Bill Powelson's School of Drums Drummers Aptitude Test Do you possess a 'hidden' talent for playing drums? Would you like to discover if you do? Take this drum-lesson/aptitude-test. It 'may' lead you into an unexpected career or hobby, as a drummer. You can do this without spending a dime. * NO DRUMS OR DRUMSTICKS NECESSARY! * Just tap on the computer desk, and pat your foot on the floor as you study this very basic drum lesson (below.) Incidentally . . . Most working drummers practice and learn this same way, MOST of the time. We learn to imagine a drum set in front of us, where ever we are, and we practice on 'whatever', is handy at the time! Developing this practice habit means that we can always practice anytime, 24/7/365. It's all about repeating the 'moves' (hands and feet), over and over until those 'moves' become ingrained into the memory (as natural habits.) Once we have the 'moves' down pat . . . it's extremely easily to transfer those moves onto a REAL drum set, and play song after song . . . by 'heart', by 'feel' or by 'ear'. The objective here is to learn to play the most common, and the simplest, beat pattern in pop music history, then connect that beat 'in-time', with the music you'll hear playing around you every day. If you can master the very simple lesson below, it means you should take your potential drumming talent and ability, more seriously. It may help you launch a potential hobby or career, as a drummer, in an 'almost' automatic way! The truth is . . . This lesson MAY set the unstoppable wheels in motion that could MAKE it happen. It's all about learning to listen to music a little differently. It's about learning to think LIKE a drummer. The rest may follow easily, in a natural way. You're about to learn how to do that, right here, right now! The objective is to repeat this beat pattern (below), enough times, so that it becomes a natural habit. Then, make it fit with MOST of the songs you'll hear on the radio, or your CDs. Hopefully, if you can develop the 'knack' for doing this, you'll gain the ability to play over 50 million songs, at a full drum set, with just this one lesson! Yes! You read that correctly! LEARN THIS ONE BEAT (BELOW), AND PLAY 50 MILLION SONGS, ON ANY DRUM SET! You'll quickly discover that if you can connect this beat 'in-time' with just one song, you'll also gain the ability to play virtually ANY of the other 50,000,000 songs that use (some form of) this same beat pattern! This may lead you to very big things! BECAUSE . . . If you can learn to 'instinctively' play along in-time with half the songs on the radio . . . it means one very important thing. It means you are . . . . . . potentially, a VERY good drummer! You'll discover very quickly, in only a few days, the indescribable thrills of jamming along with almost every song you'll hear. It's terrific fun to do that! It's the reason that working-drummers become working-drummers! It's FUN! It isn't work, at all! There's a 'feeling' that goes along with all this that is absolutely mesmerizing, and addictive! Once you 'feel' it . . . you won't want to stop. It means that you'll probably begin enjoying the rapping and banging on the furniture so much, that you will eventually be inclined to pursue this 'drumming thing' much more seriously. This is the seed from which your career (or hobby) as a drummer will grow! Take a few minutes here . . . to plant the seed . . . and you may become an unstoppable (NATURAL) drummer . . . almost over-night. The rest will happen naturally! Especially, if you'll return to this web site later, and take some of the other free lessons that follow this one. * * * * * * * * * As drummers, we do two things when playing in a band. We repeat beat patterns over and over 'IN-TIME' with the music, and we inject occasional rolls. It all begins with this first, most important, most common, beat . . . (in the lesson below.) Here, you will learn how easy it is to completely master the MOST COMMON BEAT in pop music history. It should become the catalyst (spring-board) that will lead you into a fascinating, fun career, or hobby, as a drummer. Yes! By learning this pattern, you will find it easy to make the transition over to a real drum set, very easily. It's actually easier to do this on a real drum set, rather than on the furniture, but THIS is the way to learn quickly and easily . . . WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME! If you can do this . . . you can easily become a working, professional drummer, with just a bit more help and study. This lesson is just the beginning of my complete, 125-lesson 'online' course in DRUMSET techniques. The lesson below is for the curious beginners. NOTE: Nearly all the lessons within this course are no more difficult than this lesson. If you can do this . . . the rest of the lessons will be just as easy! Within the first 10-lessons of this course, it's possible to get with an amateur-band first, then launch a career, as a pro-drummer from there. It's the way I, and thousands of other working drummers, did it! There's no reason why you shouldn't follow the same path. Believe it! It's so addicting