Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer Paperback – November 1, 1991

This book, even given its relative old age, is excellent and is the best book I could find currently to help guide me in developing my own midi drum patterns. The book is written around using a drum machine and thus is limited in scope compared to what can be done with modern digital audio workstations (by the way i highly recommend Mixcraft based on the features/price paid), however: it does give the reader a basic understanding of how to setup your own drums to your songs or for jamming. The book explains how a drummer actually composes a beat and what part each drum plays. The fundamentals of where to put the kick drum and the snare drum start the book off, then it leads into hi-hats and cymbals (where my only criticism of the book comes in), and into toms then fills. The book give several examples of basic patterns and fills as lessons for programming into a drum machine (or a DAW as I did). The only criticism I have is that the book could have explained the role of the hi-hat/ride cymbal in better terms, that the hi-hat is used to set the sub division of the measure - in other words if the music is written in 4/4 then the hi-hat would play 4 times to measure, 6/8 then it would be 8 times to the measure, 3/4 then it would be 4 times to the measure, etc. In other words, the hi-hat is the drummers way of keeping time not only for himself but the other instruments. Maybe his explanation is better for some, but I learned it the way I described above and it makes more sense to me this way. All in all this is a great book and i highly recommend it to anyone looking to write/compose their own songs including drum patterns and fills.

At first I thought - Oh No - This book was written in 1991.So, why do I think it's a wonderful book? You need to know something about me. I'm an old man now with a hobby of making music. I'm using Reason & Record - amazing programs. Long ago I studied classical music - specifically Theory & Composition. Had a year of study on an early Moog - huge - lots of patch cords & tape recorders. Also, I gave up listening to popular music about the time the Beatles were starting.Now I'm writing some 'popular' tunes. Including drum parts. I could easily include everything using Reason. Cut & paste - vary something here & there. But I want to know what I'm doing.Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program & Think Like a Drummer is written to help someone program a 1991 drum machine. It starts with the basics - pictures of drums with explanations of their use. Some information about measures & time signatures which is minimized in this book. I found a section on Song Structure very helpful. I learned about Chorus, Verse, Bridge, etc. and how they arrange into a song.Now, I was ready to learn about the Kick & Snare drum & how they are typically employed. Lots of patterns are shown in tabulature diagrams with advice on how to vary them. The book moves to incorporating the Hi-hat into the drum part. It goes on to Tom-toms & rhythm fills, then the cymbals. Finally it shows some Intros, Bridges & Finales. This book is exactly what I wanted & needed.Since then & have watched some drummers with great interest. I can see just how they do what the book explains, although some things are different. I have a much greater admiration for drummers as well as the form of popular music now.

This book is an excellent introduction for those who learn by doing. This book quickly tasks the reader to program basic kick-snare patterns, and gradually builds on these patterns to explain hats and rides, toms, and cymbals. By the end, the book will have given you enough patterns to program a complete drum track for a straightforward pop song, as well as the fundamentals to create drum tracks on your own.The book's wonderfully concise -- under 50 pages! --, but it would have been nice if it expanded on concepts like velocity variation and _especially_ swing. The ideas are rather straightforward, but for n00bs like me who couldn't figure out how to make a fill will find themselves on a very solid foundation. You should note that the book covers realistic drum programming for pop music -- you won't learn how to program for house, techno, trance, IDM, drum 'n bass, and the like, not to mention jazz and orchestral stuff.The book may be outdated, but it's not outmoded. The fundamental concepts it teaches easily applicable to the DAW, and the drum patterns themselves are easy to translate into MIDI. If you need a concise introduction to practical drum programming -- and I mean introduction -- this book will service you very well, and recommend it highly.

I can read music, guitar tab and know my way around a keyboard, synth, guitar and computer. I wanted real rhythm patterns in my sequences and nice ones to jam against. Based on the reviews I decided to take a chance on this book. Its a cheap book but written nearly 20 years ago - back when I had hair!I didn't really deeply understand percussion and drumming. I found it interesting but I have my hands full as is and didn't want to spend a few years learning rock / jazz drumming. I wouldn't be that good anyway. This book circumvents that hell. In the most practical way possible it builds up a drum kit and how to use the various parts. I found myself getting very excited going through the exercises. The book was delivering the goods. I not only can program some nice sounding rhythms but know the "why" as well as the "how". Unless you want to get become really good a drumming this is the route to being productive laying down a groove.

Me ha parecido bastante complicado, aunque quizas no lo sea tanto para alguien que sea bateria o percusionista. Esta en ingles.

Das Heft ist gestalterisch und Satztechnisch sehr schlecht und zum programmieren von Drumpattern am PC in der Praxis auch nicht wirklich hilfreich.

il prodotto è arrivato puntuale, nel giorno stabilito e con gli imballaggi adeguati.Affidabile e soddisfacente.Il prodotto è utile ed è perfetto per gli amanti della musica in digitale e non solo e per chi volesse perfezionare le tecniche.Grazie!

Great source for drummers, try it, I can recommend it to you!

I know how to use my sequencer but have no ideas about how to write my own drum patterns. This is where this comes in.Ray's book goes through step by step, introducing the parts of the kit, when/how to use them, and then builds up your knowledge with just programming the kick and snare and slowly brings in the hi-hats, cymbals, then the whole drum kit.Recommended!