19-How to Play the Drums: Advanced Accents

This lesson is part of the series: Drumming Lessons: Reading Rhythm, Drumming Lessons: Beginner-Intermediate, Drumming Lessons: Basics through Advanced

Lots of music is written using accents. In this lesson, we're going to extend our knowledge of accents with a few Advanced Accents Exercises.

Sometimes music may have two rhythms happening at once - the rhythm that the different notes make, and the other rhythm that is just the accents. These two exercises should be played hand to hand using single strokes. Make sure the accents are played with whatever hand they fall on - there will be some with the left, and some with the right. Try to keep the other notes very soft. Don't cheat and always play the accents with the same hand - this will inevitably get you into trouble.

Jim also reminds us that the audience won't hear the accents to the degree that the drummer will. Because the drummer knows the changes are there, they'll hear them regardless of how contrasted the accent is. Thus, he suggests that the accent should seem even over-exaggerated to your own ear to ensure that the audience can pick up on the difference.

This lesson is excerpted from a broader course available from www.begindrumming.com. The Begin Drumming course is a 100% comprehensive drumming course which takes you from absolute beginner to expert soloist without any gimmicky short cuts! Through a combination of video and written lessons, the course will teach you proper technique as well as how to read drum music.

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Let me introduce myself. My name is Jim McCarthy. I'm a drum clinician and teacher and have specialized in pure technique for many years. I consider myself still a student as well, because I have a passion for constantly learning. I learn every day when I watch other drummers, and I analyze what works and what doesn’t. Performing, Educating and Learning have been my life and my living for well over 20 years.

I've had a tremendously broad background in drumming. I've played in rock bands, orchestras, marching bands - everything from high-brow contemporary music to Latin American stuff.

I spent six years at university studying percussion performance full time, and I ended up with a...

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