Drumming With A Keyboard

Check the specification of any keyboard you are considering buying to find out how many preset drum kits are included. Each sound will incorporate a full range of instruments from a snare and bass drum to a floor tom, triangle and full range of cymbals.

It may seem a little odd to play a drum kit by pressing keys on a keyboard but it is quite simple to learn. If your keyboard synthesizer is compatible with General MIDI then the preset drum sounds will be mapped to the keyboard using a standard GM percussion map. Each individual instrument in the drum kit sound is assigned to a specific note and that when that key is pressed down, the instrument will sound. The notes are numbered in a standard way so that middle C is always MIDI note number 60.

When you are first getting to grips with playing percussion on a keyboard, it is useful to have songs that you can play along with, getting progressively more complicated and requiring the use of more fingers as you introduce new drums and cymbals. Preferably your keyboard should have some sort of education features to help you with this.

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