21-How to Play the Drums: 12/8 Time

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

We have already discovered what a time signature is earlier in this book, with “Reading Rhythm 1”. We should see a time signature at the beginning of every new piece of music. Sometimes it can even change in the middle of a piece. The purpose of a time signature is to tell us about the type of rhythms we can expect in each bar. This is because it tells us how many beats are in the bar, and what sort of notes make up the beats.

Up till now we have been using the same time signature with everything - 4/4 time. 4/4 time is used very frequently, and is so common, that we sometimes call it “Common Time”. There are other time signatures that we can use as well though.

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.

• Once you purchase this lesson you will have access to these files:
• 21A.pdf
• 21B.pdf
• pg26_beat1_a.mp3
• pg26_beat1_b.mp3
• pg26_beat1_c.mp3
• pg26_beat2_a.mp3
• pg26_beat2_b.mp3
• pg26_beat2_c.mp3
• pg26_beat3_a.mp3
• pg26_beat3_b.mp3
• pg34_beat3_c.mp3
• pg26_beat4_a.mp3
• pg26_beat4_b.mp3
• pg26_beat4_c.mp3

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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