Drumming for Dummies...and bass players

[Axtman]

Since I have to work with drummers (do I have to?) I feel like I should know a bit about drum kits and rhythms, etc. Where is a good source to learn this information.

For example: What does 5A mean for a drum stick?

Another example: What is a shuffle beat?

[boomtisk]

Why not ask your drummer to show you a couple beats? That's what I did. I've been practicing on and off for quite some time and can now play some simple stuff on drums.

No clue about the drum stick question, but in my understanding a shuffle beat is a beat based on a triplet feel instead of even eights, like what you'd find in many blues or 50s rock&roll songs.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Google?

[Fun Size Nick]

The Pearl Drummer's Forum is pretty good - they talk about much more than just Pearl gear and it's not just fanboys on there.

[Guz2]

I play drums so I'll try and answer any questions you have

5A is just the stick size. If you think of it in terms of small, medium and large then 7A is small, 5A is medium and 2A is large (yeah, the bigger the number the smaller the stick. That's drummer logic for you, haha). There are quite a few other sizes but these are the main ones.

I don't know what a shuffle beat is because I don't play that kind of music, but here's a pretty good explanation:
http://www.howtoplaydrums.com/shuffle-groove/

Drummerworld forum is also very useful.
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/index.php

Any other questions I'll do my best to answer.

[Lady Kayri]

Heh, the stick size thing is the same as sizes of sewing needles, wire, and f/stops... In the photo classes I teach, I tell the students to think of the sizes as fractions - in other words, 1/7th is smaller than 1/2...'

And I think there IS a "Drumming for Dummies" book (Perhaps as "Drumming for Idiots" or "All You Need to Know about Drumming" - there are several different publishers putting out those sort of books...) out there; maybe check your local library...

[kraigo]

Originally Posted by Axtman

Since I have to work with drummers (do I have to?) I feel like I should know a bit about drum kits and rhythms, etc. Where is a good source to learn this information.

For example: What does 5A mean for a drum stick?

Another example: What is a shuffle beat?

Stick model names (e.g. 5A) are arbitrary and don't really give you any parameters. Traditionally most manufacturers will give have the same basic parameters (length a little over 16", a little more than a half inch diameter, acorn shaped bead, similar taper on the neck of the stick), but there are no real standards.

5A is the best selling size, BTW - it's the most common. 5B's are larger diameter and 2B's are larger yet.

A shuffle beat is what you'd probably associate with the blues. A 12/8 or triplet based "loping" kind of rhythm rather than a straight eighth note kind of rhythm that's more common in rock.

I can't think of any good sites for finding all the basics of drumming. I'd find a drummer's forum that you find community in.

I've been a drummer far longer than I've been a bassist. Of the online forums, I've been on The Bottom Line, alt.guitar.bass and TalkBass and I find the bass forums far more enjoyable than the drum forums. I don't really hang out on drummer forums.

KO

[JimK]

FME, knowing a shuffle (or two) is something to have in your tool box...you never know.