Lesson 3 - The eighth note beat

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Written by Henrik

The eighth note beat

In the previous lesson you learned how to play an eighth note fill in. Now it's time to play the eighth note beat.
This beat and its variations are arguably the most common drum beats in pop and rock history.

The eighth note basic beat

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Crash on beat 1

Just as we did in the previous lesson, move your hand from the hihat to the crash on beat 1 in the first measure.

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Also play the crash as a quarter note and continue comping from beat 2. This leaves more space and allowes you to play in faster tempos.

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Fill exercise

Play this beat in a four bar cycle. In measure 4: play the fill you learned in lesson 2.

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This is the end of the fill going into the beat again.

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Sixteenth note fill

If you play four notes per beat (twice as fast as 8th notes) you'll be playing sixteenth notes.
Sounds like this:

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Here is the same 4 bar cycle as before. This time with the 16th note fill.

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This is the switch from the fill to the beat.

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Good Luck!