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Garageband 10 - How To Use Drummer

GarageBand 10 – How To Use Drummer

One of GarageBand 10‘s key features, the Drummer track actually debuted in Apple’s premium recording program – Logic Pro X – first.

While the Drummer track interface can look a little daunting at first, I’m happy to report that once you’ve gotten over that initial learning curve, the Drummer track is an incredibly useful tool.

It’s one of my favourite and most used features in GarageBand.

The sheer amount of variety on offer and ease of use means that you can easily create an original sounding drum track in next to no time.

In this updated video tutorial I cover everything you need to create, edit and mix the perfect Drummer track that will make your projects sound fantastic!

 

 

 

Once you’ve got to grips with the basics, check out these Drummer Track Secrets and take your Garageband rhythm section to the next level!

 

 

Hopefully, that should help you get going with the Drummer track. I’d love to hear what you can come up with – share your Drummer infused projects with The Garageband Guide community on  Facebook or  Twitter.

Show Comments (120)
      1. Ok, i actually found the answer to my question by reading down your thread. So thanks to RK Brown for the video on transforming the drummer track to midi. I’m just curious to know why you cannot move the drummer tracks around… maybe for next version of GB…

    1. Hi Patrick. Thanks for the tricks!
      So I’ve been working on editing a drummer track, and am happy with what i did, but now I want to include an intro to my song, and i am trying to move all my tracks to allow space to add the intro. All tracks move nicely and keep all their settings, except my drummer track! it seems to catch the song in the middle rather than keep its intro/loops/ fills etc… Do know how to drag the drummer track without changing it?
      Thanks!

      1. Hey I actually know the answer to this I think!! Click track and choose “show arrangement track”
        You can add verses, choruses, etc at the top and all the tracks in each section will automatically move with the label (verse, chorus) to wherever you want it!

    1. Check out the library (open via the ‘drawer’ icon in the top left hand corner of the GB window). You can choose from loads of different kits for your drummer to play on.

  1. It looks like there’s a ton of options for different patterns and sounds, but I would much rather start from scratch and create my own drum loops. I have done this before on ableton. Do you know a way to do that on garageband?

    1. Hey Tyrone, yeah – you can open a software instrument track and use musical typing (or a keyboard) to manually “play” and record your own drum loops. You can then save your recorded regions as loops and use them in future projects.

  2. How do I change it further down the song? It seems I can only have two “sections” or patterns. They load as 2 – 16 bar phrases and that’s it? I can only have then an “A” and “B” section to any song?

  3. I hover over the slider for bass and snare and the options of double or half tempo appear. But when I want to use them they just disappear again. I only see them when the mouse is over the slider but I cannot access them there.

    1. This happens to me too. Hey, Patrick, I’ve asked this question before with no reply. Does this mean we’ve stumped you on this one? What happens is you hover over the slider and the half time / double time option appears, but as soon as you move to click on it, it disappears. Which means that, unless you can move at the speed of light, this feature is unavailable.

      1. You only need to move the yellow slider circle to the point above where the 1/2 and double time options are guys. You can do this by either clicking on and dragging the slider to the point you require or just clicking on the desired point.

  4. Hi Patrick,

    Thanks for the guides – they’re really useful, but I’m utterly bewildered by the Drummer feature.

    I’m running Mavericks and have Garageband 11 installed according to the heading on the help menu. I can’t see the Drummer option anywhere, including in add track or start new project.

    Have they withdrawn it again to am I being dense? To be honest, my screen doesn’t look anything like yours in the demo vid here…

    PETE

    1. Hey Pete – you need to go and download the new version of Garageband (Garageband 10) to use the Drummer Track. It’s a standalone program, so you can still use Garageband ’11 after installing it.

      1. Thanks Patrick !

        As a Windows refugee / new Mac user I hadn’t realised 10 was newer than ’11 !

        I had to manually uninstall whatever version it was on my system before the app store would give me gb 10, but now I have it and Drummer is awesome!

        Best wishes and merry Xmas,

        PETE

  5. Hey Patrick, thank you for all the great info. Also I was wondering if this is an open forum for topics & questions aboutGB ? If so I was also wondering if anyone has used Alchemy by Camel Audio. I get a warning alert saying ( this type of file can damage my computer) when trying to download it , so I stopped .
    Thanks Jim.

