What is your weakness on the drums?

Inferno · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 9:30 am Post subject:

i find hi-hat pedalling at half speed while riding is the most difficult thing - it's hard interspersing all four different limbs together! argh, any advice?
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projector · Tadpole Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 21 Location: Finland

Accuracy at fast tempos (180BPM and up) when going from drum to drum is my weakness in the stuff that I'm currently incorporating into my playing; I usually get sloppy towards the end of the fill or just hit the rims or bang my knuckles into something.

This fill (4/4, all notes are 16th-note triplets), for example:

|----------1-----------| |----------2----------| |----------3-----------| |---------4---------|
Sn-Sn-T1-T1-Bd-Bd, T2-T2-T3-T3-Bd-Bd, T1-T1-T2-T2-Bd-Bd, Bd+Sn+Crash

Getting that right is of course nothing but a matter of time and practice, and optimizing the paths via which my hands/sticks move. A "cymbal+5 hits on a drum, then same with a different cymbal and a different drum, etc." -kind of fill I can manage at that speed, though. It's moving alot around the kit that's difficult.

Drummin_Dan · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 10:13 am Post subject:

Yah, I know what it's like, books on independence. They give you exercises which get your coordination alot better. So awkward drumbeats and stuff, then keeping the hats going

Inferno · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 7:38 am Post subject:

yeah, that's very good advice! it's such a bugger trying to play funk offbeats (snare on 4th beat instead of 5th, for instance) with the hihat going, i always end up hatting alongside the snare!!! nightmare!
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Not Normal 1958 · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 4:00 pm Post subject:

I have a number of weaknesses.

Left hand, keeping double stick rolls even, keeping the hats chinking.

Funny thing I still find tricky is swing. When I'm doing the da da da-da da da-da da on the ride I still have trouble not double hitting on the snare with my left had. It wants to bounce the same as my right stick on the da-da on the ride. I am overcoming it but I really have to concentrate to get a crisp single not on the snare.

Another thing I have to really work at is a string of triplets using the hi tom, floor tom and bass. It should go floor tom(R), hi tom (L), bass, floor tom(R), hi tom (L), bass, floor tom(R), hi tom (L), bass, floor tom(R), hi tom (L), bass, floor tom(R), hi tom (L), bass, ..... etc sustained. When I try to build up any speed with this I end up hitting the bass and the floor tom at the same time. #Mad

There are other things that I struggle to cope with ..... but if I list 'em all I'll be here all night Laughing

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d0ublestr0ker0ll · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:50 pm Post subject:

My weakness is the John Bonham triplet. The one where he fills the room up with drums. How does he get that sound? I know that he hits the bass drum twice at the end. It sounds so smooth and effortless yet he delivers it so effectively. Definetly one of his trademarks.

Another "weakness" that used to happen was if a song was really slow and just begged to be sped up, I started to speed it up, lol. I've ruined tracks before doing it. Rolling Eyes

Now I live by that metronome in the back of my brain.

antholder · Tadpole Joined: 04 Feb 2004 Posts: 18 Location: Croatia

since I went to college, I left my drums some 600 km away, so now when I get a couple of hours in a rented place with my band, pretty much everything's a problem, but mostly my footwork, since I can not put in any playying time into them at home. I use my pad a lot, and while I'm not moving on, at least I'm not going backwards, which is more than I can say for my pedaling.

Entityofme1 · Puppy Joined: 02 Feb 2004 Posts: 217 Location: Alabama

whats my weakness?......lol........Well let's put it this way......I'm good enought to know who is very good and who is very bad and bad enough to know what I need work on and thats alot of things.......I need to improve my single bass speed, double bass speed, high hat work, style, endurance, time signature incorporation, fill work, everything........I think I would have to agree with another poster for a different topic who stated once you get to a decent playing ability you find out just how much you are lacking in other areas or techniques that many other drummers are exclusively excellent at playing.......I'm not great and i'm not god aweful either,but i'm good enough to know what great playing is when I hear it and i know that I need lots and lots more improvement......you don't get any better at drums by staying satisfied or feeding your ego with remarks from non drummers all the while thinking that you can sit behind a kit seldomly and own the show everytime without dedicating some long, HUMBLE [ keyword] hours of serious and fun practice...
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bytor · Admin Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 5248 Location: Kansas

Well said, entity.

Zildjian! · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:41 am Post subject:

I think everyone has weaknesses to some extent in every area...to say "I'm absolutely perfect at [insert aspect of drumming]" is either really arrogant or really stupid.
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Soul_Reaper · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:07 pm Post subject:

tamamaster5 · Little Guppy Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 35

me too ....jsut gotta keep up with the LRLRLRLR RLRLRLR RRLLRRLL LLRRLLRR LRLRLRLRL ETC

ROCK ON LARS!!!! Twisted Evil

Drummin_Dan · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 4:48 pm Post subject:

playing metal. Don't have the experience. Trying to work myself to a virtuouso level. Another thing that's hard, is when you learn alot of styles, you don't want to have one style override another. So, you don't wnat to play latin in Jazz, Jazz in Rock, and Rock in Latin and so on. I've also been working on trying to be less busy in my playing. Less colours and more groove. Establishing the groove is the biggest issue as a drummer. If you get too colourful, you lose the groove. So that's what I'm striving to accomplish. I'm constantly raising the bar for myself, which is what all drummers should do.

Drumster · Newbie Alert Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 1

My weakness is my right hand, since i play left handed. However, I'm a right-handed person but playin left handed feels soooo much more confortable and easier for me. I don't know y that is, but I can't play @all right handed. Weird huh?
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Drummin_Dan · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 7:32 pm Post subject:

I play hockey left-handed...I guess it's how you start....