0:00 - Intro 1:13 - Finding your way around the kit. 8:16 - Fingers and thumbs. 9:51 - Basic patterns for beginners. 12:13 - Slightly more advanced patterns. 28:15 - Outro
I actually learned to play drums left handed as I am left handed. Everything’s in reverse, always had to reconfigure the drumkit twice at the music school. First changing it from right handed to left handed, and back to original configuration for the next student. When practicing a new piece, always start slowly to decode the rhythm and the get correct sequence.
Thank you so much. The best explanation of Keyboard Finger Drumming. This is what I needed, now I can Rock Drum fills. Thank you for the time you spend teaching us. GBY
Hey the G# at 4:07 is actually when you press your foot on the pedal to clamp the cymbals together. That's the sound they make when you clamp them together. Thanks btw great video
And Harry Connick Jr. says just before the video starts “If you’ve never played piano before, I’m here to tell you there are only 12 keys.” Well Harry, seems you don’t know shit about finger drumming. 🤣 This is a great topic Woody! I learned a mountain of info because of this video today! It’s going into my archive.
Haha, I remember spending days re mapping a Kurzweil K2000 basically adding more keys for each drum type to make rolls easier. It's a good skill to learn for making demos also
Very informative. Thank you, Woody. I would even be more interested into a video focusing on fills. Not necessarily performing on the keyboard but to study the notes that go in nice drum fills. Cheers!
It's also fun trying a 2 handed double bass drum kick to the speed of a metal rhythm. It takes both index fingers on both hands to do just the kick. Thanks for the lesson Woody!
Love it! This is how I have made all of my drum tracks since 2003 on various keyboards. Stayed away from the sequencing machines until recently. I broke down and got the UNO Drum. Using the black and white keys, to me is more fun and expressive. I usually will use the dual voice function and layer different kits atop one another. Thanks for the great video!
Awesome - I’ve always been baffled by drum kits on synths, never knew there was a standard layout, and just randomly bashed out simple patterns with no real idea of what I was doing or how to play them! Thank you 😊
Cool video. I think you’ll find the F# is stick on closed hit hat, and the G# is opening and closing the HH with no hit. Love the channel, especially the MODX/Montage stuff as ive just got a MODX. 👍
Thanks Woody. I didn’t realise there was a standard layout so definitely learned something. Good to see others struggle with the patterns sometimes rather than perfect performance s. Enjoyed that bit. Always frustrating but great once mastered.
Great topic to cover. I have tried this for many years since I had my very old Yamaha Psr something and, never quite got it right considering it had drum pads aswell. Defo will take on your tips . Haha at 11.06 I had the Robert Palmer tune in my head.
Hello Woody, thanks for the video, it was great to see the basic set up of the keyboard for drums well explained. It was also great to see you have a go and as usual when playing an instrument (even via keyboard) that's not your first choice, its always harder than it looks, mainly keeping the speed, as its always better to slow it down at first. I'm neither Keyboard nor Drummer a but I have a Keyboard to have fun with and love playing around and wanted to play about with the drum settings. I mostly play Guitar and a little bass, all the best, John.
I bought an Alesis trigger IO for cheap with 2 Yamaha electronic drum pedals to trigger my bass drum via midi. As a drummer myself, it's much more convenient!
Thank you for this lesson, Woody! The layout is remarkably ergonomic for a fledgling pianist like me. No question, the key assignments were chosen for a reason. The need for a nice "touch" is maybe an excuse for me to swap out my keyboard for one with a better keybed and action! What type of keyboard action do you find works best for finger drumming: synth action, semi-weighted, or fully-weighted hammer action?
I tend to record keyboard drums in two passes - one for kick and snare, one for hihat/cymbals. But getting the synchronisation of the two hands is good practice - and I struggle with getting good fills!
Love the idea of this vid! I have enjoyed a variety of techniques for drumming with keys. I’m only 5 min in so I don’t yet know what’s in store as I type this haha. I’d like to mention that for the snare above D, the E is usually a rimshot, where they hit the snare and rim simultaneously to give it an extra hollow, and tight (as you mentioned) sound. The Ab you described as a partially opened hi hat. I usually think of it as playing the hat using Just the pedal (no stick), so just closing the hat and making a small closing sound. I’m excited to continue watching this!
A couple things I like to do. One is I occasionally take advantage of the kick drum on B if I do kick drum rolls, where C is the dominant and B is the dynamic softer hit... though this only works when both sound relatively similar. Also, sometimes I want the Kick and closed hat to be synced tight. So I’ll play both with my left hand where I’ll be hitting the hat with my thumb at a decent rate and intermittently hitting the kick drum. This allows me to get wild with the hats as I can now do the 8ths with my left hand and make it 16th notes with a little help from my right. Good for drum n bass. I enjoyed your video! I also liked how you were relaxed about learning the parts, not afraid to show the struggle. It’s a part of the process that most people don’t share. But the most exciting thing about becoming a musician is finding those moments and conquering them.
great points! you're right about the Pedal Hi-Hat, this was in back of my mind too, not so sure about the rimshot on E, original GM spec says Electric Snare!
