Drum Secrets 2 PDF Complete PDF

Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App

by Sam Brown
Sam Brown Music 2012 www.drumsecrets.com Twitter: @sambrownmusic
WELCOME!
Or perhaps I should say Welcome back if we have already met in Drum Secrets One.
Whichever way it is, I am delighted to be chatting to you here via these PDFs.
Thank you SO much for spending your hard-earned gig-money on my humble app. However,
I humbly believe that if you work through some of the material within these videos, MP3s
and PDFs your money will have been well spent. The apps value for money is largely de-
pendant upon the amount of time you invest in exploring the topics here-in. Feel free to
just watch the videos and laugh uncontrollably at my bald-patch (for that alone is worth the
tiny amount of money that you have spent). However, If you do invest some time working
through the material Im presenting to you, that tiny investment will become the equivalent
of having bought some Apple shares twenty years ago! Yes, there is HUGE value here if you
dive in with an open, enthusiastic mind and ambition in your heart.
The language of 16th notes
Yes, I know it sounds a bit corny, but it really is true: music is a language. Language is a form
of communication, and music certainly communicates a great deal - more than can be said
with words sometimes. For our language of sixteenth-notes, the alphabet would be the ba-
sic sounds: bass drum, hi-hat, unaccented snare and accented snare. Our vocabulary is made
up from the following combinations of four sixteenth notes:
VIDEO 1
S I XTE E NTHS 1 0 1
|t's amazlng wbat you can create uslng just tbose tteen llttle cbunks ot muslc - tbe 'woros'
of this vocabulary, in other words. Once you know what each one sounds like youll be
reading rhythms that are way beyond Grade Eight standard.
As a general rule, the more rests you eliminate, the easier the music will be to read. Here is
a mind-numbingly simple example:
The copyist/computer/whoever who wrote the example on the left presumed that the
stems for the hi-hat and snare drum should go up, and that the bass drum notes stems
should go down. This is understandable because they are probably used to writing music for
piano, guitar, harp and other polyphonic instruments. Sadly, this approach is not very helpful
for the reading drummer. Youll notice those horrible quarter-note rests on beats two and
four. If the writer had understood that the tune we are playing here is the bass drum/snare
drum pattern and that the hi-hat part is a much less important part of the musical pattern,
he would be more likely to write it as per the example on the right.
This becomes even more obvious when you consider our old friend the sixteenth-note
groove. If I religiously follow the rule I have just told you about youd get this:
which looks horrible because of the 16th note rests. So why not write it like this:
Answer: Because now weve got quarter-note rests on beats two and four and we cant see
the tune because its split between stems-up and stems-down. So we have to compromise
and run the risk of upsetting some music theorists out there. I believe the easiest way to
write this bar is like this:
Now we can see the tune (because the melody notes are all stem-down) yet we also un-
derstand that there is no hi-hat at the same time as the snare drum. The fact that the stem
goes up and down for the snare notes is the compromise we make for the sake of being
able to read this groove quickly and easily.
Another important way to eliminate rests was hinted at in the video: A long note on a
drum is the same as short note followed by a bunch of rests. In other words these two ex-
amples are to all intents and purposes the same:
As are these two:
By applying this rule, we can make certain phrases much easier to read.
Look at this horror:
Lets apply the rule and see how much clearer it is:
Yes, ditch the rests and the picture becomes a whole lot easier to read.
Sometimes I see really great drum tutor books rendered almost incomprehensible by the
way the music is typeset or copied. Such a shame. Sometimes, if a student is struggling with
a new piece they have picked up from the music shop, all I have to do is re-write it. I make
sure to get the stems going in the most logical direction and eliminating as many rests as I
can. Miraculously, the pupil gets up and running with the new piece in half the time.
Why Read?
Well, two huge reasons:
1) Your Education
2) Your Drumming Career
Firstly, when you can read, you are able to learn a ton of stuff that you would be very hard
pushed to learn without reading. I think the following videos and pages in this app will con-
vince you of this. You might, for example, go through all possible combinations of sixteenth
notes whilst playing a displaced paradiddle between your left hand and left foot without using
the reading material here... but I doubt it! This is a way of leaving no stone unturned, as
they say.
There may have already been times when you have wanted to play one rhythmic pattern in
one limb whilst playing another pattern somewhere else on the kit, but the mental agility
required would be somewhat super-human. Writing a musical challenge like that down is
otten tbe rst step towaros cracklng lt. 8elng able to reao muslc wlll also enable you to write
it too which is extremely useful as youll see in the next paragraph.
Secondly, whilst it is totally possible to enjoy a glittering career as a drummer without be-
ing able to read, I believe that this inability is in inverse proportion to how lucky you are. In
other words, instead of relying on luck to get your career off the ground, stack the odds in
your tavour ano aoo 'reaolng' to your orummlng tool-cupboaro. | learnt tbls rst-bano atter
sight-reading my way through a gig at Londons famous 100 Club with a fabulous band called
Blue Harlem featuring the wonderful singer Imelda May. I had been called as a last-minute
dep but suitably impressed the guys and was asked to join the band permanently shortly
afterwards. I would never have got that gig without being a good reader. From the connec-
tions I have made through that band, I have gone around the world and played for Royalty
and Film Stars. It is worth being able to read.
What Next?
In this app I have only got time to present one area of reading to you - ie sixteenth notes.
Youll need to know all about things like compound time-signatures, second endings, codas,
triplets, clefs, articulations... Yes theres more stuff to learn, but I hope to show you in this
app that learning to read music is not unlike learning a language and is, in many respects,
easier.
