Most drumbeats of the last 100+ years of American pop music have a common core. I’ll call it the “boom”, “chuck”, “boom”, “chuck”, with “ting, ting, ting, ting” on top. First variation is “boom, boom, boom, boom”, with the “chucks” on the 2nd and 4th “booms”. “Boom” is the bass drum, “chuck” is the snare drum, and ting is a cymbal.

You can hear this beat with simple variations from Ragtime to EDM through early jazz, swing, rock and roll, Motown, disco, punk, grunge, and pop. From the sublime to ridiculous. 
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Written out it looks like this in music notation:

​Its not difficult to get started, playing well though will take some time. The magic formula?

And, we must not forget that pesky metronome!

1. Getting started requires a drum set, sticks, brushes, drum throne, music stand, ear protection and a space to set it all up.
2. Spend some time thinking about your goals. At a minimum this should include the type of music you want to play.
3. Set up your realistic practice timetable to support these goals. For most people, including children, this starts with the question: "What am I going to give up?"
4. Next find a teacher who understands these goals and can sequence learning material to help you on your way.
5. Get started.

​If you would like some help in sequencing the material and receive weekly feedback, call me, let’s chat.

David

These are unprecedented times! As many of you know, a third of my teaching studio involves individual lessons offered online. I run a full video studio with two cameras and professional sound equipment. 
Effective immediately, I will move all lessons online until this situation has passed. Though my schedule will remain basically the same, I will have extra time available for when I would have been driving from one house to another. So, there is an opportunity to expand lesson length and/or intensity to keep you or children busy while they are home from school. Given the extra time many students will have, I am in the process of preparing extra written work to do.
How you set up for online lessons?
1.       Open a free Zoom account on your laptop. Skype, Facebook, and Google work as well. With Zoom video recording is very quick and easy.
2.       Position your device just above the height of the snare drum on the high hat side.  Be sure it is on a stable surface.
3.       We will spend a few minutes before beginning the lesson to get it all running.
How it works.
1.       Just like regular lessons!
2.       My demonstrations are recorded and put up on YouTube with a private link sent to you.
David