    1. Hey Jim. I’ve used it – it’s GREAT!!! Are you using Google Chrome as your browser by any chance? It will throw up that warning message when you try to download pretty much anything from the internet.

      It’s meant to be an extra layer of protection, but it doesn’t mean that the item you’re downloading or the site you are downloading from is automatically ‘bad’. ..

  6. Hi, thanks for posting. I just upgraded to this GB and as a guitarist am quite exited about a more versatile drummer. I’m Just wondering about changing drum styles during songs? I note that I can’t open a second drum track so I am assuming there must be a way to do it in the single track.
    cheers
    Jason

    1. Hi Jason,

      I’m new to Garageband but had a one to one session on it at the Apple Shop the other day so know a little now. If you mean varying it between soft / loud and simple / complex, you can do that by splitting the Drummer track into regions.

      There’s a command in ‘edit’ letting you split region at the playhead. Maybe there’s another way to split regions as well but haven’t found it yet.

      Once you’ve set up your region you can click on the word ‘drummer’ in the block you want to edit and then vary to style settings in the usual way. I’ve tried that and it works.

      PETE

  7. Hi Patrick.
    I’ve been working on a track in garageband and watched your tutorials when I got started. My song is now close to mix stage and I programmed the drums using the new drummer feature. Is there any way of being able to apply eq just to the kick (or any individual drum or cymbal etc)? All i can think to do is turn the other drums down in the controls and then bouncing the kick down and re-import it and use a gate before adding the eq. Is there an easier way. Thanks.

    1. Did some more research on drummer and it turns out that in the new logic drummer you can choose to select the producer kit version of the kit and that opens up all of the drums on to separate tracks so that you can eq them. A feature I assume they took off of the garageband version.

      1. I think you’re right Ryan. The only way I can think to independently mix each part of the kit is to change the Drummer track into a ‘MIDI’ track and splitting the elements into separate tracks.

        Check out this video:

        1. Patrick!!!! You did it!! Thats what I ‘ve been looking for. Awesome. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work! With the apple tutorials or lack there of for the new garageband. I have learn’t everything I’ve wanted to know from your site and you have helped again. Thanks.

  8. Hey Patrick
    A quick question that has me bewildered

    When I open drummer it loads up two different regions . Both drum regions are different. Why is this ?
    I always just delete the second region.

    1. Hey Peter!

      I think GB provides you with two differently set up regions so you can easily resize and slot them in to different parts of your song/project, one for the verse and one for the chorus for example.

      Of course, you can always cut/paste the regions and resize/apply different settings as you go.

  9. It is lots of handy options for different types of sounds and patterns. Using Drummer is simple and the video tells it all. Thanks a ton!

  10. Hello
    Thanks for putting together this . I am new to Garageband. Is there an easy way to have GB put in a click track for a set amount of time in order to play along with while you build up the song to the point that you can add the v-drummer in ?

    1. Hi Matt,

      Not sure this is the only way, but it works for me…

      Stretch out the existing drum part so it covers a good portion of the song

      Position the play head where you want your new drum pattern to start, click edit and click split at the play head. Then position the playhead where the part you want to add ends and click edit / split.

      Select the section you just made by clicking on its light coloured header. Click the little scissors button in the top left of your screen. The drummer panel appears and you can select a new pattern.

      I’m hoping there’s a simpler way…

      1. Just realised there is a simpler way. Click on one of your existing blocks of drums to select. Press alt key and then /copy / drag the block to a vacant space in the track. Let go, highlight, press scissors in top left of screen.

  11. Patrick, you are awesome!
    The help guide was one thing, but this video really helps on the drummer.

    One question I had was about the video. The guitar tracks you have on it, did you do them, and if so, did you play along with the click track? Just wondered how well the ‘follow’ feature worked on casual recordings although I should try and work this out myself haha

    The only other one I haven’t been able to work out after trying is how to get a short drum part to end the song, so it ends like an end, and not just a feeling of it stopping in the middle of a beat if that makes sense?

  12. Brillant Patrick!

    Big up…nice work!

    I’ve read many GB manuals over the years.
    Your’s is the best, ever!

    Concise, nicely annotated, and just the right amount of detail.

    Thanks!

    C.J

  13. I have a question. There’s a section I’m doing in a song that has a break in the music that is only half a measure long. When I try to get all the tracks to come in on the downbeat the drummer track only plays a fill that leads it to the next actual measure. How can I designate to GarageBand/the drummer that I want the new downbeat or “1” to exist in the middle of a measure on the screen?

