@@blackcitadel37 by watching more videos like this one. You can also watch tonnes of drum covers from many different genres, just to see how much variety you can put into drum parts... the more time you spend listening to a variety of real drummers, the better your understanding of the instrument
Yo is that the partnered Twitch Livestreamer and Cadence of Hyrule guitarist known as Family 'I Ate My Own Ass For Charity' Jules, formerly 7X? Naw, couldn't be.
Bruh, as a fellow drummer, this is one of the best "how to be a better drummer" lessons on youtube. Thanks for digging into the "why" of a drum part, not just the mechanics. also: "An open hi-hat begs to be closed" A+ 100% stealing this.
@@johnmichaeladelman the hi hat is made of two cymbals mounted on a stand with a pedal. If you press it the two halves are closed against each other and sound "dry", if you let go of the pedal, they sound louder and keep ringing for longer. Half open literally means less than open all the way, so not too loud/intense
@@johnmichaeladelman yeah it’s two cymbals that you can put together or apart like hamburger buns. Controlled with your left foot. Half open means the two cymbals are touching,but not squeezed tight. All drummers have their own language, but for me : Closed: “click” Half closed: “tsh” Open: “TSSSSHHAAAAAAhhhhhhhhh”
As a very classically focused composer who's terrible at orchestral percussion, let alone drumkit in contemporary popular Western music, I *very* much appreciate this systematic breakdown of the form and function of drumkit parts. Thank you.
as a drummer, if you are writing for a specific drummer and arent great at writing parts for them, just tell them the vibe you are going for and they will make it themselves and you can micromanage them from there.
@@bs.music.kyi9 or write a very simplified skeleton chart. That's what I've done most of the time. Instead of notating everything, notate just the basic accents and time constants, where fills should be and the intensity level of each bar/section.
I am a drummer since I am a kid (an amateur though, I never studied drums to an high level). My college didn't have bands, so I joined the orchestra as a percussionist. My gosh, my begining was harsh. I couldn't even follow what bar we were. The rythmic dynamics at play are so different, compared to popular western music. It was an amazing experience.
@@alexandersandved6664 Oh I thought so, lol that explains why the b roll in the background had so many great drummer there. Throughout the video I was thinking, man this guy knows a lot of good drummers. Now it makes sense xD
@@alexandersandved6664 He actually says "as a drummer" both in the video and in the description, so yeah lol. Not that I'm shaming anyone for missing that; he says it in passing and it's easy to forget right after he says it.
As a drummer for ~20 years, this was actually a solid tutorial to writing drum parts! Lot's of players arrange music in our horn band, and I could seriously consider showing this video to them. While the premise in this video is writing drum parts to game music in a way that sounds organic, writing drum parts for a human to play in a band/orchestra has a few extra points: - The less ink there is on the paper, the better! Use repeat signs ABUNDANTLY! They look kinda like percent signs (%), and they save a ton of space. If you were to write every bar out, the drum part easily stretches out >2 pages long, regardless how long the song is. Also it's really hard to keep track of the music, if every bar is written out, and you will NOT get the orchestra hits that you have written, as it becomes a game of Where's Waldo, because every bar in drum notation is very busy. - If there's too much stuff in the paper, the drummer either stares at the sheet music, and doesn't look at the conductor or listen to the band (or his own playing), or the drummer might not look at the sheet music at all, prioritizing listening to the band and looking at the conductor. - There are repeat signs for multiple bars of music, so using a 2-bar loop as a basis is not an excuse to leave it all written in. Depending on the software that's used, they either are supported or they are not, in which case you need to do them manually. (Looking really angry at you, Musescore!) However, generally avoid 4-bar repeat signs... - Related to the previous points, if you are transcribing music, don't write every nuance and flourish the drummer plays in a recording. The end result is usually illegible without hours of time to study the sheet music. I generally have ~5 minutes to check out the sheet music of a new arrangement before we start to play it in my horn band. Concentrate in the big picture, we will add our own flourishes in any case.
"if you're transcribing music" I would think that would depend on the purpose of the transcription. You obviously mean if you're transcribing it because you want to play that particular song, but if you're transcribing it to get better at playing the drums, the details are likely to be the main point.
I don't think this scoresheet was specifically meant to be read by a human. I think it's really written for MIDI, and the scoresheet view, which is transcribed automatically by software, just looks more readable than a piano roll for video. basically, it was meant to be read by a computer.
As a drummer, it's crazy how much of this information I'd already had internalized just from experience and listening to existing songs, even though I've never really been taught it. Great video!
Experience is the best teacher! I'm a harmony/melody guy and this video taught me so much about what yall do and how you do it, even as a basic introduction to the rhythm world.
