How do guitarists play drums? (Bear with me)

I use a programme called EZ Drummer. Great tool for easily creating realistic drum tracks.

If you have Mac OS or iOS device - GarageBand has very good generative drums, just like you describe it - go softer, go harder.

Another option is to use real drums samples like Yurt Rock - they have tons of records of really good drummers, samples, loops etc. it costs money, but highly recommended.

You don't need friends for a band, you just need an internet connection and the ability to look up stuff online.

Anyhow, I've programmed drums all my life because why not, it's fun. Then I bought an electric drum kit because I could get it for cheap. Once I started learning, I noticed how little I knew. Sure, you can program drum tracks, but I came here to tell you that if you want them to sound organic, at least it helped me a lot to actually play and understand the logic of certain things.

Also, it may be that I've already played more instruments or just that I've gotten older and wiser, but I think the drums were a much easier instrument for me at the beginning. As with everything, the sky is the limit, but I could jam some serious grooves after just a week or so.

And bonus, you know how the guitar online creator community is basically just influencers trying to sell you shit or really bad video tutorials? Drummers have a way better thing going on, so many ressources to learn from in an easy way.

Budget electronic drum kits are fairly cheap (and don't require much maintenance) and unless you're someone with a terrible sense of rhythm naturally you can teach yourself to play basic beats pretty easily -- much quicker, in my experience, than it is possible to learn the basics of guitar. You don't need to learn complex stuff in order to set down a beat to play to. If you like recording I would go down that route. And drums are just lots of fun to play, too!

Guitarist here that likes making music who also has no friends, and records music on my own in Reaper.

When I started making tracks, drums were the most difficult part to make because I had no idea how drum beats actually worked. I was so inexperienced, I didn't even know how the standard "bass on 1&3, snare on 2&4" beat worked, or what a bass or snare or hi-hat was.

However, It's very possible to scrape by with just doing:

* Bass on 1&3
* Snare on 2&4
* Hi-hat played on 8ths
* Cymbal crash on 1 after 4 measures
* On 4th measure, use a fill with toms

That said, if you have any interest in making good music, there's really no substitute to actually learning drums. That's what I ended up doing, primarily because 1) drums looked really cool, and 2) my rhythm sucks, so why not learn a rhythm instrument.

Drums are weird because there's no melodic element to it which makes it very odd to mentally parse. I come from a classical violinist background, so thinking about only rhythm and the physical articulation of it is something that didn't come easy.

I ended up buying a used e-drum kit for cheap (a friend wanted to get rid of it), and that's basically how I got started. In terms of picking it up, that's probably the most comprehensive and kind-of-cheap option you have. You can look on FB Marketplace/craigslist and probably find something in your area, maybe. Otherwise, going to r/drums, looking at tutorials like Drumeo on YT, and paying more attention to drums in the guitar tracks you listen to are probably your best bet at learning.

Good luck!

Steve Slate Drums had a free version that is rather delicious. I ended up buying it and no regrets it is incredible and less expensive than Ez Drummer

In addition a new feature is coming out soon that is like band mate in Ezdrummer

Hell yeah

GarageBand has great drum tracks

I use Superior Drummer and it is great. EZ Drummer is the entry level version, but Logic’s built-in Drummer has a UI that is closest to what you are asking for in manipulating play style.

Just do this and you’re all set. https://youtu.be/5AGw8sCICfE?si=wblp7wQfdHg9GFUL

In cubase there's a tempo detection. So I'll record a basic guitar track with the feel I want then write midi drums to that instead of a perfect grid. Gives it more a more musical feel.

If you're already using reaper, just use a VST.

MT power drumkit is excellent, easy to use, and free

Badly

1. understand how drums work

2. make a MIDI drum track

3. go over it 500 times and set velocity to taste

Well that’s honest I’ll say that! When I was a depressed teenager, I used a Zoom rhythm track to add drum and bass to my 4 track tunes. This is years ago mind and believe me drummers are a pain to play with anyway!

if you have a mac, try the drummer thing on garageband/logic pro, it's MAGIC, and does exactly what you need, you will be able to compose your own music without friends and die alone happy because you didn't need a drummer that would otherwise have been late all the time anyway. yay! (:

If you're using Reaper, I would recommend using a drum synth and/or sequencer. Presets will get you started, but they can be quite laborious if you're not familiar with MIDI.