Hello Woody , Brilliant video , nice drum voices from the SX 900 , lots of little tips and tricks in your video , timing is the secret to playing good drums on keyboards , learning to play slow is also a good way to get the drums sound perfect , speed will follow when you can play a drum loop slowly and perfectly , I find playing drums very easy to do , its a bit like rinse and repeat , changing the drums to musical notes and playing at lightspeed is really good fun to do and very tricky too but when it works it can really sound good , keep practicing at the drums and you will get very good at it , Big like for your video and big thumbs are always way up , enjoy your day over there and have fun on those keys !!! 😎AK☘👍👍👍👍👍🎹
brilliant comment from TJ, and he raises a point that I didn't emphasize enough, timing is everything, groove and feel, and yest, start slowly, don't run before you can walk, learn to crawl before you walk!
@@WoodyPianoShack I was on finger drumming with keyboard too and i ended up to buy an mpc and finally a launchpad. So much better for drumming and for the keyboard life ;) I have the pro but the launchpad X is good too if you don't mind to have a computer for to use it ;) (pro is standalone so you can use hardware) but put ezdrummer and a launchpad X & you 'll be in heaven! Launcpad x aren't expensive and very usefull (you can use it for to control daw or hardware...)
Thanks! will be studying this a lot. I am not a drummer, I didn't even know kits were universal, that's what a novice I am (piano/melodica player only). My band (well, we used to play together pre-Covid) never had a drummer and I was always on the grand, so now's my chance to learn some basics, as I just got an Roland FP-90, which is amazing. Do you have a video demo for reggae percussion?
Yes! Yes! simply excellent tutorial, and greatly needed.....we could use much more of this very basic type of stuff, too many tutorials take a certain level of knowledge for granted....
@@WoodyPianoShack oh, and BTW, for those of us who have sequencers on our master keyboards, there is always a recording mode which adds to, rather than replaces, what you have already recorded, so, one could start with just the kick and snare, and then go back, add the cymbals, go back, add the toms, etc. but for someone who has to do the whole thing in one pass, your fingering suggestions are very important.
I've often wondered why General MIDI drums used that layout. I guess it kind of makes sense but doesn't seem ideal. Though I suppose it's better than my Yamaha SY-55. It's from 1990 so predates General MIDI, and so the keyboard map for the onboard drum sounds is all over the shop. But given its age I can forgive that!
I use them to study more intricate drum parts, like those of Stewart Copeland or Steve Gadd in famous hit songs. But, being lazy I also use existing MIDI-files on the web to study some parts of hit songs (which you can play in MuseScore for example). Like recently, when I studied the strings/violins in 70s disco hits like Daddy Cool and Fly Robin Fly (what makes them so iconic and how can I reproduce that sound?). In those files there's the drum track (10), which should follow the conventions about where the bass drum etc is. In practice this is not 100% waterproof. Assigning a VST to such a drum part (after importing it into your DAW) is not without problems (and not all MIDI-files are flawless). Anyway, my ears are of course not as well trained as yours ;-)
Woohoo, very nice video. Apparently I didn't know that all drum kits traditionally occupy same notes on a keyboard. What are the samples or drum machine here? They are awesome.
I'm a drummer myself but i always record with overdub on my midi controller(Kick and snare, hi hat and cymbals, toms and fills). My fingers are not made for this acrobatic movement.
I've always struggled with finger drumming. I mostly work with a daw so i see no real reason to do it. But yes it's fun and yes it's faster than piecing together a beat click by click.
Is it sad that I got a buzz from being better at finger drums than Woody? I played along and got every beat first time until (except the paradiddly bit at around 21:00 ish. And then I struggled with that beat on the open hat, but got it pretty quickly. To be fair I do quite often play my cajon with fingers when I am trying to be quiet so it was a lot like that. I might be a bit less smug if we were doing irregular signatures.
hi, hard to say depends on your sense of rythym and hand fingure co-ordination, but if you spend 30 minutes a day, you'll be rocking after a month or two I'm sure!
Most viewers will use a MIDI-keyboard with (far) less keys, so it's mainly pushing oct up/oct down ;-) Bass drum on C, but often an second on the adjacent B, that falls off the keyboard :-(
@@WoodyPianoShack My guess is you can emulate double bass drum easier with those two. So you don't need the second one, unless for certain genres, like death metal etc.
any advic: if people really want to use drums on the synth or keys : Buy one with pads included. It's easier to learn via pads, and you have way more flexibility. Seriously,... Even my synths are being connected with a midi controller and controlling the internal drum sounds with the pads! I use a Nektar LX 49+ but there are so many more with pads included, like M-Audio Oxygen or something like that..
thanks for the comment! i've never been sold on pads myself, i find I can get better dynamics with the keys. if you do use them, they must be good quality and responsive, otherwise find that soft notes do not trigger, I've tried a few pad controllers over the years. interesting to hear what other people say!
my brain is wired so that i have to play the keyboard drums with my hands crossed as some drummers do. ive tried open drumming but my brain wont co operate.
If you feel your finger drumming is a little stale the try Melodics, it is just like a computer game but it does sharpner your skills and, better still, it gets you out of those ruts and learns you new patterns: melodics.com/
Very nice, but really drumer or percusionist play drums to keyboard whith out no problem. An Woody you litle mist few notes bass drum..etc. Thats nothing....pianist is pianist and drumer is drumer. Its like when I play the piano and i am best drummer..but no so best piano player...he he is so funny