Rhythmic Bliss: Learn the Basics of Jazz Drumming

Time - Jazz drumming relies heavily on time or playing consistently with different tempos. It's helpful to practice playing with a metronome or drumless tracks to develop a strong sense of time. This will help you stay in sync with the other musicians in the band and support their solos.

Syncopation - Jazz drumming uses syncopated rhythms, which means playing off the beat. This creates tension and release in the music.

For example, Rock drumming focuses a lot of the groove and drum fill time on beginning and ending on counts 1 or 3.  In Jazz drumming, our focus is on counts 2 and 4. We also emphasize the "ands" (or off-beats) a lot.  Syncopation gives Jazz music lots of forward motion. 

Swing - The Swing feeling is a crucial element of Jazz drumming. It's a triplet-based rhythmic pattern that also contributes to the forward motion of the music.  

A lot of this forward motion comes from the Swing feel we have on the ride cymbal.  Even without syncopation, it's important to be able to swing your quarter notes on the ride cymbal.  To learn this, check out my Intro to Jazz Drumming Course. 

Improvisation - Improvisation is the biggest reason Jazz drumming is so different from any other style of drumming. We never play a song the same way twice.  Jazz drummers make up their drum parts from the beginning to the ending of every song. 

A great way to work on your improvisation is by practicing your drum soloing and drum fills and grooves with drumless tracks. I've created hundreds of Jazz drum practice tracks that will help transform your drumming.

Start slow - When learning a new rhythm or pattern, start slow and gradually increase the tempo. I always say, "You have to play it slow to learn it fast." 

Also try taking everything one count at a time, out of time. Focus on playing everything that falls under each individual count without the pressure of playing in time.

This will help you develop muscle memory and improve you drum set independence faster than any other method.  This approach will help you play things correctly every time and avoid unnecessary frustration. 

By the way, this is exactly how I teach all of my courses here at Jazz Drum School. 

Use a metronome - Practice playing to a metronome with improve your timing and accuracy. You can also use those drumless tracks I mentioned above.

We need a time reference when we practice so that we can catch ourselves when we are speeding up or slowing down. There are 3 ways you can use a metronome effectively for your drum practice.

1. Use the click of the metronome for every quarter note of a measure. For example, if you are counting in 4/4 or 4 beats to a measure, every count would get a metronome click. Use any tempo for this practice. 

2. Assign the click of the metronome to counts 2 and 4. In this case, every time you hear a click it would go with count 2 and 4. Start at about 60 BPM for this practice.

3. Assign the click to only count four. This way will super-charge your time because of all the space in between the click. For example every time you hear a click it would be for count 4. Start at about 35-45 BPM to use this practice. 

Record yourself - Recording yourself during practice and at performances can quickly help you identify areas that need improvement. It's humbling and sometimes frustrating but the recording doesn't lie!

I regularly record myself at my gigs and have for years. In fact, if you haven't seen my YouTube shorts, take a look. Lot's of video from my performances over the years. 

Play with other musicians - Playing with other is the fastest way to improve your Jazz drumming skills. It helps you learn how to connect your drumming technique with the music and other musicians in the group.

Get together with friends to work on Jazz Standards, find a Jazz jam session in your area or heck, start your own jam session! 

Online lessons - I have hundreds of Jazz drumming lessons here at Jazz Drum School.  They'll take you from Jazz drumming basics all the way up to advanced skills. 

The great thing too, is you don't have to pay monthly for access. Everything here is one-time payment for lifetime access. 

Private lessons - I also teach private lessons using a video conferencing platform called Forte that's designed for music lessons. It's wonderfully easy to use and all of my private students love it. 

YouTube drum lessons - I also have many Jazz drumming lessons on my YouTube channel. All of these connect back to the techniques and concepts taught here at Jazz Drum School.