High-hat patterns?

AnotherBeginner · Goldfish Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 58

What's the best way to tell if you should be playing quarter or 8th notes on the high-hat? I'm learning drums on my own playing at church and i've gotten pretty good, but that was because I learned from our old drummer, which isn't around anymore. I know you can't tell me exactly since you haven't heard the songs, but is there any easy or simple way to tell?

007david · Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 4:00 am Post subject:

Simplest way: Try it for a bar or two, and if it sounds right, keep with it.

Alternatively, if you want to see if something else sounds good or better, try it.

Of course, without actually playing the music think about how it normally sounds then tap your foot to the tempo. Can you fit another beat in between the foot taps? If so, the 8ths fit, if not, then quarters.

But, things change in church. The biggest of which is church tradition, by which I mean what people are expecting. The church I grew up in didn't even use drums until 1998, and even that was met with resistance. The church I'm at now runs its own arts festival and regularly does more of an improvisational worship (harp and bowl if you know the term).

Assuming, though, that you have the freedom to play whatever you want, the next question is whether more notes fits with the song artistically and emphatically, rather than just tonally. See, assuming everything is in 4/4 or 3/4 (6/8 works out the same way, of course), then quarters always fit. On a basic level you can just play based on sound, and in fact many (if not most) drummers you see do that. I say play based on being a musician. Ask yourself not whether it fits the sound, ask whether it fits the theme, or the lyrics, or the mood. For example, a slower more somber song probably is better served by quarters even though the time is better followed using 8ths (though in this case I'd use a djembe or other hand percussion for the quality of sound). The same tempo on a more droll song is probably better served with 8ths as the extra time for reflection (in a sense) is not needed, and in fact the song could be downright happy needing more of a drive behind it.

Drums are an art, not a chore. Go with what feels right, and don't worry about whether it's right on paper (but if you do, choose the standard of musicality not mediocrity).
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