How to Play a Basic Jazz Beat on the Drums

Series Summary

The drum is perhaps the oldest known musical instrument 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 as an implement of religious symbolism.

In this free video series our expert, Shaun Schaefer will show you how to play a basic jazz beat on the drums. He will teach you how to hold the drumsticks in the traditional way and using a match grip. He will teach you how to play the hi hat, the bass drum or kick, the snare, and toms. He will also teach you how to swing those different drums, crating a different feel perfect for jazz. Shaun will also teach you how to play a traditional jazz drum beat called four on the floor.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Shaun Schaefer on behalf of Expert Village and today we're going to be learning how to play a basic jazz drumbeat. Hi, I'm Shaun Schaefer and I'm a drummer. I've been playing the drums for about fifteen, sixteen years and currently am the drummer of the internationally known rock band, pop rock band, Blessed Union of Souls. However, I didn't start playing drums in a rock band. I got my start in the school band in sixth grade. After the sixth grade and you start out doing the concert band and all that stuff, you move up to the junior high, it's kind of the same thing, and then in high school, there is more courses you can take for drumming, in my particular high school. And, that's where I did symphonic band, percussion ensemble, pep band, which was kind of dumb and then, and then also, jazz band and marching band, but jazz band was my favorite by far. It's where I actually got to play a style of music that I really really like. So, that's where I kind of got my jazz background, is doing it in high school for four years straight. Actually a little bit longer, but I was the primary drummer for the jazz band for four years. So, first off, what I want to explain in playing jazz music, is the difference between the jazz beat and the rock beat and how what drums and cymbals we use compare to like a rock beat. In a rock beat, primarily, you're using the kick snare and the high hat, that is your foundation, that is your focus of the drumbeat. In jazz it's different. The kick and snare are used primarily to play with the horns and other things, but the majority of the heart of the jazz beat is the high hat and the ride cymbal. So, the high hat being played on two and four with your foot, that's kind of like the time of the band, that's what everybody follows is that two and four. So, let's take a look at what our next step is going to be."