Drum tablature, commonly known as a drum tab, is a form of simplified percussion notation

Percussion notation

Percussion notation is a type of musical notation indicating notes to be played by percussion instruments. As with other forms of musical notation, sounds are represented by symbols which are usually written onto a musical staff ....

, or tablature

Tablature

Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....

 for percussion instrument

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

. Instead of the durational notes normally seen on a piece of sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

, drum tab uses proportional horizontal placement to indicate rhythm

Rhythm

Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

 and vertical placement on a series of lines to represent which drum from the drum kit

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 to stroke

Drum stroke

In music, a drum stroke is a note performed on percussion instruments known as a drum. There are four basic strokes.The Full Stroke begins with the tip of the drumstick held 8-12" above the striking surface...

. Drum tabs frequenctly depict Drum patterns.

Unlike guitar tabs which often fail to accurately represent timing information, drum tabs usually describe timing information very accurately, however drum tab is much harder to learn than guitar tab.

Key or Legend

The number of lines in a specific tab will vary depending on the number of different drums used during a specific section of music. Below is an example of a basic drum kit.
CC|-Crash cymbal

Crash cymbal

A crash cymbal is a type of cymbal that produces a loud, sharp "crash" and is used mainly for occasional accents, as opposed to in ostinato. The term "crash" may have been first used by Zildjian in 1928....

----|
HH|-Hi-hat

Hi-hat

A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...

----------|
Rd|-Ride cymbal

Ride cymbal

The ride cymbal is a standard cymbal in most drum kits. It maintains a steady rhythmic pattern, sometimes called a ride pattern, rather than the accent of a crash...

-----|
SN|-Snare-drum------|
T1|-High-tom

Tom-tom drum

A tom-tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snare.Although "tom-tom" is the British term for a child's toy drum, the name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala; the tom-tom itself comes from Asian or Native American cultures...

--------|
T2|-Low-tom---------|
FT|-Floor-tom

Floor tom

A floor tom is a double-headed tom-tom drum which usually stands on the floor on three legs. However, they can also be attached to a cymbal stand with a drum clamp....

-------|
B |-Bass-drum-------|
Hf|-Hi-hat-w/foot---|

Techniques

Tablature can use various letter and symbols to denote different cymbal types or other drum techniques. These are the tablature symbols that represent various techniques, though these may vary:

Cymbals

|-x-| Strike cymbal or hi-hat
|-X-| Strike loose hi-hat, or hit crash hard
|-o-| Open hi-hat
|-#-| Choke cymbal

Cymbal choke

A cymbal choke is a percussion technique which consists of striking a cymbal with a drumstick held in one hand and then immediately grabbing the cymbal with another hand, or more rarely, with the same hand. The cymbal choke produces a burst of sound which is abruptly silenced, which can be used for...

 (grab cymbal with hand after striking it)
|-s-| Splash cymbal

Splash cymbal

In a drum kit, splash cymbals are the smallest accent cymbals. Splash cymbals and china cymbals are the main types of effects cymbals.The most common sized splash has a diameter of 10", followed by 8"...

|-c-| China cymbal

China cymbal

thumb|right|China type cymbals from three continentsIn western music, china type cymbals are cymbals manufactured to produce a dark, crisp, trashy, and explosive tone...

|-b-| Bell of ride
|-x-| Click hi-hat with foot

Drums

|-o-| Strike
|-O-| Accent
|-g-| Ghost note

Ghost note

Ghost notes are musical notes occurring in a rhythmic figure which are purposely deemphasized, often to the point of near silence. In popular music drumming these notes are played, "very softly between the 'main' notes," most often on the snare drum in a drum kit.A rhythmic figure may be punctuated...

|-f-| Flam

Flåm

Flåm is a village at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjord, an arm of the Sognefjord. The village is located in the municipality of Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway...

|-d-| Drag
|-b-| Soft one-handed roll

Drum roll

A drum roll is a technique the percussionist employs to produce a sustained sound on a percussion instrument. Rolls are used by composers to sustain the sound and create other effects, the most common of which is using a roll to build anticipation.- Snare drum roll :The most common snare drum roll...

|-B-| Accented one-handed roll
|-@-| Snare rim

Rimshot

A rimshot is the sound produced by hitting the rim and the head of a drum simultaneously, with a drum stick. Rimshots are usually played to produce a more accented note, and are typically played loudly. However, soft rim shots are possible....

Example Drum Tab

Below is an example of a rhythm pattern characteristic of much popular music including rock presented in standard notation and then its corresponding translation into drum tab.

B = Bass drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

  HH = Hi-hat

Hi-hat

A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...

 S = Snare drum

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

HH|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-||
S|----o-------o---||
B|o-------o-------||
1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a