The drum set is an instrument that’s primarily focused on playing rhythm. Rhythmic possibilities, although finite, are pretty much endless in the sense that no one can play every one of them in a lifetime. Still, learning as much as you can about different rhythmic combinations and possibilities is still well worth it due to their musical value. Having the ability to play different rhythms will greatly enhance your musicianship and the music you play along to. You’ll be able to complement it better and be a lot more creative and expressive. In this free live drum lesson, Mike Michalkow teaches how to spice up your rhythmic vocabulary on the hi-hat while playing rock-based drum beats with broken hi-hat patterns.
The broken hi-hat drum beats Mike Michalkow teaches in this free live drum lesson have very simple snare and bass drum patterns. A good way to start messing around with them is stealing snare and bass drum patterns from the free drum lessons on DrumLessons.com and combine them with the broken hi-hat patterns from this one. If you’re not sure on what lesson to start, check the free drum lesson “Bass Drum Independence Etude.”
If you’re an enthusiast of broken hi-hat drum beats, you’ve got to check the free drum lesson on broken hi-hat drum beats Jared Falk put together. In it, you’ll learn about a really cool concept for coming up with your own original broken hi-hat patterns. Another thing you can do is add accents to the broken hi-hat patterns you’re playing. For some ideas on this, check the free drum lesson “Accenting Your Hi-Hats.”