Play in a band
Posted on May 22, 2013 in News
One of the best ways to develop musical skills is to play in a band with other musicians. That’s why we created the JamSocial events which have been really popular across London. The events attract drummers, guitarists, bassists, vocalists and other musicians – anyone that wants to play in a band. JamSocial brings musicians together in a live performance situation and develops band...
Read MoreDeveloping grooves in 12/8
Posted on May 2, 2013 in Creative Concepts
The 12/8 time signature Following on from our previous article about the basics of constructing a groove in a triplet time feel, this article takes the idea a step further and suggests some ways to play grooves in the 12/8 time signature. Revisit Playing Grooves Using Triplets for an introduction to the concept. Getting started Triplets are groups of 3 notes. These 3 notes make up one...
Read MoreDrumming at JamSocial
Posted on Apr 8, 2013 in News
JamSocial is a music workshop for adults learning an instrument to develop band skills and break down the barriers to performing on stage. Hosted by Elephant Drums, the structure for the event includes skill-specific workshops in the morning, band / group sessions in the afternoon, followed by performances, networking and jam sessions. We cover a range of songs in different styles at the events...
Read MoreOnline drum lessons 2012 – editor’s picks
Posted on Dec 31, 2012 in Guides and Resources
Traditionally at this time of year we review our picks of free online drum lessons. These are some of best bits from the drumming archives: Popular topics in 2012 Most viewed topic: Practice Routine Topic with most social shares: Drum Techniques Most commented topic: Beginners Review of the year Besides our one-to-one lessons at our London studios we have been leading workshops, running events...
Read MoreThe A Team: drum cover
Posted on Dec 29, 2012 in Creative Concepts
A great way to improve your drumming is to play a drum cover. A drum cover is a version of a song where you lay down new drums over the top of the original recording. The drum parts for a drum cover might stick faithfully to the original drummer’s playing or you might deviate and add in your own ideas. We’re going to create a drum cover for a song where the original version...
Read MoreUsing beat displacement to create drum beats
Posted on Dec 21, 2012 in Creative Concepts
By altering familiar drum beats using permutations and variations you can create new drum beats without a huge amount of effort. Take a drum beat or phrase you’ve got “in the bag” (one that you can play without even thinking about it), and alter it in some way. One way of altering grooves to create new permutations is beat displacement. Beat Displacement In its simplest form...
Read MoreInternal Dynamics
Posted on Dec 17, 2012 in Creative Concepts
Dynamics are an important part of playing drums. There are two basic ways to use dynamics in your playing; short dynamics that apply to a specific note, or long dynamics which apply to a series or group of notes across time. “Short” dynamics A loud note played within a group of notes is called an accent. In drum notation an accent is symbolised by the > sign. An accent applies...
Read MoreTriceratops Triplets
Posted on Dec 6, 2012 in Creative Concepts
This is a ‘dinosaur’ of a challenge based around groups of 3 notes, hence the name Triceratops Triplets. It is deceptively simple when broken down into its component pieces, but as these components get layered the challenge develops some interesting properties. Try this out first of all by just reading the instructions and ignoring the notation. The notation has been included to...
Read MoreTeaser: Bo Diddley Diddles
Posted on Jul 21, 2012 in Creative Concepts
A technical teaser with a creative twist for you this time… We’re going to combine the Bo Diddley rhythm with paradiddles – to give us “Bo Diddley Diddles”. First things first If you’ve never encountered the Bo Diddley rhythm or you’re unsure what paradiddles are, let’s give a bit of background. We covered paradiddles in a previous article –...
Read More
Recent Comments