1 bar drum beats in 4 with open hi hats

There are 16 different drum beats in 4/4, each with open hi hats placed within the beats. The open hi hats are marked with a circle around the X note head. These drum beats have been written for beginners between grade 1 and grade 2.

In this series of 5 free PDF drum sheets, we will be covering content from section 1 to 5 of the full ebook, focusing on the topic of drum beats with open hi hats in 4/4 timing.

Here is a list of the 5 free sheets, released as a series of posts:

These 5 sheet are from the following premium ebook:
Related (Premium): Grades 1-2 Beats & Fills Drum Book – Unit 1 – Rock Pop Soul Funk

Grades 1-2 Beats & Fills Drum Book – Rock Pop Soul Funk – PDF ebook

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all 3 ebook versions included in the download:

Number of Pages in standard ebook: 48
Number of Pages in fast track book: 28
Number of Pages in super fast track book: 17

About the fast track books: 28 page PDF Fast Track Version is with section 1 and section 3 removed. Ideal for moving students quickly through topics. The removed sections 1 and 3 are really only easier versions of sections 2 and 4, so you won’t be missing anything vital. The super fast track is good if the student will pick up the content quickly and won’t need to do lots of exercises before moving on to something else. It’s to avoid it getting boring for the student. As a teacher, I was also getting bored with the longer books because the content gets a bit samey, so I often use the fast track versions with my students. However, some players may be glad of the extra exercises, and with the full 48 page book, at least you can pick and choose which pages to work on yourself, so feel free to cut pages wherever you like. Just make sure to include some of the 6/8 and 3/4 exercises, and also some of the ones with open hi hats.

Double sided printing is advised.

  • 48 Pages
  • Focusing on Drum Beats and Drum Fills
  • Grade 1-2 Level
  • For Students and Teachers
  • Print unlimited copies for yourself or for students

Free Preview

Here is a list of the 5 free sheets from this ebook, released as a series of posts:

Introduction

Grades 1-2 Beats & Fills Drum Book – Unit 1: Rock, Pop, Soul, Funk

This is my second ‘Beats & Fills’ drum book, following on from ‘Beats And Fills Drum Book – Basic Beginners’, which was released just over 6 months before this one. Some players will actually be able to move straight onto this book from the first one, whilst others may need some more easier ‘basic beginners’ work first. I will probably create more basic beginners books, but for now I am moving on so that there are books available for higher grades. Interestingly, the first book was 24 page and this new book is 48 pages, so I have managed to double the length without trying. Make sure to print this double sided.

This book has 5 structured sections (see contents), which in my head follows a pattern. With each section, the exercises get longer and more advanced. There is a chronological progression through the sections and within each section there are elements of both grades. For this reason, you may want to skip some pages in each section if they get too hard and come back to them later.

In the first two sections, we start out with 1 bar beats and then onto 2 bar beats. In sections 3-5 we introduce drum fills, starting with 1 beat fills, then 2 beat fills and finally progressing onto whole bar fills after 3 bars of a beat. By the end of the book, you should be well drilled in the basics of drumming and ready to start learning some songs on the drums.

Hope you enjoy the book and find it useful for either learning yourself or for teaching others with.

Once purchased, you may print out copies for yourself or for your students if you are a teacher.

Full Contents

Page 4-14   Section 1:   1 bar drum beats

1 bar drum beats in 4/4
1 bar drum beats in 3/4
1 bar drum beats in 6/8
1 bar drum beats in 4/4 on ride with left foot hi hat
1 bar drum beats in 6/8 on ride with left foot hi hat
1 bar drum beats in 4/4 with open hi hats
1 bar drum beats in 3/4 with open hi hats
1 bar drum beats in 6/8 with open hi hats
1 bar drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note hi hats
1 bar drum beats in 3/4 with quarter note hi hats
1 bar drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note ride and left foot hi hat

Page 15-23   Section 2:   2 bar drum beats

2 bars of drum beats in 4/4
2 bars of drum beats in 3/4
2 bars of drum beats in 6/8
2 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with open hi hats
2 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with open hi hats
2 bars of drum beats in 6/8 with open hi hats
2 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note hi hats
2 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with quarter note hi hats

Page 24-32   Section 3:   4 bars of drum beats with 1 beat drum fills on the 4th bar

4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 3/4 + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 6/8 + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with open hi hats + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with open hi hats + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 6/8 with open hi hats + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note hi hats + 1 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with quarter note hi hats + 1 beat fills on 4th bar

Page 33-39 Section 4: 4 bars of drum beats with 2 beat drum fills on the 4th bar

4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 + 2 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with open hi hats + 2 beat fills on 4th bar
4 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note hi hats + 2 beat fills on 4th bar

Page 40-48   Section 5:  3 bars of drum beats followed by a 1 bar drum fill

3 bars of drum beats in 4/4 + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 3/4 + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 6/8 + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with open hi hats + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with open hi hats + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 6/8 with open hi hats + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 4/4 with quarter note hi hats + 1 bar fills
3 bars of drum beats in 3/4 with quarter note hi hats + 1 bar fills

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Snare Drum Sheet Music focusing on 8th note (quaver) rests

This snare drum piece focuses on using 8th note rests before playing an 8th note, so that the snare drum plays on the off beat. The off beats are combined with various rhythms that you would also find up to grade 2 level, consisting of 16th note, quarter note and 8th note combinations. There are also some snares with an X note head – these are to be played on the snare rim.

