Anyone on here know how to read drum music ??

Chicken Run

...and could spare half an hour to do me a favour please ?

Post here or PM, whichever suits.... thanks a mill.

Malice

Moved to Playing & Techniques & Theory.

I'm not sure if this is any help but Guitar Pro displays what I assume is drum tab. Here's an extract from a song of mine:


Are you looking for help on how to play a piece or to figure out the notation or something else entirely?

swarlb

Thats a difficult enough piece for a beginner considering the time signature.
In simple speak 7/4 is 7 beats to the bar. Easier is 4/4 which is what most tunes would be. Top line is high hat, second is snare, bottom is kick. basically most drum charts are written like this.
Dunno if this is of any help...

Malice

swarlb wrote: »

Thats a difficult enough piece for a beginner considering the time signature.
In simple speak 7/4 is 7 beats to the bar. Easier is 4/4 which is what most tunes would be. Top line is high hat, second is snare, bottom is kick. basically most drum charts are written like this.
Dunno if this is of any help...

I didn't write it with a beginner in mind and we don't know if the OP is a beginner, it was just an example. It was the first file that came up on the recently-used file list.

Thanks for pointing out which line represents which drum, I probably should have added that information to my post

Chicken Run

cheers for the replies - sorry, I should have clarified in my OP.

It's marching band music - OH plays drum in a pipe band but learns by ear and can't read music

I read music (pianist) but can't play drums well enough to demonstrate the rhythm to him ON a drum. Yeah - lame, I know...

He's been given a sheet of music to learn and I'm beggared if I can work it out for him....

Does 3 lines crossing the tail of a note indicate a roll ?? ...and other questions...

Thanks

Malice

Those questions are a bit beyond me unfortunately. Maybe have a read of this and see if it helps.

Magic Eight Ball

Chicken Run wrote: »

Does 3 lines crossing the tail of a note indicate a roll ??

mmh..That could mean a nine stroke roll, but without actually seeing the music I couldn't tell ya for sure.

Can you post it up?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

probably a rudiment of some sort

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.php

http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments/10ninestrokeroll.php

drumdrum

Chicken Run wrote: »

Does 3 lines crossing the tail of a note indicate a roll ?? ...and other questions...

Thanks

3 lines crossing a note is a shorthand way of writing that rhythmic duration for a set number of sub-divided beats as one.... confused?

Take a minum with 3 lines across the top of it.

This is to be played the same way as writing out 16 demi-semi-quavers in place of the minum with 3 strokes across it. Its just easier to write (and read!) the music this way.

I will break it down for ya further:
minum = 2 crotchet beat values in duration
each stroke above a note equates to one further subdivision of the beat value. So one stroke means play as quavers, 2 = play as semi-quavers, 3 = play as demi-semi-quavers, 4 = play as hemi-demi-semi-quavers...etc etc.

Therefore, if you saw a minum note with TWO strokes across the stem, it would be written like this on the score, but played as 8 semi-quavers. If it was a crotchet with two strokes, it would be 4 semi-quavers...

Now, you have three, so by that logic the subdivided notes are demi-semi-quavers (because banded together they have 3 lines above them) and they are to be played over a rhythmic duration of whatever is indicated on the score. You can even write the crossing lines above a breave or semi-breave (which have no stems) if you need to.
Although 3 stems technically actually indicates to play demi-semi-quavers, history has actually often negated this technicality in favour of a general roll. The speed of this roll is dictated by the tempo of the song and the players experience. So generally when you see this marking on a score, the player will roll in accordance to the tempo of the song.
If you were to break this roll down into the individual beats it would be more than the equivolent in demi-semi-quavers (usually!) due to the technique applied to it and so this is often refered to as the reason for the unofficial "replacement" of the shorthand from demi-semis to a general tempo based roll...

As to the type of roll the player uses (5, 7, 9, 87384 stroke rolls!), this will be dictated by the duration of the note indicated and by the tempo of the song. The players experience will normally dictate this in the end.

Hope this helps! This stuff is much easier to explain in person with practical examples!

Chicken Run

Thanks everyone...

Drumdrum - that did indeed make sense.... I'm gonna look at it with a fresh pair of eyes this morning... reckon I can clap the rhythm slowly and he can speed it up himself.