8y uslng tbe backlng tracks ln tbls app you'll be able to learn to reao Nuently. Tbe back-
ing tracks work rather like a teacher, in that you get immediate feedback when you play
something wrong. To expand your reading skills to include other styles and formats youll
bave to no a teacber to take you tbrougb otber reaolng materlal (untll | brlng out Drum
Secrets 3, of course) but at least you can become blisteringly brilliant at reading sixteenth
notes with a little help from me.
I should also mention that there is a really useful reading section in my Musicians Hypno-
sis iPhone app. The fact that you can read these words means that your brain already has
a mechanism to turn squiggles of ink on paper into sounds in your minds ear. This is the
same way we read music - its just different squiggles. The hypnosis helps to strengthen this
link and it also helps to undo the very unhelpful belief that you might have learnt through
a few bitter experiences that I am crap at reading music. Once you ditch the belief that
reaolng muslc ls oltcult, your braln wlll start to learn tbe patterns ano belp you progress
really quickly.
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
READING IS EASY - I PROMISE!
In this video I show you how you can discover the sound of each of the words in our
vocabulary by putting them on the bass drum within a sixteenth note groove. I also
introduce you to the concept of the Release Bar - something I hope you will use forever-
more with everything you learn. Possibly you have already been practising this way anyway,
which is brilliant.
Some lucky people stumble upon excellent learning strategies and become brilliant almost
ettortlessly. You are torglven tor a suooen Nusb ot jealousy. Tbere ls a lot tbat we can learn
trom tbese people: COPY THL|R STRATLG|LS! Tbe people wbo seem 'talenteo' otten oont
know bow tbey learn tblngs so tast ano etclently ano wltb many tbay reacb a polnt wbere
talent lsn't enougb ano tbey 'top-out'. Tbls ls wbere you take over. You bave tbe strategles
to continue where the talented drummers reached an impasse. More on this in my
podcasts and forthcoming iBook....
Tbe lmportant tblng to learn at tbls stage ot tbe proceeolngs ls tbe ablllty to analyse tbe
muslcal cbunk very qulckly ln terms ot wblcb slteentb-note(s) you are looklng at. Tbls sklll
will help you to mentally divide up a bar into four chunks (provided the music is in 4/4
tlme). Tbls ls tbe equlvalent ot lnstlnctlvely seelng tbe gaps ln between tbe woros. Seelng
four chunks of four sixteenths is much easier to de-code than one huge chunk of sixteen
sixteenth-notes.
VIDEO 2
BAS S DRUM F UN!
Here's a game:
Youcanprobablyread thissentenceeventhough therearenospaces betweenthewords
Altbougb tbere are no spaces ln between tbe woros, you coulo stlll reao tbe sentence. | put
gaps after every four words which is the equivalent of the bar lines in a line of music. Your
braln ls a genlus at recognlslng patterns - you just proveo tbat wben you reao tbe sentence.
You can do the same with music (once you can recognise the words).
If for any reason you cant recognise the words, youre in trouble:
muzeteprovdepodo5nec|sttuto vetu|kd,znesou zodnemezer,mez|s|ov,
Yes, its a challenge in Czech (unless you speak Czech, of course). In that example it is little
more than guesswork as to where each word begins and ends. With a line of music your
brain has to do the same thing ie recognise the chunks. My humble method in this app will
help your brain to do this quite elegantly while you have some musical fun at the same time.
Here's a qulck test. Tell me wblcb posltlon (1, 2, 3, or 4) eacb note ls ln. Answers on tbe
net page (but oont cbeat!).
Here are tbe answers:
1) Posltlon 3 (pos|t|ons one ond two moke up the e|ghth-note rest)
2) Posltlons 1 ano 2 (You may remember that this could have been written as a sixteenth followed
by a dotted eighth. Its quite common to see it this way, which is why I included it in the test.)
3) Posltlon 4
4) Posltlons 1, 3 ano 4
5) Posltlons 2 ano 4
6) Posltlons 1 ano 4
7) Posltlons 2 ano 3 (eos|||, confused w|th 2 ond +. lt`s o ver, su5t|e d|fference to |ook ot, so 5e
careful with those two).
8) Posltlons 1, 2 ano 3
Tbat was a tun game, but as wltb all skllls tbere's a oltterence between oolng sometblng
5ecouse we ore th|nk|ng o5out |t and doing something on autopilot (see the Four Levels Of
Learning bit in Drum Secrets to understand more about this. ) What we need is instant
recognition, and the way to speed that up is to take a page of sixteenth-notey music and talk
it through.
When you do a talk-through of a line of music this is how you would describe what you
see. You glve two pleces ot lntormatlon: 1) tbe slteentb-note posltlon ano tben 2) tbe beat
of the bar. ie:
The second sixteenth note of beat four or
The third sixteenth note of beat one
Ano so on ano so tortb. |t you teacb orums, lt's wortb gettlng tbe stuoent to talk tbrougb a
page or two before playing anything. It makes progress faster and more fun in the long run.
Here's an eample. Let's look at tbe rst llne ot tbe 'Horlzontal Reaolng trom Hell' page:
Tbe 'talk-tbrougb' woulo be as tollows:
1) Sixteenth-note one of beat three
2) Sixteenth-note one of beat four
3) Sixteenth-note four of beat four
4) Sixteenth-note three of beat two
5) Sixteenth-note two of beat one
6) Sixteenth-note four of beat one
7) Sixteenth-note two of beat three
8) Sixteenth-note four of beat three
9) Sixteenth-note one of beat two
10) Sixteenth-note two of beat two
Anyway, you'll now be great at qulckly recognlslng wblcb slteentb note you are on at any
given time.
Tbe tollowlng page ls tbe oemo | ran tbrougb ln tbe vloeo. Try lt out tor yourselt. Follow tbe
rules and trust your eyes more than your minds ear.
