DRUMS WEEK 2025: Drums are frequently wrongly seen as the less fortunate member of the group. Enter the joke, “What do you call someone who spends time with musicians? A drummer!”
But percussionists have had the final say for many years now. With the rise ofdrum machines and electronic kits, many logical beatmakers, began programming the machines and loops on their own. Why? Because they were the individuals who truly grasped how patterns and rhythms functioned, long before we even consider the subject of drum fills.
For 99.9% of all commercially released music, the drums serve asthe central mechanism of a race track. It’s the component that propels the song forward, and also the aspect that all musicians will focus on in order to synchronize with a rhythm.
Consider this from a logical perspective; it’s the drummer who sets the rhythm, and the rest of the band should pay attention and follow!
It’s also crucial to emphasize that this sense of compliance is equally significant at the DAW level as it is in live settings. However, for producers and composers, gaining a fundamental knowledge of how a drum kit functions is extremely beneficial in crafting more effective drum parts and rhythms.
The core components
Drum sets are available in a wide range of forms and dimensions., and if we expand this to the realm of production, there are numerous different colors and timbre ranges for each instrument, along with a significant number of elements that could be classified as percussion instruments.
For our needs, we’ll simplify the drum set by focusing on 3 of its key elements; the bass drum, the snare drum, and the hi-hat.
The bass drum(also known as the kick) is the big drum that rests on the ground and is struck with a beater attached to a pedal (typically operated with the drummer’s right foot).
The snare drumincludes two drum skins, one on top and one on the bottom of the drum (known as heads), along with a group of springs (snares) that are stretched over the lower drum head, producing that sharp ‘rattling’ sound.
These two drums are believed to symbolize one of the most fundamental aspects of humanity, used to generate the rhythm of life! In this sense, the kick represents the sound of feet stomping, while the snare mimics the noise of hands clapping.
If we update this and fit it into the structure of a conventional music measure, we get a kick drum on beats 1 and 3, and a snare drum on beats 2 and 4.
Relaying this information to a drummer involves using musical notation in a particular style designed for drumming.
Every line and gap on a drum score staff represents a specific drum or component of the drum kit. Additionally, drum notation employs a combination of standard and different note shapes.
The kick is positioned on the bottom space of a drum staff, whereas the snare drum is written on the third space from the top. It is essential that the stems for these notes point downward, along with using a standard note head.
This fundamental structure is the essential foundation of most drum patterns. There are nearly too many variations to cover in a single article, but these can range from including additional beats and accents, to shifting the timing of beats.
Nevertheless, the drums will consistently be the component that establishes the fundamental rhythm and vibe of your track, beginning with the kick and snare.
One simple and recognizable variation of this fundamental pattern is to place the kick on every four beats of a measure. We could also include extra kick hits, or shift when the kick occurs, as demonstrated in our example.
The third key component of the drum set, breaks down the kick and snare rhythms.
A physical hi-hat consists of two cymbal-like parts that come together to create a single unit. When closed, they generate a sharp and clear sound that is both rhythmic and brief.
Due to the implementation of a pedal mechanism, typically controlled by the drummer’s left foot, the two cymbals can be partially separated, producing a sizzling noise that lasts longer and is more extended. These two types of sound are commonly referred to as closed and open hi-hat.
When closed, the hi-hat can create a feeling of momentum and energy, as it typically features faster rhythms that sit above the kick and snare beats.
Interestingly, the type of pattern and pace is frequently determined by the music’s style.
In the same way, specific music genres depend greatly on the open hi-hat; it gained significant popularity in the 1970s to incorporate an open hi-hat on the off-beats of a drum pattern, especially for disco and dance-oriented songs. This trend impacted the dance scene of the 1990s and remains a fundamental element in drumming today.
Changing the hi-hat section from an eighth-note rhythm to a sixteenth-note pattern will result in a significantly different atmosphere.
At various times in the history of music, it has been popular to emphasize specific beats, like adding an accent to every third 16th-note during the late 80s, or the iconic funk rhythms from the 70s and 90s. (Interestingly, many of the 70s rhythms made their way into the 90s through sampling!)
Specifying your needs for a hi-hat in a drum notation isn’t complicated, but it’s crucial to be precise.
First, the hi-hat is placed slightly above the top line of the drum staff. Similarly to how the kick and snare note stems point downward, the hi-hat stems should point upward.
This ensures the stems are not interfering with one another, improving readability. However, it is also important to use a ‘X’ as the note head when writing a hi-hat section.
This tells the drummer to strike the hi-hat, while using a standard note head would suggest playing atom instead.
By default, it is assumed that you prefer a closed hi-hat, but you can express your choice by using the ‘+’ and ‘o’ symbols located above the note heads.
The ‘+’ symbol instructs the drummer to play a closed hi-hat, while the ‘o’ represents an open one, as expected!
One of the reasons drummers became so engaged in programming drum machines is that they have a deep understanding of the instrument. It’s likely that since they focus solely on rhythmic elements, they are in a strong position to offer guidance and assist in developing a quality groove.
This also applies to drum fills, which are the thrilling part often heard at the end of every 8 or 16 bars, before moving on to the next part of your song.
For this reason, it is now typical to give a drummer a fundamental score and an outline of your needs before adding ‘slashes’ to your drum score, which signal the drummer to simply proceed with repeating your idea.
But when it’s time for drum fills, simply write the word “Fill” above the drum notation where you want the fill to occur. Regarding fills, free yourself from the constraints of the score and let your drummer enjoy a bit of creativity before returning to the set rhythm.
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