DRUMMERS: Advice for a beginner

If I keep doing it, eventually I'll get it, right?

Yes, yes, and yes. Also, yes. It might take a while, but once you've got it, it won't leave (muscle memory is a motherfucker). You'll also have that indescribable feeling of "I never thought I could do that, and I just did it."

i am super looking forward to that. in the meantime i am somewhat enjoying the maniacal fixation on learning how to do it :)

It will happen faster than you think. The key with the bounce (or a key anyway) is to let the drum do the work -- the drum head throws the stick back to you and you just let it bounce off your hand. Then catch it on the second bounce.

(That may not be a helpful way to think about it, I don't know, it's just how it feels to me.)

Still working on it, but it's definitely getting better. More info upon request, do not want to bore anyone.

I have a year-end update brewing, but there's one more thing that needs to happen before I can provide a complete update.

that was cryptic and pointless -- sorry for blogging!

I request more info! When you're ready.

^^^

^^^

today i am practicing for my recital/first concert (chez moi, audience is 1 human, 1 dog)
lol it's 9 songs and 35 min
i promised 20 min and only 6 songs but whoops

once i successfully execute ^^^ i will feel more comfortable expanding on even having year-end thoughts. the year's not over til that happens!
moderately nervous, a workable amount

QUESTION -- practice pad recommendations, knowing my set up (drums in basement where i live, freedom to practice as i please with general neighborly respect)?

i see such a wide range of options, i'm not sure what would be best for me. i think i just want like something i can put on the coffee table and play while i watch tube or something. this may be a stupid question, but what's the difference between a practice pad and a large paperback book? noise? bounce? nothing?

I want to focus on the movements without getting too distracted by the noise -- i think it might help me get better faster? but if it's a waste of time/effort/money, you gotta tell me.

I would recommend putting a practice pad on a stand instead of on a table -- it's not really going to be comfortable or at a proper angle/height on a table. Even a pad does make some noise though -- sometimes I put a towel or something over it if I want more quiet and/or less bounce.

The standard remo ones are fine. There are gel pads that are quieter and more resistant but I haven't used them. It's definitely not a waste of time or money. A book will feel weird. A pillow can also be good for practice sometimes but I wouldn't do exclusively that.

ok, that helps. thanks.

also, thank you to this thread for answering my questions and bearing with my blablablablabla because really i don't have anywhere else to put it. it's a generous act to help a noob.

that goes for the entire last 6 months (and two weeks iirc)!!!

I honestly wish that the internet as we now know it had existed when I had started playing -- would have saved so much time and frustration.

I've tried practicing on pretty much every surface imaginable. It's hard to explain why I don't like the way a paperback feels, but it's just something about the particular way it absorbs the shock yet feels hard. I also used to do the rudiments on the leg thing, but that get's irritating after a while.

what's up with this little pile of pink barf? do people really use this stuff?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUOKvMEh0LU

oh that's a cool idea. I still don't really like practicing on a desk/table though because it's almost never a good height/position.

I'm guessing that's just silly putty at 10x the price.

"chez moi, audience is 1 human, 1 dog"

why not POWER TRIO?

if they want to join in, there is an acoustic guitar down there and also i will be printing lyric sheets just in case
i still need them if i'm going to sing along. gives me somewhere to write notes too.

I like Remo overall but I picture it as this one dusty factory somewhere with a single fat middle-aged dude running the company from a creaky old swivel chair. I doubt they laid out big bucks to develop some elaborate new tech specially designed putty alloy for drumming.

I remember their awful PTS series -- pre-tuned heads. They made entire drumsets around this horrible concept, and even got Louis Bellson to endorse them.

But I swear by their coated snare heads and FiberSkyn3 dealies. The latter especially are wonderful.

Aquarian 4 lyfe

Yeah I've overall had better luck with Aquarians as well. I still like the sound of the classic remo coated ambassadors, but the quality is a little suspect in them sometimes.

i really don't like those Remo practice pads, i've had one like this (Evans 'Real Feel') for years, and most of my drummer friends have the same one (looks like they've changed the colors though): http://www.amazon.com/Evans-2-Sided-Practice-Pad-Inch/dp/B000FMDIXY/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1388167941&sr=1-1&keywords=evans+practice+pad

love the Aquarians for bassy, 808-like kick drums, but i stick to the remo coated ambassadors for snare and tom top heads.

i basically never change my drum heads btw. :/

maybe i would if i was tracking drums for a record, but that hasn't happened in years (at least not with my own drums).

i added that to my wish list, thanks jordan.

I like the aquarian bass drum head with the built-in muffling rings. I hate putting anything inside the kick, and that's a good solution to getting a little tone without it being too boomy. Actually the best kick sound I got was using the aquarian super kick on the beater side and a regular remo coated on the front, but with an muffler ring basically taped on - it looked sort of funny but cool and occultish at the same time.

Year-end beginner's update:

After deciding that yes, I was going to do this, and yes, I will take lessons, and yes, I have thought ad nauseam about what it means to be doing this as an old person and no that won't stop me, I made three silent wishes based on what i figure are the essential parts of making music and/or being a drummer (afaik): i wanted to play with other people, i wanted to have a recording, and i wanted to stage a performance. None of these things had to be super formal but I wanted to get the first time out of my system so I could learn what I needed to do in order to prepare for such a thing.