-------RELEASE--------
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
THE FUN PATH TO AWESOMENESS:
In this video we discover how many combinations of sixteenth-notes we can have on beat
two. If we are playing a groove with a backbeat, there will be a snare walloping away on
posltlon one ot beat two so we are only lett wltb posltlons 2, 3, ano 4 to ll ln.
The six variations look like this:
VIDEO 3
THE BACKBEATS OF DOOM!
Now we have the complete picture: all possible positions for the bass drum within a
slteentb-note groove. Tbe only place we are not puttlng tbe bass orum ls on tbe rst
position of beat two because thats where the snare backbeat is. I am not saying that you
NEVER put a bass drum down at the same time as the snare backbeat, but for the purposes
of this learning method well leave it out.
I was fortunate enough to be able to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music
and whilst there I worked through the Patterns books by Gary Chaffee. The Backbeats of
Doom page is my take on what I learned from Gary. I strongly recommend checking his
books out.
When I worked on this material when I was a student the only accompaniment I used was
a metronome. I was living and breathing drums so I just knuckled down and did the work
because thats what you did at music college. I returned home to the UK with my degree
and started teaching what I had learnt back in the USA. However, I was teaching students
who were not in a music college environment and the motivation to practice was very
different. I tried teaching them what I had learnt, but they didnt really get their teeth into it.
It was too dry. Dullsville. Yawn. Bor-ing!
Thats when I started developing the backing tracks and the whole method was transformed.
Hey, even I started working on the page again because it was so much FUN! My students
thought so too and they improved dramatically. I can quote my erstwhile pupil Leo
Crabtree, now drummer for The Prodigy, as saying that if it werent for the backing tracks he
would never have gone the distance with the backbeats page.
It is, I believe, a fantastically powerful combination: The Backbeats of Doom and the MP3
backing tracks and Ive been using my copy for about twenty years! I have printed the page
out ano lamlnateo lt ln plastlc so tbat lt wlll survlve tbe rlgours ot my orum room. An otce
supply shop or stationers will be able to do this for you too.
So here it is. Just for you:
FOR USE WITH DRUM SECRETS 2 IPHONE/IPAD APP
Sometimes jumping straight in with the Backbeats Of Doom page is a little over-ambitious.
Ive given you some guidance on how to nurse yourself into a new ride pattern or sticking
ostlnato, so |'m pretty conoent tbat you'll get up ano runnlng wltb tbls pretty easlly.
Anotber belptul tlp: | otten recommeno oolng tbese slmple elgbtb-note bars rst as a 'warm
up before diving into the page:
That approach works particularly well when practising the left-hand-lead routine coming up.
Anotber recommenoatlon ls: work on one column untll you are conoent, tben work on
one line (ie all twelve bars - dont forget that the page is a six-by-twelve table.) Then you
have experienced all the coordination that youll need. From then on its just combinations
and you can have fun making it groove with the backing tracks.
Tbere ls a oanger tbat you can bave too mucb tun ano start puttlng ln some tancy lls wbere
there should be a nice bland release bar! Hey, we are all human and it is tempting to rock
out with this and get carried away. My only caveat here is this: if you arent 100% perfect
wben you come back ln atter lnoulglng yourselt ln your ll, tben you are oolng more oamage
than good. Avoid the temptation to over-play unless you can guarantee perfection.
So what follows now is a short selection of approaches that you can try out with the
Backbeats Of Doom. This should get you started, but I really hope that you use your
lmaglnatlon ano no some wacky way ot playlng tbls stutt wblcb basn't been trleo betore.
That way youll become an original player with a distinctive sound - something youll need in
order to stand out amongst the millions of brilliant drummers out there!
Ambition, imagination and bravery are three very good qualities to nurture. Go for it!
Below are some suggested ways to use the Backbeats Of Doom. With the sticking-pattern
examples, see if you can adapt them by reversing the sticking. With the Ride Pattern
approach, work on them left-handed too. This might mean changing your kit setup a little - I
no belng able to play lett-banoeo on tbe bl-bat very usetul at tlmes. Also, lt you teacb, you'll
be a lot better at demonstrating your grooves to a left-handed pupil.
TO PUSH, OR NOT TO PUSH...
When you have the last sixteenth-note (ie the fourth one) followed by a rest, it gives you
that funky pushed feeling:
The scat syllables: Scoo-by-do-WAH describe what I mean, in a roughly phonetical way.
However, that push feeling disappears as soon as you place a note directly after it:
Thats more of a: Du-DUM kind of sound.... if you see what I mean.
I only mention this because the two types of sixteenth-note number 4 feel very different.
One is funky and syncopated, the other has a much more solid and grounded down-beaty
feel. After working on the material in this app youll recognise the 2 different situations and
read accordingly.
Watch out for bar-lines and particularly those instances where the Du-DUM is split
between two lines.
When working through the Backbeats Of Doom page, you could choose a release bar which
has a bass drum on the downbeat:
Or you could choose a release bar with a rest on the downbeat:
The two ways of playing a release will give a different feel to the groove. Just so as you
know....
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
THE BITTER PILL WORTH SWALLOWING:
Wben | teacb, | no tbat tor some reason tbe slteentb-note groove ls otten not a pupll's
tavourlte groove to play, especlally ln tbe early oays ot learnlng to orum. Tbey oevelop ln
leaps ano bounos wltb tbe elgbtb-note patterns, but tbe slteentb-note stutt gets lett beblno.
