playing position 285 Understanding the rhythms 285 Experimenting with Shakers 286 Playing position 287 Understanding the rhythms 287 Tapping the Triangle 288 Playing position 288 Understanding the rhythms 289 Chapter 18: Jamming with World Rhythms 291 Demystifying Polyrhythms 292 It Takes a Village: Using More Rhythms for Better Sound 292 The Rhythm Nations: Playing Well with Others 293 Exploring African polyrhythms 293 Checking out Cuban polyrhythms 296 Banging out Brazilian polyrhythms 297 Part 5: Choosing, Tuning, and Caring For Your Drums 303 Chapter 19: Decision Time: Selecting a Drum of Your Own 305 Choosing a Drumset 306 The drums 306 Other hardware you have to buy separately 308 The cymbals 309 The sticks 310 Choosing a Traditional Drum 310 Natural or synthetic drumheads 311 Shell type 312 Hardware style 314 Branching Out: The Extras 314 Keeping time with the metronome 314 Carrying it all in cases 315 Knowing Where to Find Drums 316 Chapter 20: Tuning and Maintaining Your Drums 317 Checking Out Tuning Basics 318 Tuning a drum with lugs 318 Tuning a drum with a rope system 319 Tuning the untunable 320 Choosing and Replacing Heads 320 Knowing when heads need replacing 320 Choosing replacement heads 321 Replacing your heads 323 Caring for Your Drums 323 Handling hardware 323 Cleaning cymbals 324 Storing and transporting safely 325 Part 6: The Part of Tens 327 Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Expand Your Drumming Horizons 329 Checking out Classes 329 Visiting Clinics 330 Attending Workshops 330 Exploring Drum Circles and Jams 330 Perusing Books and Videos 331 Getting Online 331 Reading Magazines 332 Joining a Band 332 Forming Your Own Band 333 Playing Open Stage 333 Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Finding a Drum Instructor 335 Test Driving a Teacher 335 Knowing Where to Look 336 Understanding the Costs Involved 336 Exploring a Teacher’s Playing Style 337 Gauging a Teacher’s Willingness to Teach to Your Interests 337 Starting Where You are 338 Getting a Sense of History 338 Honoring Yourself 339 Understanding Expectations 340 Knowing When to Move On 341 Appendix: How to Use the Website 343 Index 359

About the Author :
Jeff Strong has been a drummer for more than 40 years. His professional experience includes a variety of styles including jazz, rock, Latin, country, blues, and R&B. Jeff has taught drumming for more than three decades and is also the author of Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies, 6th Edition.