But we can now see that the spacing indicates that each ‘ –‘ is worth a 16th note. There’s ‘ o‘ and ‘ x‘ and these basically signal where you are supposed to play. It isn’t immediately clear that this is 8th note hi hats with the spacing but it makes sense when you put the kicks on the 1 and 3 and snares on 2 and 4. Now let’s take a look at traditional drum tab, it’s pretty awkward and unclear, but i suppose it does the job. The parts of the drum set such as BD and S are displayed exactly where they are meant to be played. You can also see that there are eight that make up the bar. You can see that these are 8th notes because of the stems – they are quaver notes. On Songsterr the rhythms are displayed underneath, and they follow conventional sheet music notation. Let’s take a look at a common 8th note beat on each type of drum tab. Each space on the drum tab indicates a beat of the respective time. These symbols indicate whether to play a part of a drum set or to leave it as a rest. Traditional drum tabs are read are with the three most common symbols: ‘ –‘ and ‘ x’ or ‘ o’. To be honest, there is no real need to read old school drum tabs anymore now we have tab software such as GuitarPro and Songsterr. This is due to the complexity of time signature changes. Old school drum tabs are much more difficult than reading drum tab on software. Now we know the different parts of the drum set that appear, let’s take a look at how we figure out exactly what to play by looking at drum tabs. Reading drum tabs is mathematical by nature. HH or xH or oH – Hi Hat Cymbals (closed or open).Each drum set component takes up its own line on the vertical chart. The nine parts of the drum set are written on drum tablature as follows. Unlike sheet music, which is written with musical notes, tabs are formed with letters and various markings that indicate what to play and with various dynamics. It reads from left to right, and each part of the stave represents a different part of the drum set. The time is represented horizontally, and the different parts of the drum setare written vertically. It guides you through the music with a green line that indicates where you are, and follows in time with the MIDI audio so you can listen and read together as you make your way through the song.ĭrum tabs are designed to be read like conventional sheet music. This is an example of what the interface looks like. The interface is intuitive and so easy to follow and I’ve always found the notation to be accurate for all the songs I’ve learned. It has a huge selection of over 500,000 complete song tabs.

It’s one of the best musical training tools available, plus the standard version is completely free. I’m going to take this opportunity to say if you haven’t heard of Songsterr then go check it out right now.

Trust in you drum tab