LEARN HOW TO PLAY DRUMS WITH A METRONOME

           Learn How To Play Drums With A Metronome
The Metronome is one of the most essential tools used to develop a drummer’s sense of timing. Using a metronome correctly will enable you to always stay in time when you are playing the drums, this way you can stay on time, and keep your band in time as well. There are many great metronomes on the market, the more advanced you get at drumming, the more advanced features you will need from your metronome. Some metronomes are able to play triplets, and different time signatures, while others are only good for quarter or eighth notes in 4/4 time.

Most drummers have a difficult time distinguishing when they are “off time”, and will usually be the first to blame the other members of the band. The solution to this is to simply play with a metronome. Setting a metronome, drum machine, or other click track to a certain BPM will not only help the other members of the band, but it will also help you stay on time. Eventually, this will train you to be able to play all sorts of off time beats, unique time signatures, and solos all on time.

Playing or practicing the drums without a metronome can cause more harm than good. Many famous drummers recommend that you never practice without a metronome. If you must practice without a metronome you should be listening to a CD or playing with a band. So how do you actually play the drums with a metronome?

A Metronome Or Drum Machine?
First things first, what exactly is a metronome? Well, for those who are unsure, a metronome is a device that keeps time for you. There are many different kinds of metronomes, they come in all shapes and sizes, but all perform the same function. They produce a click track that plays at a certain tempo (BPM- beats per minute). Different metronomes have different sounds, some have a high pitched click, and others sound like a wood block. Some metronomes can give you different time signatures, and even play accents for you. Most basic metronomes simply play quarter notes, or sixteenth notes in 4/4 time.

A drum machine is basically the same idea, only it has a few more advanced features. A drum machine will basically play full drum beats for you. This isn’t always essential as a drummer, but this is always a nice feature to have, as it will teach you new grooves. The price for one of these isn’t justified because it is your job to be a drummer, not the machines. Since a drummer’s main job is to keep everyone in time, it seems necessary for every drummer to own a metronome rather than a drum machine.

When to Use A Drum Metronome
You can incorporate a metronome into both playing a show, as well as practicing on your drum set at home. Playing live with a click track is a little harder to set up, and you will find it sometimes can hinder your performance, but nevertheless, it is still good to try, you can always turn it off if you find it distracting.
Playing With A Metronome At Home

When you are practicing at home you should definitely use a metronome. Not only will it help you stay in time, but it will also help you keep track of your progress. When you are practicing on a practice pad, simply have the metronome in front of you, and set it to a certain tempo. Because you are playing on a practice pad, you will be able to hear your metronome no problem. If you are playing on a full drum kit, a metronome may be hard to hear. To fix this, you will need to plug your metronome into a stereo, or earphones. Make sure you have bought a metronome with a plug for ear phones so you can plug them in.

Playing With A Metronome At A Show
When you are playing a show with a metronome, you have a few options. The first option is the simplest to set up, and will keep the sound guy happy. Simply keep the metronome behind your drum kit and use earphones. You must let your band know that they have to follow you for timing. If the band starts slipping off of time and you cant get them back into time, then simply turn off the click track half way through the song.

The next option is if you are lucky enough to have your own monitor mix and either have an in ear monitor system or your own monitor on the floor beside you. This way you can mix the metronome into your personal monitor mix. This is a little more complicated because even if you are able to set the tempos yourself, you are trusting the sound guy doesn’t accidentally change your mix and make the click too loud/quiet compared to everything else. Also if you have a click coming through the monitor on the floor, then depending on the venue, your audience might be able to hear the metronome, which isn’t good.

How To Practice With A Metronome
Now that you know how to hear your metronome, its time to adding it to your practice routine while playing beats or drum rudiments. This may be boring, but it is very beneficial. There are a few different ways you can play along to your metronome that will teach you how to stay on time.

First is the basics, make sure you know how to count time. Next, set the metronome to a specific BPM, and play along following the click. This is the most obvious way you can practice. Another method is to set the click to half of what you are playing. For example, if you are playing at 120 BPM, try setting your metronome at 60 BPM. This will force you to use your internal clock a lot more. You will really notice how hard it is to keep on time this way when you try it! The third way to practice with a metronome is to have it set to a certain tempo, and play triplets overtop. Say the click is set at 140 BPM, and you are playing a sixteenth note beat overtop of it. Instead, play a sixteenth note triplet beat over top. Again, this will force you to think outside of the box, increasing your skill in keeping time. If you are into playing solo’s, and long fills, try playing them to a metronome. Drum fills and drum solos are where most drummers will lose time and either fall behind, or speed up. Practicing these with a metronome will fix this problem!

Practicing and playing the drums with a metronome is a huge learning experience. Every drummer should own one, and every drummer should use one. Try playing a live show with a click track in your monitor a few times; you may be greatly surprised on how “on time” you really are! A few times on the practice pad with a metronome will go a long way!

TIPS FOR OVERCOMING DRUMMER PRE-SHOW JITTERS

Tips for Overcoming Drummer Pre-Show Jitters
Pre-show jitters are a very common aspect of performing, and all musicians experience them to varying degrees. They are a manifestation of processes occurring in the body which prepare it for action -- the “fight or flight” response. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is the part of the body responsible for the symptoms that a musician experiences, and epinephrine (“adrenalin”) is one of several hormones released into the bloodstream. The goal of this nervous system activation is to help the body achieve peak performance and is a survival mechanism.

Some of the specifics of the SNS response include improved reflexes, enhanced memory, regulation of blood flow, and a switch to a catabolic state.

