Books

Here is some recommended reading

Practical Percussion-Kevin Edwards (Good begginers-Intermediate snare drum and drum kit with some Rock and Swing rhythms this is the first book I use with everyone, as it covers the basics pretty thoroughly)

Realistic Rock-Carmine Appice (Rock beats! As it says in the title. Starts fairly easy and is a good intermediate book with lots of good fun beats)

Future Studies-David Garibaldi (Intermediate-Advanced book lots of linear drum beats in a Funk/Fusion vein)

The Drummers Bible-Jason Gianni (A great variety of every type of beat you can imagine, a little bit of almost everything, some is very easy some pretty hard)

Groove Essentials-Tommy Igoe (Again similar to the Drummers Bible, with an emphasis on Pop/Rock/Funk and various Latin beats, but with backing tracks to play along with)

Buddy Rich's Interpretation of snare drum Rudiments (A good exploration of most of the common rudiments suitable for intermediate students)

Advanced Techniques for the modern Drummer Vol.1-Jim Chapin ( A very thorough exploration of Swing drumming, intermediate-advanced)

Rockschool graded books Grades Debut-8 (Good fun pieces to play with baking tracks, as they are graded the pieces are all at a set standard so you wont have to simplify any parts)

Rockschool Hot Rock books-as above but these include transcriptions of a variety of Popular Rock/Pop tunes but again at a set standard.

The Djembe Guide-Ianto Thornber (Some good rhythms for the Djembe, I find the chart used a bit overly complicated as I'm used to standard Western notation but it wont take long to work it out if you're of an intermediate level, the rhythms do need to be played in a group however as you'll find them fairly limited on your own)

There are many more excellent books available these are only a very small selection. Initially you need to be comfortable with the basics, once you can read up to around a grade 4-6 level you can then start to branch out and be a little more specific with what you study.

I would tend to stay away from any 'Teach...in 10 days' type books as they're usually very light on content for the money.

Internet

Another great resource is the internet, there are literally thousands of videos on YouTube and most manufacturers feature an educational section, some of which have some really good stuff on. There's a lot with people doing drum rolls at a million miles an hour but also some good lessons too, although I must admit I just like listening to good rhythms and then trying to copy them. By the time I've heard the explanation I've normally lost interest or forgotten what I'm meant to be playing!

Lots of stuff on the Evans website, I particularly recommend the videos from Bob Gatzen about tuning

Bob Gatzen - Tuning

Lots of good stuff including videos and lots of rudiments!

Vic Firth

Vic Firth - Rudiments

another page from Vic Firth if you don't find the standard rudiments enough..

Vic Firth - Hybrid Rrudiments

Quick links