10 месяцев назад
@@kajiko88small details like cowbells, Triangle that play sometimes on 16th notes. clave ryrhms that sometimes play. SYNCOPATION! Have a structure, like start small and get bigger. But also ! quite phrases in loud parts
@@kajiko88Listen to songs in the genre of music you're interested in making. Deconstruct the drum parts to understand what makes them work. Then craft your own with the songs you studied as a reference
Gonna line out some tips for people who wanna dive a bit deeper: Grooves (more often than not) are best when they follow other instruments! You already wrote a sick bass part, so try matching the bass drum to it. Give the snare ghost notes following the guitar, set up the hi hat so it accentuates the keys... There are a million ways to mix and match these parts and specific drums but in general, bass goes with bass, snare goes with melody, and hi hat goes with background chords and shenanigans. Great drums bring out the best in the rest of the music. So following drums are everyone's favorite - drum fills. So here's the thing, absolutely do steal stuff - but the best way to develop a good fill is to mutate the groove. Keep the melody of the groove going but move things around to toms and add some notes in between, and after two or so beats where we gradually went from groove to fill we can now move back from fill to the groove (the Motown fill is a great choice for example, could've just set it up more so it would feel more comfortable) - this is where you can absolutely steal something, the way you set up the fill plays a massive role in how it sounds. Fills should be a gradient, not a border between two colors. The last thing I have to say (and it's my one little gripe with this video, which is otherwise wonderful and no doubt really useful for non drummers) is that drums and drummers are - at the end of the day - playing a melody. This means you should use your knowledge of phrasing in the drums. So, try to think what fill would work for a bass for example and just move different pitches to different drums. Then you can elaborate or change things, but you should be able to sing / understand what is going on. Which leads me to the actual gripe I had, and it's fast notes. We all love em, and they are very, VERY often misused (at least in my opinion). Fast notes are the equivalent of a singer belting or a trumpet just blasting at a high register. They function as a massive energy bombs you can drop, and they should be used with care. I... Don't like the way they were used here. Especially with the shots (I call em kicks), you never really fill through shots unless it's a drum solo - at least from my experience. Otherwise it's just a fill to the next section... My advice would be to stay away from continuous use of 16 note triplets and/or 32 notes. They are fun but you have to know how to phrase with them. I would only go with really fast fills if you really are at a super high energy point - but just be careful. Think what a trumpet would play to fill in the gaps, and fill the long notes with fast 16 triplets and you should be good. Writing this on my phone was not a good idea. The formatting is probably garbage, any way cool video byeeeeeee~!
I feel like a journeyman carpenter who's just learned that wood exists in different types. I never really appreciated the function of drums before, very enlightening. Thank you!!
Dude, I'm a bass player trying to come up with drum tracks to practice on and this video was a Godsend. Please do more videos like this one. Thank you for the great content.
I was thinking they could do a “How to write basic bass parts”. As Michael League said, “Bass is one of the easiest instruments to learn to play, but one of the hardest to master.”
I’d like to add that, back when I was in high school, learning drums, my instructor taught me that, if you think of volume as a pyramid, where the base is the most prevalent at holding the groove and the peak is the least prevalent, rock would have the bass drum and snare at the base and hi hat & ride cymbals at the peak. Jazz is the other way around.
I take the advantage of the positionof this comment to ask. Does this all also aplies to meassures like 3/4, 5/4 etc? I know nobody will ever reply, but I'll just load this here.
@@cactusowo1835 I think yea it does, but u just gotta know what are the strong and weak beats in your time signature. And the strong ones would be like how 1 and 3 are and the weak ones would be like 2 and 4 are in 4/4. Everything else should transfer I think, although u would have more or less space to play around with, cuz uk, u have a different number of beats lol.
honestly, i really enjoy the videos that talk more about rhythm and percussion and stuff. Everybody talks about chords, and melodies, but you really dive deep into how rhythm and rhythmic intensity effect a piece, and I really appreciate that unique perspective you have as a drummer.
Exactly my thought. I can find a billion videos talking about secondary dominants or voice leading, but never one that talks about how rhythm can affect the feel of a melody, accompaniment or anything else. I have just heard of this concept of rhythmic anticipation here. It's like people expect beginners to pick up on rhythmical concepts on their own, and don't think that rhythm deserves a deeper look. Which is wrong imo considering how insanely important it can be.
@@hiphop4eva374 totally agree, the lack of a (common) hard system to classify and talk about rhythms the same way that chords and chord progressions, are talked about, and why they sound the way they do, is honestly one of the biggest failings of how music/music theory is taught.
This is fantastic. The only other thing I think really bears mentioning for beginners is intrabeat dynamics. You'll notice that 8-Bit's examples of rhythmic approach notes are almost always softer than the on-beat hits that come immediately after, particularly on the kick drum. Similarly, his "constants" (whether they're on a cymbal, snare, or kick drum like the metal example) are not at the same velocity throughout the measure. The off beats are softer than the down beats. It's how real drummers sound. Constant velocity on a constant generally feels pretty square, excessively high energy, and inhuman. Of course, that may be your intention (like for making super high energy modern dance music), but if you're either going for the feel of a live drummer or just want the beat to feel more organic, you generally want to alternate velocities on any constants you program.
How to write drum parts for non-drummers: remember your drummer has only two arms Edit: you guys need to stop listing prog drummers unless they can play snare + hi-hat + two toms + another snare roll at the same time
Watch out for those people working on 2 sticks per hand on the kit. There's some straight-up dangerous things you can do with only one additional stick.
Ah but you can have two drummers! Whether it's overdubbed or two at once. Lots of Motown songs had two drummers. Signed Sealed Delivered is a very obvious one.
@@AfferbeckBeats Still, it's a good rule to follow unless you're intentionally breaking it. Some people will write a straight rock groove and completely forget the logistics.
For someone who never got drums beyond a very primal "this sounds awesome", this was a great introduction of what goes on with that instrument. Thank you!
This is the best rhythm video I've ever seen, there is so much information here. It's literally the 80/20 for drums. I feel like anyone who can master these ideas could write drums for life
I've been a drummer for over 10 years, and while I've never written any parts I've had an intuitive understanding of a lot of this due to my imperfect memory. You know how it goes, your band members wanna play a song you haven't played in months so you half improvise. Pretty cool to see that what I'm doing is actually the way things work and not just my own weirdness. Also, I never realised the way the stick points indicates whether you play a note with your hands or feet. That's pretty nifty.
Dude, that was SUPER helpful. I'm a trained composer but not a drummer, and always feel completely lost at the prospect of writing drum parts. Also the arrangement at the end was marvelous!
as someone who picked up drums to add to pieces but never really “learned” the instrument, this video was incredibly helpful not to introduce me to these concepts, but to explain why it is I’ve been brainwashed into playing in this way. great video!
This is a perfect tutorial for drum writing. I've written and produced music for over 15 years now I know all this, but I had to learn it the hard way. man what a golden resource for all aspiring musicians!
As someone who's watching this to learn how to write drum parts for my songs (because I don't play), its very encouraging to see the amount of drummers who approve of this. Thumbs up, thanks guys!
