Drum notation just isn't easy to read.  

If you're a drummer and you've ever tried to replicate the groove of your favorite song, chances are you've come across some kind of drum notation. Whether it's in sheet music format (full staff with a drum clef) or in tabulated out with o's x's, neither really feels intuitive.

Here at Linear Groove, we've been thinking. 

• We think of grooves in clusters.
• We don't think of grooves in rows.
• Why not sync the way we conceptualize a beat with the way we notate it?
• Let's brainstorm how to write drum notation that's easy to read. For proof of concept, be sure to check out "Essential Readable Grooves"!

Here's what we mean:

1.) Understand your drumming's notation needs.

Drum tabs and beats transposed on a staff both tend to put heavy focus on the 
number of drums and cymbals used over the course of the beat. In other words, they opt for very specific notation, dinstinguishing between toms, cymbals, and even types of strokes. If you happen to be looking to replicate a particular song or multi-bar phrase with 100% accuracy, either method works well. If you're simply looking for a way to read and write core drum beats, we're considering whether there's a much cleaner and simpler way to notate the backbone of any beat.

2.) For beats that only use core drums, we can notate using three levels.

 For your basic groove, you have three levels:

1. The ostinato (what's driving your groove, typically the looping pattern on the ride or high hat cymbals).
2. The snare (typically the hand that is not playing the ostinato)
3. The kick (can be single or double bass drum)

Each of these levels are best to think of as hits that will be filling the available "slots" on and between the numbers of the beats that we're dropping hits into. A basic rock beat can look something like this:

3.) Think in "combinations" instead of "rows".

Rather than thinking of each slot tier as a 4-beat phrase, break up the beat into four clusters. There are a few advantages to looking at beats this way.

• It helps visualize hand-foot coordination.
• After a while, you'll be able to recognize 1-beat clusters at a glance. By learning how to combine every possibility of cluster, you'll be able to rearrange grooves as you play, making for a far more complex sound.
• Thinking of beats in terms of clusters will allow you to play and personalize hundreds of beats without memorizing anything! As you develop as a drummer, clusters will become tools you can deploy on cue.

4.) The result: technical drum notation that keeps it clean and simple... and encourages best practices!