To learn how to read drum notes, first you’ll need to understand a few basic concepts like the staff, musical notation, and time signature. Once you have this foundational knowledge, it’s easy to read drum sheet music and become a solid drum player. With drum lessons from a trained instructor, hard work, and dedication, you’ll know how to read drum notes in no time.

Historically, drums are one of the earliest instruments known to humanity. The tradition of drumming is thousands of years old, with some of the world’s oldest drums dating as far back as 6000 BC. In the modern world, these percussion instruments are prominent in virtually all cultures and styles of music. From timpanis to drum sets to indigenous instruments, there are many different kinds of drums you can learn to play.

Once you learn to play the drums and read drum notation in sheet music, the sky’s the limit. You’ll be able to play drums in orchestras, marching bands, jazz bands, pop groups, rock bands, and more! 

No matter what genre you love, a steady drum beat is the foundation of almost every song. If you want to know how to read drum notes, you’ll need to study the following concepts:

• The Staff and Bars
• Drum Notation
• Time Signature
• Rhythmic Notes

How to Read Drum Notes

The Staff and Bars

All sheet music uses a staff. A musical staff (sometimes called “stave”) consists of five horizontal lines and four spaces in between each bar line. Written music uses these lines and spaces to tell you which musical notes to play, and when, to create the melody and rhythm of a composition.

When the staff is broken up into smaller segments by a vertical line, these segments are known as bars or measures. As a drummer, counting is essential to your playing. Bars make counting easier by dividing the staff into smaller units. 

Usually, bars on sheet music are also numbered. This lets your conductor, band leader, or teacher point out specific bars to focus on during rehearsals.

Drum Notation

Although the general principles are the same, learning how to read drum notes is a little different than learning to read music for other instruments. Unlike a stringed instrument, brass instrument, or woodwind instrument, most drums only produce one specific sound. Your drum may be tuned to a certain key, but in general you can’t play different notes on the same drum.

So what does it mean when you see notes on different lines or spaces of the staff? Usually, these notes refer to different drums. For example, if you’re playing a drum kit, one note will tell you to play a snare drum, while others indicate the bass drum, kick drum, or one of the various toms and cymbals.

Time Signature

Next, learn time signature. Time signature refers to the two numbers you see at the beginning of the staff, such as 4/4. These two numbers provide valuable information about the composition’s timing and rhythm. As a drummer, time signature is a very important concept to learn.

In a time signature, the top number tells you how many “beats” are in each bar of the staff. For example, in 4/4 time, you’d play four beats per measure. The bottom number of a time signature tells you how long to hold each note. 

Of course, the type of note also affects this. We’ll discuss this in the next section when we talk about rhythmic notes.

Rhythmic Notes

Once you’ve learned about the staff and bars, drum notation, and time signature, it’s time to dive deeper and learn how specific types of notes create rhythm. You’ve probably seen musical notes that look like little dots with a fancy tail, which can have multiple variations. As it turns out, each of these variations has a different meaning.

Musical notes use subdivision to create tempo. There are whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and so on. Refer to the time signature at the beginning of the piece to understand how to count for each different note. 

For example, in 4/4 time, each bar on the staff can contain one whole note, two half notes, four quarter notes, and so on. In 4/4 time signature, the different combinations of notes will always add up to a count of four in each measure.

Using this information, you’ll learn how quickly or slowly to play each drum, as well as how long to rest in between notes. This creates the rhythm of a piece.

Learn How to Read Drum Music with Lessons from Music and Arts

If you’re interested in sharpening your skills as a drummer, try private drum lessons from Music and Arts. Visit a Music and Arts store near you or contact us online for more information.