8:15 I knew this effect was powerful but holy crap. Also thank you for existing as a whole, found you today from a friend of mine and you have no idea how helpful even 2 videos have been to reinforce my understanding of music theory.
I swear I've been waiting for someone to explain drums to me this since I started writing my own songs YEARS ago. With full sincerity. Thank oh so much.
Thanks for this. Been writing drum parts as a non drummer for years now, and, together with bass, it is the most enjoyable part of arranging a piece. It helps so much in establishing dynamics early on. I would suggest to anyone to transcribe drum parts to get accustomed to the basic vocabulary, it is so much fun!
I was surprised to see Portnoy early on; Pridgen even more so, and then when Brann Dailor showed up I was wondering how the hell this was all so on point. I didn't realise the brains behind this fantastic channel is a drummer, but this video makes it abundantly clear.
I’ve been drumming for 10 years with a year of weekly drum lessons in there and this was still invaluable knowledge. One of the best videos I’ve ever seen on this channel.
@@lamp9359 where I go to school, it’s the same as getting a Performance degree. You basically audition on an instrument with a few scales, a few solos, and some Aural Skills. In college is where you’re really expected to learn about music theory and really delve into Aural Skills.
@@vernonprater5925 Depends a lot on the school. I had some piano experience thanks to private lessons but that was really about it, and I'm going to graduate next year. They did have a placement exam, but that was it. I went to a state school though so I imagine if you go to a conservatory or one of the more prestigious ones you have to audition and stuff like that. edit: oops, replied to the wrong person, this was meant for Lamp.
As a percussionist I was super happy to see you made this! Listen to what this guy says, fr. Get inspiration from other drummers, and be consistent with your notation! Although, I hate when drums put the snare on all the beats lol, it's a bit superfluous when the rhythm section (guitar/bass) are already playing that. I love how these videos are as valuable as college composition classes, keep up the amazing work!
I was literally writing a song today wondering what I was going to do for my drum parts since I don’t play drums. What are the odds. Edit: PLEASE make more videos like this! They’re incredibly useful!!
As someone who's been struggling with writing percussion parts in things I'm working on, this feels like exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for making this so clear!
I've used Reaper to write at least 15 complete songs, but only 4 or 5 of them have drums at all due to my lack of experience and understanding. One thing I did on my own that helped was recreate drum patterns from popular songs I liked. Michael Jackson is a good place to start when recreating drums. Cheers everyone! Happy Writing!
that actually seems like a really good idea just recreating drumbeats. it's like learning songs on guitar and then you can use the things you learn to make your own.
Two years later and this video is still the only reason I can write drums, haha. Amazing video that I show to anyone interested and have rewatched half a dozen times
These were things I picked up and figured out through playing in my jazz band. It was very interesting to see all of these things listed out in the exact way I habitually go through it.
I'm not a drummer, but you'll be damn sure I'm going to use it in my guitar playing what you just taught us! Feels like a gold grade lesson that sharpens our fundamentals . Very useful, I'm great! Very easy to understand!
It's amazing how much your video editing has improved since you started, I really appreciate that the lines moves constantly while it reads the music like you would use your finger to trace a sentence on a page. Keep up the good work!
9:16 ”Acting like an orchestra's conductor from inside the band"... Whoa, that's such an insightful description of what percussion does and its main function or purpose😯🎵🤯
I am so happy you've covered this. I've been through 9 years of post-secondary education in music school and a strong majority of musicians have never written drum parts before in their life. Having good resources for writing drum parts is awesome and this drummer thanks you for it!
this was amazing! i've been looking for a tutorial on writing drums that i could understand as a non-drummer for YEARS and i'm so glad to finally have found your video!
gosh, I could really have used this years ago. drum parts always seemed so unapproachable in my composing days and I ended up basically never using drums. fantastic work
I started producing and I've had no idea how to write my drum patterns. This video was perfect. I've never learned so much helpful information in such little time. Thank you.
12:05 "The real purpose of a drum fill isn't sounding cool or to hype up the audience, it's to telegraph the feeling of each new section of the piece." I'm definitely gonna use this way of thinking to write my next songs!
You don’t understand how much you made it so easy to understand. I was never able to fully comprehend what makes a drum work. You literally made me get up at 4 in the morning to go play around with a midi keyboard and a daw. Thank you so much.
As a piano player this has been really enlightening. Good job on dissecting your drum writing process and giving examples for all of the ideas you present. This video will be a very helpful reference for my own songwriting in the future. Great work!
As a former drummer turned keyboardist, I approve. Great video, this should be a huge help for non-drummers to at least make a decent drum part. Writing for drums can be hard if you've never been a drummer yourself.
this is really cool and amazingly helpful for someone who has never touched a drum in their entire lives the torna battle themes drums from XC2 dlc is still just as confusing as it was 20 minutes ago though
When you played the sample country/ska drumline and my brain instantly overlaid the proper instrumentation to form Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy, the idea really clicked for me. Im not a musician but I do enjoy studying music, so I enjoyed this lesson a lot, thank you!
I don't usually comment, but I wanted to say thank you for the understanding I've gained. I'm a classically trained flute player with no college education, and your videos expose me to/help me navigate so many amazing concepts and tools which are novel to me. I've been putting off writing too many damn drum parts just because I never knew where to start. This is the video that I've needed for so long, as fundamental as most of these ideas are, to help me start piecing together the final building blocks of an assload of music. I knew I needed to catch up on your vids d:
I'll be honest, you completely lost me after after the first half of this video, but as a classically-trained pianist I found the explanation of different drum styles explaining the difference between pop, jazz and latin very interesting!
