Essential Drum Skills Level 3 CDROM

In level 3, lessons 21 to 30 make you a highly competent performer with transferable skills that enable you to play live, compose, and improvise. Equivalent to Grade 5.

Here in more detail are the 10 lessons covered in Level 3. To hear an example of the kind of things you'll be able to play at the end of each lesson click the "Hear how you'll sound!" button.

Lesson 21: Introducing Ties

Understanding ties – ties, like dots, create huge problems for drummers, as they primarily deal with the length of a note.

Lesson 22: Developing our use of Tied Notes

Interpretation of tied notes — pushes.

Lesson 23: Introducing ‘Setting-Up Fills’ Developing our use of Tied Notes

Using tied notes to develop ‘set-up fills’. Following on from the last lesson, we are now going to expand our ability to read and play tied notes by introducing the concept of setting-up.

Lesson 24: Introducing Triplets (Part 1)

Understanding triplets — so far we have learned how to subdivide a beat into quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes. These subdivisions of the beat are collectively referred to as simple time. We are now going to look at triplets at the beginning of our study of what is called compound time.

Lesson 25: Introducing Triplets (Part 2) — Triplets as Grooves

Understanding triplets in grooves (introducing 12/8) — We will start by introducing the idea of time signatures without getting too involved in all the permutations.

Lesson 26: Introducing Triplets (Part 3) — Rock Shuffle Grooves

Understanding shuffle feel. Shuffle describes a rhythmic feel and is well understood by experienced musicians. To develop the feel of shuffle from a learners point of view though requires us to understand the role of triplets in producing a shuffle feel.

Lesson 27: Phrasing — Developing Triplet Phrasing

Understanding how to phrase triplets. In Level One we introduced the concept of phrasing using sixteenth notes and single stroke rolls. Now we are going to continue developing phrasing, but this time with triplet eighth notes.

Lesson 28: Phrasing — Developing Triplet Phrasing as Fills

Applying triplet phrases as fills. Now that we have introduced the counting and playing of accents with triplets, we now need to apply them to the kit.

Lesson 29: Introducing Whole Notes and Half Notes

Whole Notes and Half Notes are the only notes we have ignored so far. In this lesson we are going to introduce them to you, so that you know what they look like and how they are played.

Lesson 30: Performing a Song – ‘Coming Up Shortly’

Applying new skills in a Drum Chart. This song contains new difficulties from the previous two songs.