Welcome to the Course

Preview

# Welcome to the Rock School Drums Method

Hello, everyone. I'm Sophie.

It's an exciting journey. You're about to start learning to play the drum kit!

## What We'll Cover

We'll look at some basic techniques that you'll need to get you started:

- **Holding the Drumsticks:** Understanding the grip for optimal control.
- **Achieving Even Volume:** Techniques for a balanced sound.
- **Bass Drum Technique:** Playing the bass drum comfortably within various pieces.
- **Reading Drum Notation:** Getting familiar with the language of drumming.
- **Working with a Metronome:** Essential for timekeeping, especially in the early stages.

## Practice and Genres

We’ll learn specific exercises and practice those, which will lead us to play pieces all separated into different genres.

If you like:

- **Pop**
- **Metal**
- **Hip Hop**
- **Indie Rock**
- **Country Music**

There's something for you, definitely.

**Important Note:** Don't just jump straight to the genre you think you prefer—you'll be surprised! There's something in each of those genres for everyone. It’s important that you do the whole course because there are often little tips and tricks within one genre that you can apply to others.

## Enjoying the Process

As you build up your techniques enough to feel confident, there’s a great range of backing tracks available. This allows you to hear the full demo, which includes:

- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums

You can hear the kind of sound you're aiming for.

I will also be playing the pieces, so you can watch me and see the techniques I use.

### Next Steps

Perhaps your next step might be to try playing parts of the pieces with the track—the backing track that has the metronome on. This will serve as your timekeeping device, which you can really lock in with.

And then, if you're feeling brave (which you will be once you've worked through these), you can try the backing track that doesn't feature any drumming or metronome. This will give you a feel for what it’s like to be the drummer in the band—the one keeping time.

### Timekeeping in the Band

Timekeeping is everyone's responsibility in the band, in my opinion, but certainly as drummers, we have a slightly more significant role to keep our drumming solid for everyone else to play off.

I think you'll really enjoy this journey. It's exciting! Congratulations for choosing it, and enjoy the process.

About the instructor

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