5:03: "You gotta keep 'em separated!" Great, analytical video, I sometimes feel like the melodies and basslines in music get talked about much more than the drum beats, so it was great seeing your in-depth analysis! I will also keep in mind and come up with something better than just adding a cymbal hit at the start of each measure, haha.
this was a fantastic video! I am certainly not a drummer, but I write and produce music as a sort of one man team, and it always feels like the whole song is lacking if the drums get boring or if I repeat them too much with loops and what not, so I really feel like this will help a lot. Thank you for putting the time in and making a quality video with great production and visuals, you're the best man!
sometimes when i watch these videos im like "wow i'm understanding music!" and other times im like "what is he saying, i don't know what that means" and OTHER times im going all like "aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHH-"
0:09 I'm glad you caveated this with 'theoretically'. Poorly written parts have been created for all instruments. Not understanding an instrument can result in impossible notes being written (usually outside the range), parts written in a precarious or less effective range (depending on the instrument high pianissimo or low fortissimo may not work well or may result in missed notes), no spots to breathe for wind instruments, too wide of chords for keyboards, no time for mute changes for brass, etc. Some time is needed with all instruments to understand idiomatic and effective writing. This is a great introduction to drums!
add to your excellent list of unplayables: 7th chords on guitar voiced as stacked thirds. *If* R-3-5-7 is even possible, it's usually wildly uncomfortable = not part of the idiom = sounds unguitarlike anyway
wow. a true master class on understanding how drums work in a piece of music, extremely well organized, concisely delivered, without making it too technical to comprehend. Bless you sir
This is one of the best tutorials I’ve seen in my life. You put every other tutorial video creator to shame with your simplicity, ease of understanding, and thorough analysis. Fan-fucking-tastic work as always!
As a self-taught amateur musician, thank you. Before this video I didn't even know how to approach fills, or just, well, making literally anything for the drums.
This was def a simple masterclass. excellent man. Only thing I might edit is Hits can always just be, hits, nothing else, which is what drummers do more often than not lol
Im so glad i found this as someone who wants to write more original songs, but struggles writing anything interesting for drums as a non-drummer. Good shit
Thank you for blessing us with that Azalea town sample at the end, I was not expecting that. I usually listen to the original pokemon OST's as a background fill to help study and hearing Azalea Town in a new way was like being 8 again and listening to it for the first time:') I wish there was a way to download that version. The drum lesson was almost a bonus to me albeit the finest cherry on top that ever was! This video was very well written and informative
this video… i’m sending it to my grandson brandon so he can finally do something for once in life!!! his head is as hollow as a drum so he should start learning this!!
I've been playing drums for 17 years ans teaching for 3 years now and I don't know how to say how well you managed to explain everything, congratulations this video it's amazing!!!
By far the best basic drum tutorial I've seen. I've been struggling for months for some sort of concrete guidance on where to get started and this is it. Thanks a ton.
I’m surprised it didn’t come up in the video but the FireRed/LeafGreen and HeartGold/SoulSilver versions of the Azalea Town theme each have their own fun and interesting drum lines that work really well with the other instruments
This video has been a godsend for me. As someone who's never played the drums before, I've struggled for so long to even get a handle on how to write drum parts. Thank you 8-Bit!!
K.K. Demon Slayer really is a hidden gem in the Animal Crossing soundtrack
Haha 😅
Lmao I saw that and immediately went to the comments
You beat me to it
@@aaronmueller1560 same lol
I laughed hysterically at that when it showed up
I've been writing drum parts for 11 years for video game stuff as a non-drummer and still learned a ton from this. Thank you.
nice
Any tips on how to learn more about it?
@@blackcitadel37 by watching more videos like this one. You can also watch tonnes of drum covers from many different genres, just to see how much variety you can put into drum parts... the more time you spend listening to a variety of real drummers, the better your understanding of the instrument
Yo is that the partnered Twitch Livestreamer and Cadence of Hyrule guitarist known as Family 'I Ate My Own Ass For Charity' Jules, formerly 7X?
Naw, couldn't be.
@@Lierofox Nah, it's just that doorbell guy
Lastly: Make sure that when you write crazy fills, your drummer has enough arms
This is gold 🤣and extremely true
Bruh, as a fellow drummer, this is one of the best "how to be a better drummer" lessons on youtube. Thanks for digging into the "why" of a drum part, not just the mechanics.
also: "An open hi-hat begs to be closed" A+ 100% stealing this.
What's a half-open hi-hat?
@@JonTigert I'm not very familiar with hi-hats and was just wondering what a half-open hi-hat would be or sound like🥁
@@johnmichaeladelman the hi hat is made of two cymbals mounted on a stand with a pedal. If you press it the two halves are closed against each other and sound "dry", if you let go of the pedal, they sound louder and keep ringing for longer. Half open literally means less than open all the way, so not too loud/intense
@@johnmichaeladelman yeah it’s two cymbals that you can put together or apart like hamburger buns. Controlled with your left foot. Half open means the two cymbals are touching,but not squeezed tight. All drummers have their own language, but for me :
Closed: “click”
Half closed: “tsh”
Open: “TSSSSHHAAAAAAhhhhhhhhh”
I completely agree
*drops a phat jam that is absolute fking fire*
"Not too shabby"
I am only half way through this video and I UNDERSTAND WRITING DRUMS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS OF PEOPLE EXPLAINING IT TO ME
As a very classically focused composer who's terrible at orchestral percussion, let alone drumkit in contemporary popular Western music, I *very* much appreciate this systematic breakdown of the form and function of drumkit parts. Thank you.
Ditto. It's so much easier for me to write counterpoint than a drum part lol
Agreed. Any pitched percussion I’m good for, don’t expect anything non-pitched…
as a drummer, if you are writing for a specific drummer and arent great at writing parts for them, just tell them the vibe you are going for and they will make it themselves and you can micromanage them from there.
@@bs.music.kyi9 or write a very simplified skeleton chart. That's what I've done most of the time.
Instead of notating everything, notate just the basic accents and time constants, where fills should be and the intensity level of each bar/section.
I am a drummer since I am a kid (an amateur though, I never studied drums to an high level).
My college didn't have bands, so I joined the orchestra as a percussionist. My gosh, my begining was harsh. I couldn't even follow what bar we were.