Tbls ls a real sbame because learnlng to control tbe slteentb-note grooves glves you tbe
skllls necessary tor gooo lls ano solos on tbe klt.
| was really lucky to play wltb Georgle Fame ano tbe 8lue Flames very early on ln my
orummlng career. Tbe trutb ot tbe sltuatlon was tbat | was totally ln above my oeptb - tbe
guys ln tbe bano were regular players tor artlsts sucb as George Mlcbael, Plnk Floyo, Tbe
Rolllng Stones, van Morrlson ano otber sucb lumlnarles ano at my tenoer age | was more
tban a llttle star-struck.
Tbere were two or tbree songs ln tbe set wblcb oemanoeo a really sollo slteentb-note
groove but tortunately Georgle cbose not to oo tbem tor tbe rst tew glgs. Tbat was ne
untll on one glg be oecloeo to pull one ot tbe tunes out ot tbe pao. | was oeao meat. My
slteentb-note grooves suckeo. | olon't oo a gooo job ano un-surprlslngly Mr Fame olon't
glve me any more work. | blew lt, ano all because ot one groove.
Tbat eperlence maoe me tblnk long ano baro about bow to make my slteentb-note
grooves as sollo as a very blg, beavy rock ano | came up wltb tbe approacb tbat you see on
tbe vloeo.
|n a nutsbell, you bave to strengtben tbe llnk between your lett bano ano rlgbt toot. very tew
bumans are 'wlreo up' tbls way. For most ot us our lett bano ls more strongly llnkeo to our
lett toot - llke a puppet wltb a strlng attacbeo trom tbe lett palm to tbe lett knee. Somebow
VIDEO 4
THE NIGHTMARE BAR!
we bave to sever tbat llnk ano attacb tbe lett palm to tbe R|GHT knee!
| baven't counteo bow many tlmes | say Get those bass-drum/left-hand unisons really together
and squeeky-clean ln tbese vloeos, but | can certalnly tell you tbat lt ls not nearly enough.
|t ls tunoamentally lmportant ano you sboulo set your own lnternal quallty-control to lts
blgbest posslble settlng wben you work on tbls.
|t wlll take you a wblle to get useo to tbe teellng ot lett bano ano bass orum ln unlson, but
| promlse you will get useo to lt lt you work on tbe lett-bano-leao metboo as sbown ln tbe
vloeo. Don't go near tbe 8ackbeats ot Doom page untll you can groove along to some tunes
playlng tbese slmple beats:
Tbey all leao lett-banoeo ano tbey all use nlce, ear-trlenoly elgbtb-note patterns. Put on
some nlce rocky tunes ano groove away untll you teel totally comtortable. Tbe net step ls
to go to tbe 8ackbeats Ot Doom page ano work your way oown tbe columns. Fun tun tun!
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
SOME GROOVY SUGGESTIONS:
Below are some suggested ways to use the Backbeats Of Doom. With the sticking-pattern
examples, see if you can adapt them by reversing the sticking. With the Ride Pattern
approach, work on them left-handed too. This might mean changing your kit setup a little - I
no belng able to play lett-banoeo on tbe bl-bat very usetul at tlmes. Also, lt you teacb, you'll
be a lot better at demonstrating your grooves to a left-handed pupil.
With all of these examples, for the sake of clarity, I have not written in the left foot part.
More on that later...
VIDEO 5
THE DRUM-GODS JUST MADE ME FUNKY!
At tbls polnt | must tbank my gooo trleno [erry Crozler-Cole tor oolng sucb a tab job aoolng
his funky guitar to my backing tracks. Rather than bury his credit in the small-print at the
eno ot tbese PDFs, please torglve me tor puttlng lt bere tor you to reao. [erry's playlng bas
made such a difference and has added life to what would otherwise be a very sterile bit of
M|D| programmlng. Cbeck tbe tunky gultar out wben you net play along to tbe MP3s.
8y tbe way, [erry bas an ecellent tultlon app ot bls own out calleo '[erry's Gultar' ano lt
makes a tabulous Cbrlstmas or 8lrtboay present tor your gultarlst-trlenos. More lnto at
[erry's webslte: www.jerrysgultarapp.com or cbeck lt out ln tbe app ln tbe App Store.
THE LEFT FOOT
When you move your right hand up to the ride cymbal (or cow-bell, x-hat, wood-block etc
etc etc) your lett toot becomes tree to joln ln tbe tun. On tbe net page |'ve got some loeas
for you to try out.
|t ls otten wortb playlng tbe 8ackbeats Ot Doom page wltbout tbe rlgbt bano part just to
see how the feet interact with each other. Once those three limbs are secure, then add the
rlgbt bano back ln. Cbeck lt out on tbe tollowlng page:
Here |'ve taken tbe rst bar ot tbe 8ackbeats Ot Doom page as an eample.
The obvious choices are quarter-notes in the left foot, eighth-notes in the left
foot and the up beats in the left foot.
When you get really ambitious it is possible to play much more elaborate rhythms such as
tbe varlous 'Clave' patterns wltb tbe lett toot. You can get attacbments wblcb allow you
to play cow bells and even cabassas with the left foot - that opens up a whole world of
posslbllltles. Tbat worlo ls yours to eplore lt you are brave ano ambltlous. Gooo luck.
DYNAMICS MAKE YOU FUNKY
Towards the end of the video I talk about the issue of dynamics. I cannot over-emphasise
the importance of getting as wide a range of dynamics as possible within the groove. The
unaccented snare notes of a sticking pattern need to be whisper-quiet and the backbeat
needs to be a full-in-the-face rimshot accent. By learning to control your drumming to
the extreme ends of the scale, youll then have the control to play anywhere within that
spectrum of sound. It is vital to know, and be able to play, where the ends of the scale are.
