1. FISHER PRICE (NO DRUMS REQUIRED.)
Playing drums is like dancing to music. So, select a favorite song and tap the beat to it with your right hand. These beats are the downbeats. This is where the groove is locked onto. Normally there should be four downbeats to one measure. 1…2…3…4…
Next try to fill the gap between the downbeats of the right hand with a left hand tap. 1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+. while listening to your favourite Stevie Wonder hit. Now double the right hand with your right foot. This should already give you a solid groove and lock really nice into the rhythm you are listning to. Keep on playing this basic rhythm on a table, on your knees or wherever you are listening to music with a beat or groove.

2. HIGH-SCHOOL BAND
Now get behind a drum kit. In front of you should be at least a snare drum, a bass drum with a pedal (right foot) and a hi-hat (left foot) with some hi-hat cymbals attached to it. To keep things simple, close the hi-hat or leave your left foot on it to keep it closed. Play the right-hand downbeats on the closed hi-hat. 1…2…3…4… Next, add the left-hand on the hi-hat as well: 1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+. Add the right-foot on the bass drum and practice this 8th note rhythm for a long, long time.
Now, let’s take every second beat of the right hand (the 2 and the 4 ) and play it on the snare drum. Yes. This is already a groove that should put a smile on your face. Play this until you really feel comfortable with it. Now try to play all the 8th notes 1.+.2.+.3.+.4.+. with you right hand, putting your left to rest for a moment. Same rhythm, different feel. Play this until it’s in your system. Then try to play the beats 2 and 4 with your left hand on the snare drum. Your left arm goes under the right one, almost crossed. This is the simple beat you heard a million times, also called the Dum-Z-Dah-Z-Dum-Z-Dah. The famous drummer Bernard Purdie once said that this beat is all you need to get your kids through college.

3 BOHANNON
Now let’s get funky. Take the basic beat from above and stop playing the 2 and 4 with your left hand. Just play the 8th notes 1+2+3+4+ on the hihat with the right hand and the downbeats 1234 on the bass drum with the right foot. Now take the left hand and fill in the gaps between the right hand on the hihat. So 1+2+3+4+ becomes 1*+*2*+*3*+*4*+*. The (*) stands for all the left hand strokes. Do this slowly so you can really pay attention to whats going on. This is a 16th note groove now – a simple disco beat. Play this for while and get into the feel of this new and funky rhythm. Next, take the 2+4 down on the snare again. With your right hand this time.
To spice this beat up we turn to our left foot. Adjust the hi-hat cymbal to open – not too wide, maybe one centimetre. Now just play both feet at the same time, 1234. This makes the hi-hat cymbal open up just before the down beats, giving our 16th note groove an even more of a disco feel. When you feel comfortable in this groove, you can experiment with the opening of the hi-hat. Just how much you open it, and exactly when you start to open it, makes all the difference. You will see.

4 FUNKY DRUMMER
Now that we’ve mastered the 8th note and a 16th note drumbeat, we can play along to most of the music around us. Next we’ll hot thigs up a little with some fills and variations. Again, let’s play our 16th note groove with the hihat closed. The right and the left play 1*+*2*+*3*+*4*+*. These are all the subdivisions that we need to go crazy. Now play the 16th note groove three times (three bars) and in the fourth bar, take both hands and play all 16 notes (1*+*2*+*3*+*4*+*.) on the snare drum. After that go back into the 16th note groove. This is called a fill in.
When you’re comfortable with this, take the individual hits of the fill in onto other instruments of the drumset. Best done in groups of four. Do it like: four on the snare, four on the first tom, four on the second and so on… But always stay in the groove of 1*+*2*+*3*+*4*+*. As soon as feel safe doing this, you can take every hit of the fill in and play it on different sources. Advanced players can also leave out one hand and replace it with a bass drum hit. You can go on forever with the variations never ending.

Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson is out now on Sonar Kollektiv.