DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

* 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!

that's great! if you can get the first, you're definitely close to the others.

is the second one more difficult because it has two bass hits in quick succession? it's great that you're already working on developing your BD skillz. before long you'll be putting bonham to shame!

yes, def

syncopation!

xp

it doesn't sound that spectacular or anything when i play it, but being able to read it means i will have semi-independence to figure things out on my own and then practice them to my heart's delight
i like this teaching method, it works for me

those beats can sound spectacular with ghost notes, subtle accents, and bootsy collins playing along with you

update -- i can do all three without looking at the notebook, have narrowed down remaining difficulty to the last bass-hi hat notes of #2
cannot alternate between all three BUT can add extra measures with regular beats + ghost notes, so it kind of sounds like actual drumming!
amazing

finally understood what i was doing wrong with those last two notes - yay!

in second-to-last lesson on friday, my teacher asked me to sing the beat and i was like huh? he said you know like boom teeka teeka flap or something like that
and i was like i can't do that right now

i wasn't afraid that i would do it wrong, but i was so ott embarrassed by the idea of doing it that i was paralyzed. i said that i would be able to work on it over the week in the privacy of my basement, but i don't even know how to start. am i supposed to choose noises for each drum? a note for each drum? i feel ridiculous and bonus stupid for not being able to even try it. does everyone do this? is there some industry standard for drum-singing? where's fraulein maria when i need her?

every sound that comes out of my mouth when i try to do this makes me feel like i am scatting poorly and it's just unbearable

A teacher of mine in college used to do that in ensemble classes. We'd all play something and then he'd say, "OK, now sing what you just played." We all felt like ridiculous idiots, but when he explained it, it made sense: the music is coming out of you, so you should be able to sing it (not necessarily accurately) as well as play it. It's like when you hear Bud Powell or Milford Graves vocalizing on records, like a way to focus differently. Or something.

Like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRxro9dW2EM

yeh i guess but not that elaborate!

the music is coming out of you
i had never thought of this before tbh* and that helps. but unless he's gonna give me some mind altering substances, i don't know that i feel comfortable doing this in front of people. are there some noises that normal people use or can i go in there and start singing wha dump dump pooch dinga linga dinga linga and he won't laugh at me?! i mean the syllables i keep coming up with are unacceptable.

*i am going to try to remember this because it's a good motivator

Think about the sounds/noises the various drums make and play around with onomatopoetic words similar to them. Like, you aren't trying to beatbox per se, but maybe if you think about it more in those terms, you'll find some words that don't make you feel silly when you use them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJewbFZHI34

dump dump pooch

This should be a band name.