Rudiment of the week – Single Ratamacue (click to open vicfirth.com play-alongs)
Check out drumming legend Steve Gadd and his approach to Ratamacues on the drum kit.
Beat of the week – Reggae One Drop
Song of the week – One Drop by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Drummer: Carlton Barrett
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 120 bpm
Spotify Playlist – Sign up for a free Spotify account to stream these songs
Rudiment of the week – Single Drag (click to open vicfirth.com play-alongs)
Duple Interpretation (groups of two)
Triple Interpretation (groups of three)
With Samba Foot Pattern
The time signature of this beat is 6/8, which simply means that there are six 8th notes per bar. Count the hi hat beats 1 2 3 4 5 6.
Song of the week – ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ by Alicia Keys
Drummer: Steve Jordan
Time Signature – 6/8
Tempo – 8th Note = 118
- Due to the slow tempo of this song, you might find that you tend to rush the time. Focus on playing right on the back of the beat by waiting for the pulse to come to you, rather than forcing it. You will likely come to realise that it is actually harder to play slow than it is to play fast.
- Make sure you swing the 16th Notes, which means that you play all of the offbeat 16th’s a little later than usual.
During the verses play the left hand cross stick on the snare. The bass plays on count 1, with an extra note occasionally added on the 6 ‘+’.
This bass drum variation comes in during the pre chorus. The next time you get to the pre chorus (after verse 2) play the left hand on snare.
This is the main chorus beat. The left hand now plays on the snare.
This is the fill that’s played to introduce each chorus. It makes use of the Single Drag Tap rudiment that we learned earlier.Be careful not to rush this fill. There is no crash coming into the chorus.
Spotify Playlist – Sign up for a free Spotify account to stream these songs
Rudiment of the week – Lesson 25 (click to open vicfirth.com play-alongs)
Variation – Starting on the accent
This week there will be three different beats and three different songs.
Basic students will do only the basic level. Intermediate students will do the basic and intermediate level (2 songs). Advanced students will do basic, intermediate and advanced level (3 songs).
Basic Beat of the week – The Money Beat (aka 8th Note Rock Beat)
This beat gets it’s name because it has been played on more famous songs than any other beat, therefore it has made more money than any other beat.
Basic Song of the week – Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Drummer – Ndugu Chancellor
Time Signature – 4/4
Tempo – 115 bpm
Variation 1 – This variation first appears in the transition from the verse into the pre-chorus.
Intermediate Beat of the week – Texas Shuffle
The Texas Shuffle is also known as the double shuffle, because both hands play the shuffle rhythm in unison, with an accent on 2 & 4. All other snare hits are played as ghost notes.
Intermediate Song of the week – Cold Shot by Stevie Ray Vaughan
Drummer – Chris Layton
Time Signature – 4/4
Tempo – 108 bpm
Advanced Beat of the week – 5/4 Swing
Advanced Song of the week – Take Five by Dave Brubeck
Drummer – Joe Morello
Time Signature – 5/4
Tempo – 166 bpm
Here is a basic idea of one of the patterns used throughout the song. Experiment with some of the other patterns that you hear in the song.
Rudiment of the week – Single Stroke Roll
Beat of the week – Surf Rock Beat
Here is another common variation of the surf rock beat:
Song of the week – Wipeout
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3
Term 2 – Introduction
This term in drum lessons we will be working on a project, which involves learning a new song each week. Imagine you’ve been asked by a band to play a gig in 10 weeks time and you have to play 10 songs. The aim is not to play the songs note for note as the recording, but instead to play the essential parts of the song with confidence. We will be focusing on good time and feel as well as playing tastefully. The aim is to make the band sound good!
Each song will feature a different beat or style of music. This way you will broaden your repertoire of beats and styles.
As a warm up you should also practice the rudiment of the week. Check out the links to vicfirth.com for play along tracks and applications of the rudiment.
