How Do I Learn/Practice The Drums ?

[blue]

dan-o posted this Q in a diff thread.

uh, lessee.. most important first step is prolly learning a proper grip. hold your hands like you were cracking a whip, thumb up and pointed forward. when you move the sticks, try to move only your wrists. your shoulders shouldn't move much, nor your arms unless you're changing position. hold the sticks comfortably but loosely.

as far as learning to play, you can't go wrong with playing straight fours, one and three on the bass drum and 2 and 4 on the snare, with eigth notes on the hats.

and remember, playing to a click means you're a pussy!

[Tonamel]

Just for emphasis: Use your wrists, not your elbows.

That's the problem that I see most often, so I think it deserves a special mention.

[pegor]

Stupid question:
I read somewhere that I should keep my heal off the ground on the kick pedal thingy. But It feels like some wierd Jan Fonda, unnatural, isometric NSA interrogator stress position, torture....

Do real drummers plant the heal or float it? I thought I was fairly fit for an elderly achoholic computer nerd - How can I stop the kick drum thigh burn?

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was worth a new thread, but maybe I'll get more responses this way. Basically, I'm borrowing a small kit from a friend to have on hand for real drummers to use when recording. I can play a little bit already like the rudementary beat Blue mentioned. I'm not sure how long I'll have the kit for, but if I become proficient enough I might get another one if this one goes away. I'm not looking or expecting to become "great" real fast, mainly "proficient". Tips like the hand and elbow positions are great, anything about foot position would be very helpful, how to do fills or practice techniques would be most appreciated as well.

Thanks.

[blue]

Stupid question:
I read somewhere that I should keep my heal off the ground on the kick pedal thingy. But It feels like some wierd Jan Fonda, unnatural, isometric NSA interrogator stress position, torture....

Do real drummers plant the heal or float it? I thought I was fairly fit for an elderly achoholic computer nerd - How can I stop the kick drum thigh burn?

i play with the ball of my foot, but i'm not so into fast kick drum stuff, so i dunno.

and there's nothing you can do about the burn but play thru it. drumming hurts in all kinds of places.

if you want an expressive hat sound, get used to playing with them 4"+ apart in the open position. that makes it easier to compress them in musical ways. if you want them to not sound like crap for a year, put em really close together so they lock tight with your foot on the pedal.

what you practice depends on what you want to play. practice filling in time, even if your fills are simple.

[deshead]

You might enjoy John Simmons's free video lessons: http://johnnydrums.com/

He illustrates the proper grip, as blue described, and goes on to discuss foot technique. He suggests playing "heel up", with your thigh doing most of the work. Your calf and ankle only come into play for double and triple hits. (It'll make sense when you see how he does 8th and 16th notes on the kick.)

[blue]

i wonder why they don't make the heel plate higher. then you could be both lazy and correct.

[roymond]

Screw these amateurs. Check out some 12 year old talent!

[Sober]

Play along with music that you like that has easy drums. Dwight Yoakam did it for me. Good basics, and a rock solid beat.

I'd say the thing that made the biggest difference for me was being able to practice at full volume. With my first kit, I had an apartment, and couldn't really play the drums loud and proper. But now I'll often stay after hours at the store and play one of the nice store kits. Being able to play loud as I want and not be timid has a huge psychological effect on my practice.

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Wow. Impressive. Doesn't really help me, but it is certainly impressive.

And embarrassing on a personal level.

I'm going to go and practice that 4 beat thing Blue mentioned now.

Just kidding Roymond, what an awsome kid (pronounced Bas-Tard). But he must be a "pussy", that whole click track thing and all.

EDIT: Sober, great advice. I live in a house and I'll still need to be respectful of the neighbors, but during the weekend daylight hours, look out. I'm gonna try letting it rip.

[the Jazz]

Playing to a click during a performance or a recording may mean you're a pussy, but most people don't have an anywhere near perfect sense of rhythm and should be practicing with a metronome, at least as a beginner. Horn players do it, piano players do it, just because you're playing a drum set doesn't mean you don't need to do it too. I've played with too many drummers who are constantly dragging or speeding up and don't even know it - and keep doing it after you tell them about it, because they never practice with a metronome. The more they do that, the more they're reinforcing whatever natural tendencies they have to speed up or slow down.