The rythmic dynamics at play are so different, compared to popular western music. It was an amazing experience.
I've never so blatantly been told to steal before.
As a drummer I can say this is right on the money. Really well explained, I've never heard all these ideas expressed so eloquently and succinctly.
8bit music theory is (or was?) a drummer, which is partly why he explains it so well. He’s also just good at explaining stuff!
@@alexandersandved6664 Oh I thought so, lol that explains why the b roll in the background had so many great drummer there.
Throughout the video I was thinking, man this guy knows a lot of good drummers. Now it makes sense xD
YES
@@alexandersandved6664 He actually says "as a drummer" both in the video and in the description, so yeah lol. Not that I'm shaming anyone for missing that; he says it in passing and it's easy to forget right after he says it.
@@somebodyelse9130 haha, completely missed that
As a drummer for ~20 years, this was actually a solid tutorial to writing drum parts! Lot's of players arrange music in our horn band, and I could seriously consider showing this video to them. While the premise in this video is writing drum parts to game music in a way that sounds organic, writing drum parts for a human to play in a band/orchestra has a few extra points:
- The less ink there is on the paper, the better! Use repeat signs ABUNDANTLY! They look kinda like percent signs (%), and they save a ton of space. If you were to write every bar out, the drum part easily stretches out >2 pages long, regardless how long the song is. Also it's really hard to keep track of the music, if every bar is written out, and you will NOT get the orchestra hits that you have written, as it becomes a game of Where's Waldo, because every bar in drum notation is very busy.
- If there's too much stuff in the paper, the drummer either stares at the sheet music, and doesn't look at the conductor or listen to the band (or his own playing), or the drummer might not look at the sheet music at all, prioritizing listening to the band and looking at the conductor.
- There are repeat signs for multiple bars of music, so using a 2-bar loop as a basis is not an excuse to leave it all written in. Depending on the software that's used, they either are supported or they are not, in which case you need to do them manually. (Looking really angry at you, Musescore!) However, generally avoid 4-bar repeat signs...
- Related to the previous points, if you are transcribing music, don't write every nuance and flourish the drummer plays in a recording. The end result is usually illegible without hours of time to study the sheet music. I generally have ~5 minutes to check out the sheet music of a new arrangement before we start to play it in my horn band. Concentrate in the big picture, we will add our own flourishes in any case.
"if you're transcribing music"
I would think that would depend on the purpose of the transcription. You obviously mean if you're transcribing it because you want to play that particular song, but if you're transcribing it to get better at playing the drums, the details are likely to be the main point.
I couldn't agree more.
I don't think this scoresheet was specifically meant to be read by a human. I think it's really written for MIDI, and the scoresheet view, which is transcribed automatically by software, just looks more readable than a piano roll for video. basically, it was meant to be read by a computer.
8BMT: You can't copyright a drum fill.
Marvin Gaye's estate: Hold my beer.
“I used a microphone to record my singing”
Marvin Gaye and Co.: it’s free real estate
As a drummer, it's crazy how much of this information I'd already had internalized just from experience and listening to existing songs, even though I've never really been taught it. Great video!
Same, same
What other things do I need to know to get better at composing drums? Is this video enough?
Experience is the best teacher! I'm a harmony/melody guy and this video taught me so much about what yall do and how you do it, even as a basic introduction to the rhythm world.
@@kajiko88small details like cowbells, Triangle that play sometimes on 16th notes. clave ryrhms that sometimes play. SYNCOPATION! Have a structure, like start small and get bigger. But also ! quite phrases in loud parts
@@kajiko88Listen to songs in the genre of music you're interested in making. Deconstruct the drum parts to understand what makes them work. Then craft your own with the songs you studied as a reference
Gonna line out some tips for people who wanna dive a bit deeper:
Grooves (more often than not) are best when they follow other instruments! You already wrote a sick bass part, so try matching the bass drum to it. Give the snare ghost notes following the guitar, set up the hi hat so it accentuates the keys...
There are a million ways to mix and match these parts and specific drums but in general, bass goes with bass, snare goes with melody, and hi hat goes with background chords and shenanigans.
Great drums bring out the best in the rest of the music.
So following drums are everyone's favorite - drum fills. So here's the thing, absolutely do steal stuff - but the best way to develop a good fill is to mutate the groove. Keep the melody of the groove going but move things around to toms and add some notes in between, and after two or so beats where we gradually went from groove to fill we can now move back from fill to the groove (the Motown fill is a great choice for example, could've just set it up more so it would feel more comfortable) - this is where you can absolutely steal something, the way you set up the fill plays a massive role in how it sounds.
Fills should be a gradient, not a border between two colors.
The last thing I have to say (and it's my one little gripe with this video, which is otherwise wonderful and no doubt really useful for non drummers) is that drums and drummers are - at the end of the day - playing a melody. This means you should use your knowledge of phrasing in the drums. So, try to think what fill would work for a bass for example and just move different pitches to different drums. Then you can elaborate or change things, but you should be able to sing / understand what is going on. Which leads me to the actual gripe I had, and it's fast notes. We all love em, and they are very, VERY often misused (at least in my opinion). Fast notes are the equivalent of a singer belting or a trumpet just blasting at a high register. They function as a massive energy bombs you can drop, and they should be used with care. I... Don't like the way they were used here. Especially with the shots (I call em kicks), you never really fill through shots unless it's a drum solo - at least from my experience. Otherwise it's just a fill to the next section...
My advice would be to stay away from continuous use of 16 note triplets and/or 32 notes. They are fun but you have to know how to phrase with them. I would only go with really fast fills if you really are at a super high energy point - but just be careful. Think what a trumpet would play to fill in the gaps, and fill the long notes with fast 16 triplets and you should be good.
Writing this on my phone was not a good idea. The formatting is probably garbage, any way cool video byeeeeeee~!
