DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

my gold standard for ghost notes:

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

how do you do the intro to 'cannonball' by the breeders? in the video it looks like the drummer is tapping the joint of the cymbal stand (???)

yeah he's playing on the cymbal stand and the drum rim iirc

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

― punt cased (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:07 PM (2 hours ago)

no wonder these weren't part of my course of instruction!

i really envy those of you who learned to play as kids. trying to do this as a working adult is hella difficult, energy wise.

In spite of some recent work-related energy sapping frustration, I feel like I'm still coming along. Last night I managed to record something that was 6 min long, semi-planned, and had a beginning/middle/end. There are definitely some flubs, but it was one of a handful of times that I felt like I was actually playing an instrument. Like I was the person in control of playing the instrument. Me! What a feeling!

Awesome! Keep this up and you'll become a musician despite yourself.

Woo-hoo!

Well I mean to the extent that any drummer is a musician (high school joeks).

If this never amounts to anything else (no one ever plays with me, I am never in a band, I am never listed as the drummer on a recording, I am alone in my basement forever) I can still honestly say that this is an activity I enjoy and I will continue to do it.

^my 28 years of guitar playing in a nutshell

Lotsa lessons in perseverance this week, but I feel like I came out on top. Only 3 lessons left, then I'm on my own for a while.

I feel so bummed about my lessons being almost over! I'll start saving for more, but in the meantime I need some goals to keep me going. Usually I am absolutely not goal-oriented at all, but I feel all sorts of out-of-character ambition and zeal when it comes to learning how to play the drums. Totally not like me at all, but I'm going with it.

Ideas?

What are some of the things your teacher has had you focusing on in these last few lessons?

Youtube is the new taking lessons!

* Dynamics -- adding accents with quieter notes (this is the stuff with ghost notes)
* I'm currently doing lesson 11 in Syncopation for the Modern Drummer (I LOVE THIS BOOK) so I'm practicing sight reading and combinations of notes, reading/playing patterns of quarter/8th/16th notes
* and also I have been working on a set of beats he wrote in my notebook, not sure if it has a name but it involves the boogaloo?

I'm still having a little trouble not-swinging when I play faster, so that's the only thing currently giving me trouble.

Do you mean watching performances on youtube or using youtube lessons? The latter has not been entirely fruitful for me because I haven't found a teacher I like. The former is obvs fun/enjoyable, but usually leaves me feeling somewhat demoralized.

If I had a bass or guitar I'd come over and awkwardly play it, LL.

I would say definitely keep up with the beats and go further in the book? But also, since one of your goals is to eventually play with others, maybe try playing along to records.

Try to develop a daily routine (although it sounds like you already have...?), like, x minutes on beats, x minutes on Syncopation, end with fun time. My teacher early on said I should be doing at least 30 mins/day on lesson stuff, and the way it worked out was that it was the perfect warmup to playing to records.

Ideas?

I don't play drums, I play bass and guitar. Never had a lessons, I just bought a bass and started playing along to songs, very frustrating at first, but when you learn even the smallest part, the feeling is amazing and pushes you on. It got to the point where I would buy an album and just listen to the bass (kinda ruined general listening to music as I now dissect everything automatically) , I then started learning the album 1 song at a time. I then bought a guitar, started doing the same with that, awful at first, but now I can pretty much work out a song in a few passes. I still get a buzz learning a song and working it out. Playing in a bands is good too, live gigs and recording really put the pressure on for you to get your parts spot on. I wish I had YouTube when I was younger though, Isolated tracks are great, there's tonnes of them out there for every instrument. But after all that, I'm sure you'll find your own way.

i'm thinking of the short youtube lessons where people break down a very specific beat or lick, but yeah, it's hard to find videos where things are explained well and a lot of them are terrible anyway.

I'm still having a little trouble not-swinging when I play faster, so that's the only thing currently giving me trouble.

― Untt (La Lechera), Friday, October 11, 2013 12:24 PM (16 minutes ago)

do you have a metronome or something you use as a metronome?

Re: practice routine -- That's totally what I do already! I'm really good about practicing and why because it's the light of my life atm. I only skip maybe one day a week, and sometimes on that day I just do a few little things to quell the feeling that I should be practicing. I'm not exaggerating! Every time I go into the basement, time just kinda flies away and I always feel better.

I have been playing with recordings a little bit at the end of every practice from the beginning, and I have a playlist for practicing. It's a fun way to leave on a high note! It's a weird playlist too -- mostly songs that I know/like/are at my skill level.