[blue]

and keep doing it after you tell them about it, because they never practice with a metronome

maybe they don't give a shit about what tempo you want to play, eh?

songs with static tempos sucks nuts. songs should flow, each part should have a tempo that matches the feel and intensity. the only people who like static tempos are electronic music jerkasses and lite jazz pussies.

[frankie big face]

songs with static tempos sucks nuts. songs should flow, each part should have a tempo that matches the feel and intensity. the only people who like static tempos are electronic music jerkasses and lite jazz pussies.

I won't say you should never use a metronome, especially when you're young, but I agree with Blue that recording to a click track sucks and is unnatural. Do you give the drummer a click track in headphones during stage performance? So why would you do it when recording.

All the songs on my AlbumFight were recorded without a click track by a talented drummer. Then, he and I had to go record this pussy jazz album (as opposed to regular jazz) and the composer/guitarist insisted on using a click track so everything would line up nicely in his Pro Tools program. And then he quantized the shit out of everything that didn't. And what does that record sound like? A bunch of pussy jazz bullshit.

Jazz, those drummers who speed up and slow down and don't even realize it: unless they are twelve, they should probably not be playing drums.

[deshead]

i wonder why they don't make the heel plate higher. then you could be both lazy and correct.

How about a Sonor pedal? Or one of these mechanical wonders.

[boltoph]

Click tracks, etc.

I'm still a firm believer in spending time practicing with the click, but not using it during performance or recording.

And also, heel + toe kick drum pedals so you can rock the foot back and forth for double bass drum action...they cost a little much, though.

[roymond]

And also, heel + toe kick drum pedals so you can rock the foot back and forth for double bass drum action...they cost a little much, though.

Ouch...that's sounds like a recipe for tendonitis or worse. Check that your health plan covers it

[Leaf]

I find playing to a click natural and relatively easy. I find NOT playing to a click to be about the same... I think saying that some one is a pussy for playing to a click is misinformation. It’s akin to the argument about using a tuner... it depends on what the goal is.

Some music sounds great with fluctuating pulse because it makes sense for it to happen, but often the fluctuating pulse has more to do with a poor sense of pulse, a lack of endurance or bad subdivision skills rather than some kind of concerted or predesigned ebb and flow based on the energy and shape of the tune.

I do not like the idea of performing a song live to a click, but I LOVE practicing to it, because I find it liberating. That's right, liberating. It's like the machine is another person, clanging away on a cowbell, with great time, and I can play off of it, go away from it, come back to it... man I love that. I have experienced occasions where I had to play to a click live, and sometimes it didn't work too hot simply because the "artists" (LOOSE DEFINITION BELIVE ME!) couldn't do it themselves, so they'd push the tune too hard in all their excitement, ruining the effect of the loops and triggered bits that had to occur. This does not create some kind of steadfast rule however.

If I was to give advice to a starting drummer, I'd say you are WAY better off dedicating a portion of your practice to the skill and art of playing to a click, for many reasons, some of which are:

A professional player may be required to do so for a session.
If you perform with an "artist" that uses samples or loops, you may need it to keep things in line.
Clicks help young (not in age, in ability) drummers learn how to measure the space between the pulse accurately.
Clicks help with changing subdivisions, like moving from 8th note triplets to groups of 5 to 16ths to sextuplets and so on.
Clicks help with recognizing when a drummer is changing the tempo for reasons that are not musical, like fatigue, lack of focus, a hot chick walks by (I played with a drummer for a while who would do this, he'd speed up by as much as 10 bpm if a hot chick walked by... he was in his late 40's...it was embarrassing...) and so on.
Clicks help re-enforce the natural time in a player by providing a reference point you can trust as you explore time keeping that is polyrhythmic.
Clicks help us learn control.

