Snare Drum

A drum with wires stretched across the bottom head — the crack that defines the backbeat, and the instrument where all stick technique is learned.

Percussion

At a glance

Role: Time — placement and groove rather than pitch

How it works

Striking the top head makes the bottom head vibrate against the snare wires, adding the buzz. Loosening the wires turns it into a tom; that is the only 'off' switch it has.

From your Notion page

The snare drum is a smallish drum made of wood or brass with drumheads made of calfskin or plastic stretched over both ends of a hollow cylinder. It has a set of wire-wrapped strings stretched across the bottom head (the snare), which give the snare drum its unique "rattling" sound when the drum is hit. A small switch on the side of the drum allows the player to turn the snare on or off depending on the requirements of the piece. The snare drum is an untuned drum, so it doesn't sound distinct pitches. It is often used in military music and is a central part of any marching band. Snare drums are used to keep the rhythm and make special sounds, such as drumrolls. You play the snare drum by hitting the top with drumsticks, mallets or brushes.

Figuring out the kit

Click a piece to hear it. Hover for what it is for and its MIDI number.

Where this groove's voices sit on a chart. The common convention — publishers vary, especially on the toms and the ride.

The first groove anyone learns, and half of recorded music. Hi-hat on every eighth, kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. Learn the limbs one at a time in that order.

80 bpmusually 80–130

Play it at the tempo of

1&2&3&4&

Synthesised, not sampled — noise through a filter, and a pitch drop where there is a skin. It is here so you can hear where the hits fall. Nothing on this page was transcribed from a recording: the pipeline measures tempo, meter and syncopation, never the drum part.

Drills 2

A session's worth. Each one has a single point — do that, not the whole list.

The rudiment three8 min
Single stroke, double stroke, paradiddle — everything else is these combined.
1. Two minutes each at 70 bpm, sixteenth notes, no stopping.
2. Listen for the second stroke of each double being quieter — it always is at first.
3. Raise by 5 bpm only when all three are even.
Accent placement6 min
Loud notes exactly where you mean them and nowhere else.
1. Play straight sixteenths, accenting only the first of each group of four.
2. Then only the second. Then the third. Then the fourth.
3. The unaccented notes must stay identically quiet throughout.

Tips

Let the stick rebound. Squeezing after the hit kills both the tone and your speed.
Practise on a pad for technique and on the drum for sound. They teach different things.
The buzz roll and the double-stroke roll are different techniques with different uses — learn which one a part wants.

Heard on 0

Nothing linked yet. The pipeline never measures who plays what, so this list is human-curated: add recordings to the 🎙️ Recordings relation on this instrument's row in 🎻 MUSIC INSTRUMENTS [DB] and they show up here.

Worth practising on it

Suggested from what the pipeline measured — key, meter, tempo and the chords as played. Each one says why it is here.

Roster and “heard on” links from 🎻 MUSIC INSTRUMENTS [DB]. Breakdown, drills and tips are written into the site — craft knowledge, not measurements. Practice suggestions come from the same enriched recording data the song pages show.