Downbeats and Upbeats

Playing With Three Limbs

FROM "DAWN OF THE DRUMMER"


Now that you have come this far, it's time to learn some very important terms. These terms will make all future learning easier, so learn them now!

It is the drummers #1 job to be the timekeeper in the band. All the other players rely on the drummer to keep things together and steady. As most musicians will tell you there is nothing worse than a drummer that speeds up (rushes) or slows down (drags).

The first term I want you to learn is Time Signature. This tells us how many beats are repeated per bar (or measure). The usual time signature is 4/4 or common time. This means that there are four beats per bar and they repeat for the duration of the song or until the time signature changes. Look at example below and try playing the notes on your bass drum as you count 1-2-3-4. These notes are quarter notes and get one beat each. When a note falls on the count 1-2-3 or 4 it is referred to as a DOWNBEAT.



Practice this example a few times and you will be ready to add the backbeat that we did earlier .

The following example is broken down this way: the notes that have an X are played on the ride cymbal or hi-hat. These notes have a single beam that connects them and are called eighth notes. They are counted 1+2+3+4+. Usually you have a snare drum beat that is directly below the X on counts 2 and 4. This is called a "BACKBEAT" as you learned in lesson one. By adding bass drum on downbeats in the first example on this page we now have a complete backbeat using three limbs!



For examples of upbeats, go to our upbeats example page.