DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

Although it can be hard to start an instrument at a late age, there are a couple of advantages -- 1) you've already heard and internalized a ton of music in your life, so you may understand things intuitively that a five year old doesn't, and (2) with an instrument like drums, being full-grown can help you physically.

The most important thing imo is to develop feel -- play very simply along with records, even just going "Right, Left" with the sticks in time. Maybe add a kick drum every other stroke when you feel comfortable. But keep it simple, don't tense up, and just try to get a feel and a flow (and don't feel bad if you can't, this will take a lot of practice!). Build your chops slowly -- don't try to play faster than you can play in time.

My favorite instructional book requires an almost zen-like tolerance for boredom -- it's called Stick Control. It's probably 70 or 80 years old, and it has an awesome introduction that you should read that explains how to develop your techinque (hands anyway).

And although Stick Control is all exercises to do with your hands, you can do them with your feet, with hands and feet alternating, with hands on different drums or cymbals, etc.

Yay, LL! This is so awesome.

awesome. let's start a no-wave band.

Ok! There is a mess of drums in my basement.

\(-_-)/

Pictures of drums, please.

it's just a pile of drums, i'm going to set it up now
i have the laptop down here in case i need help (i will need help)

put the thing on the other thing!

thonk thonk thonk thonk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qqncHL6Ls

ok i got the bass drum and cymbals and snare on their feet

ok it's all set up!!!

ok ok ok ok
i'm excited
will return when i learn something

now let's hear the purdie shuffle

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/images/drums/km_1975-whitekit-top.jpg

Pictures of drums, please.

most important thing for a beginning drummer: make sure your gong is placed properly!

i'm eating lunch now, and things are all set up with a blanket and carpet under the bass drum but i still need a better seat
the chair i've got down there is not going to work
the doggie seems interested

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7318/9052261870_323fb665af.jpg

also i did manage a basic 4/4 beat i think? i don't know what anything is called. it's the only thing i can do atm. no gong yet. funnest thing so far is establishing a somewhat steady beat and then doing a little fill and trying to get back to the beat
i'm AWFUL but hey it's my first day

That is awesome.

but i still need a better seat
the chair i've got down there is not going to work

Now that you're a drummer you get to sit on a THRONE!

oh one more thing while i'm eating - i've figured out where everything goes, but i'm not sure what the purpose is for the third thing down in this picture
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7338/9052256004_26e16861df.jpg

for real

you can pick up a decent throne for relatively cheap ($30-40). i'd recommend that you do it soon. the reason is that using a normal chair is unlikely to put you at the best angle, and since you're just starting out you could accidentally get used to an awkward sitting position/poor technique. everyone likes to sit at a different height and with a different angle (i tend to sit higher than most drummers for example) but as a starting point maybe think about sitting so that your leg makes a 90 degree angle.

the third thing down is an all-purpose auxiliary thing. you wrap one side of it around an arm or stand of some sort - could be a tom arm, a cymbal stand, or really any metallic piece that's sturdy and has some extra space on it. tyou can use it to attach extra tom arms, a tambourine, etc. let me see if i can find an example image.

ok, so it's extra. that's what i thought -- nothing seems to need to be attached, so i figured it was an auxiliary doodad.

additional conclusion: i would like something that can bounce a little or at least has some give? the cymbal pedal is a little tight/difficult to push, so i am going to need some leverage. i also enjoy bouncing. i also already noticed the chair getting in the way of my arms, so yeah -- def in the market for a THRONE.

it's an obvious joke but this would be such a badass and nerdy choice:
http://i.imgur.com/LZUDIQd.jpg

now you have to make the crucial life decision: heel up or heel down?

Pearl actually makes a bouncy throne: http://pearldrum.com/products/hardware/drum-thrones/d-1000spn/

Dunno how much you can adjust the bounce/give, though. I tried it once but found it really disconcerting.

Latest revive of this thread is the awesomest news!!!!!

Almost as urgent as a throne: you need a placard that reads YOU JUST HIRED THE HITMAKER

Woo, great revive! I started some drumming last week when I was round at my father-in-law's. Completely impossible to do a fill and land back on your feet afaict. But it's so much fun. (It was the Daft Punk album gave me the idea btw)

I'm not being as self-indulgent and buying like you, LL, though I am contemplating how I might be able to manipulate his otherwise-unused kit into making its way to my house.