Really helpful
wowww effort tyyy
Really good point about fast notes ! As a drummer myself when I heard the last crazy fill I was like bro calm down it's a chill song
I tend to fill through hits, but it’s never a flashy kind of fill, just a deviation from the groove.
When you say snare goes with melody you mean the snare plays at the same time as the melody hits? Wouldn’t that be weird in a normal pop/rock song ?
i play drums why am i here
Idk
Holy shit @BreadBoys
I was here to program drums and see my influence.
This is a sophisticated comment section.
I feel like a journeyman carpenter who's just learned that wood exists in different types. I never really appreciated the function of drums before, very enlightening. Thank you!!
Dude, I'm a bass player trying to come up with drum tracks to practice on and this video was a Godsend. Please do more videos like this one. Thank you for the great content.
I was thinking they could do a “How to write basic bass parts”. As Michael League said, “Bass is one of the easiest instruments to learn to play, but one of the hardest to master.”
I’d like to add that, back when I was in high school, learning drums, my instructor taught me that, if you think of volume as a pyramid, where the base is the most prevalent at holding the groove and the peak is the least prevalent, rock would have the bass drum and snare at the base and hi hat & ride cymbals at the peak. Jazz is the other way around.
Great analogy! Your teacher was smart ... :-)
That’s part of why I love playing jazz so much. The inverted nature of it, having cymbals as the foundation, feels a lot more natural to me
This is expertly presented, amazing job!
poop
I take the advantage of the positionof this comment to ask.
Does this all also aplies to meassures like 3/4, 5/4 etc?
I know nobody will ever reply, but I'll just load this here.
@@cactusowo1835 I think yea it does, but u just gotta know what are the strong and weak beats in your time signature. And the strong ones would be like how 1 and 3 are and the weak ones would be like 2 and 4 are in 4/4. Everything else should transfer I think, although u would have more or less space to play around with, cuz uk, u have a different number of beats lol.
honestly, i really enjoy the videos that talk more about rhythm and percussion and stuff. Everybody talks about chords, and melodies, but you really dive deep into how rhythm and rhythmic intensity effect a piece, and I really appreciate that unique perspective you have as a drummer.
Exactly my thought. I can find a billion videos talking about secondary dominants or voice leading, but never one that talks about how rhythm can affect the feel of a melody, accompaniment or anything else. I have just heard of this concept of rhythmic anticipation here. It's like people expect beginners to pick up on rhythmical concepts on their own, and don't think that rhythm deserves a deeper look. Which is wrong imo considering how insanely important it can be.
@@hiphop4eva374 totally agree, the lack of a (common) hard system to classify and talk about rhythms the same way that chords and chord progressions, are talked about, and why they sound the way they do, is honestly one of the biggest failings of how music/music theory is taught.
This is fantastic. The only other thing I think really bears mentioning for beginners is intrabeat dynamics. You'll notice that 8-Bit's examples of rhythmic approach notes are almost always softer than the on-beat hits that come immediately after, particularly on the kick drum. Similarly, his "constants" (whether they're on a cymbal, snare, or kick drum like the metal example) are not at the same velocity throughout the measure. The off beats are softer than the down beats. It's how real drummers sound. Constant velocity on a constant generally feels pretty square, excessively high energy, and inhuman. Of course, that may be your intention (like for making super high energy modern dance music), but if you're either going for the feel of a live drummer or just want the beat to feel more organic, you generally want to alternate velocities on any constants you program.
How to write drum parts for non-drummers: remember your drummer has only two arms
Edit: you guys need to stop listing prog drummers unless they can play snare + hi-hat + two toms + another snare roll at the same time
Except Larnell Lewis, perhaps?
@@wileamyp dude's a fuckin octopus
Watch out for those people working on 2 sticks per hand on the kit. There's some straight-up dangerous things you can do with only one additional stick.
Ah but you can have two drummers! Whether it's overdubbed or two at once. Lots of Motown songs had two drummers. Signed Sealed Delivered is a very obvious one.
@@AfferbeckBeats Still, it's a good rule to follow unless you're intentionally breaking it. Some people will write a straight rock groove and completely forget the logistics.
So this might not make any sense to most people, but a pianist who can sight read just learned how to play the drums. Thank you earned a sub
I'm a beginner drummer and this really helped understand certain song's beats and why the drummers played in those patterns.
I have an opposite problem. I've been drumming for almost 5 years, but I know nothing about any other instrument
For someone who never got drums beyond a very primal "this sounds awesome", this was a great introduction of what goes on with that instrument. Thank you!
This is the best rhythm video I've ever seen, there is so much information here. It's literally the 80/20 for drums. I feel like anyone who can master these ideas could write drums for life
As someone who has been learning how to write music for over a year now, this helped me SO much!! Thank you!!
I've been a drummer for over 10 years, and while I've never written any parts I've had an intuitive understanding of a lot of this due to my imperfect memory. You know how it goes, your band members wanna play a song you haven't played in months so you half improvise. Pretty cool to see that what I'm doing is actually the way things work and not just my own weirdness.
Also, I never realised the way the stick points indicates whether you play a note with your hands or feet. That's pretty nifty.
I was wondering when you'd cover something like this since you're a drummer yourself! Super useful! :D
Yeah! Finally some sheet music that I can actually follow!
Dude, that was SUPER helpful. I'm a trained composer but not a drummer, and always feel completely lost at the prospect of writing drum parts. Also the arrangement at the end was marvelous!
as someone who picked up drums to add to pieces but never really “learned” the instrument, this video was incredibly helpful not to introduce me to these concepts, but to explain why it is I’ve been brainwashed into playing in this way. great video!
I’ve played drums for 5 years now and this is right on the money
This is a perfect tutorial for drum writing. I've written and produced music for over 15 years now I know all this, but I had to learn it the hard way. man what a golden resource for all aspiring musicians!
As someone who's watching this to learn how to write drum parts for my songs (because I don't play), its very encouraging to see the amount of drummers who approve of this. Thumbs up, thanks guys!
