Copying Beats And Fills From Recordings
As a drummer, you will sometimes be required to play a given beat from a recording (as compared to creating your own). Copying from recordings can be difficult at first, so here are a few suggestions:
1. Start with a simple beat. Record it so that you can play it many times over.
2. Listen carefully to the cymbal pattern and determine whether the notes being played on the hi-hat or ride cymbal are either quarter, eighth or sixteenth notes, and what time signature the song is in. The majority of rock songs are in * time.
3. Then listen to the snare drum and determine where those notes fall. They generally fall on the 2 & 4 in each bar of most rock beats.
4. The bass drum is next, and again you will have to listen closely and count as you go through each bar so you can place the notes in the correct position.
5. The "fills or breaks" are the hardest part of the song to pick out. If you break down each bar into the main quarter notes (e.g., *: four quarter notes, count 1,2,3,4) you can then dissect all of the other eighth and sixteenth notes and piece it all together.
6. Practice recording copying (often referred to as "transcribing") regularly.
