Arts & Entertainment, Music
Learning Drum Beats
Lesson time 10:30 min
Sheila breaks down intermediate and advanced drumming techniques for different genres of music.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: The Two and Four Beat • Advanced Funk Beats • Playing Latin Beats • Practice Pattern: Breaking Down the Samba
Preview
[00:00:00.00] [MUSIC PLAYING] [00:00:10.69] SHEILA E: In this lesson, I'm going to show you some other drumming techniques that are a little more challenging. These include some of my favorite rhythms, funk and Latin. [00:00:20.83] [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] [00:00:27.94] A basic beat would be 2 and 4. So if you were counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. So what I'm doing-- start with the hi-hat. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Right? [00:00:51.89] And the snare is on the 2-- 1, 2-- and then the 4-- 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Kick drum on the 1. 1, 2, 3, 4. So 1 and the 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. [00:01:19.28] So that drum beat, that very simple basic drum beat, 2 and 4-- that's what we call it, 2 and 4-- plays and being played on a lot of songs. It's great for just keeping time for a band. And I'll show you, when you really dig in, this is what it sounds like. And you just count 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. [00:01:58.07] That beat you can play forever with anyone, even if it's faster. 1, 2, 3, 4. That's 2 and 4, same thing. You can add the hi-hat to do-- instead of like this-- 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. [00:02:37.07] I dare you, I dare you to play that beat, 2 and 4. Just play it for like five minutes straight. Don't play-- don't touch anything. If you have a drum set, don't touch anything else. [00:02:49.85] This doesn't matter right now. The basic is to keep time. Have a click track or your metronome on your phone, and just practice that 2 and 4 where it sounds so amazing. It sounds even. It sounds smooth. It's clean. It's consistent. [00:03:07.00] [MUSIC PLAYING] [00:03:14.10] That 2 and 4 is like, you know, a funk beat. Some funk beats can be a little more complicated. Well, for one thing, we did 2 or 4, and you can do 4 on the floor. Like, disco music was 4 on the floor, like this-- 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2. Right? [00:03:43.79] And that's just 4 on the floor. 1, 2, 3, 4. You know? That's dance music. Funk music, it's hard to kind of play a funk beat because funk has to do with syncopated rhythms, everyone playing in and out of syncopation. [00:04:03.64] Syncopation means that instead of just emphasizing downbeats on your pattern-- 1, 2, 3, 4-- you add emphasis on the offbeats. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. And it's still all in time. It's not a different time signature. It's all just 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2. [00:04:36.68] It's still in time, but it makes it funky. Now, that's one type of funkiness, like Tower of Power funky. The other part is just playing funky means like the 2 and 4. And it depends on what the other players are playing. [00:04:51.45] If you just play that straight, the funkiness comes from not playing anything else. It's the air and the space in which no one plays makes it funky. So if everybody's playing on that 2 and 4, the space that's not being played is funky. That's another definition of funkness, I should say. [00:05:15.19] [00:...
About the Instructor
Raised in a family of musicians, Sheila E. has collaborated with icons like Marvin Gaye and Ringo Starr and was named one of the all-time greatest drummers by Rolling Stone. Now she teaches you how to find your rhythm. Learn the principles of percussion—with or without a drum set—and discover techniques for dynamic solos and fills. Jam with the Escovedo family and find your own groove, as a beginner or as a bandleader.
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Sheila E.
Legendary drummer Sheila E. welcomes you to the world of percussion and teaches you how to express yourself through rhythm.
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