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Step 1
Start up a beat. The most common beat in many genres is a 4/4 cadence, composed of 4 beats per bar. Count these off to yourself--1, 2, 3 and 4. If you have a metronome to keep time, use it: otherwise, try to set up a consistent pattern by counting.
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Step 2
Hit a drum on each beat. Each of these four beats are your quarter notes, so called because each one is a quarter of the whole bar. Notes twice as short as these are eighth notes, etc.
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Step 3
Assign a drum to each beat. One way to use quarter notes is to set up a repeating structure where each beat is predictably accompanied by a certain sound, for example, hitting the bass drum on 1, 2, 3 and the snare on 4.
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Step 4
Add multiple drums for a collection of quarter notes. You could hit the bass on 1 and 3, then hit the hi hat on all beats, and hit the snare on 4. In this case, the hi hat hits would be your quarter notes.
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Step 5
Syncopate quarter notes. Playing on beat is not the only way to play quarter notes: syncopated beats are essentially still quarter notes, they're just offset. Try hitting a drum in between beats 1 and 2, beats 3 and 4, etc. These are syncopated quarter notes that provide a different kind of rhythm.
