Reading

Buddy Rich didn’t read so why should I bother? Well try this for a scenario: The phone rings ‘can you do a gig tomorrow? I’ll send a set list and CD of 35 songs.’ In order to take this gig you’re either going to need a very good memory or call on your reading skills after writing out some simple charts. Or how about walking out of your drum lesson only to forget how to play the examples you’ve been given?

In simple terms reading is a combination of basic maths and recognising the different figures and with a little work this skill will open up so many possibilities for you as a drummer.