1:10 Bass drums are usually played on beats 1 and 3...
*Shows Mike Portnoy playing in probably 13/8, 17/69 and √420/(π+φ)*
This had me cracking up! (And true)
As someone who's getting into music production, this helped immensely! Thanks 8-bit!
I’ve always wanted clear guidance on this topic. Thanks for filling in the gap!
For *fill*ing in the gap, huh? 👀
8:15
I knew this effect was powerful but holy crap.
Also thank you for existing as a whole, found you today from a friend of mine and you have no idea how helpful even 2 videos have been to reinforce my understanding of music theory.
Azalea Town is one of the most nostalgic tunes for me. Thanks for showing me how drums can make it even better!
I swear I've been waiting for someone to explain drums to me this since I started writing my own songs YEARS ago. With full sincerity. Thank oh so much.
That tension/release idea of a fill followed by a crash cymbal is very profound! Can't believe I never thought of that before!
Thanks for this. Been writing drum parts as a non drummer for years now, and, together with bass, it is the most enjoyable part of arranging a piece. It helps so much in establishing dynamics early on. I would suggest to anyone to transcribe drum parts to get accustomed to the basic vocabulary, it is so much fun!
Having footage of Mike Portnoy whilst talking about the very basics of drumming is extremely confusing
And I never thought I'd see Portnoy footage transition to Animal Crossing lol
but having footage of pridgen whilst talking about fills was extremely fitting
I was surprised to see Portnoy early on; Pridgen even more so, and then when Brann Dailor showed up I was wondering how the hell this was all so on point. I didn't realise the brains behind this fantastic channel is a drummer, but this video makes it abundantly clear.
And Neil Peart in the intro section as well
He had plenty of proggers and I'm not complaining
I’ve been drumming for 10 years with a year of weekly drum lessons in there and this was still invaluable knowledge. One of the best videos I’ve ever seen on this channel.
I just started college as a music comp. major and this was incredibly helpful thank you so much ☺️
Me too! Can't wait to wow my studio with some grooves
Heyyy question real fast! How much prior formal musical education does one need to have before getting into a music comp. major?
@@lamp9359 where I go to school, it’s the same as getting a Performance degree. You basically audition on an instrument with a few scales, a few solos, and some Aural Skills. In college is where you’re really expected to learn about music theory and really delve into Aural Skills.
@@vernonprater5925
Depends a lot on the school. I had some piano experience thanks to private lessons but that was really about it, and I'm going to graduate next year. They did have a placement exam, but that was it. I went to a state school though so I imagine if you go to a conservatory or one of the more prestigious ones you have to audition and stuff like that.
edit: oops, replied to the wrong person, this was meant for Lamp.
As a percussionist I was super happy to see you made this! Listen to what this guy says, fr. Get inspiration from other drummers, and be consistent with your notation! Although, I hate when drums put the snare on all the beats lol, it's a bit superfluous when the rhythm section (guitar/bass) are already playing that.
I love how these videos are as valuable as college composition classes, keep up the amazing work!
I was literally writing a song today wondering what I was going to do for my drum parts since I don’t play drums. What are the odds.
Edit: PLEASE make more videos like this! They’re incredibly useful!!
The first time I watched this I didn't understand a lot of it; revisiting it has been invaluable after gaining more experience. Thank you!
As someone who's been struggling with writing percussion parts in things I'm working on, this feels like exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for making this so clear!
I've used Reaper to write at least 15 complete songs, but only 4 or 5 of them have drums at all due to my lack of experience and understanding. One thing I did on my own that helped was recreate drum patterns from popular songs I liked. Michael Jackson is a good place to start when recreating drums. Cheers everyone! Happy Writing!
MJ is a very good one
that actually seems like a really good idea just recreating drumbeats. it's like learning songs on guitar and then you can use the things you learn to make your own.
Fantastic! I think the most eye-opening part to me was just how small a fill can be while still having a clear effect.
This is how you can tell a new drummer from a professional! Less is more most of the time ☺️
Two years later and this video is still the only reason I can write drums, haha. Amazing video that I show to anyone interested and have rewatched half a dozen times
These were things I picked up and figured out through playing in my jazz band. It was very interesting to see all of these things listed out in the exact way I habitually go through it.
I'm not a drummer, but you'll be damn sure I'm going to use it in my guitar playing what you just taught us! Feels like a gold grade lesson that sharpens our fundamentals . Very useful, I'm great! Very easy to understand!
foo fighters write their riffs as drum patterns, the opening riff of everlong plays as a kick kick snare pattern
It's amazing how much your video editing has improved since you started, I really appreciate that the lines moves constantly while it reads the music like you would use your finger to trace a sentence on a page. Keep up the good work!
9:16 ”Acting like an orchestra's conductor from inside the band"... Whoa, that's such an insightful description of what percussion does and its main function or purpose😯🎵🤯
I am so happy you've covered this. I've been through 9 years of post-secondary education in music school and a strong majority of musicians have never written drum parts before in their life. Having good resources for writing drum parts is awesome and this drummer thanks you for it!
this was amazing! i've been looking for a tutorial on writing drums that i could understand as a non-drummer for YEARS and i'm so glad to finally have found your video!
gosh, I could really have used this years ago. drum parts always seemed so unapproachable in my composing days and I ended up basically never using drums. fantastic work
I started producing and I've had no idea how to write my drum patterns. This video was perfect. I've never learned so much helpful information in such little time. Thank you.
12:05 "The real purpose of a drum fill isn't sounding cool or to hype up the audience, it's to telegraph the feeling of each new section of the piece."
I'm definitely gonna use this way of thinking to write my next songs!
You don’t understand how much you made it so easy to understand. I was never able to fully comprehend what makes a drum work. You literally made me get up at 4 in the morning to go play around with a midi keyboard and a daw. Thank you so much.
