DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

Not to be all sabetodo, but I already knew all that!

well then you shouldn't have to look! ;)

it's mostly to double check, i'm getting better! (but am obvs not fully literate yet)

Hey Chicagoans does anyone want to buy some Tama drums? Cheap cheap cheap! (Hardware questionable)

"loud noise!"

my hating loud noises (and practicing!) has held me back in learning to drum, no doubt about it, but on the plus side my bass drum looks like it's about to give birth to all the stuffed animals crammed into it.

i just successfully used my left foot for the first time
it was really exciting!

hey dan m do you have a crash cymbal/stand? i'd take that off your hands if you don't mind parting with it as part of the set.

lesson in 90 min, nerves are WAY better than they used to be. also my arm no longer feels like it's going to pinwheel off my body while i'm doing the warm up exercises. they're still pretty fun even though i haven't even made it past the first half of page 1.

i have finally finished my tasks for the day so i can update the world wide web on my progress:

* lesson was good, teacher is being tough/encouraging in the ways that i appreciate
* he had never seen the warmup book i bought but he said that it looks like a quality book (if a little difficult, i reminded him that i am still on pg 1 and have had this book for 3 weeks)
* i think i'm making a lot of progress psychologically -- i don't have that problem of extreme self-consciousness anymore. it's more of a medium grade at this point.
* teacher has me working on my 16th note speed and doing lesson 10 from syncopation for the modern drummer (i think it's called? i took a picture of the page from the book but not the cover)

in super emo news, the better i get, the more i love it. i think i'm going to get some more lights/decorations in the basement to make it more inviting once it starts getting dark at like 4pm.

question for those of you who currently play: what does your practice area look like? my teacher's practice space is way more decorated than i expected. that's why i ask. (also i enjoy decorating things)

"loud noise!"

my hating loud noises (and practicing!) has held me back in learning to drum, no doubt about it, but on the plus side my bass drum looks like it's about to give birth to all the stuffed animals crammed into it.

― Philip Nunez, Friday, August 30, 2013 9:52 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

then learn to play drums softly! It's an underrated skill. You can also use brushes and bundle sticks. Master all that and gig forever in unplugged settings.

Amen.

World's quietest and sloppiest lightning bolt cover band here I come!

I still haven't put anything in my bass drum. I like it being kinda loud, and no one has complained...yet.

In listening news: Every song I hear is now divided into 1 of 2 categories. Can I play it y/n. No inbetweenin.

I feel like I owe this thread an update, but there's not a whole lot to say, really.

1) practice schedule -- I have a little routine now. Warm up, practice whatever is expected of me from lesson (this part is like eating my lima beans most of of the time but it's getting less painful), do that 3 more times or until i can do it without thinking about it too hard, do something from my book, then play whatever i want for as long as i want.
-- i like having a plan bc it makes me feel like i'm getting something done (also i am the sort of person who likes executing plans)
-- i'm definitely getting a LOT (like LOT LOT LOT) more comfortable with the simple idea of doing this. i suppose this is what confidence feels like? no idea.
-- if i wait to do fun stuff til the end, i feel like i've earned it and it's extra fun bc of that

2) progress with things that were vexing me -- i've gotten a lot better at counting, but still not great at it. i'm definitely improving. this is going to sound pretty bad, but i don't think i've got a lot of experience engaging my brain and my body at the same time. (never played sports, perhaps because i couldn't think and handle a ball simultaneously) so when i manage to do it, it feels like a huge accomplishment. that's a nice feeling, i guess. i'll take it.

3) things i can do for sure -- i can totally play a bunch of (easy, short) songs, i can make up my own parts to songs and remember what they are, i can rotate between various bass drum parts while maintaining steady arms, i guess there are probably other things i can do but i don't feel like anyone really cares to read a list of things i can do (not even me)

4) fun level remains EXTREMELY HIGH. if i save the fun stuff for the end, practice always ends on a high/fun note and i look forward to the next time i sit down there. today i did two loads of laundry while i practiced. it ruled.

that's all. not much else to say right now. i guess it's worth noting that i am really really glad i decided to give this a try and persevered.

Right on!

^^ so glad to read this update

LL your posts always make me feel inspired & like learning anything is possible! In this case, the drums.

aw thanks. it has been really fun being a student and just giving myself over to the learning process. it has definitely come in handy when talking with students about practicing!
ABLearning

Really impressed with your stick-to-itiveness. No pun intended. I know lots of people who have tried to pick up instruments, and few who have stuck it out long enough to start to feel good about it. Keep on keepin on.

I was always really, really bad at the delayed gratification of not fucking around until you finish your practice. I could sit in a practice room for five hours straight, but I couldn't get the veggies out of the way before dessert.