1) did it, and have been trying to play it cool about how much fun it was for me so as not to embarrass anyone else involved, but omg it was so fun i thought i was going to die. like my heart was gonna fly out of my body and zip around like a bat.

2) this is a developing situation, so i will have more to say when i have more to say but i have heard what it sounds like to be part of a song and how totally cool is that feeling?! i have never had a recording of myself doing anything but singing alone in my room (moderate to serious disaster) and practice reading (low stress). that's it! until now!

3) i have been practicing a little set of songs (7 songs, some of which i can sing along to) and threatening to make my mr sit down there in the basement and watch my first performance. he has been gamely playing along, so i practiced for this over and over and over until i could sort of feel the songs moving themselves ahead rather than it being belabored.

(update -- i wrote all that days ago but waited to post until i had achieved 3 and today i did it! and also it's our <3 anniversary <3 so i feel extra festive. i kinda pooped out on this one song that turned out to be really boring, but that was a lesson learned. i also really need to work on remembering to count more, esp at the end of a song, but again that was a learning experience. this whole thing has been a pretty major learning experience in a lot of ways. i definitely have no delusions of grandeur about my playing, but i am proud of my persistence more than my performance.)

yay!

i love all of this update!

Woo-hoo!

Encore!

this is kind of embarrassing but this is what i did on nye (for a while, at least)
i have always been an obsessive archivist, so i wrote down what i played and took a picture of it. i did not play all of sister ray but i thought it was an appropriate song to end the year with because it could be however long you want it to be.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/11679190075_e806361d01.jpg

we're expecting 2-3 in of snow per hour here for the next day or two, so i'm hoping to get a lot of practicing in because i truly have nothing else to do, aside from shovel snow.

nice!!

awesome

this has been fun to read, reminds me of when i was learning guitar and would play along with VUs Live 69 for hours at a time, <3 Sterling's rhythm guitar so much

update - i am getting so much faster now that i have a practice pad! i had no idea the sound was distracting me that much, but it totally was. when the sound disappears, i find it a lot easier to focus on the physical act of increasing my speed. songs that sounded like just the right pace a few weeks ago sound easy now; the songs that were too fast to keep up with are suddenly songs i can play no problem. like, seriously no problem. it's totally weird! it has been so long since i could actually feel myself getting better at something, also very similar process to language learning (as i have suspected from the beginning, so much so that this learning process is about the only thing i have ever considered giving a conference presentation on, how about that?! maybe next year.)

oh! and the bouncing thing is totally creeping its way off the practice pad and into my actual playing -- i noticed i was doing it on the hi hat without even thinking. that is so neat.

getting so much faster! i have a lot of updates, but i stopped posting them. instead, i type them out as if i were going to post them, then i cut/paste and send it to myself in an email. there's a reason i don't have a blog to yammer about this stuff. i still practice every day and have been adding tons of songs to my arsenal.

however, major thanks to this thread (Jordan?) for recommending that practice pad!! it has made a HUGE difference and i can totally feel myself applying the technique when i try to play new songs. i haven't broken through to a full on drum roll yet, but i feel like it's possible now.

glad you like it!

ran into my teacher last night when i was seated directly next to him at a restaurant at the one remaining table. i was like oh hi !! and fortunately, he recognized me before i could see that awful "who is this person smiling at me" look people sometimes get. we had a very pleasant conversation and talked about drumming and playing and various other related things. it's nice to have someone ask about it because usually i get a strong sensation that i should not go on and on about my drumming experiences unless someone asks me. ime people (my mom, my bffs) aren't really into talking about music related things as much as i am, per usual. that doesn't bother me; it was just nice to have someone ask and be interested in my answer. dinner was good too!

i have a work-in-progress type thing i have a question about, but i don't know if i should ask here or on the general musical life thread. anyway, things are going well! i'm no mario rubalcaba (saw him last night, whoa), but i've heard worse drummers in recorded music, so i'm on my way.

usually i get a strong sensation that i should not go on and on about my drumming experiencesanything unless someone asks me.

Here's some advice for a beginner. Look up a couple of drum solos from John "JR" Robinson, and then listen to a few of the hundreds of songs he's played on - awesome and mundane alike. Steve Winwood's "Higher Love," Rufus & Chaka "Ain't Nobody," MJ's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." Then ponder the ability of a guy with a monster chops to just mentally suppress that a bit and simply play for the groove. And then focus a bit more and listen to how those monster chops actually do manifest themselves, albeit in simple, subtle, almost invisible but still mind-bogglingly impossible ways. That's some great drumming.

ok, thanks! i love dudes like that.

I was listening to "Don't Stop" the other day, and I realized there is no crash cymbal anywhere in the song. And there's about 750 opportunities for it that every other drummer would've jumped on, but Robinson wisely holds back. Kind of blew my mind.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTg5WrZL3Eg#t=65

pardon me for one moment, i'm feeling proud
look who has a second song! ILX Compilation v6: FREESTYLER - rock your microphone

I don't know if I can stay this excited about making songs forever*, but for now it's definitely the most exciting thing I've got going on and is totally buoying my spirits.

*although I totally hope to drag it out as long as the world will tolerate me trying