Related (Premium): (Premium) – 10 Snare Drum Pieces – Book 1 – Levels 1-3 (PDF ebooks)
Related: Snare Drum Piece with Basic Rhythms for Grade 1 Sight Reading
Related: 16 bar Snare Drum Exercise – with dynamics – Grade 1-2

Sheet 2 – Drum Exercises for Beginners – Grade 1

Welcome to the second in the series of ‘Drum Exercises for Beginners – Grade 1’.

You may like to listen to the audio to help understand the sheet music.

There are short repeated exercises in the following categories, which are ideal for practicing on your own, or for using by drum teachers as part of a lesson plan.

  1. Coordination Exercise
  2. Drum Beat
  3. Drum Fill
  4. Drum Beat + Drum Fill (Combined Exercise)
  5. Rudiments Exercise (rudiments that have been developed)
  6. Snare Drum Sheet music
  7. Technique Exercise

← Exercise Sheet 1

Sheet 1 – Drum Exercises for Beginners – Grade 1

Welcome to the first in the series of ‘Drum Exercises for Beginners – Grade 1’.

There are short repeated exercises in the following categories, which are ideal for practicing on your own, or for using by drum teachers as part of a lesson plan.

You may like to listen to the audio to help understand the sheet music.

  1. Coordination Exercise
  2. Drum Beat
  3. Drum Fill
  4. Drum Beat + Drum Fill (Combined Exercise)
  5. Rudiments Exercise (rudiments that have been developed)
  6. Snare Drum Sheet music
  7. Technique Exercise

Exercise Sheet 2 →

10 breakfast snare drum exercises – phonetic rhythms

Here we are going to use 5 breakfast rhythms in various combinations to make up the 10 exercises for the snare drum. We use the words phonetically to help play the rhythms.

  • TEA (One quarter note
  • COFFEE (Two 8th notes)
  • SAUSAGES (Two 16th notes and an 8th note)
  • EGG&BACON (Four 16th notes)
  • BLUE BERRIES (One 8th note and two 16th notes)

These beginners snare drum exercises will help to read and play basic rhythm groupings.

Beginners snare skip beats

Here we have 7 basic pop/rock drum beats with an added ‘skip beat’ snare hit, which slots in between the 8th note hi hats. It’s in the same place on each drum beat. It’s on the ‘a’ of counting “2 + a“.

The counting would then be 1 + 2 + a 3 + 4 +. Some drummers don’t count that way. It’s useful to start doing that and it makes sense after a little while. You count the 8th notes as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +, and for 16ths you count 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a. You pronounce the e as a capital E and the a as the sound of the small letter a, which sounds like a short ‘ah’.

The skill level for these exercises is about grade 2-3, or higher if played fast.

The beats could be used in a range of styles including pop, rock and funk.

Related: Snare Drum Skip Beats

Snare drum sheet music based around single stroke fours and sextuplets

This snare drum sheet is ideal for practicing the single stroke four drum rudiment and also for playing sextuplet rhythms within a piece.

The piece could be played by a group of snare drums or other drums if the players are at an intermediate level of above (at least grade 3).

There are 5 sections labeled A-E, and A is recalled at the end for a repeat. Each section should be practiced seperately and mastered before playing through the whole snare drum piece in one go.

Beginners snare drum piece lasting 8 bars

This short snare drum piece works on a few of the fundamental subdivisions and rhythms used at grade 1 level and leading up to it. The piece consists of quarter notes, 8th notes, 16th notes and quarter note rests. The performance technique of playing on the rim of the snare is also included, where the X note head is displayed instead of the usual snare.

(Premium) – 10 Snare Drum Pieces – Book 1 – Levels 1-3 (PDF ebooks)

Introduction

After a year of teaching a local youth group of drummers aged between 8 and 12, ranging from beginners to intermediate players, this collection of 10 snare drum pieces was created as an archive of this body of work.

The MYM Snare Drumline Group is an adaption of Snare Line / Drumline groups, tribal drumming, military drumming, Drum Corps, and film score music.

There are many areas left to explore for the drum group. This first book focusses on building a foundation of simple and short snare drum pieces to help give the group confidence and develop a strong sense of rhythm, timing and pulse. There is also a very small amount of dynamic use, repeats, and drum rudiments.

Demonstration of Pieces 6, 2 and 3 from the book

Here is a video of the girls in the group performing pieces (in order) 6, 2, and 3 from this snare drum book, which is an entry for the 2017 competition ‘Hit Like A Girl‘. The girl on your left is performing the level 2 pieces and the other 3 are playing from the level 3 book. At the time of video, 1 of the level 3 girls is studying grade 2 rockschool and the other two playing level 3 are studying grade 3 rockschool drums.

Level 1 Book

The Level 1 book is designed for complete beginners, or ‘basic beginners’ level. This level could also be played by players of other instruments that are new to drums.

Level 2 Book

Level 2 is designed for grade 1-2 level. The rhythms are more complex, but there are no buzz rolls or drags.

Level 3 Book

Created for grade 2-3 level drummers. It encorporates buzz rolls, drags, flams, and harder rhythms.

These books are primarily intended for groups of drummers or differing abilities. Teachers may print entire books for the students, or pick and choose pieces to suit them. Teachers or students may also use these sheets or books for single snare drum playing. Teachers may purchase this book online and print out unlimited copies for their students.

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FREE PREVIEW OF THIS EBOOK: Group Snare Drum Piece with 3 difficulty levels (Piece 2, Book 1)
FREE PREVIEW OF THIS EBOOK: Group snare drum piece with 3 difficulty levels (Piece 5, Book 1)

Recommended reading for use with this ebook:
→ Accent Techniques – Down, Tap, Up, Full Strokes
→ Reading Buzz Rolls And Double Stroke Markings