Oh, see that's the part I'm kind of enjoying -- I love eating veggies. I'm actually worried about what's going to happen to me when I don't have a supervisor anymore. I think I only have 5 or 6 lessons remaining, and I kinda want to ask my teacher for a maintenance plan or something. Is that out of line? Is that asking him to put himself out of a job? That's not what I mean to do -- I want to come back when I'm ready to learn some more advanced things, but I need to work on some other skills too, like playing with real life people, before I'm ready for that.

I was always really, really bad at the delayed gratification of not fucking around until you finish your practice. I could sit in a practice room for five hours straight, but I couldn't get the veggies out of the way before dessert.

― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Sunday, September 15, 2013 9:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Me too. Always went straight to playing along with records, usually rushing through (or skipping) lesson stuff. Looking back, though, playing with records was just as (maybe more) arduous and rewarding than slogging through rudiments.

I don't think it's wrong to ask a teacher for a maintenance plan; he'd likely appreciate the fact that you want to woodshed before coming back for more complicated stuff to work on.

xp

i could possibly do a drum lesson w/you on the afternoon of 9/28?

ok!
it's on my calendar. we can coordinate via email!!

also woodshed?

Oh, ha, it means practicing a lot.

haha -- i chickened out on dropping that vocab in my lesson today but i do have an announcement. i have been introduced to ghost notes. they seem so cool and fun!

yesss! ghost notes are the key

definitely helps with stick control - has your teacher covered double/triple strokes and stick bounce yet, or are you doing ghost notes prior to that?

What are ghost notes? Are those like grace notes, or something else?

i actually had to look it up! it seems like they are similar -- similar method as the grace note in a flam, but closer to a standard non-accented stroke?

ok now i have discovered the existence of the double and triple flam paradiddle and want to see what i can do with them

grace notes always come just before a louder hit. in a flam it's the quiet hit that comes an instant before the louder stroke. in a drag, similarly, it's the two really quiet notes that lead into the primary, louder stroke.

ghost notes can come at any time in the beat - the distinction is that they're much more quiet than the loud snare hits on the 2's and 4's. "felt more than heard" is the usual description.

i haven't watched all of this so apologies if this guy is a douche or a terrible drummer or something, but listen to the beat at 2:00 in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciA3Uhn9JuI

my question is whether they are played the same as a grace note -- the video i watched made it seem like they weren't as quiet

the loudness of the ghost note depends on how you want the beat to sound, imo. they're always significantly, noticeably more quiet than the backbeat - if they aren't, then they aren't ghost notes. but you can play them at a barely audible level to create one kind of groove, or you can play them a little louder to create another kind of groove. or, of course, you can play some ghosts louder than other ghosts in the same beat, and that creates another unique groove.

Ah, ok, I'd just never heard "ghost notes" used in a percussion context before. Basically, the quiet strokes in the Purdie Shuffle.

I am drunk, and it seems time that this thread contained the preface to Stick Control which I will excerpt herein:

"It seems that there are too many drummers whose work is of a rough-and-ready variety and whose technical proficiency suffers in comparison with that of players of other instruments.

Of course, technical proficiency can come only through continued, well-directed practise. The more practise one does the more proficiency he acquires.

***

Practise with the metronome is also recommended, and at several different speeds, varying from extremely slow to extremely fast; and again without the metronome in the open and closed style, i.e., starting very slowly, gradually accelerating to top speed, then slowing down again, finally ending at the original tempo.

Practise at all times with relaxed muscles, stopping at the slightest feeling of tension. Remember the rhythms in "STICK CONTROL" are "conditioners." They are designed to give control. Control begins in muscularly relaxed action."

new challenge: apparently my ghost notes are ok, but i'm making them swingy which is not what i was asked to do. i think i have a hard time controlling my swing!

I think I know what you're talking about -- there is definitely a natural tendency for a lot of people to "swing" them in the beginning. Strangely, getting more comfortable playing them "straight" will in the long run make your "swing" better.

ghost notes >>>>>>>>>

There's this thing in the intro to stick control about how you have to include practice at a wide variety of volumes, including very soft and very loud (but still at even tempos and relaxed/non-tense). Doing this definitely helps you get your ghost notes down. You need to develop your control more, which is a slow process.

ghost notes >>>>>>>>>

so otm

one really distinguishing point between beginning drummers and others is if they're playing everything at the same exact volume (usually REALLY LOUD for beginners). i guess that doesn't just apply to ghost notes, but also accents and dynamics in general. still, i <3 ghost notes so much.

i'm definitely working on dynamics and volume right now in addition to all these other things
it's pretty fun! i feel like a spider dancing around in tap shoes.

I'm no drum teacher, but I would be tempted to hold off on ghost notes at first -- seems like too much to think about while getting your basic control, dynamics and coordiation down

smh at your need to express that opinion but w/e dude
i'm going to keep on learning

i just spent an embarrassing amount of time on a video lesson for the drum intro to two princes by the spin doctors. ghost notes everywhere there.

Without ghost notes and splash cymbals, there would be no jam bands.

my gold standard for ghost notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWVk1TtnY8I