The Art of Rock Drumming

Rock drumming is not just the basics of drumming; it is an art - an art that most people fail to see. Most drummer start out playing rock on the drums, therefore rock drumming is known as beginner. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. When you take the time to master the style of rock, you can really see how challenging it can be. Drummers like Mike Portnoy, Neil Peart, Dave Grohl, John Bonham, Ringo Starr,Joey Jordison, and Travis Barker are just a few drummers that have mastered this style. They are known as drumming gods, and can play rock beats that impress everyone! So the next time someone tells you rock is the beginner style, read this article through!

Rock has a very basic beat to it; which is the same with all styles though.Jazz, Latin , Country, and funk all have basic beats. This basic beat is in 4/4 time, known as the common time signature. This is generally the first beat every drummer learns, thus giving the rock genre a poor name. There is a lot that can be added to this to make it a very complex groove. Look at some of Travis Barkers grooves, you will see most of them are based around this very basic 4/4 beat!

There is much more to rock than just 4/4. When you really get into it, you will see that rock can be played in any time signature. Some of the most complex beats I have ever played are rock beats played in 7/8, 5/4 and 12/8 time. These odd time signatures are amazing to learn and play along to. They are very complex, and difficult to play. Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy are a few drummers who have mastered the art of odd time signature drumming. Listen to some of these beats and you will be blown away at the skill level these drummers have in rock music! Once you start playing these odd time signatures, you will begin to understand why this style of drumming can be so technical.

 Another great thing about rock music is the variety it contains! There are so many different variations of rock out there; it is hard to master them all! For example, there is rock alternative, hard rock, metal rock, punk rock, pop rock, funk rock, fusion rock, progressive rock, grunge rock, and much more! Learning rock on the drums is not as simple as learning the basic 4/4 groove! Once get down to it, Rock is probably one of the biggest styles of music out there. Luckily it is one of the most popular styles to learn on the drums as well!