that you will want to do it all the time. The more you play, the better drummer you'll become. Soon after that . . . the opportunities will come calling! You DO NOT need a drum set in front of you, in order to learn this! So, quit whining about that . . . and get started, RIGHT NOW! *** HERE'S YOUR FIRST *** (AND MOST IMPORTANT), LESSON. Do this now! With your RIGHT HAND, tap FOUR times on the desk in front of you, or the arm of your chair. . . . ONE . . . TWO . . . THREE . . . FOUR. Now we will do it again, but this time . . . Pat your RIGHT FOOT on the count of ONE and tap your LEFT HAND on the count of THREE (as you repeat those four notes with the right hand.) Think of it this way: COUNT   1 2 3 4             R=RIGHT HAND   R R R R L=LEFT HAND       L   F=RIGHT FOOT   F       * * * * * * * * Work very slowly at first until you get the hang of it. Keep it steady! Repeat, repeat, repeat! Repeat this pattern, over and over, without stopping, until you can play it steadily, comfortably, and rapidly from memory. It might take four or five minutes of intense concentration before it becomes easy to do. Within 10 minutes, you'll notice that with each repetition, it will become much easier. Each time you repeat the pattern, the more ingrained it will become. At some point, (usually after 10 or 15 minutes), it will become like a habit. You'll discover that you can repeat it over and over, without thinking about it. As it becomes easier and easier, you'll also discover that you can play it faster and faster. Keep repeating it until you can play it pretty fast without becoming mixed-up. * * * * * * * * WATCH THE VIDEO, IF YOU ARE CONFUSED . . . VIDEO: Click here to 'Play', see, and hear the 8th rock video. NOTE: If the video in this lesson will not play, please go to the following, "Video Troubleshooter" web page. * * * * * * * * HEAR IT FASTER. THIS IS AN AUDIO (MIDI) FILE ONLY: It should play on any audio player you have configured for your browser. Basic Rock Beat (.mid AUDIO file only) Now for the fun part! Pop on some music, any music . . . It doesn't matter what kind, just get a song playing. There is a forty-five percent chance that any song will be in this beat category. It is called, EIGHTH (rock) 4/4 . Listen deep into the music . . . Can you hear the drums? Are you hearing the beat you just learned, within the song that's playing? If you can, then jump in playing ALONG WITH the drummer on the recording. (If you aren't hearing this beat pattern within the music, keep changing to different recordings until you do hear it.) Listen for the consistent, repeating boom sounds of the bass drum. Pat your foot 'IN-TIME' with the bass drum in the music as the song progresses. Next, listen for the consistently repeating 'snap' sounds of the snare drum in the same song. It will be falling opposite the bass and will be more of a repetitious snap sound. Tap your left hand along with the snare sound. If you are following along 'IN-TIME' with the music, you are playing drums. Next, add the right hand (cymbal) like you practiced it, in the above lesson. That's all there is to it! If you are doing all this in-time with the music, it means you are potentially a VERY good drummer! Get into the habit of trying to do this with every song that comes up. Like magic, you WILL become a drummer! The shocking news is that it is easy to play about five of every ten songs, using just this one, easy, beat pattern! That's HALF of all the music ever recorded! If you can play along IN-TIME, with just one of those 50 MILLION songs, you'll soon realize that you can play along with ANY of them. The more you do it . . . the better drummer you will become. Soon, you'll begin to 'instinctively' feel the little rolls the drummers may play on the recordings, and the fancier (more complex) forms of the beat, too. It's all about listening and imitating . . . what you are hearing! It will come to you naturally as it does to all "natural" drummers. This is the way THEY became "natural" drummers. A lot of the more intricate techniques will just come naturally as you continue to play along with song after song. So . . . keep doing it, with every song you'll hear playing around you as you go through your day . . . EVERY day! IF you become addicted to doing this . . . it means you probably will enjoy a great future as a drummer. If you do not connect with the music, it may mean that your inner-drummer isn't awake, yet. Keep trying! OK, there is a little more to learn, but it is ALL this easy, if only you will STAY WITH ME ANOTHER 5-MINUTES, AND . . . Learn to READ DRUM NOTATION. The remainder of the 125-lessons in this COMPLETE COURSE are designed to help you become the BEST PRO-DRUMMER, in the business! It's possible to become a working-pro in under 6 months, if you'll apply yourself. None of the remaining lessons are any more difficult than the one you've just studied. So . . . make a bookmark and return often. Just click the link above to continue. Copyright Bill Powelson 1994 all rights reserved. NOTE: Please feel free to LINK to this page, or send it to your friends. (Just don't change anything.) Thanks.