Rudiment of the week – Multiple Bounce Roll
Follow this link to the Multiple Bounce Exercises with play-along on vicfirth.com
Beat of the week – 4 on the floor
Song of the week – ‘Eye of the Tiger’ by Survivor
Essential parts:
- Cymbal choke accents for the intro
- 4 on the floor beat
- Fill at the end of chorus
Click for audio examples of this fill:
Eye of the Tiger Fill at 50 BPM
Eye of the Tiger Fill at 80 BPM
Private Lessons are still available on a revised schedule during the school holidays at Beat Industry Tuggerah. Please call or email to make a booking.
School Holiday Workshops
Saturday 20th April
Workshop 1 – 11:00-12:30 Beginner – Intermediate (Rudiments, Reading, Beats, Fills)
Workshop 2 – 12:45-2:15 Intermediate – Advanced (Independence, Syncopation, Different Styles)
Workshop 3 – 2:30-4:00 – Drum kit setup, tuning, maintenance
Cost is $35 per workshop ($25 early bird if paid by 12th April) Bookings Essential
Limit 6 people per workshop
Location: Beat Industry 3/13 Pioneer Ave Tuggerah
Bring:
Workshops 1 & 2: Drumsticks & Practice Pad
Workshop 3: Your drum kit (acoustic only – not electric) & Drumsticks
There has been some confusion from some of our students about the changes at Beat Industry this year.
Beat Industry has NOT closed down.
Instead we have made some changes to make the business run more smoothly, so that we can focus on the core of our business which has always been about teaching the next generation of drummers.
We have moved our retail to online only, meaning that we no longer have a retail showroom but will continue to sell to our students and customers via beatindustry.com and our ebay store.
We have changed our focus to drums and percussion, with the goal of being the best drum school around, setting the standard for others to follow.
We have commenced a new partnership with Kayne Butler of Central Coast Music Factory who will be looking after tuition for all other instruments including guitar, bass, piano and vocals. Most of the tutors who were teaching under Beat Industry are now teaching as part of Central Coast Music Factory.
Both Beat Industry and Central Coast Music Factory are conducting lessons from the same location at 3/13 Pioneer Ave Tuggerah. Same location, same teachers, same high standard of tuition.
On another note…. Central Coast Music Factory will soon start work on building band rehearsal rooms at our Tuggerah studios. These will be available for hire by both our students and local bands and will be utilised for rehearsals in the lead up to our student concerts.
If you have any questions about these changes please contact us via our contact page.
Stripping drumming back to the essentials.
Before you can begin to understand the true art form of drumming, you need to understand what drumming is *not*.
Drumming is not twirling your sticks, or picking up chicks.
Drumming is not a sport or a competition to see who can play the fastest or loudest.
Drumming is not about getting blisters or bleeding all over your snare drum.
Drumming is not about how many splash cymbals you own.
Drumming is about music.
The core elements of drumming will provide you with a solid foundation and set you on the right track to becoming a musician.
Focus on these above all else:
Technical
Rudiments – Basic patterns to develop skill around the drum kit.
Reading – The language of drumming.
Independence – Freedom of each limb to work independently from the others.
Musicianship
Beats – Time keeping patterns relative to a particular style of music.
Fills – The transitions between musical phrases.
Musicality – Playing what is appropriate for the musical situation.
Creativity
Improvisation – The spontaneous and creative skill of musical composition.
Charts – Transferring notes on the page into musical expression.
Free Choice Songs – Learning from the drummers who inspire you.
On this blog we will look into each of these core elements in more detail. Stay tuned.
As many of you would know, I have spent the last seven years running a music school, and the last five years running a retail music store. This experience has taught me many things about the music industry (good and bad) but even more about my own life.
My wife Emma and I first came up with the idea of opening a music school in 2003. It would be an extension of my drum teaching and a way to make a positive impact, in a broader sense, through music. The extra income would also be nice.
While we achieved many of our goals, it also increased our stress levels and my work hours. I realised that a lot of what I was doing wasn’t making me happy.
The conclusion I came to was simple…
Some very good news for our left handed drummer friends.
