About The Beginner Drum Course
This online beginner drum course takes you from your first time behind the kit to playing rock beats, drum fills and your first song along to real music. Every lesson is taught by Drum Hero Drum School teacher Ross Farrant, using the same techniques he teaches his in-person students.
You learn the right way from the start: how to set up and tune your drums, hold the sticks, and play the pedals, hi-hats and cymbals with good technique. From there, you learn note values and how to read drum notation, so you can understand and play drum parts on your own.
What You Will Learn
Module 1: Let’s Get Drumming
Module 1 covers everything you need to get started, across 16 video lessons.
- Setting up a four piece and a five piece drum kit, including a double kick pedal
- Packing up your kit quickly and safely for gigs and band practice
- Tuning your toms, floor tom, snare drum (top and bottom heads) and bass drum
- Holding the drumsticks with matched grip, plus American, German and French grip
- Playing the bass drum pedal heel up and heel down
- Playing the hi-hats and hi-hat pedal, open and closed
- Your first rock beat, and playing it along to your first song
- Using a metronome to keep steady time
- Playing the ride cymbal and crash cymbal
- Your first drum fill
Module 2: Introducing The Note Values
Learn to count and play every note value you need as a beginner, from whole notes through to 16th and 32nd notes, plus quarter, 8th and 16th note triplets.
Module 3: How To Read The Note Values
Learn how each note value is written in drum music, so you can recognise and count what you see on the page.
Module 4: Applying Notation To The Kit
Put your reading to work on the drum kit. Learn how drum kit notation is laid out, then read and play your first rock beat, your first drum fill, and the crash and ride cymbals.
Modules 5 to 10
Further modules cover:
- Introducing the rest values
- Training your ears
- The must know beginner rudiments
- Hand techniques
- Bass drum pedal techniques
- Hi-hat pedal techniques
New modules are added to the course as they are completed.
Who This Course Is For
- Complete beginners with no musical experience
- Self-taught drummers who want to fix their technique and fill the gaps
- Early teens through to adults
- Anyone who wants to learn at their own pace from home
What You Need
- A drum kit, or a practice pad and a pair of drumsticks to get started
- A drum key (tuning key) for setting up and tuning your kit
- A rug or mat under your kit to stop the pedals and bass drum sliding
- A metronome, which you start using in Module 1
How The Course Works
- Each lesson has a video with Ross, plus a written overview of what the lesson covers
- Lessons are marked complete automatically when you finish watching the video
- You can move through the lessons at your own pace and revisit any lesson at any time
Your Teacher
Ross Farrant has been playing drums for over 30 years and has played in several bands. He has taught drums in Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast for over 15 years, with one-on-one lessons at Music At Noosa and in local schools. Ross holds a Certificate II in Music Industry and teaches all styles, including rock, metal, funk, hip hop, pop, jazz, blues and country.