Here is a game you can play which teaches you a great deal of dynamic control. Play quarter-
note unisons between two limbs - lets take right hand and right foot as an example. Play
one llmb very quletly ano play tbe otber llmb very louo. Tben, swap roles ln mlo-Now. Tbls ls
wbat lt looks llke on paper:
It is quite tricky to keep the unisons really tight, and is especially challenging when you use
tbe lett toot as one ot tbe parts. Gooo luck! |t sounos as tbougb lt sboulo be easy but lt lsn't.
However, it is a very powerful learning tool as well as being a good test of your dynamic
control abilities.
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
AN INTRO TO LINEAR DRUMMING
I seem to be using the phrase Linear drumming is the funkiest thing you can do with a bar of
sixteenth-notes rather too much in this app. However, I do believe that to be the case.
Using the John Bonham Triplet routine as the opening wedge into this technique is a great
introduction to both Linear Drumming and indeed to Polyrhythms. The idea of playing
groups of three, but phrasing them in groups of four scrambles the listeners brain and
creates a very pleasant state of mild musical confusion. This state of confusion creates
tension, and we resolve the tension by bringing out the backbeat as demonstrated. The
result? Funkiness.
As with previous examples, dynamics are key here. Go for extremes: very quiet and very
loud. Its that contrast in volumes that makes this work so well. Heres what the lick looks
like:
Tbe key to tbls ls to play all tbe tetural ller notes as quletly as posslble. |t's tbe way tbat
the bass drum notes and the snare backbeat combine which creates the tune. More on this
tune thing in the next video.
VIDEO 6
LINEAR DRUMMING MADE EASY
That lick is only the start of a huge topic. It is almost overwhelming when
you rst get lnto llnear grooves, but | bope to make lt manageable ano tun
by linking it in with the Backbeats of Doom backing tracks.
As I mentioned on the video, I have created the Linear Backbeats Of Doom page for you.
Print it out, laminate it in plastic if you like, and it will be your friend for many many years.
However, although the framework of bass drum notes and the backbeat are exactly the
same as tbe backlng track, tbe tetural ller notes are just ones tbat | ranoomly maoe up.
You could, if you wanted to, write out your own version of this page by choosing your own
selectlon ot ller notes. Tbere woulo be a rlolculous amount ot varlatlon avallable lt you
were to oo tbls. Here are just a tew ways tbat you coulo orcbestrate tbe rst bar lt you
wanted to get creative and produce your own page:
Youll notice that the bass drum and the accented snare backbeat are the same for all four
eamples. Tbe cbanges are only ln tbe ller notes.
Now at this point I have a confession to make. When I do the demonstration of the Linear
Backbeats Of Doom I merrily say how easy it is to play a paradiddle as your release bar. I
then proceed to play something different! It seems that the release bar that I was putting in
was, more often than not, this: R L R R L L R L.
Now in a way I am glad I made that mistake because it proves that when I was playing beats
3 and 4 I was truly relaxing my brain and playing on autopilot. This is exactly what you are
supposed to do in a release bar, so in a way I have proved my point. Anyway, I wasnt going
to re-lm tbe sequence just because ot tbat!
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
FOUR HUNDRED MILLION GROOVES! (nearly)
Yes, its true. Take four sixteenth-notes, distribute them between bass drum, hi-hat, accented
snare and unaccented snare and youll get about a hundred and forty usable chunks of
music. (The un-usable ones are the ones with three-in-a-row or more so I disregarded
them). Multiply 140 by 140 four times and you get 3,841,6000. Thats a lot of grooves!
Please excuse my blatant advertising for my Drum Linear iPhone App in this video, but I
think you would have some fun with it and also learn some hot grooves in the process.
The secret to linear drumming is to do lots and lots of grooves, not just learn a dozen or
so patterns and end there. The idea is that you should be able to weave any pattern you
wish around the kit and in order to do that you need to have a large database of linear
experience under your belt. The Drum Linear app helps you to build that linear repertoire
in a fun and musical way.
As explained, you have to extract the tune that is hidden in that bar of sixteenths. After a
while youll get pretty adept at doing this and youll be milking the music from the bars in no
time. When I recorded the demo of me playing with no dynamics and then playing the same
pattern with dynamics, I was amazed at the difference. I have demonstrated that routine to
my students in their lessons, but never actually heard myself doing it! It is a very powerful
demonstration of the importance of dynamics.
Heres the bar that the Drum Linear App came up with for me:
VIDEO 7
LINEAR DRUMMING GOES BONKERS!
LINEAR LEARNING STRATEGIES:
Here I go a little deeper into the subject of release bars. If they enable you to loop an
exercise and play a continuous stream of music then youll probably be enjoying your
practice session much more. There is nothing worse than trying to play something with
supreme effort and failing! It is much better to play with little effort and to SUCCEED!
Scuse me whilst I tweet those last two sentences..... There. Done!
The law of reversed effort sometimes works wonders. Yes, there are times when you really
have to stretch yourself, but I think the 80-20 principle applies here. In other words: use
stealth learning for 80% of your practice time and really burn for the remaining 20%.
With stealth learning you are making the task as easy as possible by taking very small steps
forward. There should be no sweat when you are practising this way. Using release bars is a
great example of stealth learning, and so is playing an exercise really, really slowly.
In the video I demonstrate a good practice routine using the release-bar method. The
graphic on the screen tells you what my brain is doing as I play. Ive compressed the
practice-session into about 90 seconds for the video - you should take considerably longer
when you use this routine.
The main thing is to notice how calm you can remain when you work this way. If your
degree of calmness is in proportion to the speed at which you are playing, see how much
calmer you feel when you slow down. Often Ill ask a student this question: How relaxed
will you feel when you can play this brilliantly? Then Ill go on to ask them to pretend to
be that relaxed NOW and see how much better they play. (Also, for those of you with any
knowledge of NLP, youll notice the embedded command there: you can play this brilliantly.
Haha! Sneaky stuff!)