I guess I'm still afraid that if I'm left to my own devices, I'm going to develop some really bad habits (like permaswing) or fossilize in my skills. I'm not ashamed to take lessons -- I really enjoy it! Someone teaches me things and tells me that I'm awesome! -- but they aren't cheap.

Re: metronome -- I have one on my phone but it's really confusing. I need to make a trip to the music store to get a stand and a normal metronome.

re: swing -- as in your playing becomes uneven as you get faster, and that the hand playing the off-beat can't keep up with the beat, and thus it is sounding like "swing" as opposed to straight notes?

i'm not sure, i just know that when i play my assigned beat sequence slowly (or relatively slowly/midtempo) i can do it no prob. because i don't want to sound like that forever and i want to be able to play faster, i speed it up and it always breaks down at some point. i guess i just need more practice!! that's my conclusion at least. just keep doing it over and over and over and over.

that is absolutely correct! another thing to do is to work on exercises to strengthen the speed/response of the weaker hand (the culprit for the breakdown).

Did your teacher have you working on rudiments at all?

He gave me a list of them, but we haven't talked about them much. I could only afford 30 min lessons, so it goes by reeeeally quickly.

I guess I need to be patient. It has only been a few months! I have made a lot of progress already.

rudiments can/do help with accents and stick control stuff that helps with dynamics

another thing to do is to work on exercises to strengthen the speed/response of the weaker hand (the culprit for the breakdown).

this this this. I started weighting my exercises towards my left hand (I'm right-handed) a while ago and it made a huge difference.

Ok. My lesson is today, so I'll ask for some suggestions (and once I have those I can just keep doing them and doing them until I have better control).

Here's a question: What are your practice schedules/routines?

and once I have those I can just keep doing them and doing them until I have better control
and then i'll stop

(j/k! i realized that sounded stupid)

xp -- good point. Inadvertent "swinging" could definitely be a result of uneven hand strength. I find it impossible to completely even my hands out, but I often used to build in a little extra left-hand-only practice to try to balance things out, like just even single strokes with my left hand on a pad or pillow, various dynamics, accent patterns, maybe around the kit, different tempos, etc.

Here's a question: What are your practice schedules/routines?

mine is practice every day for at least an hour, 6 years straight, then go to college and grad school and life and never have a good place to play drums ever again

reading this thread and reading about la lachera's progress is really making me want to get back into my daily routine, though! i miss it! i think the prerequisite for my next move will be that it must be a place where i can set up my drums and play them

Here's a question: What are your practice schedules/routines?

- very slow single strokes (30 minutes), using this arm movement I learned in high school that I really wish I could verbalize. Essentially, it looks like the funky chicken, but really, really slow. It incorporates your upper arms so that movement isn't inefficient/limited to the forearm (which can lead to tendonitis in your elbow, I'm told).

- single strokes, but faster (30 minutes), using more my hands/wrists.

- single strokes, but faster than above (15 minutes), maybe 16th notes at 120bpm, but I might be wrong on this.

- 8-to-1 (5 minutes). Single strokes at the above tempo. Eight with the right hand, 24 with the left hand (to strengthen it/gain independence), then 7 right/21 left, 6 right/18 left, etc. etc. until it speeds up to a single stroke roll.

- single strokes as quiet as I possibly can (10 minutes), starting slow, building to medium-fast.

- 30-60 minutes on the kit, usually using my tympani-based setup, but occasionally on a standard kit, depending on what I'm working on.

- 1 hour left-hand stick exercise, away from the kit, to gain independence.

posting excerpts from that post to the out-of-context thread would be a total dick move, right

"dick move"

Haha

lol

just make sure to work both arms or you'll end up with a suspiciously popeye-esque right forearm

then everyone will know what you did

Geez show some respect for the vigor and rigor of that practice routine!!

that is how djp shows respect iirc

wrist strength is actually key, if you want to play fast -- you end up with these deep indentations(?) from the wrist going up your arm

I love those.

Wait huh?!

Just that defined ridge on the outside of the forearm, running the long way and separating whatever those two muscles are.

Ha, I was wondering about that too. I was envisioning a ridge on top of one's wrist.

just for the record, i can read this and play it now! well, the first one at least. still working on the last two. for some reason the second one is the most difficult.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/10253999074_fcb6fb0739_c.jpg

sorry so big!