drummers who can't read music notation

Typo said:
If I tell my guitarist to play an 8 bar solo in 4/4 time, I want him to understand what I mean rather than fumbling with his pick, looking at me for a sign telling him when to stop. Having all players understand rhythm essentials can help a lot and make for a smoother learning and playing process.
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THIS.
 
Reading music is just one method of communication. As long as you can communicate it doesn’t really matter how you do it. That said, reading is pretty much the standard method of communication.
 
Well, that's an ol' thread revived!

My $0.02 playing drums/keys/a little bass: as a teenager in the 80s/90s I learned playing keys by myself.
There was no internet yet so I had to go to the library or bookshop to borrow or buy sheetmusic.
As there was a delay between music I heard on the radio that I wanted to play - right there and then of course! - and the time the sheet music was available on paper, I also learned to play songs by ear. And also because the sheet music that was available was crap a lot of times: simplified versions, hardly ever in the original key (most transposed to C major) and guitar/key solos were almost always left out.

Later I started playing drums and - during my band/drum break - a little bass.

So I can read sheet music but nowadays when I want to play a song - either on drums, keys or bass - I just listen and try to copy it.
If some parts fail, I just search online for the sheet music.

So, yeah, being able to read music notation can help - and be very useful or even indespensible - for pro/studio musicians - but you can certainly be a (great/average/bad) musician without.
 
I cannot sight read. I did learn to read music a lonnnnnnnnng time ago, so if I hear a drum part or groove that is a bit challenging to play, I'll try and find the chart. Or sometimes to help myself remember I'll write out the basic notation I hear and even put the bar or two that are hard in my set list for a gig so I can glance at it before playing the tune.
 
I can sight read notes from piano and sax lessons, and I can slowly read drum notation but I can’t sight read. I think if I ever worked through a book , like I did piano and sax, I’d likely improve.
 
sapsec said:
Have to post my .02 here-

Been playing now for about a year by ear alone trying to learn and memorize by this device only. I found that I do have a very good ear and can quickly pick up things as long as I can clearly hear it. If I'm listening to a song and can't hear a fill or ride pattern then I'm lost. I'm slowly learning how to both read and write music (drum notation) with the help of my wife.

I see it this way- If I could read well, there isn't anything that I can't play. Right now I feel completely limited to playing only what I can make up and memorize. As I get better and better at reading, I can see the notes on the staff and actually hear them. This is helping me understand music in general and specifically the percussion structure of a song. It helps me understand the sound and feel of some of my favorite music.

Now, I'm 37 and will most likely never play in a band, make money from my music or make it in anyway. However I want to understand not only what I'm playing and why it sounds the way it does, but be able to analyze and understand what others are playing. Why does Moby Dick sound that way? Why am I obsessed with YYZ and Time Check?

I don't want to just play them (long, long way off!)but understand why they have that great sound. Is it absolutely essential if you are a prodigy or genius? No. But for the rest of us schmucks without the innate genius of Joe, Buddy, Neil and Vinnie, I believe it is a very good thing. When I have my own little drummer boy, he will learn how to read.

I feel limited in my musicality because I can't read well yet. It is a limitation for me.
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You think you'll probably never play in a band? Because you're 37? 200.gif
 
I learned by ear and during early years picked out songs by ear by listening to rock albums. Now fast forward decades and Youtube where you can finally see and hear the drummer and what a revelation. I was getting the feel of songs-at best. I found many were ways simpler than I thought and others their sticking was different to produce their sound, and some I wasn't even on same planet. Your ear can get you halfway there so you can pass, but you won't likely get an A+,
 
Totigerus said:
But to answer your OP question...drummers who haven't already been mentioned.....
Steven Adler
Joey Kramer
John Bonham
I recently heard Neil Peart didnt have formal drum lessons until he was like in his 40's....I'm sure a Rush nut will correct me on this hahah
Ringo Starr maybe
Charlie Watts maybe
Lars Ulrich for sure
Charlie Benante
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By and large drummers who don't understand music theory and can't even read a basic chart are drummers who got in a successful band from an early age, especially in past decades. If you aren't in a killer successful band by the age of 25 you're probably going to need every skill set you can acquire to sustain a music career. I can read, I can write music at a keyboard, I have computer skills, I can make videos.
Most of the drummers continually listed are lifelong band drummers, not freelancers. As a freelancer myself, getting into a young band that are going to sustain you through a decent career is like a million to one shot.
 
GetAgrippa said:
I learned by ear and during early years picked out songs by ear by listening to rock albums. Now fast forward decades and Youtube where you can finally see and hear the drummer and what a revelation.
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Right and also the gazillion online video tutorials how to play a song on drums, guitar, keys, etc. people can watch without leaving home.
That sure beats what I had to do for my musical 'education' - not complaining though, easy come, easy go...
That said, with so many people wanting make money with YT, it can sometimes be hard to find decent tutorials.
 
When I go fishing it reminds me of a Cecil B DeMille movie because it's "a cast of thousands". Still though little return (I generally throw them back if I catch anything) I enjoy it. I look at drums the same way. I really enjoy playing drums everyday-sometimes it's just a couple hours, or could just be minutes, or an afternoon pass away before you know it. I never had a goal playing drums it just became a habit. It soothes the savage beast in me.
 
I dont need to read to play most songs. But for the few that it helps with, I'm glad I can.
 
i can understand basic notation, but anything more than "bad moon rising" level of notation and i falter as in my music college they focused on teaching us piano notation, and i couldnt understand it then or now and couldnt (and still cant) play piano to save my life.
 
I didn't need charts to learn the drumming on set lists . It came easily to me , I understood , especially subdivisions .

Then I saw how these parts were written and that's how I learned to scan structure . Sort of backwards I suppose .
 
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mikel said:
I cant read music, or drum notation and I'm a great drummer. I think so anyway. Ha Ha.
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I've learned I'm the world's okayest drummer. I'm fine with that as keeping expectations low mean those around me are surprized when I do something great. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
It’s ironic because as a kid, all of the books I went through dealt in “drum notation”. Then when I got to college, other than specific drum music played in the concert band or orchestra, a lot of big band charts only give you the figures the horns were playing that you were expected to accent or set up. Did a lot of reading through Fame Books which only gave you the chord changes and the melodies. So as I’ve gone along, there’s been less and less drum notation reading and more and more seeing the actual song that everybody else is playing and interpreting that. There are charts that will notate stuff they want specifically, but it’s rare to see a chart where the entire drum part is written out that needs to be played note for note (I’d probably get fired for missing notes anyway).
 
ottog1979 said:
Typo said:
If I tell my guitarist to play an 8 bar solo in 4/4 time, I want him to understand what I mean rather than fumbling with his pick, looking at me for a sign telling him when to stop. Having all players understand rhythm essentials can help a lot and make for a smoother learning and playing process.
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Sorry. Never met or played with a guitar player that didn't intrinsically know 4 bars or 8 or 12 or 16. They all play phrases pretty much in those subdivisions. And by time they get to a solo they've played 2 A's and maybe a B in 4/4 time. No fumbling with picks. Certainly no looking at me for a sign. Who are we kidding.
 
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