Undoubtedly, the most popular style of drumming is rock. It includes all genres like rock alternative, heavy, classic, metal and soft. Most of the drummers play rock music because it is very easy to learn to play the drums on the basic rock beats. However, rock drumming can be very difficult and complicated at the same time. There are many levels of rock drumming which are different to each other in terms of their complexity. One of the very popular rock music is punk rock. Linear drumming might also help you to learn rock of today.
The basic 8th note beat is played in simple rock songs and is played in common time. This is one of the first beats that the drummers tend to learn. A lot of drum beats revolve around this extremely basic beat. Rock and roll drumming is also easier when you learn this beat. Heavy rock and pop is also used in the commercial music these days.
Odd time signature beats are also played in rock music. One of the very challenging grooves and beats of the odd time signatures is 7/4. You need to be sure that a beat is driving the song forward and moving along with the song. 7/4 has 4 counts before it repeats itself. Double bass drum is also another challenging concept that you have to fit in with your rock drumming concepts when you need to play heavy metal rock. You can also try to add 16th note single stroke roll over top of this beat. You can also learn to play the drums in half time to spice up your rock drumming.
Punk rock beats are a part of playing rock. It is easy to learn punk rock for most drummers. The beats are very simple so much so that a professional rock drummer thinks of this as a work that requires lesser skill. In reality, punk rock is a fast paced drumming which tests the creativity, endurance and speed of a drummer on a drumset. The beats are easily played slowly but you should try to play it with speed to challenge yourself.
Developing stick speed for wrists and bass drum technique for feet is important for punk rock. The key to playing punk rock is playing the beats fast and maintaining the timing on those beats. The most basic beat in punk rock is where hi-hats and snare are played with 8th notes. Once comfortable with this, you can try to play the same beat with 16th notes. This will increase the speed of your beat. Try this with patience and counting aloud.
The next beat is quite similar to the above beat. The difference lies in the pattern of the bass drum. Play fast doubles using your bass drum. This style is very common in punk rock. This style of music is made different because of the bass drum technique. Improving bass drum technique is the basis of this beat. After you succeed in getting to learn to play the drums on these basic beats, try to cover all other beats, grooves, odd time signatures, solo ideas and fill.
Copyright (c) 2011 Joe Maldonado