Anyway, getting to the top by climbing the cliff face is almost impossible - go round the back
and walk gently up the slope. Metaphors - dont you just love em.
MORE LINEAR FUN:
Heres an idea which I simply didnt have time to put on the video. Its seriously cool! Youll
love it.
The idea is to choose a linear groove which doesnt contain too many double strokes and to
play some ot tbe ller notes as 32no note ooubles. Here's tbe eample | playeo ln tbe oemo
but with the embellishments:
The dynamics still apply though, so keep the 32nd note doubles really quiet.
|t you really want to mllk tbe app ory, tben wby not take tbe rst twelve slteentb notes ano
pretend they are eighth-note triplets! Ignore the last four notes (the greyed out ones in the
example below). Now you have some cool jazz patterns. OMG, I have just opened up a can
of very wriggly worms with that idea.... I feel another app design coming on!
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
WHEN IS A PARADIDDLE NOT A PARADIDDLE?
The answer is, of course when it is not a paradiddle. In other words, even if we move the
sticking around, it is still that cherished pattern of RLRR LRLL. However, this video should
show you that theres lots to explore in that hallowed rudiment and some hidden gems to
be found too.
This video is all about displacing a sticking pattern and, for familiaritys sake, Ive chosen the
paradiddle as our starting point. The routine I do at the beginning is something like this:
Actually, the very last displacement is slightly different from what I describe in the video. I
actually start the paradiddle on the second sixteenth-note of the bar. This way it makes for
a nice little four bar routine thats worth learning.
I remember seeing a drum clinic on TV (ahh, those were the days when they put interesting
stuff on the telly) featuring the great Billy Cobham and I remember him doing a similar
VIDEO 8
DISPLACED STICKINGS
routine. Very clever I thought. I tried doing it and soon discovered that it was more fun to
pull my own ngernalls out wltb a palr ot rusty pllers tban practlce tbls. |t was oltcult ano
no tun at all ano just atrmeo my susplclons tbat | suckeo at paraolooles.
However, many many years later, after playing with paradiddles in a far less exercise-y and
much more musical way, I discovered that I could (pretty much) do the routine that Billy had
oone all tbose years ago. Atter a tew sesslons worklng lt out, | was Nylng!
What had happened? Well, I think I learned that I learnt best when I was having fun. As
soon as sometblng became 'bomework' | ran a mlle. 8y some Nuke early on ln my orummlng
journey, I had managed to frame learning paradiddle stickings as being fun. I hope to take
that concept and show you how to make things fun for you too.
So now we dive into the application of some displaced stickings. This will lift them from the
bottom of the stuff I should do but cant be arsed list, to the top of the lemme at it! I HAVE to
learn to do that plle. Prepare tor Doctor Groove to lnject you wltb tunky-serum!
Heres some of the fun that I demonstrate on the video. Firstly, one bar of plain vanilla-
Navoureo paraoloole tolloweo by a bar tbat bas been olsplaceo. Notlce tbat tbe very last
note is hi-hat and bass-drum together in unison. However, the hi-hat in that example
can be left out leaving just the bass drum playing on the very last note. It is a little more
comfortable, I think. Try both ways of playing it.
The next thing to do is to condense the two bar phrase into one bar: half a bar of plain
paradiddle followed by half a bar displaced:
ONLY THE BEGINNING
Well, we have certainly given the humble paradiddle a bit of a shake-up, but do remember
that its the principle of displacing stickings that you are learning here - not just a party-trick
with a paradiddle. I hope youll start exploring paradiddle-diddles and double paradiddles the
same way - tbere ls a vast repertolre ot serlously cool sounos out tbere!
If you have seen Drum Secrets 1, youll know that sticking patterns exist for a musical
reason and are simply combinations of single and double strokes. Invent your own stickings
and then have fun displacing them and see what you get. I certainly didnt discover the cool
grooves you have heard in this app until I got pencil and paper out and started moving the
notes about. Engage imagination, and off you go...
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE
Yes, by now youll have grasped the big picture that Im painting with this app. Some
extremely complex music grows from the roots of some essentially simple things: our
tteen 'woros' trom our vocabulary. Here we eplore tbe loea tbat reaolng tbose woros
without reference to a grid of hi-hat notes is a slightly different process for our brains to
banole. |t's not oltcult, just oltterent. Tbe 8ackbeats ot Doom page teacbes you wbat tbose
tteen cbunks ot muslc souno llke ano trom tbat awareness tbe sklll ot reaolng borlzontally
comes relatively easily.
I often explain to a pupil that when you read vertically you are relating each note to that
grlo ot bl-bat or rloe cymbal notes. Tbe grlo ot notes ls tbe equlvalent to tbe talnt llnes on
grapb paper ano tbe bass orum/snare orum tune ls tbe equlvalent ot tbe llne ot tbe grapb
- the important information blt, ln otber woros. Tbe llne on tbe grapb woulo be oltcult
to reao accurately wltbout tbe talnt llnes ot tbe grapb paper - tbat woulo be llke reaolng
borlzontally but playlng wltb no reterence to any klno ot regular pulse. Wben we reao
borlzonrally we neeo to bave a gooo sense ot lnner tlme runnlng ln our mlno's ear. |n otber
woros, lt | contlnue tbe metapbor, we are lmaglnlng tbe aural equlvalent ot grapb paper ln
our minds ear!
You'll get all sorts ot benets trom becomlng Nuent ln tbls language. Flrstly, wben you can
read it you can also write it! Now, I can hear you protesting that you have no ambition to
write music, but consider the following scenario:
VIDEO 9
LETS GO HORIZONTAL!
Many tlmes, as a treelance muslclan, | am calleo upon to play tor all manner ot projects.
