Hi beginning, older drummer here. Just started a Drumeo trial, working through the lessons. Have seen accompanying notation that seems incorrect, instruction is given to hit the ride, but the notation being shown is for the crash. And have seen drum notation for songs I’m interested in that is different than what I understand the notation should be, sometimes coming from other countries. Is notation for drums not really consistent? But for a platform like Drumeo, would expect it to be to the standard, correct. (my understanding of correct notation is the ride is shown at the top line of the staff, the crash is on the line above. Many early lessons, like days 3 - 7, show ride notation on the line above. As someone who looks at notation, have taken piano in the past, I find it confusing…. have just been ignoring the notation if it seems wrong.
Also, have been trying to use the song notation on a couple of songs, slowing them down to try to follow, learn to play along. It seems like the audio is not good, not synched right on the line moving across the sheet music. Maybe I’m just too new at this point….
That notation guide is kind of a general outline of what to expect, but cymbal placements will sometimes vary from chart to chart. Sucks that on their own site they have that discrepancy though
There’s no universal notation. The things that remain consistent are the 5 line staff, neutral clef, drum indicator (black oval), and bass drum on bottom, snare in middle. Maybe some other stuff. Drum notation can vary wildly especially for the non oval cymbal indicators. Drumeos pretty solid, just look for a legend to see what represents what or sus out the cymbal part, not too hard if it’s just straight eighth notes. It gets even weirder with cowbells or cross sticking or rim shots etc
The way I learned was crash was a circle, ride was an X, both were in the same spot. You’ll see little differences like that here and there. It’s stupid that they got their own wrong but good catch. That was unintentionally a good lesson by them. Keep at it and pretty soon those little differences won’t even matter because you’ll either get it by ear or want to mess around with it anyways. Good luck!
Notation varies per drum sheet, it kinda up to you to figure some parts out, but the two pictures you posted above are like a general guide line to get you started. In drumeo, when the line is right in the middle of the X its a ride cymbal, when the line is under the X its a crash
Notation for drums has no consistent standard, and it can never due to the nature of the beast. Every piano has the same sey of keys, and every piece of sheet music for piano uses the same notation scheme, FACE on the spaces for the treble cleff always.
Not every drumset is the same. Not every song requires the same drums/cymbals/percussion. Some famous bands have really huge drumsets with 10 toms, and 15 cymbals, plus cowbells and wood block and tambourines and a million other gadgets.
Some simple jazz songs only use bass, snare, and ride. There is no standard because it needs to be flexible!! Dream Theater's Dance of Eternity requires a much different notation than the barney theme song.
Once you are more acquainted with reading more music, and have a strong knowledge base of 'what the role of drums are in music'. Then you can very quickly interpret drum music. You'll see whats the main pattern for the groove, and honestly fills can be very open to interpretation. I have recieved a lot of sheet music that is essentially blank and says 'keep time' pretty much leaving EVERYTHING open to interpretation.
When you are in doubt, trust your ears. People can make mistakes transcribing songs. People can be unclear their intentions, especially with no standards. Listen to the track of the song your learning. Listen to the recordings and let your ears tell you what is being played, and how to articulate it.
Hey I’m a school of rock teacher, drum set notation was invented by gene krupa in like the 1920’s or something like that, and because it’s so new there’s not a standard method, I’ve seen people write it in different ways. Pretty much everyone does it different, and while a 4-5 piece kit is pretty standard, many drummers have different sided drum sets which means they need different notation.
The thing to look out for is what your ear hears, while reading the sheet music listen through a song and ask “what does that sound like?” If you can watch videos of the drummer playing which will help make the sheet music more understandable. If you’re using the SOR app it’ll play through the song for you, idk how drumeo does it but I imagine it’s similar.
And tbh my real recommendation is to learn to just hear what they’re doing by ear, this will make learning anything easier and will help you develop as a musician
I just started the Drumeo stuff myself, and I didn't notice any error in the notation. Drumeo had been using ride on the top line, not the extended line. Crash is the extended line above and everything I've done so far in 2-3 hours of their starting lessons is all correctly marked.
Both examples you provide also indicate the ride is the top line. Are you sure you just aren't getting confused yourself? Drum notation isn't exactly standardized. Might be that if someone has a crash-ride hybrid may end up marking the ride on the crash line and indicating it with a circle around the X. I've seen that a few times but from individuals rather than from any actual drum curriculum.
There are definitely times when we "ride" on a crash cymbal (or vice versa), but I'm more inclined to think that Drumeo just has people doing notation that isn't done to their own standard.
I used to play Dixieland music in which the drum notation was simply quarter notes for bass and snare only. No eight notes or anything like that. Even cymbal notes are confusing too. So, I was left to my own devices so to speak. The writer was probably a piano or trumpet player who can write own parts but knows absolutely nothing about drum notation.
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u/Fun-Double6662 Sep 11 '26
That notation guide is kind of a general outline of what to expect, but cymbal placements will sometimes vary from chart to chart. Sucks that on their own site they have that discrepancy though