A tune can have an ebb and flow to the tempo. I rarely trust a player who does this with out knowing it though, or with out controlling it. Saying "it's cool" is fine; but I don't agree. It's cool if the player is aware, but if it's happening in a way that is oblivious, then the people who generally suffer are THE OTHER MUSICIANS IN THE BAND. If some dude is randomly, on a whim, altering the pulse, it's lame, because there is no listening involved. A player that listens, and is aware ... well, to me, that's what it's all about, and if the time moves, it's gonna move in a way where everyone FEELS it. It makes sense. You don't have to play to a click to do THIS, you don't have to be a superstar. But in no way does this concept somehow negate the value of a click. In fact, they aren't even really related, because it's two different concepts. One is a tool to assist the musician in a variety of ways, while the other is a musical concept. One is a paint brush, the other a colour.

To deny the power and benefit of a click is akin to saying guitarists shouldn't use a tuner; there are many good arguments that could suggest it is a good idea circumstantially, but by no means is it an absolute, and I find it irresponsible to suggest to a new player that they should avoid it lest they be deemed "a pussy".

[deshead]

This Leaf, I think he knows his stuff.

Also:

Dwight Yoakam did it for me.

[roymond]

(I played with a drummer for a while who would do this, he'd speed up by as much as 10 bpm if a hot chick walked by... he was in his late 40's...it was embarrassing...)

That is the best! Come on, that shows he's ALIVE.

Along those lines, and your dissertation is great, but tempo changes need not be premeditated and otherwise contrived (deliberate). Tempo, pitch, swing...these are intuitive elements of performance that can be applied deliberately (an opera mimicking the emotional state of a character, for instance, or something less obvious but interpreted by the performers), but they are also certainly valid spontaneous responses to any number of environmental, emotional or otherwise subliminal stimuli. SUCH AS HOT CHICKS WALKING BY.

[Leaf]

Dude, it shows he's HORNY!!

But, yeah, it's hard to sum all this stuff up in an inclusive way, cause we all know, deep down inside, the only rules are the ones we choose to follow ya dig? (to get all reggie dallas on ya).

I wasn't so much talking about the validity as I was the appropriateness as a member of the band team. Sure, he's alive, but he's not on the same page as the group. It's always great when a band sparks up it's energy when there is an audience... but I'm also disappointed when the girl leaves AND HE SLOWS BACK DOWN.

I probably should have mentioned that part...


So from an artistic, expressionist point of view, ok.. but from a dance BAND playing "queen of memphis" point of view, all it tells me is "DAMN I'M HORNY AND I WANT TO FU...oh... she's....gone... never.....mind...."

[Leaf]

Here's a fun one to make you sound all funky or fusiony:


First, memorize a paradiddle, R=right hand, L = left


R L R R L R L L (repeat).

Make sure that the " R R " part is rhythmically the same as the " R L" (kids often will play it as if the R L is two quarter notes and the R R is two eighths... make them all eighths, evenly.

Now, put the right hand on the hi hat, and the left on the snare. Put a kick drum on the first R. ACCENT the "L" that starts the second half:

R L R R L R L L .

Make all the other L's the same dynamic as the R's on the hiat. Speed it up.
It'll give you the building blocks for a simple fusion/funky groove, and sounds more complicated than it is! You can put the R on the ride too, and of course, place more kicks in there as you are able, like this for example:

R L R R L R L L .
K____K____K



I need a simple drum tab program for my work computer so I can do this better...

[boltoph]

This Leaf, I think he knows his stuff.

It's true. When he bangs the skins, even the midi gets grittier. Paradiddle, your ass...

Oh and make sure you slam the balls outta the bass drum and don't hit the cymbals too too hard.

On a similar note to the 40-year-old drummer who sped up 10bpm when a pretty lady walked in, I have a drummer friend who always SLAMS the cymbals in the heat of the best part of the jam...and it kinda ruins it...I know it's just because he gets so excited, so I have a hard time giving him grief for it...but that same energy would be so great without the deafening cymbal smashes...

Ok back to Leaf's paradiddles. (previous page). That's where it's at. Those are the words from my favorite drummer on the continent, possibly even in the world. Even the midi gets grittier.