If you could find a good book and recordings of the music it could help you a lot if you could play along so you could know what you're reading.

a drum teacher is your best bet. books dont really help unless you understand what the author is trying to get across and most books are ineffective at doing that. a one on one situation will help you 1000x more, and you will be sure you got the stuff down. and dont get "next level" by jeff queen. its for more of a solo/pro book where it has more flashy stuff and advanced techniques than to learning to read music.

p.s. most drummers DO have trouble reading music, but drumliners usually dont

Yea, I have the very similar problem and I am trying to correct it over winter break. I was told the same thing they told you, found a lot of good stuff on the internet, especislly all the stuff at VicFirth, lots of Syncopation, and just by doing that I can sight read relatively easy stuff like that SNAP!!! I snuk into my moms closet(Santa Came Early) and pulled out the Rudimental Cookbook and like SightRead Hotlicks and 5+2=7... I was like I didn't know I could do that. Besides that, stuf over the internet is like never wrote in 4/4 so I just get a friend of mine to explain a time signature or look at the thread I created about it and can ussually figure it out like that.

This also pertains to this thread, with paradidles, would the pulse for them change from 4/4 to like 6/4 or 9/8? As well as when I learned Paradiddle Rolls, I can get them up to the average roll speed now, 120bpm, but in the process of doing that I didn't pratice regular paradiddles and now when I do them the last diddle part turns into an actual diddle at high speed and I cant control it. In essence, my paradiddles have went down, how can I correct this?

As far as reading music, as quite a few people have mentioned, exposure is the best thing...just read everything you can get your hands on--and make sure you have a recording of it if you're not sure how it goes.

I found that was the best way to build my reading ability when I started serious rudimental playing a couple of years ago. Teachers are definitely a good thing too...no matter how well you can correct yourself, you're always going to miss some things, it helps to have an objective view of your playing.

There's a lot of stuff I don't agree with here. Making generalizations about drummer isn't helpful.

DLO has a WONDERFUL sheetmusic section. There's no need to buy anything if you're just looking for some different music than the stuff you already know.

Personally, I do NOT recommend listening to everything you play, before you play it. Doing this generally causes people to play what they heard instead of consciously reading. Playing before listening will build sightreading skills. I find listening to be a great idea to hear interperetations of different stylistic sections.

how about this one: Use a metronome!

good luck.

That's what I mean...listen to a recording if there are meter or time signature issues you can't figure out AFTER you've been reading it for a while.

Thanks snugglebunny guys. I dont think I can get a teacher since it cost to get a one-on-one teacher. Even my band teacher can't help me with snare music some of the time. I guess my best bet would be getting Rudimental cookbook and other books with a CD and just sightread then after play it along with the CD. If anyone has any books for suggestions, feel free to post because that's the only one I know....


So much work in so little time

check out www.vicfirth.com. there are many articles and exercises on reading music in there. I would also recommend starting with stuff that is really easy to play and work your way up. It's like learning a new language, you have to learn the how the rudimental drumming vocabulary is written. There are many variations of it, but once you get going, you can figure anything out. Hope this helps.

Go pick up the Lalo Divala book it has recordings to play along with. I think i spelled his last name wrong, but it has recordings to go along with the rudiments. To go along with the rudiment it has a solo for all of them. Every solo contains the rudiment all the way through it. It is very effective on your rudiments. Also you can go to the vicfirth website and play along with John Wooton with the rudiments. He does them open closed open. He also breaks them down in rankings like bronze, gold, and platinum speeds or tempo however you want to say it. If you look at the video, the way John plays his rudiments, it will make you want to learn all of them quick, fast, and in a hurry.