How To Play A Bossa Nova Drum Beat

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.

The modern approach to drumming 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 you will learn how to play several contemporary drum beats. Our expert, Shaun Schaefer, shares techniques for creating a bossa nova drum beat, adding fills, and offers tips and advice on how to begin the process and walks you through some great informational steps to becoming a more advanced drummer.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Shaun Schaefer on behalf of Expert Village and today we are going to be learning how to play a bossa nova drum beat. Hi my name is Shaun Schaefer and I'm a drummer. I have been drumming for about 15-16 years and currently I'm the drummer for the pop rock band Blessid Union of Souls. I have played all over the world, I played thousands of shows, in front of thousands of people. I got my start though in my high school in my school band back in Cincinnati. Now the one thing about in the school band that is different in being like a rock band is you get to learn different types of techniques and more in depth things about the drums. So today we are going to learn how to play a bossa nova drum beat which is a really cool drum beat. It is pretty hard to but just by following these few steps you would be playing a bossa nova in no time. So let's take a look and let's get started. "