What to practice?

pnrule · Not So Newbie Joined: 27 Oct 2008 Posts: 6

Hello.

I just got my drums about a week ago.

I can play a lot of basic stuff like:

Exzilibus · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject:

Regarding the hi-hat, snare, and crash at the same time in the tab...that means that you press on the hi-hat pedal with your foot while striking the snare with one hand and the crash cymbal with your other hand.

I'm unfamiliar with the quality of the Olympic set by Premier so I can't really say whether is a good/bad deal. Generally speaking, that price for that amount of used equipment seems fair to me.

Keep in mind that until you get a double pedal...you can mimmick that sound by alternating hits between the lowest tom and the bass drum. Also, if you're not sure what to practice... I HIGHLY recommend learning how to read/write drum notation and learning some snare drum rudiments. Being comfortable with reading/writing/rudiments makes learning everything else WAY easier.

I also recommend practicing to a metronome 'cause it will help you get great timing which is essential to being a good drummer.

These sites have a lot of info:
www.drumbum.com
www.vicfirth.com
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.html
Plus there are tons of YouTube drum lessons out there as well.
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sbowman128675 · Lion King Joined: 16 Dec 2006 Posts: 1072

metronome...............metronome....

also, if you want to start getting good independence of the pedals.

set the metronome to about 135( or more if u can play to it faster) and play 8th notes to the beat on each foot separately. like, do 4 8th notes on the left foot, then 4 8th notes with the right, then after that gets comfy, go to 8 hits each foot, then eventually 16.

this is what Derick Rody uses to practice

you can also use this on your hands to build;d up wrist technique, as well as finger technique.

also, a good habit to get in to is to rock your body to the beat, then you get a better feel of the time
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tylerdrummer · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject:

i wouldnt start with a double pedal, you need to get your right foot good first before you try throwing everything in, that would overwhelm you.
by the time i got my double pedal i was able to do a roll with my right foot, and i believe was about a year into my drumming.
the deal was pretty good,

i would stay away from tabs, because if you can learn by ear and get the feel of it, its alot easier to do, and you can learn to notice distinct things in the beat, and i think that helps(i hope that made any sense whatsoever)

learning to read doesnt hurt, but now of days i dont think its needed, and drums are just beats anyway so its not that hard, if you decide to do lessons then i would learn but if not, it wont hurt you, (the only time i have used reading is with my teacher)

Metronome though dude cant stress that enough, you can get ones like under $15 or you could get fancy with $150 ones

Exzilibus · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:46 am Post subject:

I agree with Tyler that you should stay away from tabs. Almost every drum tab I've ever seen is awful and incorrect. As for the learning by ear vs. learning by reading/writing...I'm a drum teacher as well and I can tell you that I notice a HUGE difference between both types of drummers. Not really in their playing ability or talent...I've seen amazing things from both types...but the difference is really in HOW they learn. My students who can read/write learn WAAAAAAY faster and more accurate than those by ear.

The analogy I always make to my students is the english language. People who take the time to learn how to read/write can understand the english language FAR BETTER than anyone who just listens to it a lot.

By ear...you literally have to just keep playing the song (or a part of the song) over and over again until you memorize it. You're always either playing along with it or alternating listening/playing. By ear you MUST be listening to the song to learn anything and without writing it down it is very easy to forget something or accidentally change the beat. You can NOT change the speed of the song either if you're playing along to it unless you have special equipment or a computer program to slow the song down.

By reading/writing...you listen to the beginning of the song a couple of times...pause the song...write the beat out on a piece of paper...and then move on to the next part of the song. If you forget something, you can just glance at a piece of paper to remember it...and you can play at any speed you want.

There are plenty of other "bonus" advantages to reading/writing...
--By learning how to read/write...you will naturally teach yourself how to learn by ear too but it does not work the other way around. After all, you do have to learn it by ear ANYWAY to write it down in the first place unless you're reading sheet music or someone else wrote the music down for you.
--If you plan on ever becoming a serious session drummer or anything professional then a lot of session jobs REQUIRE reading/writing.
--Learning cover songs is easier
--By learning reading/writing...you can play anything you have sheet music to without actually EVER hearing the song (unless you want to) whereas by ear...its impossible.
--You can also write songs/beats based entirely on WRITING CONCEPTS as opposed to something that just sounds good to the ear which can increase your creativity a LOT when it comes to writing your own music.
--Odd time music makes more sense quicker to those who write.

I believe that most drummers skip the reading/writing part when they first start learning because they would rather hit things and play than sit down and learn something on a piece of paper...plus it can be very confusing at first and most people just either don't have the patience for it or don't understand the long-term benefit of it so they just assume its not worth the time.

Just as an example of the learning difference...I tried out for the band five.bolt.main. about 2 years ago with a friend of mine who is an AMAZING drummer but never learned how to read/write drums. This band needed a drummer QUICK 'cause their drummer left in the middle of their tour so we had to learn their entire album in 3 days. I spent 1 day writing all 10 songs out...1 day playing them...and 1 day memorizing them. By the end of the audition day...I nailed all 10 songs with all of the changes and fills done EXACTLY how it is on their CD...he could only do about 2 songs and he made up every fill on the spot. Just thought I would throw that in here to prove my point on how reading/writing will always be faster and more accurate than learning by ear.
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pnrule · Not So Newbie Joined: 27 Oct 2008 Posts: 6

I already have a metronome, I've played alto sax for years so i know all about metronomes and stuff. I know quite a bit about music which makes learning new stuff easier Razz

And I'm going to have to agree with reading/writing being faster + more accurate. I can't learn a song worth crap by ear.

And by rudiments you mean single rolls, double rolls, and paradiddles? Anything else?

And by

tylerdrummer · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject:

Not TABS

real reading music,

just listen to some music you like and jot notes or w/e if you hear something thats cool, like the first day i got my double pedal, i look at the double bass solo in blinded in chains, and cause i went wow, and looked at it and practiced till i could play it

Exzilibus · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject:

Tabs are awful and try your best to avoid them. Writing regular sheet music on a normal staff is way more effective. I'm assuming you can read alto sax sheet music since you've played that for years...the only major difference for drum notation is that each line on the staff represents a different part of the drum set instead of representing a musical note.

There are 40 main rudiments including single rolls, double rolls, and paradiddles but you could always combine rudiments and make way more than 40. Obviously you don't need to practice all of them but I would recommend practicing at least 3 that are the most fun for you and at least 3 that are the most difficult for you to start with. The vicfirth rudiment link from my last post also has mp3 samples of what these rudiments are supposed to sound like, so you can use that to make sure you are playing them correctly.

Any type of paradiddle, double strokes rolls (2 hits for each strike), triple stroke rolls (3 hits for each strike), 7 Stroke rolls, and double drag taps are my personal favorite rudiments to mess with.

Its impossible to get bored with practice 'cause there's always SOMETHING new to learn. There are a lot of techniques and tricks that will come in handy big time later on. For example...finger techniques. Drummers need the muscles in their wrist/fingers strong & flexible to play very well. Your wrist will naturally strengthen by playing drums but you might want to keep the fingers up to speed by doing finger exercises as well. Here's a video of what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLdK4WSEnLY
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