Hot Music & Instruments Posts

How To: Play the double stroke, or long, roll drum rudiment

To play music, your hands should be able to do anything your mind asks of them – and rudimental technique is one great way of making sure that can happen. In this installment from the Vic Fith video tutorial series dedicated to snare rudiments, Dr. John Wooton demonstrates how to play the double stroke roll (or long roll) on the snare drum. Play the double stroke, or long, roll drum rudiment.

How To: Cue your vinyl records on a turntable

Check out this instructional turntable video to learn how to cue your vinyl records. It's not scratching, but it is cueing. This takes some skill because you want to align two songs perfectly in sync. Remember, this only works if the stop and start time of your platter are the same! It does not matter if your start or stop time is 1 hour, 34 minutes and 48 seconds! Use this method if you need a clean, fast and easy way of starting a vinyl in sync. This video tutorial is great for DJs and anyo...

How To: Play the flam tap drum rudiment on the snare

To play music, your hands should be able to do anything your mind asks of them – and rudimental technique is one great way of making sure that can happen. In this installment from the Vic Fith video tutorial series dedicated to snare rudiments, Dr. John Wooton demonstrates how to play the flam tap drum rudiment on the snare drum. Play the flam tap drum rudiment on the snare.

How To: Grip a drumstick properly

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels demonstrates how to properly grip a drumstick.

How To: Land on your feet after drum fills

This tutorial will teach you to get in and out of drum fills without derailing your drum pattern. Playing along with a drumless track with spaces for drum fills can test your ability to maintain a steady tempo through fills and transition back into the groove. The song from this tutorial, Canyon Jump, can be downloaded at unirunner.com/drumlesstracks. It has one, two and four-bar spaces for fills.

How To: Set up your drum kit

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will guide you through the process of setting up your drum kit.

How To: Tune the snare drum

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you how to tune your snare drum.

How To: Play the upstroke drum rudiment

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels demonstrates how to play the upstroke drum rudiment. Take a look!

How To: Play the "Mr. Freeze" exercise on the drums

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels demonstrates how to play the "Mr. Freeze" and tap stroke exercises on the snare.

How To: Play a two-drum etude on the snare

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you to play a two-drum etude.

How To: Play the flamadiddle drum rudiment

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will show you how to play the flamadiddle drum rudiment on the snare. Play the flamadiddle drum rudiment.

How To: Play the "1-&-a-2" or "1-te-ta" rhythm on the snare

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels demonstrates how to play the "1-&-a-2" or "1-te-ta" rhythm on the snare drum.

How To: Play a two-drum etude

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels demonstrates a simple two-drum etude.

How To: Play dotted quarter notes

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you a new note value, the dotted quarter note.

How To: Play the double paradiddle drum rudiment

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will show you how to play the double paradidle drum rudiment.

How To: Play half-note rolls on the snare drum

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will demonstrate how to play half-note rolls on the snare drum.

How To: Play a duet with dynamic markings

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will walk you through the process of playing a duet while heeding dynamic markings (e.g., the forte and mezzo forte) symbols.

How To: Play 8th note rolls in quarter time

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you to play 8th note rolls in quarter time.

How To: Play the single stroke roll drum rudiment

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you to play the single stroke roll drum rudiment.

How To: Play the double stroke roll drum rudiment

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will teach you how to play the double stroke roll drum rudiment.

How To: Develop stick control on the drums

Whether you're a first day beginner or have been playing the drums for several years, learning the fundamentals of technique, rudiments and music reading is very important. In this installment from his video tutorial series on the fundamentals of snare drumming, Mark Wessels will demonstrate a series of exercises that will aid you in increasing your stick control on the drums.

How To: Master the rebound stroke

To play music, your hands should be able to do anything your mind asks of them – and rudimental technique is one great way of making sure that can happen. In this installment from his video tutorial series dedicated to rudimental techniques, Mark Wessels demonstrates the rebound stroke style and gives tips for working on using your fingers to increase your speed.

How To: Develop stick control

To play music, your hands should be able to do anything your mind asks of them – and rudimental technique is one great way of making sure that can happen. In this installment from his video tutorial series dedicated to rudimental techniques, Mark Wessels discusses the fundamentals of achieving a consistent sound from hand to hand.

How To: Play accented 16ths on the snare drum

To play music, your hands should be able to do anything your mind asks of them – and rudimental technique is one great way of making sure that can happen. In this installment from his video tutorial series dedicated to rudimental techniques, Mark Wessels will teach you how to play accented 16ths, which are great for the beginner wanting to gain consistency over the sound of the inner beats.

How To: Master the hi-hats

In this two-pat installment from his video tutorial series (in which he covers everything from improving timekeeping to creativity and orchestrations in patterns and drum fills), Brian Ferguson discusses the hi-hats and takes a comparative look at the most common techniques for playing them.

How To: Orchestrate patterns on your drums

In this three-part installment from his video tutorial series (in which he covers everything from improving timekeeping to creativity and orchestrations in patterns and drum fills), Brian Ferguson discusses patterns and orchestration while offering tips for applying custom arrangements to your own drum patterns.