    1. I think the way you can do it is to put the play head where you want the drums to stop (beat three of the bar or whatever. Select ALL tracks and then click ‘edit’ and then split tracks at the playhead. Then go to Beat one of the following bar and repeat the same process exactly for all tracks. Delete the beats you don’t want and drag the following bars to join up.

      It’s a bit fiddly but iI’ve done it in the past and it works.

  14. Does the drummer only play along AFTER you recorded a track, or can the drummer also play along WHILE you’re recording a track?

    1. WHILE. You just need to create a new track and select drummer. Then create a second track and play along.

  15. What I miss about the “drummer” is the opportunity to really edit drum grooves – e.g. if I want a the kick to be exactly where I want it there’s no way of doing that. So for my kind of composing it’s pretty useless..

    1. You could always convert your Drummer tracks to MIDI, making them TOTALLY customizable. RK Brown has a great vid on YouTube that shows you how:

  16. You can do that if you upgrade to Logic Pro I think. It’s about 140 quid from Apple last time I looked.

  17. The ONLY thing I dislike about the drummer is that sometimes when you move the drum loops they change. Like if you want to add 10 seconds of atmosphere at the start of your track and you select all of your tracks… drag them back to :10… the drums change. I know you can just bounce your drums solo as a work around but…

    1. Black, too true! I am in the same boat and cannot for the life of me find a solution! If any one has the answer, please enlighten! Patrick, amazing job on the site and book pal; keep up the brilliant work!

    2. THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS TOO!!!! I want to drag all my tracks together because im adding an intro, etc….but then the drum track changes and everything is out of sync….have you found a solution yet? Much needed help. thanks!

  18. In your tutorial, you use an x/y pad for the GarageBand drummer. My question is: where do you find the x/y drummer pad? In the video you show how to use it, but not how to get to it.

  19. I have a song that’s written in 4/4 but it’s filled with triplets , how do I get the drummer to play triplet rhythms

  20. Just choose 12/8 as the the time signature and amend the tempo as required. You can do all of that by highlighting and then overtyping the numbers in the window above the tracks.

  21. Really helpful video and comments–thanks to everyone here!

    Question about drum fills: it seems like GarageBand places fills automatically within the beat. Often I love it’s choices,but sometimes I want something else. But it also seems like any change I make in a drum section affects what happens later in the drum track.

    Anyone know how to choose specific drum fills or just simply be in better control of the fills themselves?

    Thanks!

    –Mark

  22. I used to use GarageBand to create my own drum loops by using the ‘Musical Typing’ feature and recording my drum tracks manually, and while this new feature is great, I’d REALLY like to still make my own original beats and demo them in GarageBand. However, with this version of the app it seems that I cannot do this. Do you have any ideas??

    1. Hey Morgan. The Musical Typing function is still available in Garageband 10. You can find it in the ‘Window’ tab at the top of your Mac’s screen, or use the shortcut ⌘+K.

      1. Yes, I have no problem with using the Musical Typing function, but GarageBand won’t allow me to actually record by using that feature, at least not in drums. It seems that using the programmed ‘drummers’ is my only option when it comes to laying down drum tracks(I don’t have my own drum kit to record with currently).

  23. Hey there all, just have an off topic Question about a plugin I’m trying to install. It’s called Up Stereo for stereo imaging. I’ve tried installing it with no luck. Anybody out there ?

  24. so i see you can’t make two tracks ,how can i change drummer and do a different section of the song without altering what i already have?

    1. Put the play head at the point in the drum track where you want things to change. Click edit and then split at the play head. Do the same thing at the point where you want the drums to change again if necessary. Highlight the section. Change the settings as required. Not sure you can’t change the tempo though but try.

    2. I suddenly can’t mute the snare and kick drum on a track.. what gives? The little drum kit thing indicates I’ve muted them but they continue to play anyway.. Suggestions?

  25. Hello Patrick, I been trying to figure out a way to generate a simple latin beat using smart drummer (a bolero to be exact) but don’t see the percussion instruments needed or any of the programmed latin rhythms to facilitate this task. Can latin rythms be added to smart drummer? and if not what would be your suggestion for accomplishing this task. Thank you in advance for you help.

