Notation

  
Hi-hat Pedal Ride Cymbal Hi-hat (with stick) Crash Cymbal





Bass Drum Low Tom Snare Drum Middle Tom

   

 
High Tom

 

Technique 1 - Holding The Sticks

How you hold the sticks is a very personal thing - everyone has their own preferred way of doing it. You should follow
guidance from your teacher about what might be best for you, but here are some of the different methods:

1. "Thumbs on top."
Make a "thumbs up" with your hand. Uncurl your fingers slightly and place the stick in the space left between your
fingertips and the palm of your hand. Grip the stick between the thumb and the first finger. Let the other three fingers
grip the stick lightly. Keep the thumbnails facing upwards.

2. "Thumbs on the side."

Follow the instructions in number 1 "thumbs on top." Then, simply rotate your wrists 90 degrees inwards so your
thumbnails are facing each other. The backs of your hands should be facing upwards, with the palms of your hands facing
the floor. Your thumb and first finger should still be holding the stick securely, with the remaining three fingers suspended
just below the stick.

3. "Thumbs underneath."
Start with "Thumbs on the side." Slide your thumbs around the sticks towards the floor so they
rest on the first finger. The first finger and thumb should now make a complete ring around the stick.

1
Rudiment 1 - Single Strokes
Start slowly, and build up your speed gradually. Make sure your sticks bounce off the drum, and keep your wrist and
fingers loose.

           
Right Left R L R L R L

Exercise 1 - Repeated Single Strokes

Ensure the sticks still rebound off the drum after every note. Keep the speed even.

                   
R R R R R R R R L L L L L L L L

Groove 1 - 4-Beat
SUGGESTED LISTENING: Do I Wanna Know (Arctic Monkeys), Shotgun (George Ezra), The Suburbs (Arcade
Fire)
Keep an even pulse, and make sure the bass drum and snare drum sound together with the hi-hat.
Count "1, 2, 3, 4" out loud as you play.

   
      
1


2 3 4

Style 1 - Pop
SUGGESTED LISTENING: The Beatles, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Spice Girls, S Club 7, Justin Bieber, Taylor
Swift, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry

Pop music is characterised by memorable melodies, quite standard song structures (verse/chorus), and the songs are normally
fairly short and radio-friendly.

2
Groove 2 - 8-Beat
SUGGESTED LISTENING: Take Me Home (Jess Glynne), This Is How We Do (Katy Perry)

Play eight notes on the hi-hat, at double the speed of the bass and snare rhythm. Move your right hand to the ride cymbal
for a variation.

1 2

                
       
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

    

Exercise 2 - Developing The 8-Beat

SUGGESTED LISTENING: Because of You (Kelly Clarkson), Let It Be (The Beatles), Human (Rag'n'Bone Man),
Radioactive (Imagine Dragons), Next To Me (Emeli Sande), Ghost (Ella Henderson)

               
   
1 2

     
       

               
3 4

             


               
5 6

          
     

               
7 8

          
       

3
Musicianship Skills 1 - Learn The Song
Listen to Let It Be (The Beatles) three times all the way through without stopping. Try and learn when the drums first enter,
and when they stop and start at various points throughout the song. Then use one of the eight grooves suggested in the
previous exercise to play along with the song, being careful to stop and start playing at the same time as the drums in the song.

Exercise 3 - Moving The Right Hand

SUGGESTED LISTENING: Don't Look Back In Anger (Oasis)

Once you've finished playing bar 3 four times, repeat back to to the beginning of bar 1 and repeat the exercise.

                
1 2 3

                       
x4 x4 x4

Exercise 4 - Fills
The first set of fills last for four beats each.

                         
1 2
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

                        
3 4
R L R R L R R L R R R R L R L R L R R L R L R L

                     
5 6
R L R R L R L R L R R L R R R L R R R L R

                
7 8

  
R R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

4
The next set of fills last two beats. Try counting "1, 2" out loud, before you come in with your fills on beat 3.

  
9 10

         
1 2 R L R L R L R L

       
11 12

        
R L R R L R R R L R L R

        
13 14

       
R L R L R L R L R L R L

   
15 16

          
R L R L R R L R R L

The final set of fills last for one beat. Count "1,2,3" before playing these fills on beat 4.

