READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC HOW TO
READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC CODE
READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC PROFESSIONAL

If you don’t totally grasp what that means, don’t worry. In some cases on certain percussion scores, a single line staff may be used.

The double bar marks the end of a section of music. They help the musician stay on track with the piece and aid in counting passages. Measures are the distance between two bar lines. The bar lines divide the staff into measures. The staff is essentially made up of five different parts: ClefĬlefs tells the musician how they should interpret the given staff.įor our purposes, we will mostly see the ‘Neutral Clef,’ though there are many others like the treble clef, bass clef, tenor clef, and others.

READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC CODE

Now I’m sure that the staff looks quite confusing, but I’ve done my best to color code it to make it easier for you. The staff is made up of five horizontal lines and four spaces. In our case, each space or line corresponds to a different instrument or drum.

With pitched instruments, each space or line corresponds to a musical note. In most forms of Western musical notation, the staff serves as a visual representation of the music that is to be played. Whether you own just a snare drum, an electronic drum kit, or an acoustic set, you should be reading in no time.įirst off, before we dive deep into drum beats or grooves, it’s important that we nail down the basic structure of a piece of music. We’ll start off with the absolute basics and make our way up to complicated grooves. So I know you’re pumped to get started, so let’s dive in. I highly recommend all of these books.īecause I understand the value of reading sheet music as a drummer and how much it has helped me, I want to inspire you and accelerate your learning as you progress as a drummer. I studied out of many books including Stick Control, Joe Morello’s Master Studies, Realistic Rock Drum Method, and plenty more. I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to take drum lessons when I was younger and I was taught all the basics of reading music. Part of Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic’s percussion solo, “Generally Spoken it is Nothing but Rhythm”

If you can walk into a session, take a look at some notation and immediately play along with the band, you’ll definitely stick out.īeing proficient at reading drum sheet music can help you land the audition, secure a role in a band, get the session gig, or just further your own personal ability to play the kit. That being said, having a decent understanding of musical notation can improve the rate at which you understand drumming concepts and can even set you apart from the crowd ( especially if you want to move to Nashville one day to become a session player). I can teach you notes on a page, I can’t teach you that other stuff. Not being able to read music has no effect on your musical ability.

READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC HOW TO

There’s no real rule book that states one must learn how to read drum music.

READING DRUM SHEET MUSIC PROFESSIONAL

In fact, I’d go as far to say that most professional drummers either haven’t learned how to read or don’t utilize drum notation on a daily basis. Learning to read and write drum sheet music is not something all drummers will desire or strive to understand. If you click and make a purchase, I get a small commission. Disclaimer: Links throughout the article may be affiliated.

Reading drum sheet music