    1. Same here. I think the drummers play very nice but I miss jazz and latin rythms, or just straight forward ballad stuff. I thin kthere’s very little “strainght forward”, they always come with a beat there in the middle which yeah makes things more interesting, but sometimes you just want the thing to be simple and squared. I tried to just play the rythms myself with a pad, but they removed the latin kit also…

      1. What I do is create a beat using one of the standard drum machines (or edit a loop), then add it to the loop library (for use later). I add a virtual drummer and select the “follow” option and have the virtual drummer follow the drum machine track. I tend to back off the swing and fill controls and drag the cursor to “Simple”, so I get closer to my desired beat. The Virtual Drummers always sound less machine-like than the drum machine.

  26. Great Video Patrick! You always do such a great job of explaining all the features and give perfect examples. Well done sir! On a more personal note, how’s your back? Hope you’re doing well.

  27. Hey Patrick thanks for sharing your knowledge. mighty decent of you. My question is how do you silence just a section of a track? I have a bass track with a sour note or two that i’d like to mute then I’d like to loop that section. I’ve figured out how to cut out the section but then when I loop it it’s out of sync with the rest of the tracks.

  28. Hi Patrick great vid. One question though: I have composed an intro/verse/chorus section and then it repeats – kind of a loop; but somehow the whole section came to a half beat short. Which means the new section starts a half beat earlier and it totally screwed up the drumming patterns. How to start the whole 4/4 tempo by a half beat earlier then? Is there any easy way out? Heeelllppp! Tks in advance:)

  29. I’m not expert, but I think if you can isolate the final, short bar and then start again. Put the playhead at the start of the bar, select all tracks and then split at the playhead from the edit menu. Do the same thing at the end of the bar. You’ll then have separate regions and can assign the appropriate time signatures…

  30. Thanks for this Patrick, I know can use GarageBand a lot better after watching your videos and reading your guides.

  31. Hi Patrick ,
    yes drummer is a great tool however I managed to get part of a rough track done with the actual drummer sounds using my fingers on my keyboard to create my own part.
    Somehow I’ve not managed to repeat this,any ideas?

    thanks much Phillip

  32. I have a Drummer region that I want to extend two beats. I’ll call this a verse. The next Drummer region is a chorus. Whenever I paste or drag the chorus drummer region next to that verse the chorus drum pattern changes by itself – it removes two beats from itself and a nonsensical fill appears. It sounds “turned around” and horrible. I wanted to try the suggestion from a previous comment that said to split all tracks at playhead but I can’t fathom why I should split and edit my guitar and vocal parts – they are perfectly fine because they were recorded to the click, not the drums. I tried the “lock” feature: didn’t work. And tried to trim two beats off front of chorus region but that doesn’t work either. I need help!

    1. Hey Dave, I have had the exact same problem. Though I have sought out help on the web, I am yet to find anyone mentioning a predicament such was this. Hopefully there actually is a fix for this, as I have been through just about every option I can think of.

      1. Anybody find the answer to this one yet?????? Is there another way to record or bounce the drums to another track/????

        1. Still looking for an answer to this too! So frustrating. Why do the drum tracks change when dragged…

        2. Have you tried turning the fill control all the way to zero? That might at least get rid of the nonsense fill.

          I’ve had similar problems with drummer. Did you try splitting all the tracks at the payead to create a new region of the song???

  33. Hi, I have an isue with drummer. I open garageband with a new proyect, then I select another drummer from, for example, alternative, I choose my preferences with the presets and select the rec button of each track [guitar and voice], after that I checked at Follow option and press R and NOTHING happens, so im confuse, cause when I delete The drummer track I can start top record again. I dont undestand why, please help me.

    Thanks

    1. Robin, Pete, I have the same problem. We record live, five piece to individual tracks….real instruments, plus vocals. Normally adding a drum track will work. But if we try to add drum track first and record along with it, the playhead will not move when “record” button is clicked. All tracks are armed and levels are good. This is an irregular problem, as most of the time it works ok. When it happens, the only thing i can do is delete the drum track. Saving and restarting Garageband does not fix the problem, only deleting the drum track. So that we don’t waste any time, we’ve had to record to the click track when this happens, not much of a “live” feel. Ive searched the forums and no joy, including Apple. Anyone have any thoughts. PS……thanks for the great vid 🙂

  34. Is there a way to just get a simple, steady drum beat without all the fills? I’ve tried simplifying, which helps somewhat, but there are still fills that I can’t get rid of. When I delete the sections with the fills and try dragging the next drum section over, it just re-adds the fill I just deleted.I’ve also deselected specific drums on the diagram, and even though the only thing I have selected is a shaker, it STILL adds the occasional fill. I can’t win. I would rather they had NO drum fills and then I add them where I want them, as opposed to them preexisting and not necessarily jiving with what I’m working on. Help??