I miss my drumset :(

You said you managed a basic 4/4 beat but...how I was initially taught by my friend and how I get others going on the "mother beat" is: hit (closed) hi-hat 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4, hit kick drum 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . . .
once you got a handle on that, add snare . . 3 . . . 3 . . . 3 .
get that down so you can do it w/o thinking. every other beat is a variation of that m/l

yeah that's what i did
i don't know what it's called so i was totally guessing

i started super slow and then got faster and faster til i felt like jaki (i did not sound like jaki)

Gr8 thread.
A drummer friend tells me that AC/DC are a good band to play along with when you are starting out because the beats are pretty simple and solid but have enough swing to make them fun to copy.

AC/DC and New Order, actually. Haven't touched drums in a few years, but I always found a lot of fun and ideas playing straight 4/4 robot beats. You build up strength and patience and a great sense of time, which never really goes away when you start to do other stuff.

Awesome LL!

FWIW since you're setting up on what looks like a cement floor, my advice would be to find a section of remainder carpet you can put on your floor to keep your kit from sliding/bouncing around.

Also, to keep the bass drum from creeping away, loop a rope around the back of your throne, tying each end to opposite sides/lugs on the batter side of the bass drum. Granted, your whole kit might slide forward, but at least you'll go with it.

Did you stuff a pillow in the bass drum? You should, especially in that room. Plus, it does take some trial and error, but drums do need to be tuned, to an extent.

ok here is the full set up
got a throne and a blanket/piece of carpet
have not strapped myself into the mothership yet today but that's kind of what it feels like -- if i make enough noise, and just the right kind, it may lift off

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3781/9056659755_7a2c31dc2a.jpg

i thought about it as soon as i woke up this morning and was still kind of like whoa i have DRUMS in my BASEMENT?! i've wanted this for so long. this has already been a good lesson in not being a chicken.

as for tuning, i'll prob need some help with that so i'll get to it when i get to it yknow?
oh, a pillow -- can i stuff an old sheet in there or does it have to be a pillow? i don't have any extras.

Folded up sheet is fine. Just something to dampen it a bit, or your bass drum might sound like a big flappy gong.

Also, there is no right or wrong, ultimately, but it looks like you have your toms swapped. Drums usually progress in size from smallest to largest from left to right, if you're playing right handed, though to be honest mixing some things up can lead to cool results.

That's how Kenny Aronoff's kit is set up, iirc.

i'm left handed!
i also tried the hand crossover and prefer to just use lefty for hi hat
also my left leg seems to be completely useless

hmm, that's a tricky situation, though! a few drummer mix things up a little bit with the toms, but generally the toms go in order from highest to lowest pitched. you could consider just taking out the middle tom (i know that's probably not a realistic option since you just started playing and want to play with ALL the toms!) and keeping the floor tom and high tom. when i first started out i had a mammoth, double bass drum, 8-tom kit from the early 1980s. gradually over the years i downsized until i just had two toms. in the future i will only have one drumstick and a piece of cardboard

Looks like we have the same kit!

update:

one of my dogs HATES the drum set, hates hearing me play it, and barks pretty much nonstop while i'm playing. i have learned to ignore him but honestly i really really wish he would stfu
i tried to play danger bird and it was pretty easy (also i <3 ralph molina), but uuuuuuggghhh so slow! so far the most fun has occurred when i start to play the one beat i know, then speed up, then take little solo breaks on the other drums/cymbals and then go right back into the repetitive part. it feels like i am actually playing?! i can only sustain it for so long though because the dog is driving me nuts.

also is there a name for that little shift into mental space-out that happens when you stop thinking too hard about what you're doing with your arms and legs and you just do it? i've only felt that dancing, not making noise. it's sooooo cool when it happens and i am also making noise. new thing for me.

xp SISTERS

XP - Creating muscle memory for a part, is how I would describe it (I play bass, so it's maybe a bit different)

Muscle memory was what I first thought, though to be honest it sounds just as much like "getting in the zone" from LL's account.

Yeah, getting inside the music, inside the song.

Not to sound like a martian, but is that (inside __________) a widely-used term? I like it.

good news: I think I can play Love Vigilantes now!
bad news: if my dog doesn't stfu soon and leave me alone (now he is coming over and putting his paw on me, like begging me to stop) he is going into the slammer (his crate)