Basic Quarter Notes
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Learn How To Play Basic Quarter Notes On The Drums!
Let's get started on the basic quarter note. The quarter note is the pulse of most forms of music. If you look at a measure of music. A measure of music the the piece of music between the vertical lines on the staff. If we are playing four quarter notes in one measure of music, you count just as thought you had four quarters in a dollar. It's just that simple: 1 2 3 4, and repeat for the next measure.
This is how music is counted in 4/4 time, also known as common time. This is important because although the quarter note is very simple, it is the foundation and pulse to most types of music. Also, as we go on we are going to build on the quarter note and talk about some other note values such as eighth notes or sixteenth notes. The quarter note lives inside of all of those values.
You may already be familiar with quarter notes even if you haven't been exposed to any music training yet. The quarter note, being the pulse of the song, is usually the note that you are tapping your foot to when you go to a concert and see your favorite band play. The quarter note is also the interval that we set our metronomes to. Turn on your metronome now and hit one drum strike for each click it makes. Let's take a look at some exercises to practice with.
Exercise 1 keeps things at their most simple by only using the snare.
Exercise 2 adds in a hi-hat on every quarter note and reduces the snare to only playing on the second and fourth notes.
Exercise 3 expands on exercise two by adding the bass drum to beats one and three. You may recognize this as a very common beat in popular music.
Exercises 4 and 5 are both two measure exercises. The take that basic rock beat from exercise three and add in a simple fill afterwards.
Learn about basic drum theory in the next lesson!
