FIRST D RUM BOOK

E A S Y R E A D I N G B E AT S & F I L L S

CRASH
HI HATS....

S S
3X

CRASH

L L L L
S S
R L R L
S S
S S S S

F F F F

R R R R

USEFUL FOR YOUNG BEGINNERS.

PREPARE FOR READING REAL DRUM MUSIC.
W r i t t e n b y T h e o L aw r e n c e / T L M u s i c L e s s o n s
HOW TO READ THE DRUM MUSIC
- BASIC BEGINNERS DRUMS -

S = SNARE DRUM

1 = TOM 1 (HIGH TOM)

2 = TOM 2 (MEDIUM TOM)

F = FLOOR TOM

= BASS DRUM (KICK DRUM)

= HI HATS = HI HAT

= FASTER HI HATS

= RIDE = CRASH

© TL Music Lessons
HOW TO READ THE DRUM MUSIC - PART 2
- BASIC BEGINNERS DRUMS -

L < When drums are stacked like

this, they are played together
S at the same time. Left hand on
snare and right hand on the
F floor tom. Left handed players
will need to use the opposite
R hands to what it says.

< These are stacked too,

so here we will play the
S
Hi Hat, Snare, and
Bass Drum all at the same time.

R L R L < Here the drums are

not stacked. We will
S S F F play each drum one
at a time using the
hands it says to use:

R L R L = Right, Left, Right, Left.

Throughout this book, left handed players will need to use the opposite hands to what it says to use.

© TL Music Lessons
HOW TO READ THE DRUM MUSIC - PART 3
- BASIC BEGINNERS DRUMS -

Here we have a drum beat like you will see in the book...

* Hi Hat & Kick Drum - Together

* Hi Hat - On it’’s own
* Hi Hat + Snare - Together
* Hi Hat - On it’s own

You may wonder why the Hi Hats are attached above.

This is normal in drum music to show that they are 8th notes.
I have added them into this book to get you used to seeing them
attached. It’’s basically the same beat as this one below though:

...but technically these Hi Hats would be now be quarter notes and

therefore would be played slower than in the first beat.
© TL Music Lessons
HOW TO READ THE DRUM MUSIC - PART 4
- BASIC BEGINNERS DRUMS -

On the next page we will get started on some

drum beats and drum fills.

The page is split into 4 sections....

1. A drum beat, which will be repeated 3 times

2. A drum fill, to be played once
3. A different drum beat, to be played 3 times
4. A final drum fill, to be played once

With my pupils, I usually get them

to repeat around the whole page 2 or 4 times.

So, that means we play 1-4 above,

and then around it all again at least once more.

Sometimes we will just loop around steps 1-2

repeated 4 times, and then steps 3-4 repeated 4 times.
This helps to get used to the sections
before then putting them all together in one go.

TIME TO GET STARTED >

© TL Music Lessons
 SHEET 1
R R R R R R

S S
L L

4X 4X
1. 2.
R R R R

L
S S
L

4X 4X
3. 4.
R R R R R R

L
L
S S

8X 4X
5. 6.
R R R R R L R L

4X 8X
7. 8.

© TL Music Lessons
 SHEET 2
R R R R R R R R

S S S
LEFT HAND LEFT HAND LEFT HAND
3X

RIGHT FOOT RIGHT FOOT

R L R L
R L R L R L R L
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 R L R L
S S S S
F F F F

R R R R R R R R

S S
LEFT HAND LEFT HAND

3X

RIGHT FOOT RIGHT FOOT RIGHT FOOT

L L L L L L L
S S S S S S S

F F F F F F F

R R R R R R R
© TL Music Lessons