Syncopation

Syncopation is a musical technique that can add variety to your Drum Beats. The simplest explanation of this technique is a “deviation from a standard pattern.”

So, what is a standard rhythm? Your common beats fall on 1,2,3, or 4 of your count. Put simply, this technique occurs on the E, & or A when you are counting. You can learn more about how to count in my lesson on Reading Drum Music. This is a simple explanation and many Drum Books have been written on this topic alone. Perhaps some pictures will help.

Let this be our standard pattern. Bass on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, with a straight forward hi hat.

This example is similar to the first one, except notice that we have added another snare hit. The third snare hit falls on the “E” of 3, and is an example of this technique.

We can do the same thing with the bass…

…and the hi hat patterns. Try each one of these separately and when you get them down, put them all together.

This final exercise puts all three examples together for a much more interesting pattern than the standard one we started out with. For more interesting and complex patterns, be sure to check out my Polyrhythm Lesson.





Learn How To Play The Drums with these free lessons, or learn more about Syncopation and other Drumming Techniques.