Beginner Three-way Coordination
Three-way coordination is the act of coordinating three of your limbs whilst playing. It al-lows you to create more intricate and interesting rhythms and is one of the fundamentals of playing the drums.
Three-way Coordination can be a difficult concept as it requires a lot of dexterity. These ex-ercises are designed for enhancing your limb dexterity and for practicing control over one limb whilst the others are playing. These exercises will put you in a good stead for your fu-ture Three-way Coordinationplaying.
The first place to begin with Three-way Coordinationis to learn how to control each limb. Below are 36 exercises for practicing this. These exercises have three voices; the snare drum, the bass drum and the hi-hat. Each group of exercises has two voices that are playing a constant 1/4 note rhythm,with the third voice playing a1/4 note based pattern.
Play through each exercise until you are comfortable with it.
Tips
- Concentrate on Hi-Hat technique, grip technique and body position.
- Ensure the unisons between the notes are together.
- Say the count out loud whilst playing
In these types of exercises the hands and feet have a habit of trying to mimic each other. You must avoid this, as the purpose of these exercises are for controlling your limb inde-pendence.
Three-way coordination on drums – Snare
Snare Drum Control
The next twelve exercises concentrate on snare drum control and independence. The bass drum and hi-hat are playing a constant 1/4 note rhythmand the snare drum is playing a1/4 note based pattern.
Three-way coordination on drums – Bass Drum
The next twelve exercises concentrate on bass drum control and independence. The snare drum and hi-hat are playing a constant 1/4 note rhythmand the bass drum is playing a1/4 note based pattern.
Three-way coordination on drums – Hi-Hat
The next twelve exercises concentrate on hi-hat control and independence. The bass drum and snare drum are playing a constant 1/4 note rhythmand the hi-hat drum is playing a1/4 note based pattern.
This is one of the first steps into coordination and independence. Do not be discouraged if you struggle at first, as coordination and independence is a hard subject that can take years to truly master.
The more you study coordination and independence the more you will be able to truly ex-press yourself on the drums. So keep studying and learn everything you can.
This lesson has been taken from my new drum book, Learn To Play Drums. It is a comprehensive guide to playing the drums for beginners, taking you through the fundamental drumming techniques, knowledge, patterns and vocabulary.
