Learning how to drum without becoming a drummer

[TheAnimal]

Ok, I've got the padKontrol with the DFH superior demo. I can program midi drumtracks. But I don't have a drummer's know how, simply because I am not a drummer. And I also won't become one - no way to set up a drum set where I live.

This probably is a situation many of you are or were in. What are you doing to get the musical knowledge to make a drum track that grooves and doesn't sound sterile? Are there good books, sound-examples or videos to learn from?

[polyslax]

Watch and listen.

Although I never became a drummer, I learned how they are played by watching many many live drummers and listening intently for years.

[DeadlyKungFu]

Aside from the regular 4/4 - kick on the 1, 3, snare on the 2, 4 hi-hats in between...
Copy drum patterns you like. I started with hip hop beats,
boom-bip, ba boom boom bip.

You could approach it like any other instrument, loop sections of a song you like (or drums you like) and play along with it until you learn it.

I've seen books of drum patterns in guitar shops, never bought one but they look like beat cookbooks.

[jerry123]

Yep, imitate your favorites. Also, you can search the internet for drum lesson sites.
Most sites have sheet music and tabs you can follow. That helps get a sense of simple snare, hat, kick patterns. Most people I see who drum on keys or pads, will layer one part at a time, or start by making a hi-hat and snare pattern, and then lay the kick over it, or in whatever order feels better.
I play drums and when I was first learning, I got most of my beats from Cold-Krush-Cuts, old NinjaTune stuff. Simple beats that drive grooves hard.

[M. Bréqs]

Heck, play along. Load up a drum loop and play with it. Hard pan the loop left and your drums right, so you can hear when you're off time.

Also, I highly recommend playing congas, bongos or djembe samples, the whole finger slappin' goes pretty far with those sounds...

My recommendation for percussion like that is to line up along the horizontal the different instruments, with variations along the vertical.

For instance, have different bongos / congas on the four bottom pads, and them put different multi-samples (different mikings or different impact locations on the skins) on the higher ones.

Very fun.

[funknotik]

I've tried my hand at drumming and ive built and impressive collection of breakbeats. WHich i try to emulate when i go to a friends house and use his drums. But im researching getting this since i have no space...



fucking wildhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8VL1TVwjW0

[TheAnimal]

Panning left an right when playing along is a good idea.

When playing along I often have the problem that I simply can't hear what exactly the drummer does in the mix. (I mean the details.)

[hambone1]

Learning basic drum rudiments (single stroke rolls, double stroke rolls, multiple bounce rolls, paradiddles, flams, etc) will help a LOT when you're trying to copy drumbeats. Here's a site with free lessons: http://www.drumsdatabase.com/rudiment.htm

You will be able to figure out basic beats without an understanding of rudiments, but not learning them is like trying to play chords by placing one finger at a time. You'll get there, but it will take a lot longer and be a lot harder.

[TheAnimal]

Cool! And they even have movies. Nice tip! Thanks a lot, hambone!

[rikhyray]

i notice tremendous difference, while playing the pads, playing "instruments" I play for real- tabla, all Indian perc, bongos and those I dont play well- like conga or timbales. Seems if you have in your had it does not take much to "translate" it into pads. So playing, learning anything real will help though if you take seriously to the pads then you can get good results.
High quality samples make lots of difference, I didnt like the demo, my Reason Drum kits are much better. The Wizoo Latin samples became fun to play with padKontrol, much better then Akai , the subtle differences of multisamples come alive. So it is worth investing in high quality samples, padKontrol is worth it.

[rikhyray]

i notice tremendous difference, while playing the pads, playing "instruments" I play for real- tabla, all Indian perc, bongos and those I dont play well- like conga or timbales. Seems if you have in your had it does not take much to "translate" it into pads. So playing, learning anything real will help though if you take seriously to the pads then you can get good results.
High quality samples make lots of difference, I didnt like the demo, my Reason Drum kits are much better. The Wizoo Latin samples became fun to play with padKontrol, much better then Akai , the subtle differences of multisamples come alive. So it is worth investing in high quality samples, padKontrol is worth it.

[hacktheplanet]

Number one tip: Start sloooooow. Like, really slow so you can get the patterns down. Slowly speed up until you make a mistake, and then start over. Eventually, you will reach normal speeds.

[John Sweet]

Check this video out. Bet he's not using Impulse:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=med ... a191c74b0f

What I've been adding to the thumb-finger boom-bap hip hop patterns lately is a swinging constant eight-note tap on a closed hi-hat sound with my ring finger. When you get it right it sounds like a classic Funkadelic or Skull Snaps beat. Hit an open hat for the "and" of three and it's kind of like the "Impeach the President" break.

Here it is with somebody cutting the hell out of it, but it's the only one I could find:

http://toledohiphop.org/dissent/audio/0 ... sident.mp3

[LOFA]

I think sweetjesus hooked this up the first time: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l8yy-JFO-Q8& ... se%20drums

[freshdrumma]

as a drummer i just learned listening to records, and watching people, yes there are a lot of method, but i guess you will not get a lot of benefit from them, listen man, just listen