                 

17 18 19 20
1 2 3 R L R L RL R R RL R L R L

                 

21 22 23 24
R RL RL R R L R L R L R L

5
Musicianship Skills 2 - Grooves And Fills
When you see / / / / with "Develop" written over the top, continue to play a similar groove to what's written before, but
develop it by adding bass drum quavers. When you see any number of / symbols with "Fill" over the top, it means play a fill
for the number of beats shown by the slashes.
You should play this exercise numerous times, varying the grooves and fills you play each time.

              Fill
                  
Develop

        Develop     Fill
              
 

             
             
Develop Fill

                     
Develop Fill

6
Exercise 5 - Adding The Crash
Replace the first of your eight hi-hat notes with a crash - also played by the right hand.

   

  
R R R R R R R R


1

Add the rest of the 8-beat pattern.

          

            
2

     

Play the right hand pattern on the ride cymbal. You can play the crashes with the right or the left hand.

   

                  
3

Add in some fills. Play this short section numerous times, and vary the fills you play each time.

      

                        
4

           
                    


7
Exercise 6 - Speeding Up The Right Hand
SUGGESTED LISTENING: Dynamite (BTS)

For this exercise you'll need a metronome. Set the number to 80 - that means 80 beats per minute. Start the metronome and
play a simple 8-beat along to it for five minutes, preferably without stopping. Your right hand should be going twice the
speed of the metronome, like this:

   
METRONOME

   
1 2 3 4

YOU

       
      
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

On day two, set your metronome to 85, and play for another five minutes.

Day 3: increase the time to six minutes, with the metronome on 90

Day 4: increase the time to seven minutes, with the metronome on 95
Day 5: increase the time to eight minutes, with the metronome on 100
Day 6: increase the time to nine minutes, with the metronome on 105
Day 7: increase the time to ten minutes, with the metronome on 110
After a week, your right hand should be comfortable going at these faster speeds. Make sure you're always relaxed -
particularly your shoulders, wrists, and fingers - and that your stick is coming away from the hi-hat between every note. If
you struggle with any particular increase in speed or time, practice that day's exercise for another day before moving on to
the next one.

8
Technique 2 - Open Hi-Hat
When you release the pressure on the hi-hat pedal with your left foot, allowing the top cymbal to rise away from the bottom
cymbal, it is called "opening the hi-hat." Try and keep your whole foot on the pedal at all times - even when you raise the
pedal - so you're really opening the hi-hat with your ankle, rather than your actual foot. Make sure you hit the hi-hat with
your right stick at the same time as you open or shut the hi-hat with your left foot.

CLOSED OPEN

 
    
+ o

Exercise 7 - Open Hi-Hat

SUGGESTED LISTENING: Can't Feel My Face (The Weeknd), We Used To Be Friends (The Dandy Warhols),
Levitating (Dua Lipa), Trouble's Coming (Royal Blood)

               
  
1 2

  
+ o o o o + o o + o o

         
3 4

    
+ o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o o + o + o + o +

Develop grooves by adding in open hi-hat in different parts of the bar.

               
5 6

          
  
+ o o +

               
7 8

      
    
  
o + o +

9
Musicianship Skills 3 - Using Open Hi-Hat
Opening the hi-hat is one of the most common ways we develop our grooves, and makes them sound more interesting and
varied. One at a time, try turning each of the eight closed hi-hat notes in Groove 2 (8-beat) into an open hi-hat note. This
will ensure you are comfortable adding in open hi-hat to any part of a groove. You should only open one hi-hat note per
bar. For example, once you have played the bar with an open hi-hat on beat 1, you should then play the bar with an open
hi-hat note on beat "1 and," and play a closed hi-hat note on beat 1.

Technique 3 - Double Strokes (Slow)

A Double Stroke is two notes in one hand at a time, so "Right Right, Left Left" etc. It's important that both notes are given
the same amount of attention. Make sure your stick rebounds fully between each of the two notes in each hand.
Use your arm for the first note and your wrist for the second, keeping your middle, ring, and little fingers fairly loose so
as not to restrict the stick from bouncing.

Rudiments 2 & 3 - Doubles And Paradiddles

1

               
R R R R L L L L

2 3

                  
R R L L R R L L R R L L

Paradiddles combine single strokes and double strokes, in the order "Single Single Double." Number 4 is the rudiment
separated into two halves, while number 5 is the complete rudiment.

4 5

                      
R L R R L R L L R L R R L R L L

10
Exercise 8 - Combining Stickings On Snare
You should be comfortable moving between single strokes, double strokes, and paradiddles, without altering your rhythm.

