Help!

parabola_x · Sea Monkey Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 12 Location: VA

Hey everyone,

I’ve been playing drums for about three years now, and I’ve been told I’m pretty good. I’ve recently started a funk-rock band here in Virginia, and while we haven’t done any touring, we do plan to record a demo soon enough. Everything is going well with my playing, but there is one thing that I wish I was better at – my playing speed. I listen to my favorite drummers (Danny Carey of Tool and Josh Freese in A Perfect Circle), and listen to their amazing skill and power, and I want to figure out how they do what they do. Every time I try to do a fast fill on the toms I end up hitting either rims or my kneecaps. Ouch.

My question then is: does anyone know of a way to improve speed and dexterity in your playing? Any information in terms of instruction, technique or anything else that might be useful to help me improve my playing would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any input from people outside of the states would be nice, too. I’m interested in seeing how people from around the world play. I’m also interested in what drummers from other genres have to say. I figure that if one can understand how the other genres of music are played, one’s playing can improve.

Thanks,

Snowman

Doomed to Drum · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 10:27 am Post subject:

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere else on this forum about a guy who practised on a pillow with phonebooks under his arms (someone else can say who as I can't remember exactly) to improve his playing speed, never tried this, but I do play on a pillow sometimes, hope this helps.

Barbie · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 10:58 am Post subject:

Sounds like 2 questions to me.

1) Speed. How can I make my single strokes faster?
2) Accuracy. How can I hit the target?

I'll just give you a tip on #2 that I do. With the right hand only go snare-tom-tom-floortom and then left hand only do the same. Alternate like that without missing any beats and try to stay in time and go faster and faster. This single drill helped my accuracy a lot.

There was quite a big discussion (argument) about #1 so I'll let somebody else answer that. I want to stay out of it.

B

drummerb0y25 · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 11:59 am Post subject:

definitly make sure youre seated with back straight and your drums/cymbals are within the most comfortable position for striking. sit on your throne, close your eyes if you must, imagine where the most comfortable place for your drums. K.I.S.S , dont make your job more difficult than you must. keep balanced and in control. of course working rudiments and basic technique goes without saying. try different combinations of rudiments and work them until youre comfortable playing at different tempos and dynamics. practice on pillows or pad or whatever you like, then work them on the kit.
_________________
"The more control you have of the instrument, the more confidence you will get and the more you will be able to express your ideas; Technique is only good if you can use it musically." -J.M.

Doomed to Drum · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 12:18 pm Post subject:

I just remembered a book i'm using now, definetly helps with this sort of thing, its called, Drum Set Warm-Ups, though it isn't really warm ups, it's a lot of excerises that help with all aspects of drumming, from increasing speed, to making hands and feet more independant, you can buy it on amazon or somewhere i think

omni · Fierce Poodle Joined: 08 May 2004 Posts: 278

Oh man, i can't believe nobody has mentioned practicing very, very, very slowly. My first teacher and mentor, this guy we call "Wacker" told me "WACKER SAYS: SLOW!" I made a sign that said that, and put it up on the door of my practice room/mom's laundry room when I was 15... to remind me not to get ahead of myself. It's STILL something I work on. You want to build speed? You want to get around the kit and be able to play expressivly.... to explode and really make something happen? There's certainly a time and place for that... but patience, grasshopper. The slower you practice, the more you force yourself to take those paradiddles at one of those tempos that messes you up... the less deficient your hands become, the more acustomed to CONTROL you will be. Once you can control that testosterone coursing through your hands, your fills will take on a melodic, musical purpose. Look at it like you're going to shoot a machine gun off and you don't want it to jam or it's going to backfire and explode.... practice slowly, that's like oiling up your gun and keeping it in good shape... so when it's time to bust out, it's ready to rock.

Warning... this takes AGES. There is no shortcut. You need patience, patience. I find as the years pass, my hands do more and more of what my brain tells them to, but there is still little glitches, every night. One of my teachers told me that he noticed in the past few years (he's got 15 years on me, for the record... so, he's like 37 or so....) his hands have become softer and softer, to the point where now he can basically execute anything he can hear, and his hands don't "glitch" on him. Great. It just takes time... Don't neglect the primary function of the drums (grooving) or important skills (playing dynamically is more important than playing all that flashy stuff) in favour of building pure speed. Pure speed is useless without a musical purpose. Maybe only Virgil Donati fans will disagree with me here.

rusty · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 2:25 pm Post subject:

Billy Cobham was the drummer that practiced with phone books under his arms. He used to practice with a coin taped to his pad. First a quarter, then a nickel, then a penny, then a dime. He tried to never miss the coin and I bet you he didn't mess up often.
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"Yeah, well, you know, that's your opinion, man..."

seven-a · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 11:06 pm Post subject:

Word to Omni's post. You hear a lot of musicians who play stuff quickly, and they hit the right drums (or note, or whatever), but it just dosn't sound good. When you practice slowly, make it so that every hit is clean and crisp and dynamically even. One of my biggest musical influences was a guy I worked with in a band who had me play scales on my guitar, 1/4 note each, at 60bpm, and told me that if a note didn't ring perfectly, do the whole scale again. Apply the same idea to drums, and not only will you be able to play at faster tempos, but the stuff you play more slowly will sound exponentially better.

Mutetalkinghead · Pit Bull Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 351

I say everything that omni said was completely valad. but i want to add to it. PLAY WITH A METRONOME! Both danny carey and josh freese have amazing amazing time keeping even when there doing all that other stuff. They make everything fit in between the bars SO WELL! Practice your rudiments around the drumset with a metronome in a groove setting.

rusty · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 4:58 am Post subject:

Exactly, Mute. Hence the ritual.
_________________
"Yeah, well, you know, that's your opinion, man..."

styles2281 · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 5:52 am Post subject: