Drums

The drum is for me a great and very easy to play instrument. Also it is my favourite one and in this guide
Parts of the Drums:
 - Snare
 - Low Tom
 - High Tom
 - Floor Tom
 - Hi-Hat
 - Crash
 - Ride
BassDrum Notation
The space right above the first line represents the hi-hat. Hi-hats and cymbals are usually marked with an “X” instead of a dot like regular notes.For the toms, we will use the blanks spaces in the middle to represent each tom. The first space will be the floor tom. The second space will be your high tom, and the third space will be your low tom.The snare is usually the most important one to see. We will use the line right in the middle to represent the snare.Cymbals are usually placed above the hi-hat. They are marked as an “X” as well. You may come across a diamond shape, this indicates a bell stroke on your ride or other cymbal.As for your feet, they are usually placed towards the bottom. The bass drum will be the last line on the music. Your left foot, (or hi-hat foot) will be right below the bass drum line. Again, since this is a cymbal, it will be marked as an “X”Now that you know the parts of the drum and the drum notation lets start playing the drum with the easiest:The basic rock beat
Play eighth notes on the hi-hat with your right hand
Keep your left foot pressed on the pedal to keep it closed
When you start losing your place, slow it down a little. After a bit of time practicing you will be able to do it faster.Then you will have to add the snare on beats 2 and 4 with your left hand.
Make sure your arms are well positioned so the sticks doesn’t hit each other. And try to don’t flail them too high because it wastes too much energy.Then you will have to add the bass drum. Add it on bets 1 and 3.

Drum Basics
Drums are members of the membraphone family of musical instruments and are considered one of the world’s oldest, dating back thousands of years.
Picking a Drum Apart from Head to Shell
Drums consist of three basic components:
 The head (the membrane strung across the shell)
 The shell (the body of the drum)
 The hardware (the stuff that holds the other two parts together)
They create tension on the head so that it can vibrate freely against the edge of the shell.
How Drums Create Sound
When you hit a drum, the head vibrates much the same way as a guitar string vibrates when you pluck it. And like the electric guitar when it’s not plugged into an amp, not a lot of sound comes out of the head itself, which is where the shell comes in handy. The shell acts like the amplifier that your friend uses with his or her guitar — only you don’t need to plug it in. This motion makes the shell vibrate too. All the sound is then projected out of the opening in the drum and, voilà! The result is the sound of sweet music.
How the drum sounds depends on the circumference of the head, how tightly it’s tuned, and the size, shape, and hardness of the shell. All these factors determine why drums can sound so many different ways and still be just a head, a shell, and some hardware. Without getting too technical, the size and tension of the head dictates the drum’s pitch while the size, shape, and hardness of the shell control the volume and timbre of the drum. Timbre is a fancy word for the quality of sound produced by an instrument. This timbre is why not all acoustic guitars or violins cost the same amount.
The larger the diameter of drum, the deeper the sound, and the longer the shell, the louder the sound. As always, some exceptions exist, but for the most part you can count on this idea being true.

A. Bass drum. The bass drum usually sits on its side on the floor and is played by stepping on a pedal with the right foot. This drum is generally between 18 and 24 inches in diameter and between 14 and 18 inches deep. Its sound is the foundation of the rhythm of a band, often pounding out the basic pulse of the music or playing along with the bass player’s rhythm.

B. Snare drum. The snare drum is a shallow drum (typically between 5 and 7 inches deep) that’s 14 inches in diameter and has a series of metal wires (called snares, hence the name snare drum) stretched against the bottom head. When you strike the drum, the bottom head vibrates against the snares. What you hear is a hissing sound. The snare drum creates the backbeat (the driving rhythm that you hear in most popular music; you can find out more about backbeats in Chapter 6) of the music and is what makes you want to dance.

C. Tom-tom. The tom-toms are pitched drums that are usually between 9 and 18 inches in diameter. A drumset commonly has at least two, if not three, of them (some drummers, such as Neil Peart from the 1970s rock band Rush, have dozens of tom-toms, so go wild if you want to). Generally, the largest tom-tom (called a floor tom) is set up on the floor with legs that are attached to the shell of the drum. The smaller tom-toms (often called ride toms) are attached to a stand, which extends up from the bass drum or
from the floor next to the bass drum. These drums are used for fills (a fill is a break in the main drumbeat, as I cover in Chapter 13) or as a substitute for the snare drum in some parts of songs.

D. Hi-hat cymbals. The hi-hats are cymbals that are mounted on a stand, one facing up and one facing down, and are 13, 14, or 15 inches in diameter. The stand has a pedal that pushes the cymbals together (closed) or pulls them apart (opened). Your left foot controls the opening and closing of the hi-hats with the pedal while you hit the cymbals with a stick. The hi-hats can make either a “chick” sound when closed or a “swish” sound when open. You use
them with the bass drum and snare drum to create the basic drum beat.

E. Ride cymbal. The ride cymbal is an alternative to the hi-hats. Ride cymbals range in size from about 16 inches all the way up to 24 inches across (20- and 22-inch ride cymbals are the most common). The ride cymbal is traditionally used to create a louder, fuller sound than the hi-hats and is often played during the chorus of a song or during a solo.

F. Crash cymbals. The typical drumset usually has one or more crash
cymbals used for accentuating certain parts of the music, usually the
beginning of a phrase or section of a song. These cymbals create a sound that resembles — you guessed it — a crash, not unlike the sound of a frying pan lid hitting a hard floor, only more musical. Crash cymbals generally range in size from 14 inches to around 20 inches in diameter.
 Splash cymbals. Crash cymbals aren’t the only accent cymbals that
drummers use with today’s drumsets. Other cymbals include the splash cymbal, a small cymbal usually between 8 and 14 inches in diameter, which makes a little splash-type sound. The splash cymbal is kind of a softer, watery-sounding version of the popular crash cymbal.
 Chinese cymbals. These accent cymbals have become common over the last couple of decades or so. Chinese cymbals have a slightly rougher, clangier sound than a crash cymbal (more like a garbage can lid). They range in size from around 12 inches to 20 inches and usually have an upturned outer edge. They’re often mounted on a stand upside down.
 Gongs. These cymbals were really popular additions to drumsets during the stadium rock era in the 1970s when drumsets were huge and drum solos were a staple. Gongs actually come in many shapes and sizes, but the most popular are large (up to three feet across) and very loud.

The modern drumset was first developed with
the emergence of jazz music early in the 20th
century. Early jazz drummers put together the
drums and cymbals used in military bands and
folk music in order to be able to play all of these
instruments by themselves. This setup allowed
one drummer to use a variety of drums and cymbals
that best complemented the music of the
other musicians in the band. The drumset is
indispensable in popular music today, and is the
image formed in many people’s minds when
they think of drums.