How to Set Up & Adjust 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 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. In this free video series for beginning drummers, an experienced drummer demonstrates how to set up, tune and play a basic drum set. The drummer in any band is tasked with keeping the time of the song. Keeping time is not the only thing a drummer does, though it is the essential function. A drummer also employs various drumming techniques such as drum rolls, rim shots and double strokes to accent the music. Learn these basic playing techniques in this free video music lesson and become a better drummer.

Video Transcript

"Alright, so there's a couple key main factors that influence your playing that when I look at other players you need to really hone in on. Like everything from your set up and your cymbals and your angle of your toms and everything in between. And that's going to influence you a great, great deal on your sound in any musical situation. No matter what style you're playing, there's only, there's always going to be a couple key things that are going to help you progress in your playing and that's going to make you feel more comfortable and then that's going to come through in your playing and that's going to make the whole band sound better on every end of the spectrum. And it's just going to make you feel just much more comfortable. So if you're going to be playing whatever style, jazz, it doesn't matter what style jazz, rock, Latin, swing, bop, Dixieland, anything, anything, there's always going to be, there's always going to be these three or four key things that you need to hone in on during your playing that's going to make everything go a whole lot better."