# Reading and playing your first groove

A column is a moment in time. Everything in one column happens together, and you
play that column with the limb the piece belongs to. Columns run left to right
and loop back to the start. Counting syllables live on
[Western theory · Note values](/sangeet-yatra/theory/western/#note-values).

## Grid or staff

The same groove, written two ways. Read the grid, or read the staff. Every
groove on this page, and on the pages after it, is written both ways.

### The grid

A column is a moment. A mark says what plays. Three marks are enough for the
beat below. The others show up on the page that first plays them.

- `x` a closed hi-hat
- `o` on a drum row: kick or snare
- `-` a rest

A rest is not nothing; it is a column like any other. Skipping rests and playing
the marks back to back is the commonest reading mistake, and it turns a groove
into a rush.

### The staff

Five lines. Height picks the piece. Lines and spaces are counted from the
bottom. An `x` is a cymbal, or the hi-hat pedal. A round note is a drum. Stems up
are the hands. Stems down are the feet.

- Crash: an x on a short line above the staff
- Hi-hat: an x in the space above the top line. The pedal is an x in the space below the bottom line, stem down
- Ride: an x on the top line. The bell is a diamond
- High tom: a round note in the top space
- Mid tom: a round note on the fourth line
- Snare: a round note in the third space, stem up
- Floor tom: a round note in the second space
- Kick: a round note in the bottom space, stem down

Under the list is the same key drawn on a staff, every piece low to high. It is
Figure 10 on the sight-reading page too.

## Counting

This page is eight words: one and two and three and four and. The numbers are
the four beats. Each "and" is halfway to the next one, and every word is one
column. The smaller divisions, "e" and "a", wait until Eighths and sixteenths.

## Play it

One rock beat, one limb at a time. Do not add the next limb until the one you
have is even. The box labeled BPM, at the bottom of the screen, is the speed,
in beats per minute. It starts at 90. Type 60. That is one beat a second, and
it will feel slow. Stay there. Rushing a new groove just teaches the rush. Say
"one and two and three and four and" the whole way. Each word is one column,
and you play what that column shows.

Pattern click, under More, is a tick on each beat. It is not the speed. Leave
it on, and say the count with it. Press play to loop a groove. One groove plays
at a time. Click one mark to hear just that sound.

No kit yet: right hand on your right leg, left hand on your left leg, right foot
on the floor. The limbs are the lesson. When you pick up sticks, the grip is on
How to sit.

## Limb independence

Say "one and two and three and four and" until the eight words are even. Then
one limb, on its own words. The kick first. The snare next. They are not in the
same bar yet.

1. Kick alone. Right foot on "one" and "three". Say every "and", and play
   nothing there.

        kick  o - - - o - - -

2. Snare alone. Left hand on "two" and "four". The kick stays quiet. The hand
   that lands on "one" is early.

        snare - - o - - - o -

## All three

Kick, snare, and hat, in that order. The kick and the snare already know their
words. The hat is the new one, and the left foot holds it shut. That short hit
is the `x`.

1. Kick and snare together. Foot on "one" and "three", hand on "two" and
   "four". Landing on the same word means one of them moved.

        snare - - o - - - o -
        kick  o - - - o - - -

2. Hat on the numbers, with those two. Each "and" is still empty.

        hat   x - x - x - x -
        snare - - o - - - o -
        kick  o - - - o - - -

3. Hat on every word, including each "and". Kick and snare stay on the numbers.
   This is the basic rock beat.

        hat   x x x x x x x x
        snare - - o - - - o -
        kick  o - - - o - - -

If the three fall apart, go back to the limb that slipped, alone, still at 60.
The New Breed comes after this beat is boring.

## Four on the floor

Move the right foot to every number. Hat and snare stay. Only one limb changed.

        hat   x x x x x x x x
        snare - - o - - - o -
        kick  o - o - o - o -

Once the beat is even at 60, type 70 and press play again. If it stumbles, go
back. Speed is a by-product of evenness.

## Before you go on

- Kick alone, then snare alone, each even for a minute at 60, saying every "and"
- Basic rock beat, one minute at 70 BPM, no stumble
- Four on the floor, one minute at 70
- Switch between them without stopping
- Stay with the pattern click