What are Advanced Swing Beats on Bass & Snare Drums?

Series Summary

The drum is the oldest known musical instrument in the history of man and its basic design has not changed in thousands of years. Far from today’s uses as a percussive foundation for pop music or for fueling marching band excitement, drumming has a more profound history as a method of communication, and the drum as an implement of religious symbolism.

The drum was perhaps first created from the primal idea of mimicking the human heartbeat, yet today its music has developed into a technical, complex arrangement of beats and grooves. Different sized drums and cymbals are arranged into kits, where a drummer can pick from a variety of sounds to lead or accompany a particular song. Kit sizes vary from the simple to the outrageous. Modern drummers, including the likes of Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham, Neal Peart, Dave Weckl, and Jimmy Chamberlain, have helped drummers develop their playing skills by inspiring new beat and rhythm patterns, new combinations of sound upon sound. The modern approach to drumming, then, is to try and master the fundamentals of beat and time signature, and then to create fresh, innovative patterns and fills for each song.

In this free instructional video series, learn how to play swing beats on the drums. Let the experts at ExpertVillage help you improve your drumming today!

Video Transcript

"In this session we're going to look at more ways to play the base drum on and off the beat of swing. Hopefully you've already reviewed or have a good grasp on how to play the base drum on the beat of swing. How to play the base drum off the beat of swing. And I also have another session about playing the base drum on and off the beat of swing. But here we're going to go a little bit more in depth. Get a little more creative. Let me just show you what I'm talking about. So in this session what we're really dealing with is in between the cracks. The combinations that we normally wouldn't come by in base drum coordination."