This is an explanation of the drumming notation used on this site. The notation is one used in Leo Brooks’ Booklet – “An Introduction to Hand Drumming (March 2004)”. We wanted to use a standard method of describing the tones used in rhythms and since we have all taken (or are taking) courses with Leo, we believe this is the best way.There may be mistakes in our display of the notation for a particular pattern, so be easy on us. We’re here just to learn and enjoy the art of hand drumming.These are the drum tones and associated short form.
- O – Open tone
- C – Closed tone
- B – Bass tone
- S – Slap tone
- $ – Muted Slap tone – one hand on drum, the other playing pops or slaps
- P – Pop tone
- H -The heel in heel/toe
- T – The toe in heel/toe
- F – Flam
- X – represents play whatever it is your playing here (bells, etc)
Sabar Drumming
- \ – represents normal stick on the surface≠- represents hitting the stick at an angle against the outside of the drum (just a tik)
- R – Rim Shot – flat stick on surface of drum = loud
- ¢ – Choked note – rest weak hand on drum and hit surface drum with stick
If a tone is underlined like B it represents the pickup or where you start this particular part of a rythym.Since drummers can be left or right handed, instead of labelling the tones for a particular hand, UPPERCASE is used for your strong hand, and lowercase is used for your weaker one.Next, these tones are to be placed in a box representing a note. For the most part, these boxes represent one eighth note, however for some patterns this may change. The + sign between the numbers is the divider of each beat and are to be counted as and. So you end up counting out loud, “One and Two and Three and Four and (repeat)”One recommendation for learning rhythms is as follows:
- Understand the Rhythm – clap it out, say it out loud
- Get the Order of the Hands Right – maybe start out on your lap instead of your drum
- Get the Tones Sounding Their Best – when the sounds are right you’ll really hear a difference in the rhythm