It’s that time of the year when we delve into the archives and pull out some of the best bits from our free online lessons. Popular topics Most viewed topic: A career in drumming Most educational topic: Drum lessons Most commented topic: Lifestyle / Practise... Read More
Triplets are groups of 3 notes. They are used in many different forms of drumming, whether constructing drum fills, solos or grooves. In this article we’re going to look at using triplets to construct a groove. Andy Burt gives us an introduction to triplets and... Read More
This article is closely related to the previous discussion on drumming as a language (see ‘the secret of reading drum music’). Let’s build upon the idea of ‘communication’ through music, this time paying particular attention to dynamics.... Read More
Following on from the previous post about “punctuation” in drumming, this article takes a step back to look at the bigger picture of “how to read drum music”. First a bit of fun: Read the following sentences (read through quickly without paying... Read More
The Elephant Drums teaching method focuses on learning to play drums within the context of practical musical applictions for drumming. There is not much point in being a player of amazing drumming technique without being a player of fantastic musical ability too. We... Read More
RUDIMENTS Sticking patterns that form the basic building blocks or ‘vocabulary’ of drumming. E.g. Paradiddle SYNCOPATION ‘Unexpected’ rhythmic patterns that deviate from a strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak notes (pulse).... Read More
When you have started to build up a directory of grooves in different styles, it’s fun to experiment with ways of altering the grooves to create loads of new permutations. Remember the motto “from one thing know ten thousand things”. One such way of... Read More
In the beginning there is … counting to 4! Say it out loud: “One – Two – Three – Four -” Even if you do not own a drum kit yet, the best practise you can start on right away is counting (slowly) to 4 and tapping your right or left... Read More
This month let’s take a look at some more creative concepts in drumming. The way you think about the drums is fundamental to the way you physically play the drums. The Elephant Drums learning method includes study of the thought processes that go on... Read More
