Drums Lesson 01: parts of the kit and holding the sticks
Taught by Pocket, your Change Your Strings Drums teacher ·
A basic kit has a bass drum (played with a foot pedal), a snare, hi-hats, a couple of toms, and crash and ride cymbals, plus a throne to sit on. Hold each stick with a relaxed matched grip: pinch it between thumb and index finger at its balance point and let it rebound.
Watch Total Drummer's walkthrough in the video above, then read the breakdown.
Before you can keep time, you need to know what you are hitting and how to hold what you hit with. Two things today: the layout of the kit, and a grip that works with you instead of against you.
A standard five-piece kit has these voices. Sit down and find each one:
- Bass drum (kick). The big drum on the floor, played with a pedal under your foot. It is the deepest, heaviest sound in the kit.
- Snare drum. The sharp, cracking drum between your knees. Wires (snares) under it give that buzz. This is the backbone of the beat.
- Hi-hats. Two small cymbals on a stand, worked by a pedal under your other foot. Strike them with a stick, open or close them with the pedal.
- Toms. Tunable drums with no snare wires. A five-piece usually has two mounted over the bass drum and one floor tom on legs. They carry your fills.
- Cymbals. The crash gives a loud accent, the ride keeps a steady pattern. Both sit on stands within easy reach.
You sit on the throne, the drummer's stool, set so your thighs slope slightly down toward the pedals.
Now the sticks, held in matched grip, where both hands hold the stick the same way:
- Let a stick balance across your palm and find the spot, about a third of the way up from the butt end, where it feels weightless. That is the balance point.
- Pinch it there lightly between the pad of your thumb and the side of your index finger. This pinch is your fulcrum.
- Curl your other three fingers loosely around the stick. Do not squeeze.
- Turn your palms to face down. Both hands, same grip.
The secret is a relaxed hand. Grip too tight and the stick cannot bounce. Held loose, it rebounds off the drum for you. Any all-around stick works to start, and a common first pair is the Vic Firth American Classic 5A.
Practice this
Spend three minutes tapping the snare, hands only, no beat yet. Hold the matched grip, let each stick drop and rebound off the head, and catch that bounce instead of forcing the stick back up. Alternate slowly: right, left, right, left. Loose and even beats fast and stiff every time.
Where you are
This is Lesson 01 of the drum track, your first day at the kit. Drummers you love, from Ringo Starr on, all began by naming these pieces and finding a loose grip. Next, Lesson 02: the basic rock beat, where kick, snare, and hi-hats lock into the groove behind most popular music.