K-60 Drum Key

Product Information

Here's another common cymbal setup that features 2 crash cymbals. As with the previous, starter setup, if there are any auxiliary cymbals (i.e. Chinas or splashes) in the sheet music, you'll have to substitute by playing either your crash 1 or crash 2 for those strokes. A similar tom arrangement to the "Two-Up, Two-Down" is the "One-Up, Two-Down" arrangement. As the name implies, one tom is mounted above the bass drum (i.e. "up"), and two floor toms are resting on the ground (i.e. "down"). The toms for this arrangement are identified in the graphic below. I have never owned this product, but I would definitely add it to my arsenal if I was playing out more and constantly changing heads. Drum tuning is the process of adjusting the frequency or pitch of a drum. Although most drums are unpitched instruments, they still have a fundamental pitch and overtones. Drums require tuning for a variety of reasons: to sound good together as a kit, to sound pleasing as an individual drum, to achieve the desired amount of ringing and resonance, and to produce the sound that fits the music. Some drums such as timpani and rototoms are tuned to a definite pitch. Drums are tuned by tightening or loosening the tension rods or ropes, which control the tension on the drumhead. Additional techniques such as muffling may also be used to affect resonance.

Drum sheet music allows drummers to play new drum beats and perform songs without hearing or practising them beforehand. Drum music is made up of the percussion clef, drum notes, drum keys, crotchets, time signatures, quavers, semiquavers, drum fills, and bars, all precisely placed on the staff. If you’re unsure about any beat and how it sounds, you can always replicate it in Guitar Pro or count through it slowly.On your journey to becoming a better drummer, learning how to read and write drum sheet music is incredibly important. In fact, clearly understanding this language of drumming is a superpower. The Coda, which looks like a bullseye (or a circle with a plus sign in it), is our ultimate destination and the “To Coda” marker is another portal that sends us forward to get there (it’s like warping in a video game). After you leap forward to the Coda, play through to the end and collect your prize. Measure repeats & slash marks Dynamics refer to how loudly or softly you play. The following table includes the most common dynamic notations you need to know for reading drum music. fff Fortunately, us drummers have banded together and come up with a symbol of our own that you’ll see at the start of most drum music.

To choose the drums press the drumsets button, if you want to change the pairing of the keys with the virtual drum set elements, These types of innovative designs make removing heads and tuning much easier and faster. Plus, you can often achieve more consistent tuning and better sounding results when tuning your drums with them. If you find adjusting your drums difficult because of tight or awkward angles, you might want to consider a ratchet key. If you are an experienced virtual drummer and love drum games, record your performance and join the Virtual Drummer of the Month contest on

Some drum keys have extended arms to give you even more leverage. Marching band drummers use drum keys with longer arms because they need a much higher tension across their drums. Are all drum keys the same?

Loose HH for several notes: A line placed next to a loose hi-hat cymbal extends the loose hi-hat section for multiple strokes. Any strokes under the line should be played with a loose hi-hat. This method keeps the sheet music looking cleaner without the need for multiple loose hi-hat symbols in a row. Drum Modifiers change the way you strike a drum or cymbal. Our Master Drum Key shows these modifiers in the snare drum space, but they can apply to any drum or cymbal. For example, you may find a ghost on a tom stroke, hi-hat stroke, bass drum stroke, etc. Take a bow, you’ve done amazingly well to get this far through the guide and we’re on the home straight. Even though I read music to a professional level, I still use it as a creative tool to write down my ideas for beats and solos. It’s really useful to be using something like Guitar Pro to be able to hear different semiquaver combinations in action.

Find the Best Drum Key Or Tuning Tool for You at Sweetwater

A hi-hat should be played "closed" by default. That means both cymbals will be pressed together when striking the hi-hat. However, sometimes it's important to reinforce to the reader that the hi-hat stroke needs to be played closed. When you see a + above a hi-hat stroke, it means that stroke should be played "closed."

Longer, or “legato” notes tend to be tied to visually indicate their duration. These work best if you play them on cymbals since they have more sustain. Open/closed hi-hatsDrummers have said they are able to get a perfect tuning with this torque key and it even saved them from not having their drum dial (which is a drum tuner). When learning music in your drum lessons, once you’d drawn out or copied notes, you wouldn’t really have any idea what they sounded like.