As a piano player this has been really enlightening. Good job on dissecting your drum writing process and giving examples for all of the ideas you present. This video will be a very helpful reference for my own songwriting in the future. Great work!
As a former drummer turned keyboardist, I approve. Great video, this should be a huge help for non-drummers to at least make a decent drum part. Writing for drums can be hard if you've never been a drummer yourself.
this is really cool and amazingly helpful for someone who has never touched a drum in their entire lives
the torna battle themes drums from XC2 dlc is still just as confusing as it was 20 minutes ago though
When you played the sample country/ska drumline and my brain instantly overlaid the proper instrumentation to form Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy, the idea really clicked for me. Im not a musician but I do enjoy studying music, so I enjoyed this lesson a lot, thank you!
I don't usually comment, but I wanted to say thank you for the understanding I've gained. I'm a classically trained flute player with no college education, and your videos expose me to/help me navigate so many amazing concepts and tools which are novel to me. I've been putting off writing too many damn drum parts just because I never knew where to start. This is the video that I've needed for so long, as fundamental as most of these ideas are, to help me start piecing together the final building blocks of an assload of music. I knew I needed to catch up on your vids d:
1 year later, did you stick with it? 😯
I'll be honest, you completely lost me after after the first half of this video, but as a classically-trained pianist I found the explanation of different drum styles explaining the difference between pop, jazz and latin very interesting!
5:03: "You gotta keep 'em separated!"
Great, analytical video, I sometimes feel like the melodies and basslines in music get talked about much more than the drum beats, so it was great seeing your in-depth analysis!
I will also keep in mind and come up with something better than just adding a cymbal hit at the start of each measure, haha.
this was a fantastic video! I am certainly not a drummer, but I write and produce music as a sort of one man team, and it always feels like the whole song is lacking if the drums get boring or if I repeat them too much with loops and what not, so I really feel like this will help a lot. Thank you for putting the time in and making a quality video with great production and visuals, you're the best man!
sometimes when i watch these videos im like "wow i'm understanding music!" and other times im like "what is he saying, i don't know what that means" and OTHER times im going all like "aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHH-"
Generally not the usage of "deeper down the south american rabbit hole" I was expecting, but it's a welcome change of pace
0:09 I'm glad you caveated this with 'theoretically'. Poorly written parts have been created for all instruments. Not understanding an instrument can result in impossible notes being written (usually outside the range), parts written in a precarious or less effective range (depending on the instrument high pianissimo or low fortissimo may not work well or may result in missed notes), no spots to breathe for wind instruments, too wide of chords for keyboards, no time for mute changes for brass, etc. Some time is needed with all instruments to understand idiomatic and effective writing. This is a great introduction to drums!
add to your excellent list of unplayables: 7th chords on guitar voiced as stacked thirds. *If* R-3-5-7 is even possible, it's usually wildly uncomfortable = not part of the idiom = sounds unguitarlike anyway
wow. a true master class on understanding how drums work in a piece of music, extremely well organized, concisely delivered, without making it too technical to comprehend. Bless you sir
...I've been making music for years and this is still exactly what I needed. Thank you, so, so much.
This is one of the best tutorials I’ve seen in my life. You put every other tutorial video creator to shame with your simplicity, ease of understanding, and thorough analysis. Fan-fucking-tastic work as always!
as drummer this was fun to watch as I usually just wing it
As a self-taught amateur musician, thank you. Before this video I didn't even know how to approach fills, or just, well, making literally anything for the drums.
This was def a simple masterclass. excellent man. Only thing I might edit is Hits can always just be, hits, nothing else, which is what drummers do more often than not lol
I searched for almost this exact title a few days ago but couldn't find anything that satisfied my needs, this was perfect.
As a percussionist of 8 years, this video will be interesting
Well…. Are you satisfied?
@@nintendude794 and we never heard from him ever again...
Im so glad i found this as someone who wants to write more original songs, but struggles writing anything interesting for drums as a non-drummer. Good shit
Thank you for blessing us with that Azalea town sample at the end, I was not expecting that. I usually listen to the original pokemon OST's as a background fill to help study and hearing Azalea Town in a new way was like being 8 again and listening to it for the first time:') I wish there was a way to download that version. The drum lesson was almost a bonus to me albeit the finest cherry on top that ever was! This video was very well written and informative
this video… i’m sending it to my grandson brandon so he can finally do something for once in life!!! his head is as hollow as a drum so he should start learning this!!
i NEED a spotify version of the final result, i cannot live without it
I thought it was an insaneintherain collab or something
I've been playing drums for 17 years ans teaching for 3 years now and I don't know how to say how well you managed to explain everything, congratulations this video it's amazing!!!
Amazing approachable "functional" drumming for newbies
Thank you so much for sharing your passion and knowledge
Everything you were saying made sense but it didn’t fully click until I heard the end product. You have greatly enhanced my understanding, thank you!
I'm a learning composer and this is EXACTLY what I needed. Thanks!
By far the best basic drum tutorial I've seen. I've been struggling for months for some sort of concrete guidance on where to get started and this is it. Thanks a ton.
I love the train metaphor, it cleared a lot of things up for me.
That Azalea Town cover was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life ;-;
you have no clue how long ive been waiting for this
super solid presentation! as a percussionist its nice to hear someone explain all that I do automatically out of habit
I’m surprised it didn’t come up in the video but the FireRed/LeafGreen and HeartGold/SoulSilver versions of the Azalea Town theme each have their own fun and interesting drum lines that work really well with the other instruments
I'm so glad you mentioned "filling through the groove" because I wondered how all my favourite drummers did that
Now imagine going backwards from being a drummer for several years than trying to write for an orchestra
This video has been a godsend for me. As someone who's never played the drums before, I've struggled for so long to even get a handle on how to write drum parts. Thank you 8-Bit!!
Me a drummer: Yeah I should watch this
I can't explain the sudden jolt of happiness I got when I saw a video from 8bmt directed to aspiring musicians on my recommended ahhhhhhhh