Exercises 1 to 4

Prerequisites:

    No prerequisites for this course.

The 6/8 – Your 1st ternary drum rhythm

How to play your first ternary drum rhythm – 6/8?

Alongside learning your 1st binary rhythm, you can also learn your first ternary rhythm on the drums. It's about 6/8.

Rhythms in 6/8 can sometimes be difficult to understand and play, because they have some ambiguity. 6/8 is a practical way to note rhythms from oral tradition and to better understand their complexity. Ultimately, practice and listening are key to playing them well.

The 6/8 is a bar made up of six eighth notes grouped by three. This means that there are two strong beats and four weak beats in this measure. It could also be written as a two-beat bar with eighth-note triplets, but this notation may be less precise.

In short, regular practice and attentive listening are important to understand and play 6/8 rhythms correctly.

Exercise 1: 6/8 – Hi-hat alone

First you will need to practice playing these 6 eighth notes with your right hand on your hi-hat. You can accent the first and 4th eighth note as explained previously.

Exercise 2: 6/8 – Adding the snare drum

In this exercise, you add the snare drum on the 4th eighth note of each bar at the same time as your hi-hat.

Exercise 3: The 6/8 – Hi-hat and bass drum

In this exercise, you will place your bass drums on the first eighth note of each bar. In order to concentrate on your bass drum, first remove the snare drum.

Exercise 4: The 6/8 – Hi-hat, bass drum, and snare drum

Finally, put everything together. You will thus obtain a basic 6/8 rhythm accessible if you are new to drumming.

If you like Blues, jazz, reggae, and world music, this rhythm will be very useful to you. I advise you to practice it well because it is a basic ternary rhythm from which many variations will arise.