Notation issues.

I'm doing really well with reading notation in 4/4 at the moment. The only problem is there seems to be no comprehensive thing on the 'net which shows you how to count EVERY rhythmic possibility in 4/4. For instance, broken triplets, dotted notes, dotted rests etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of this info, if it exists?

If you're having difficulty with dots, it's very simple. It's simply half the base note value added. So if you have a dotted 8th (or quaver) you add a 16th (or semiquaver) to the 8th. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

mediocrefunkybeat said:

If you're having difficulty with dots, it's very simple. It's simply half the base note value added. So if you have a dotted 8th (or quaver) you add a 16th (or semiquaver) to the 8th. The rest is fairly self-explanatory.

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But seeing as though you don't hold notes with drum kit i was wondering if it was counted differently?

\o/ said:

But seeing as though you don't hold notes with drum kit i was wondering if it was counted differently?

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I usually count them with the division/subdivision one smaller. So a dotted half note would be counted as three quarters, a dotted quarter as three 8ths, a dotted eighth as three 16ths, etc. I think this helps with ensuring that they get their whole intended length and keeps any following notes in time.

You're right in one way: we have to imagine the length of the notes, though I recommend that when you're learning to read notes, that you sing their entire length.

That said, we can most certainly hold notes. Buzz notes give us sustain, open hihats give us sustain. Loose snares have sustain, toms have sustain (usually), cymbals have sustain...

They are counted the same, even if the notes don't last as long, you have to imagine they do. My theory professor bags on me because I usually cut the notes too short, since I'm used to reading on the drums and there I just play the note and imagine silently how long it lasts.

I don't know where you find that for free on the internet, but there are a couple of very inexpensive books, and one slightly less inexpensive book that cover rhythm pretty thoroughly. In order of completeness they are:

Syncopation by Ted Reed ($8)
Reading Text in 4/4 by Louis Bellson ($10?)
The Compleat Drum Reader by Joel Rothman and Garwood Whaley (~$35)

\o/ said:

But seeing as though you don't hold notes with drum kit i was wondering if it was counted differently?

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You don't have to, for a dotted shuffle feel most drummers would write it as a dotted eighth note then a sixteenth note, however if you really wanted to you could write it as a sixteenth note, the 2 sixteenth note rests, the another sixteenth note, however there's no need really, they would both be played the same on the drums. Hope that makes sense and hasn't confused you more! If you want to really fully grasp the theory side then I recommend lessons.