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How to Play Jazz Beats on Drums

Friday, February 22, 2008
Related Tags: jazz | cymbals | beats | 4/4 | drummers
 

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

  • Drum kit
  • Step 1:
    Realize that with any drumming, your hands and feet will be doing different things. The right foot at the bass or kick drum often provides a regular 4/4 beat. Your left foot covers the high hat.
  • Step 2:
    Think of your hands performing the accents in the jazz song you're playing. The right hand might play a swing rhythm on the ride cymbal. The left hand fills with the snare. Both play toms when needed.
  • Step 3:
    Learn about "trading fours." This jazz technique breaks up the beats into different blocks or signatures. So four bars of 4/4 time will still be sixteen beats, but broken up in different ways for trading fours. You can also try trading 8ths and 16ths.
  • Step 4:
    Look at your cymbals. You'll find that ride cymbals are most important in playing jazz. Many jazz drummers choose a darker sounding ride, but that's an individual preference. Jazz drummers rarely use crash cymbals.
  • Step 5:
    Choose the right sticks for playing jazz. A lighter or medium weight stick often works better with jazz than a heavy stick. You might also want to invest in brushes and mallets for a different sound to your jazz drumming.
  • Step 6:
    Recognize that you rarely hit the drums as hard in jazz drumming as you do in rock drumming. It's a softer sound that allows listeners to hear more of the bass.

How to Play Jazz Beats on Drums Provided by eHow.com
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