How To Play Ghost Notes | Drum Lessons
In this video lesson, we’ll go over ghost notes. I’ll first explain what they are and then show you how to best implement them with the new beat. I think you’ll find this set of notes a great way to make a beat really groove. So first of, ghost notes are essentially notes that you play extremely quiet. You might say it that like ghost they should be more felt than heard. At least that’s something I told my students to help them remember what these notes are. Take a look at the sheet music provided with this lesson. In the first example, you’ll notice that midway through the beat there are two snare notes with brackets around them. Well, if you’ve already watched my lesson on drum notation, you’ll know that these brackets indicate that the snare shots are to be played as ghost notes. Now, to demonstrate how ghost in the certain notes would change the beat, I’m gonna first play this beat with all snare shots at an even volume. Then I’ll play the ghost notes at their lower volumes. Watch and listen carefully as I go back and forth between these two dynamic levels. That’s a pretty significant difference, isn’t it? Well, that’s what makes ghost notes so important. They’re barely audible within the contacts of the whole band but can make a real difference to the feel and the groove of the beat. Let’s take a look at the second example on the provided sheet music. This beat is very similar to the first but it includes ghost notes around both the one and the three counts, whereas the first pattern only had them around the third count. Let me play this for you now playing all ghost notes as written. You might be noticing by now that in order to play ghost notes at a low volume, you wanna prepare for your ghost notes by keeping your stick’s heights low after the previous hit. In other words, if you know the next note will be a ghost note, don’t bring your stick all the way up right before playing it. Keep your stick down low and it will be that much easier. This is something you really have to focus on doing it. I recommend playing in front a mirror if it all possible. So you can watch your stick heights very closely. This is something I’m constantly reminding my students about as there’s always a tendency to slowly play these notes a little louder over time. Let’s move on to exercise three. Here, we’re incorporating ghost notes within a 16th note triplet. Now the snare is only played on two of the notes within the triplet. So it’s best to think of it as playing a ghosted double stroke. I really like incorporating this with some beats as they can fit in quite easily. Watch as I play this third example. Beat four is very similar and it’s another great way to incorporate the same ghosted double strokes. I’ll play it for you now. I hope you’re focusing on playing this ghost notes extremely low. However, there is another thing I have to remind you about. You wanna be sure you’re non-ghosted notes are still at the volume that you’re accustomed to playing them at. In other words, you don’t want all your snare shots to be lower in volume. The whole point here is to be sure that there is a real dynamic difference between your ghosted and non-ghosted notes. If they slowly become similar over time, the effect is lost. Watch closely as I demonstrate the fifth and final example. Well, there you have it, ghost notes great way to begin implementing dynamics within your drumming. Take these beats to your kit and work through them slowly. I’m certain you’ll really enjoy the results.