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Monday, May 26, 2014

The Essential Drum Notations

n a previous lesson we had learned about the Essential Music Terms that were fundamental to any musical instrument. In this lesson we are going to focus on key Drum notations and ways to read them for very commonly used 4/4 time signature pattern



Breaking down the above notes into a hierarchical view we have,



Reading Notes ( Notation TABLES):

1) Quarter Notes are read as – 1,2,3,4 and for a 4/4 time signature you will count the bar as below. Note that the underlined number denotes the measure we are on,

1   2  3  4
2   2  3  4
3   2  3  4
4   2  3  4


2) Eight Notes are read as 1&2&3&4& and for a 4/4 time signature you will count the bar as follows,

1& 2& 3& 4&
2& 2& 3& 4&
3& 2& 3& 4&
4& 2& 3& 4&

3) Sixteenth Notes are read as 1E&A 2E&A 3E&A 4E&A and for a 4/4 time signature you will count the bar as follows,

1E&A  2E&A  3E&A  4E&A
2E&A  2E&A  3E&A  4E&A
3E&A  2E&A  3E&A  4E&A
4E&A  2E&A  3E&A  4E&A

4) Similarly for Triplets in a 4 / 4 time signature the bar line would be read as follows,

1&A  2&A  3&A  4&A
2&A  2&A  3&A  4&A
3&A  2&A  3&A  4&A
                                                4&A  2&A  3&A  4&A

Next set your metronome to 60 BPM and play above 4 patterns one after another in alternate single strokes counting loudly. keep going till you have perfected the rhythmic flow so that your M&Ms develop quickly !