Some ot tbem lnvolve just turnlng up, reaolng tbe oots, taklng a large wao ot casb ano golng
bome usually vla a nlce curry bouse. | llke tbose glgs. On tbe otber bano, sometlmes | am
askeo to play or recoro wltb a bano ano tbere ls no wrltten muslc to play at all. Tbe guys ln
tbe bano rebarse every week ano play everytblng trom memory. Now | oon't know about
you, but learnlng two bours wortb ot muslc ano comlttlng lt to memory tor tbe sake ot one
or two glgs ls not tbe most etclent use ot my tlme so | slt oown tor a couple ot bours ano
sketcb out rougb orum-parts tor tbe songs.
Wben we bave a run-tbrougb betore tbe sbow lt turns out tbat | know tbe materlal better
than the guys in the band! I can say with cast-iron certainty that It is a double chorus after the
sax solo, then the bridge, then the third verse. Ano wben tbey cbeck tbey see tbat |'m rlgbt. At
least tbls way |'m more llkely to be reo tor belng smug ratber tban tor belng un-prepareo.
So tbat's one gooo reason tor belng able to reao, but bere's anotber. Tbls ls taken trom my
tortbcomlng l8ook wblcb ls tentatlvely entltleo 'HLLP ML! - |'m A Muslclan!' :
What I suggest is that you do is err on the side of caution and get your reading
and theory chops together - just to be on the safe side. My own career took
a dramatic turn thanks to one pivotal gig. I was called for a last-minute dep
job with a great swing/blues band called Blue Harlem featuring the wonderful
singer Imelda May at Londons famous 100 Club in Oxford Street. With no
rehearsal I went in and sight-read my way through two sets of charts. I did a
good job because I became frst-call dep` and ultimately was asked to join the
band. Im still with them now. Had it not been for that evenings sight-reading
challenge the past ten years would have turned out very differently. That band
has taken me around the world and to some amazing places, Buckingham
Palace was a particular highlight, and I have got to play with some fantastic
musicians too.
My point is that although youll probably not need to read on every gig,
occasionally it can come in very useful career-wise! Theres a plethora of good
Tbe book sboulo be ln tbe l8ook store ln tbe Autumn ot 2012. |t you've got an lPao, please
cbeck lt out.
Anyway, if you were a bit iffy about reading then I hope that has encouraged you to
embrace ano eplore reaolng muslc as a wonoertul, llte-enbanclng sklll.
HORIZONTAL READING FOR DRUMMIES
Tbls page, plus tbe backlng track tbat goes wltb lt, ls a great way to bone your reaolng
skllls. Lacb llne ls tour bars long ano concentrates on one ot tbe tteen cbunks trom our
vocabulary. You can choose to read the melody with any limb, but the way I demonstrate
lt ln tbe vloeo ls a gooo place to start. Here tbe melooy ls ln tbe lett bano on tbe snare, tbe
otber llmbs are playlng sometblng calleo an 'ostlnato'. An ostlnato ls just a repetltlve pattern
which ultimately youll be able to play on auto-pilot and Ill suggest some melody/ostinato
comblnatlons tor you later ln tbls PDF.
Tbe ostlnato bere ls slteentbs ln tbe rlgbt bano on tbe rloe cymbal ano elgbtb-note
'walkles' ln tbe teet ano looks llke tbls:
teachers, study aids, iPhone apps and more out there which make learning this
stuff easy and fun. Go for it - doors open if you are a good reader.
If you can read these words then there is a neural network already in your
brain which can convert squiggles of ink on paper (or screen) into sounds in
your head. You say the words in your minds ear as you read. Reading music
is exactly the same mental process only using a different set of squiggles. It
is also different in that you dont use your vocal chords to produce the sounds
unless you are a singer. No, youll be blowing, scraping, or thumping to get
the sounds out instead.
Now, | am very anlous tbat you get lnto tbls ano start bavlng tun. |t maklng
tbe jump trom unoerstanolng tbe tbeory to actually playlng tbe rbytbms ls
too blg a leap, tben | tblnk one lesson trom a gooo teacber woulo get you
up ano runnlng. | oo Skype, by tbe way. Lmall me sam@orumsecrets.com.
Here are some more wacky ostlnatos tor you to bave tun wltb:
Remember, tbls ls just tbe start. Use your lmaglnatlon ano work out your own ostlnatos!
HORIZONTAL READING
FOR DRUMMIES
HORIZONTAL READING
FOR DRUMMIES P2
Drum Secrets 2
iPhone and iPad App
by Sam Brown
JUST THE BEGINNING
Yes, youve probably got the idea now that this app is just the beginning for you. Using the
tools Ive shared with you, youll be able to forge your own path and develop your own style
and identity as a musician.
Wbat | bave lncluoeo ln tbls tbe nal vloeo ls a oemonstratlon ot tbe way | encourage you
to think. What would it be like if I played such-and-such left handed or I like this bar - how
can I develop it into something really special?
I can also introduce you to another page of melodies in this lesson: the Horizontal Reading
From Hell page. Here I have included some polyrhythmic reading which is way beyond
Grade Eight reading, yet if you work through the Backbeats of Doom and the Horizontal
Reading For Drummies youll be reading this stuff with ease.
When you set up a new ostinato for use with either of the two Horizontal Reading pages,
its a good idea to work on the required skills list which I mention in the video. Depending
upon the kind of exercise you have designed for yourself, the list will be slightly different.
For instance in the video I leave the feet doing a really strange pattern: the bass drum is on
sixteenth-notes 2 and 4. Therefore both hands are free so my required skills list would be a
bunch of two-limbed patterns. For instance:
Singles, Doubles, Displaced Doubles, Paradiddles, Polyrhythms.
