Drummer

If you’ve already read our Drumhead Buyer’s Guide and you’re ready to learn more, this article is the logical next step since I’ll be covering drumheads and the various ways in which these help to shape the sound of a drum kit. While it all boils down to simply trying different things, the info in this blog is essential reading for creating your own signature drum sound.

If you want to dampen your drums, this can mean one of two things: 1) you want your drums to sound as quiet as possible so you can practise at home without incurring the wrath of the neighbours, or 2) you just want to reduce the natural sustain and resonance of your drum kit to get a more focussed sound. Of course, there’s plenty of gear you can buy to help solve either problem, but there are also plenty of much cheaper tricks you could try using nothing but stuff you can find lying around the house.

Even if you’ve been drumming for a while, there’s a chance you’ve never thought about the way you hold your drumsticks. Since there are a few rules of thumb that can actually help you hone your skills, we’ve compiled a humble list of stick-based tips and tricks for you in this blog.

If you’re a drummer, then there’s at least one drum that you can never do without: the snare. While you might be familiar with the array of different percussive sounds you can get out of a snare, if you’re a beginner, you might not necessarily know how to access all of them. Even a small adjustment in your playing can make a snare drum sound completely different, and here, I’ll offer up some essential tips that will help you get to know your snare a little better.

Granted, the ideal drum kit set-up is highly personal. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few guidelines that you need to follow. To help you find a comfortable, practical and most of all style-matching set-up, I’m going to show you a couple of different takes on the standard drum kit configuration!

If you’ve already decided that you want to start drumming, the next logical step is to get yourself a drum kit. Faced with what might be one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make, what do you go for? An acoustic drum kit or an electronic drum kit? electronic kits sound way better than they used to, but you can’t go wrong with an acoustic kit, right? In this blog, we’ll go over all of the pros and cons to help you get a better idea of what might work best for you.

Throwing in solid drum fills can be pretty difficult for beginners. Some go too fast while others over-complicate things – two habits that are hard to kick without the help of a drum teacher. In addition, not being able to time your fills right can be extremely frustrating, whether you’re rehearsing or just jamming, and not just for you, but for any musicians you’re playing with as well as anyone listening. So, in this blog, I’m going to teach you various simple drum fills and show you some very useful tips!

If you’ve already made it this far, then you’re probably already the proud owner of your very own cajon. You’ve seen or heard a cajon afficionado spitting beats and thought, “I can do that!” But now that you’re sitting astride your brand new percussion box, it’s already looking a little more complication than you first thought. Not to worry! Everyone starts somewhere, and since you’re here, this is where you’re going to start! In this friendly little blog, we’ll guide you through three awesome cajon beats that you can use as a foundation to expand your cajon-based skills. No theoretical knoweldge or the ability to read music required!

It’s time to delete Angry Birds and those diet tracker apps you never use and install what you really need: five essential apps that can ease your life as a drummer and help you prepare for any situation that involves drums.

Out of all the instruments that exist, the drum kit is arguably the most difficult to record. Then again, a drum kit actually isn’t a single instrument; it’s a collection of loud percussion instruments that cover the entire audible frequency spectrum. As such, it’s not uncommon to record a drum kit using multiple microphones. In this blog, you can find out which microphones are the best for the job and how you should set them up.

Some drummers swear by it, while others can’t stand it: the click-track. For any musician, a click-track is essentially a metronome that you can hear over a set of headphones or speakers. Play in time with the click or risk the recording or performance sounding loose and shambolic. This method certainly offers a lot of advantages but also comes with a few pitfalls. So, when should you toe the line and use a click track and when should you just let it go?

To end up as a drummer for a big band, you can’t escape beginning with a couple of basic rhythms. While the ones you’ll want to play are likely to depend on your stylistic preference, there are a few simple beginner drum rhythms that can be used in any style. In this blog, I’ll discuss four quintessential rhythms that offer endless experimentation and variation.