Lesson 6 -Howlin' Dog
Hi, welcome back!
In this lesson you will learn how to play eighth notes. Eighth notes are short notes. They are shorter than quarter notes. This simply means you can fit more of them in. Let's explore our imagination for a moment.
In this lesson you will learn how to play eighth notes. Eighth notes are short notes. They are shorter than quarter notes. This simply means you can fit more of them in. Let's explore our imagination for a moment.
buckets and rocks
Think of a solid strong bucket or pail. Look below fro some help if you need it. Check out the BIG 5 Gallon pails used for paint or even storage for certain foods!
The bucket you are thinking of is able to hold rocks. We are going to find some rocks. Imagine with me. We'll need 15 rocks. You can put one BIG rock (or stone) in the bucket that fits perfectly. Let's go find one. Found it yet? This is Rock 1. We can call it The Whole Rock.
Put the BIG Whole Rock in the bucket. This rock takes up all the space in the bucket. There is no more room for other rocks. Can you see? Now you have one bucket filled with one rock.
Lets take out The Whole Rock and chop it in half tight down the middle with a powerful karate chop! Ouch! That hurts and the rock is still whole. hmmmmmmm.
Never mind 'chopping the the rock', let's go find a rock that is half the size of the first big whole rock. Actually, while you are at, get two of the them. Get two half size rocks. Let's call these two rocks The Half Rocks.
Lets take out The Whole Rock and chop it in half tight down the middle with a powerful karate chop! Ouch! That hurts and the rock is still whole. hmmmmmmm.
Never mind 'chopping the the rock', let's go find a rock that is half the size of the first big whole rock. Actually, while you are at, get two of the them. Get two half size rocks. Let's call these two rocks The Half Rocks.
Now you have two half size rocks. Let's put those two half in the bucket. They take up all the space of the bucket! They take up the same amount of space as the 1 Big Whole Rock did. There is no more room.
Dump the bucket. See the two rocks. Put the two Half Rocks next the Big Whole Rock.
Now let's do this: Let's use our imagination and brains.
Think about what size rock you might have if you took that first big Whole Rock and broke it into four equal smaller rocks. Let's call these The Quarter Rocks.
Dump the bucket. See the two rocks. Put the two Half Rocks next the Big Whole Rock.
Now let's do this: Let's use our imagination and brains.
Think about what size rock you might have if you took that first big Whole Rock and broke it into four equal smaller rocks. Let's call these The Quarter Rocks.
Look below to see The Eighth Rocks. These are the smaller rocks that can fill the bucket.
Please take a moment to count the rocks. I count 15. Do you? Look for a moment again at the different size rocks. The smaller the rocks the more you can fit into the bucket.
Measures and notes
By now, you should already have a basic understanding of musical notation.
In music, measures hold different size notes. This is like how our imaginary bucket could hold different size rocks.
In music, the size of the different note is called value.
Let me explain. In the example above the Whole Rock was the bigger rock. It represents the Whole Note. The Whole Note is not bigger because of size. It's bigger because of value. The Whole Note takes up space that can be heard. The Whole is bigger because its last longer when listening.
Have you ever heard of the word value? In the language of music, value is how much the note is worth. Value is how long or short the note is after its is played. Is the note LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG? -OR- is it SHORT!
In basic beginning music, Whole Notes generally have a value of four beats. We measure these beats in counts. Let me say something really loud now. ready?
COUNTS ARE NOT SECONDS!!!
...counts are counts. they can be fast. They can be slow. Counts be be even faster than fast. There are medium counts and very slow. The different speed of counts in music is called TEMPO. One thing you have to know about music if you want to be a good drummer is this: Counts are ALWAYS even. In music another name for count in music is: BEAT
Measures help to organize the different size notes. Each measure has the same amount of counts.
In music, measures hold different size notes. This is like how our imaginary bucket could hold different size rocks.
In music, the size of the different note is called value.
Let me explain. In the example above the Whole Rock was the bigger rock. It represents the Whole Note. The Whole Note is not bigger because of size. It's bigger because of value. The Whole Note takes up space that can be heard. The Whole is bigger because its last longer when listening.
Have you ever heard of the word value? In the language of music, value is how much the note is worth. Value is how long or short the note is after its is played. Is the note LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG? -OR- is it SHORT!
In basic beginning music, Whole Notes generally have a value of four beats. We measure these beats in counts. Let me say something really loud now. ready?
COUNTS ARE NOT SECONDS!!!
...counts are counts. they can be fast. They can be slow. Counts be be even faster than fast. There are medium counts and very slow. The different speed of counts in music is called TEMPO. One thing you have to know about music if you want to be a good drummer is this: Counts are ALWAYS even. In music another name for count in music is: BEAT
Measures help to organize the different size notes. Each measure has the same amount of counts.
Subdivision
What a big word! Subdivision. Sub. Division. It comes from the word subdivide. It will be important to understand what this means when learning rhythms.
page 11 (Howlin' dog)
in this lesson, you will subdivide the beats into Eighth Notes. This is best done by counting like this: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Please open your mouth and evenly count out loud:
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ...
Now lets play:
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ...
Now lets play:
Practice Warm up
Howlin' dog -the iconic rock beat
Every drummer plays this classic and most basic of ALL drum beats. It has found its way into some of the most well known pop songs of all time. Make this beat solid and strong. Make it clean and crisp. Make it tight!