Shape Beats for Kids: A Simple and Fun Approach to Learning Drums, Book & Online Audio/Software

I started using this book with my music students in January and they were immediately engaged, thanks to Tim's thoughtful and simplified approach to the instrument. My kids were playing many of the helpful exercises and beats enclosed in the book on their first day behind the drum set! Tim's usage of simple shapes to represent a particular drum - [Circle= Bass Drum, Square= Snare and Triangle= Hi Hat] - is brilliant! I'm sorry I hadn't thought of it!That being said, If you're looking for a drum method to inspire and engage your students, your children or the next prodigy, look no further!

My 8 year old is teaching himself how to play the drums and these are a great beginner's guide.

My son began learning drums at 5 and was really struggling with reading music. This book not only helped him learn the instrument but helped him in the long run with reading sheet music. The visuals are great and easy to understand for young, beginner drummers. Highly recommend.

Very easy to follow. I purschased it for an 8 year old. I love it and I know he will too.

My 6 year old son wants to learn how to play drums like his Dad. This book is fun and easy to use. He is already gaining so many strengths as a drummer.

Seems like a good system, but the instructional CD is an MP3 CD. So using your old CD player, if you still have one, will not play it, which obviously makes the book a lot less useful. Can this audio guide be downloaded? I don’t see a way to ask questions for this product

Great book for beginning students! I got this book for a young one in my family and it got her playing along with songs very quickly. An easy method to understand. I highly recommend it!

Perfect for my 4 and 6 year old. Easy to follow, clear instructions!

I teach drums and was looking for something for complete learners who are very young. Whilst the shape ideas are good I do not like how the book progresses after just a little while to begin using 'X' as a symbol to rest (I.e. do not play beats) because proper drum score uses 'X' a lot as symbols for playing hi-hat/ cymbals (I.e. DO play!) So I personally think this will become confusing later when drummers progress to reading actual drumscore (as also advised towards end of book). If another image was used for rests I think this book would have been much better. I will use the first few exercises and the last sample pages of drum score but not the middle sections.

Just received this yesterday and we haven’t used it yet as it’s a Xmas present for my daughter, i have just bought her first drum kit for Xmas so we are excited to see how she will do with this, but by the looks of this book it is so easy to read and extremely simplified for the younger children, first timers. Her dad is a professional drummer so he will teach her but this book will allow her to grasp things around reading music for herself, it also comes with a cd of songs to go along with the sheet music, songs from people like the Beatles etc, we are really happy with this book and again are excited to see her little face using it.Also it actually came REALLY quick, I only ordered it the day before so that is also why we put 5*Thank you.

Too simplistic, most kids can grasp the basic of reading drum tab without breaking it down into more simplicity.For the most part it asks the student to hit a snare two times, then hit a hi-hat twice. Groovy.

I don't play the drums, it is for my 8yr old Grandson, but this visual way of showing how to play, looks much easier to follow than reading a lot of text.

Wenn Sie ein Elternteil / Betreuer sind, der ein rudimentäres Verständnis von Musik hat, können Sie Ihr Kind zum Trommeln bringen. Wenn Sie ein Anfänger sind und einfach nur spielen möchten, hilft dies. Bisher gibt es keine Trennungen, bei denen nur Hi-Hat, Bass und Snare in unterschiedlicher Reihenfolge gespielt werden. Das Buch ist großartig, weil es Ihnen einen Beat und Songs gibt, die Sie mitspielen können, damit ein Kind wirklich interessiert ist. Mein Sohn war so aufgeregt, We Will Rock You und Bob Marleys Jammin mitzuspielen. Sicher, es ist nicht der exakte Beat, aber es reicht aus, um einen einfachen Beat zu halten, und es ist aufregend für ein Kind, zu hören und zu fühlen, dass es bereits Teil einer Band ist. Ich freue mich sehr, weil das Buch gut angelegt ist und die Dinge sehr, sehr einfach hält. Ich komme in einer Sitzung mit meinem 5-jährigen Sohn durch eine Seite und er freut sich darauf, die neuen Beats zu lernen und welche Songs er als nächstes lernen wird. Das Buch unterrichtet keine traditionelle Musik, aber das ist in Ordnung. Sie können später lehren, dass das Buch das tut, wofür es entwickelt wurde, und dass Kinder trommeln und sich am Schlagzeug wohlfühlen. Ich werde auf jeden Fall die anderen Bücher in diesem Bereich bekommen und wünschte, dieses System wäre auch für andere Instrumente verfügbar!If you are a parent/carer who has some rudimentary understanding of music you will be able to get your child drumming, in fact if you are a beginner and want to just get playing this will help. So far we have no separations only playing the hi-hat, bass and snare in varying orders. The book is great because it gives you a beat and songs you can play along to so that really keeps a child interested. My son was so excited to play along to We Will Rock You and Bob Marley's Jammin. Sure, it's not the exact beat but it's enough to keep a simple beat and is exciting for a child to hear and feel they are part of a band already. I am so pleased because the book is set out well and keeps things very, very simple. I get through one page in a session with my 5 year old son and he looks forward to learning the new beats and what songs he'll learn next. The book doesn't teach traditional music but that's fine, you can teach that later, the book does what it is designed to and that's get kids drumming and getting comfortable on the drums. I will definitely be getting the other books in this range and wish this system was available for other instruments too!