  35. Peter, please can you answer my question?
    I mean, it was possible to record live drums in the older version (6) of garageband… But now I just don’t know how…!?

        1. I dont know how to get the multitrak to record drums… There are no presets to chuse anymore like it was in GB6!?

  36. I found this video very helpful. Thank you! I do have a question though… Let’s say I like the first 16 bars and I want to copy and paste it into the rest of the song, on the older version of garageband, it would be simple, but on this version, even when I paste it, it automatically changes to a different beat that the computer likes more. Any thoughts? And thank you.

  37. Mate, great help… but I cant work out if I can actually record the changes I can make to Kyles drumming? Is this soething I can do? Like Or is this a setting I can only play witjh but not actually krecord the fills, swing changes and stuff.. My record button doesnt go on in this mode at all
    Thansk

  38. hi guys, just a simple question. Can i record the changes to the drummers editor? e.g.. changing the fills dial, or the chang in turning kit pieces on and off or any element i change in the drummer editor, can i record those changes?

  39. Ok, I have a question. Somehow I managed to convert my existing session drummer track to an editable midi track without the copy/paste method you’ve mentioned above. I have no idea how it happened. Do you know how this is done? And perhaps how to change it back?

  40. Hi guys,

    Question: I’ve been having a problem with drummer. Recently, when I select a certain drummer, say Mason, I am unable to select different beats. I click on different ones different parts of the drum kit will light up as if it’s going to play a different beat, but the beat won’t change. Frustration!

    Any ideas? I’ve quit garageband, restarted, shut down, and no dice.

    Thanks,
    Rupert

  41. Hi Patrick / i’m a musician who is learning how to use garage band for the first time / I’m having problems creating a drum track with drummer because the length of the verses in my song changes / so what happens is the kick drum plays on the 1 beat in the first verse but in the second verse one of the vocal lines extends for two extra beats / now the drummer’s kick drum is out of sync two beats / and the vocal lines in each verse have their own distinct length of time / the kick drum is no longer playing on the one beat / it seems the drummer is locked into a 4/4 grid across the drum track / I thought I could highlight a section or two sections then copy it and place it where I wanted in the song and the kick drum would start where I placed it / but that didn’t work / it seems when you copy a section you don’t copy the actual drumbeat you just copy the section and it’s length and when you place it the drums take up from there so the kick drum is out of sync… / how do you solve this problem?

    I know you must be tremendously busy / but I need to talk to someone who knows how to use garage band to help solve these difficulties quickly / can I contact you via e-mail? Thank you very much – jeffy holmquist/jhbb

    ps: your videos are very helpful – jh

  42. Hi Patrick, I’m trying to find drumming software like Garage Band Play Along Drummer but for windows.

    This Garage Band feature is is a fantastic with the drums being able to be set to follow another selected instrument.

    Do you know of any way to access this using windows??

    Thanks

  43. Can you explain how to do a cymbal choke in drummer or in midi track? I’ve shortened the cymbal length but it still rings out.

  44. Is there a way to cut the drummer track so it steps suddenly? Whenever I try to trim it, the drum beats alter somehow. Thanks in advance!

  45. Hey I actually know the answer to this I think!! Click track and choose “show arrangement track”
    You can add verses, choruses, etc at the top and all the tracks in each section will automatically move with the label (verse, chorus) to wherever you want it!

  46. Patrick, Your videos have been a great help in moving forward with my home studio. Many thanks for all the time and effort you put in on helping us all out ! Steven

  47. Hi,

    This was very useful, thanks.

    I have been struggling to figure out how to 1/2 the temp of the auto drummer in garageband without halving the tempo of the whole piece, as this might mean rewriting a lot of tracks. NB there are no tools to do this like you get in other drummer tools e.g. Native Instruments.

    However, I finally figured it out and thought it might be of use.

    If you create an audio track and drag the drumloop you want from the drum packs it turns it into a wave file which you can then play around with.

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