Heres what they look like:
VIDEO 10
SAM GOES BONKERS!
Then the fun really starts. Yes, its time for some Polyrhythms!
We have met a polyrhythm already in video number six. We started our exploration of
linear drumming by playing little chunks of three notes, even though the music was blatantly
constructed in groups of four. The poor listeners brain doesnt know which way to think:
Do I latch onto the 3 phrase or the 4 phrase? and its this confusion which makes it
sound so interesting (read: funky) to us.
The way I approached the 3 polyrhythm in this example is to play a simple R L L sticking
and loop it around. Unfortunately, because the sticking is totally out of phase with the
sixteenth notes in the bar, we have to do THREE WHOLE BARS of this polyrhythm before
we wind up with R L L at the beginning of the bar again. Sorry, thats just the way it works.
A '5' polyrbytbm wlll take ve bars to resolve, a '7' polyrbytbm wlll take seven bars to
resolve etc etc. Heres the 3 polyrhythm written out so you can see whats going on:
It is also very common to phrase the 3 polyrhythm R R L. I didnt include
this in the demo on the video, but you should try it out anyway:
Next we meet the 5 polyrhythm. Yummy, this is really useful - well worth learning! This
bas to be ve bars long betore we lap back to tbe beglnnlng agaln. (Hlnt: you'll notlce tbat
tbe Rlgbt Hano lanos on tbe rst beat ot bar tbree - tbls ls usetul as a lanomark tor your
minds ear to know where you are in the bar. Very helpful.) A Polyrhythm like this creates
a lot of tension in the music so dont feel that you have to play tbe wbole ve-bar pbrase.
The audience loves polyrhythms, but only when you RESOLVE THE TENSION with a big, fat,
friendly downbeat at the end. The release of musical tension FEELS GREAT!
The next polyrhythm is the group of seven. The sticking Im using in the demo is:
R L R L R L L and it resolves after seven bars. Useful for confusing the dancers on the dance
Noor! Watcb tbem trlpplng up all over tbe place wben you pop tbls one ln ourlng 'Mustang
Sally'. Mucb glggllng backstage atterwaros.
If you can play these polyrhythms whilst playing the ostinato at the same time then I reckon
you are pretty comfortable with the coordination. I took the liberty of doing a little solo for
you on the video here. Im not fond of self-indulgent chop-fests when I teach, but I thought
you should at least see where this approach has led me. Now you can have some fun and
play trom tbe Horlzontal Reaolng pages wltb tbe backlng tracks ano you'll no lt a wbole
lot easier having been through the preliminary exercises from the list. You can read with
one bano, botb banos, ll ln notes wltb oouble stroke rolls.... once agaln, you get to use your
imagination to create your own approach. After working this way for a while youll have
great fun next time you read a Tower Of Power drum chart or need to play a blistering solo.
Its a great skill to have.
So tbat approacb ls ne lt you bave two llmbs tree to bave tun wltb. |t you
choose an ostinato which leaves only one limb free, then your required skills
list would be a little different. We touched on this way of learning in Drum
Secrets 1 when we explored the Samba groove as part of our bass drum doubles lesson.
We had two basic skills to master: melody notes on the down-beats and melody notes on
the up-beats.
If you understand the metaphor of the guy restoring bike engines by making sure each
component was in perfect condition, youll approach the Horizontal Reading pages in the
most etclent ano stressless way. Flrstly, loentlty tbe components tbat make up tbe sklll tbat
you need. In the example on the video there were two fundamental skills: 1) melody notes
in unison with the right hand and 2) melody notes in unison with the bass drum. Therefore,
before trying to read anything at all, I made sure those skills were comfortable. Heres what
those exercises look like:
Finally we need to get to grips with the Polyrhythms. These guys are very simple patterns
really, its just a shame that they look so terrifying when they are written down! Sorry about
that. I hope that when you start playing them youll hear the repetitiveness of the phrase
and play them by ear to start with.
Here's tbe 've' polyrbytbm:
So here are the Horizontal Reading From Hell reading pages. Sometimes I have used ties
to join notes together even though we have no way of sustaining the sound of a single hit
on a percussion instrument. Although it is usually helpful to eliminate rests when writing a
groove (see lesson 1) when reading horizontally it is good to have the same note values as
the rest of the band (or in this case the brass section). When writing drum parts, common
sense should prevail at all times.
A FINAL GOODBYE AND SOME CREDITS WHERE DUE:
Time to wrap it up now. Ahhh.
Thank you for purchasing this humble collection of drummy material. I hope you have found
things that will take your drumming forward in whatever direction you wish. Thank you for
baring with me on the slightly heavy reading material - I had to cover all the theory so that
any non-reaoers amongst you woulo get tbe malmum benet, especlally trom tbe tunky
stuff towards the end of the app. I hope youll forgive me if some of the material was stuff
you already knew.
Thank you too for allowing me to be ever so slightly cheeky in asking for you to review the
app in the app store. Im a struggling musician too and the apps help keep my head above
water. Tbe revlews belp keep me aNoat so tbanks ln aovance tor glvlng me some stars
where they count :-)
Big thanks to Jerry Crozier-Cole for his wonderful guitar work on the backing tracks - it has
brougbt tbem to llte. Tbanks to [oe Morettl ot MakeMoreMuslc tor gettlng me starteo ln
App-land and to Ted Nash of Venevi.com for his expert support and guidance in the early
oays. Tbanks too to Tara tor nalllng tbat llttle blt ot clarlnettlng - your rst ever recorolng
session, well done gal!
Special thanks to Lynne for supporting me and my creative urges. Itll all be worthwhile, I
promise!
Please follow me on Twitter @sambrownmusic and Facebook: samthedrums.
Happy drumming!

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