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I’m giving drum lessons to an adult who is an absolute beginner and doesn’t really know anything about music. They are having a hard time finding the “1”. Even when we talk about kick and snare, they get 1 & 3 mixed up. I was thinking about how I learned it. No one specifically taught it to me. I learned it from counting in school band and hearing how the “1” lined up with chord changes. Since they’ve never played an instrument, they really can’t hear when the chords are changing. I’m stumped how to teach this.
Find a listening example where it's real clear-- an obvious chord change happening on the 1. If they don't know what a chord is they should still be able to hear the change in color. Or if there's a vamp with a real strong 1, something by Parliament maybe. Failing that, something else where the drummer crashes on every downbeat.
We are not really working on snare drum other than some very basic hand technique on a pad. This person wants to play drums at church. As I’ve said before, I’ve tried doing the bass and snare thing but a lot of times they get one and three mixed up.
In my experience learning to identify the one is gained through experience. However, to facilitate this learning here are a number of strategies that can work well together:
1. Teach the student to play a simple pattern and count the pattern for them: 1,2,3,4 or 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Then have the student count while you play the pattern. Finally have them play and count at the same time
2. Listen to music in 4/4 and Identify the pulse for them (on the 1 and 3) or the backbeat (2 and 4). Then have them clap the two and four.
3. Listen to songs in 3/4 and have them clap the 1. Same for 6/8.
4. Teach them songs with a pickup for the intro so they understand where the 1 starts.
5. Teach them to play to songs with a metronome beat. (some online drumless tracks have a metronome) As they play you can accent the one with a clap.
6. Use Tommy Igoe's Groove Essentials that has a count in to the tracks. Same with some of the online drumless tracks.
7. Start songs in the middle and have them identify the one. (Count the song).
Edit: Having them play while you identify the 1 (clap the one) will also help. Perhaps starting with Bad Moon Riding or something similar.
so my dad was my first teacher - back when I was 4 years old, and he just played a basic rock beat for me with the kick on 1-3 and snare on 2-4. I had to count out loud and air drum while he played, and then when it was my turn, we started with the bass drum only, and me counting out loud, and then we would add the snare on 2 and 4, and then the hi hat with 8th notes. I had to count the whole time, or we would start over. I could not play along to any songs until I could play and count out loud
adding from the foot up was really helpfull for sure...it is what I do with all of my beginner students. Foot, then hands.
We are not really working on snare drum other than some very basic hand technique on a pad. This person wants to play drums at church. As I’ve said before, I’ve tried doing the bass and snare thing but a lot of times they get one and three mixed up.
well they have to be taught to count- simply count- snare drum simple timing counting exercise- go back to it with him..
Going by"ear" ain't seem to be working - needs to have some "formal" training + practice..
bar lines, measures,..simply has to understand 4/4...meters....all the little tid-bits-..
in a book show him a measure of 4/4 and how it repeats
Maybe work backwards by first focusing on 4- 8-bar phrases? Most regular rock & pop songs consist of these phrases or section and he (she?) can probably track these as they change through the song. Maybe they can work backwards to the 1. First follow the bass as it plays the section, your student will probably track when the section change and they change on a 1. Then focus on individual measures in the phrases, then, finally, the beats in a measure?.
Maybe try using a piece of graphing paper and trace out the blocks or if you and he are tech savvy trying pulling up a midi program which puts all the counts on a grid. I am very visual, when I was first learning basics almost thirty years ago visual representations like this helped tremendously.
I’m giving drum lessons to an adult who is an absolute beginner and doesn’t really know anything about music. They are having a hard time finding the “1”. Even when we talk about kick and snare, they get 1 & 3 mixed up. I was thinking about how I learned it. No one specifically taught it to me. I learned it from counting in school band and hearing how the “1” lined up with chord changes. Since they’ve never played an instrument, they really can’t hear when the chords are changing. I’m stumped how to teach this.
I want to tread lightly and respectfully with my response: is it possible that your student might have a learning disability, in particular Dyscalculia? It is a disability that impacts an individual with difficulty primarily in processing arithmetic. Dycalculic musicians can often create and perform music with ease, but they can struggle with timing in music and sometimes with reading music. Just a thought, I'm not saying your student has a learning disability. Perhaps there are some professionals in this field on the forum that can shed some light if this is a possibility and how to effectively teach such a student.
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