I use drum loops

The Fender Tune app has a bunch of drum tracks & it's free.

Ez Drummer comes with multiple virtual kits as well as a huge library of drum loops from all varieties of music, and expansion packs with more loops and drum kkts can be bought. I find a few that are close enough to what I'm looking for, arrange them how I want, throw it in my MIDI sequencer and change around what I need to change. Bam, you got a drum track in 30-45 minutes lol

I use a MIDI controller with 16 pads and have a couple decent MIDI drum sets. I can correct my mistakes after recording and come up with whatever beat I want.

I use Logic Pro and it has its own native drumming program called “Drummer”. It’s very easy to use and highly manipulable to make your drum tracks suit the rest of your music.

Program them and pay attention to drum velocity and nudge the timing slightly so it doesn't seem robotic.

But it's very tedious and hard to "feel" the beat this way

What I did was buy an electronic drum kit, learn basic rock drumming, and I record it as midi. I record a basic beat with all the feel and timing I want and then fill in the gaps with midi programming. Mainly for double kicks in metal tracks. Cymbals, snare, are single kicks I can play pretty well.

There are tons of loops in logic I’ve used. I have lots of friends that use EZ drummer. Solid options….the more fun answer? I went and found a used Roland electric kit (I live in an apartment so acoustic wasn’t an option). Found a bunch of instructional videos on YouTube. So…am I as good as EZ Drummer? Nope. Is it more fun because I get to hit shit? Yup!

I'll record drums for you. I'm primarily a guitar player but I record a two mic setup with my kit and then sample layers on top of the track to keep the multitrack type of recording nonsense.

How would you "generate" some good drum tracks?

listen, learn by ear, repeat, improvise

LilDrum machine is another good app

Millennium mesh e kit from Thomman is what I use. I have a drummer for my band, I have friends that play. But wheen it come to my own personal stuff it's a case of I need to write and play my own stuff.

Plagiarism is kinda a skill you need to learn as well. Copy some of the great drum fills and make the your own. I use drum tracks and edit in my own or play my own versions that sound different to what was originally written.

I also use n tracks as my daw and I have lifetime account bevause of the vst that you get free monthly with it as well for recording over intmstruments.

Recently got a urdo for my mixes which brings a big change to my sound. Also helped my write better parts of other groups

Garage band ?
There are some application and online websites using AI to create Drums for backing.
Music is on a new frontier - Another one is Unision Drum Monkey

Any drum kit from GGD should do the trick ! Personnaly using Invasion on a song I'm composing and it's great.

I got bored wnough with being frustrated with drum programming grid editors that I finally just learned drums. I have a Roland TD27 now, and plugging it in via USB and laying down a drum track is so much more satisfying and, for me, easier than than programming the same thing for hours and hours.

I've always naturally had good rhythm and found limb independence fairly easy - I've been banging around on drums now for 20+ years. I don't think I'll ever be to a point to call it my main instrument or intentionally start a band with me on drums - I haven't spent years drilling fundamentals like on guitar - but it's a lot of fun. I just find programming so soul sucking, and it's easier for me to just play what I'm feeling than program it.

Plus drums are way easier to practice without the instrument than guitar! Haha!

I’ve been programming MIDI drums since the late 90’s. I’ve always loved the drums since I started playing guitar as a teen. I would hop on a drummer’s kit any and every chance I could get. Most drum programs out there come with decent MIDI grooves and fills to start and you can usually find what you want by filtering your search in the app’s groove browser. Find the ones you like, drag them into your DAW and create a track.

i use steinberg groove agent

I use EZ Drummer now, it's excellent, but a good way to get started is with MT Power Drum Kit, it's free, comes with a decent library of grooves, and makes composing drum parts drag and drop easy.

Start here: right hand plays subdivisions on high hat, right foot plays kick on one and three, left hand plays snare on two and four. That’s the 1-4-5 of drumming.

There are plenty of live-recorded and digitally generated drum tracks you can buy; entire companies with vast catalogs depending on what you play.

I’ve always like Beta Monkey.

I just pulled one down randomly. Here’s Drum Werks for punk and pop-punk.

https://www.betamonkey.com/shop/rock/drum-werks-x-punk-drum-loops/

Soooooo many people saying they’ll die alone. If only there were soooome kinda way to connect these people together. 🤔