                           
1
R L R L R L R L R R L L R R L L R L R R L R L L

                                  
2
R L R L R R L R L R L L R L R R L RL RL L R R L RL RL R L L

                                
3
R L R L R L R L R R L R L R L R L L R R L L R L R L R R L L

Exercise 9 - Varying Stickings In Fills

Apply these new stickings to fills you already know.

                                   
1 2 3
R R L L R R L L R R L L R R L L R R L L R R L L RRL RRL RRL R

                            
4 5 6 7
L L RL RL L R RL RL RR R R L L R L R R R R L R R L

                               
8 9 10 11 12
R LLRRL L RL L RRL L RR L RL L

11
Exercise 10 - Triplets
Triplets are a general term used to describe three notes that are evenly spread over the same space that two notes would
take up. Triplet quavers, for example, would be three notes that are evenly spread over one crotchet beat. Instead of
counting "1 and 2 and" etc, you would use "1 and a 2 and a" for triplets.

               
1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a

3 3 3 3

Exercise 11 - Quavers and Triplet Quavers

Keep your pulse steady as you move between quavers and triplet quavers.

           
METRONOME
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

          
YOU

            
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a

3 3 3 3

Play the bass drum on beats one and three, and the hi-hat pedal (pedal only) on beats two and four. Switch between quavers
and triplet quavers every four beats (number 1), two beats (number 2) or one beat (number 3).

                       
 
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a

   
3 3 3 3

2 3

                        
1 + 2 + 3 + a 4 + a 1 + 2 + a 3 + 4 + a

   
3 3 3 3

12
Style 2 - Rock
SUGGESTED LISTENING: The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Muse,
Arctic Monkeys, Lower Than Atlantis, Biffy Clyro
Rock music is typically louder than pop music and more energetic. You'll hear more guitars and less keyboards than pop
music, and the drums will sound heavier and louder.

Technique 4 - Half-Open Hi-Hat

When you open the hi-hat just a little, so that the cymbals still touch when they are hit, it is referred to as "half-open." This
is sometimes also called "trashy" or "sizzle" hi-hat. You should try and open the hi-hat as little as possible, so when you hit
the cymbals in a rhythm, you hear lots of the cymbals hitting each other, but so they are still ringing.

HALF-OPEN HI-HAT

   
    
o/ o/ o/ o/

Groove 3 - Rock 8-Beat

SUGGESTED LISTENING: Yellow (Coldplay), Paradise City (Guns'n'Roses), Charmer (Kings of Leon),
Moaning Lisa Smile (Wolf Alice), Time Is Running Out (Muse)

Use half-open hi-hat or crash cymbal to turn your 8-beat into something more heavy, as you would hear in Rock music.

               
   
1 2

   
    
o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/

  
o/ o/

               
3 4

          
o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/

      
o/ o/




               
5 6

          
     

13
Exercise 12 - Adding Syncopation To Grooves
SUGGESTED LISTENING: Come Together (Franky Wah), L.S.F. (Kasabian), Love Me Again (John Newman),
Now I'm In It (HAIM), You Know I'm No Good (Amy Winehouse), NO (Meghan Trainor)

Syncopation is a word used when you exaggerate notes in the bar that wouldn't normally be very strong. Typically, that
means notes that aren't in the "1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +" rhythm.

                    
1 2

      
1 + 2 + a 3 e + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + a

     

                
3 4


               
1 e + 2 + 3 + a 4 + 1 + a 2 + 3 + 4 +

   


Exercise 13 - Speeding Up Fills

Try these exercises starting slowly, and then gradually speed up the tempo. Make sure you only use single strokes.

                                   
1
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

                                  
2
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

                                  
3
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L

14
Study 1

 = 90

                        
       
o +

      

                   
          
      

               
                  
 
o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/ o/

                                  
  

                     
       
 
   
 
 

  
       
          
+ o

  
+
Develop

        Develop
              
o

  
+
Fill

                         
RL RL R RL RL R R L R R L R R L R R

15
                   
R L R R L R L L R L R L R L R R L R L R L R L R L R L

 

                        
R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R R L R L L

   
3 3 3 3 Fill

             
                    
       

             

                  
     

         
   
                   
o/ o/ o/

 
o/ o/ o/ o/


        Fill        
               
o/ o/ o/

    
o/ o/ o/ o/
Fill


               
             
   
Fill Fill


        
                
    
o +

          
     




  
  

16