The downside of SNS activation is that it causes a series of annoying symptoms. Diarrhea, intestinal cramping, tremors (“shakes”), sweating, palpitations, nervousness and irritability are some of the distractions that an musician may face. Sometimes these symptoms may become so great that they go beyond the nuisance stage and performance suffers as a result.

SNS activation is important part of performing well (with energy and emotion), but too much can cause a decrease in performance. Ultimately, the goal is to reach a middle ground. This will maximize performance, but keep the adverse symptoms to a minimum. There are mechanisms musicians can use to regulate their degree of SNS activation -- as well as some things to avoid -- and these are vital to achieving consistency.
       

               Tips for Conquering Pre-Show Jitters
1. Establish a routine. The day-of-show routine starts when you wake up, and ends when the show starts. A few of the components in the routine are calorie intake, fluids, travel time to show location, warm-up, stretching, gear check, mental exercises, etc.... Some components will vary depending upon the type of show, but the basic framework will remain consistent. Every time you perform it is different, but developing a consistent routine will provide a familiar base from which to launch your routine. It will also give you confidence that you know you are ready to play.

2. Mental exercises. You will often see top musicians close their eyes and engage in seemingly strange behavior, appearing either catatonic or moving to some unseen rhythm. They are rehearsing all the elements required in the performance. This mental imagery can help you focus and plan each stage of your show. This takes the over-energized concept of “PERFORM”, and changes it into a series of steps, calmly planned and executed. Sometimes music (via headphones) is useful but it must not be distracting nor result in the wrong mood.

3. Breathing exercises and progressive muscular relaxation are other techniques that can alter your level of SNS activation and reduce unwanted muscular tension. Ultimately this will relax you, and should be done right before show time.

4. Monitor your body. Look for, and pay attention to, the signals your body provides. This will give you feedback as to the state of your SNS. Pulse rate, respiration rate, sweat rate, tremor and other clues give you a way to see where you are, and how effective your modulating techniques are.

5. Be well practiced. The more you rehearse the performance material - the less more relaxed you will be when it's show time. Having a few tricks up your sleeve, like the heel-toe or freehand technique, for a possible drum solo is also a great way to be prepared. This way you will be confident that you can win the crowd over.

6. Work together with others. Try to build your routine with others in the band. Have simple pre-show rituals or group exercises that help calm the group down as a whole. Some ideas include: a quick game of hacky sack (or footbag), a simple acoustic guitar warm-up, or perhaps a brief prayer (especially for a religious group).

Also, try not to work against each other. Practicing rudiments on a practice pad, or strumming recklessly on a guitar in the same room as all of your band mates may relax you while irritating the rest of the group.

HOW TO PLAY DRUM FILLS

        Learn How to Play Drum Fills and Breaks

Drum Fills (also known as drum breaks). These are one of the most rewarding things a drummer can play. It gives them a chance to express themselves, and emphasize the song. Drum fills are played in all styles of music, rock, Latin, jazz, and punk. There is a lot to learn about drum fills, something that most beginner drummers do not learn until they have been playing for a while. So how do you perform a proper drum fill? Is it the same thing as a solo? These are all questions that beginner and advanced drummers still struggle with. So let’s learn how to play drum fills and drum breaks.

A drum fill can be very complex, or very simple. It does not need to be overly fast or technical to be named a drum fill. All it is is a space in time that you literally “fill” in with whatever you would like. It is a chance to change things up a bit, and adds some spice to the beat. Drum fills are usually used for transitions into different parts of a song, (like a chorus or bridge). One big misunderstanding beginner and advanced drummers have is drum fills needing to be loud and fast. As soon as they get their chance to play a fill, they will play a loud roll on the toms followed by a loud crash. This is not the right way to go about things. Not only will you change the dynamics in a song, a lot of drummers will actually speed up the song, ruining the tempo.

To counter this, take a few moments before hand to get a feel for the song. If it is a slower song you may only want to play a small cymbal fill. If the song is a louder song, then you may want to build the volume and dynamics of the song with a crescendo effect fill. There is a lot to keep in mind when playing fills. Transitional fills (which are the most common) can go both ways, transitioning from soft verse to loud chorus, or loud chorus back to soft verse. A drummer’s job is to accent these changes with appropriate drum fills. This can be done easily by bringing up and lowering the dynamics of the drum beat.

Like I mentioned above, a drum fill is basically a section of time that you get to fill in with drum rolls and other hits. However, you do not need to play anything at all. This next example is a drum fill with very little to it at all. You will see only 2 bass drum hit with cymbals. You may think this is a bland fill, however it can be very effective. Try it out the next time you drum:

This next example is a bit heavier of a drum fill. There are triplets and 16th notes, played with you bass drum and cymbals. This example is meant to bring up the dynamics in a song and add speed and energy. Try this one in a heavy rock song:

Whatever the song style you are playing, express yourself the way you want. That is what sets you apart from all the other drummers out there! Make sure your fill fits the song that you are playing to. Remember that you do not need to wait for certain transitions to throw in fill. If you are daring, you can throw in a fill at any point of the song; just make sure it fits well!

HOW TO USE A PRACTICE PAD

Learn To Use A Practice Pad Effectively

Most drummers own, or have heard of the practice pad. It is basically an imitation drum, designed to play and feel like a drum, without making a lot of noise. They are usually small and light weight, making them very portable and handy to have around the house so you can practice. A practice pad can easily turn into a drummer’s best friend. Any instructor will tell you to practice with a pad, and they are not wrong. Practice pads are very useful, and offer a ton of advantages. However, there are some disadvantages to using them as well. So where do you draw the line between pad practice, and drum kit practice. Or does it even matter?

Advantages Of Using A Practice Pad

We will start out with the pros of using a practice pad. The first obvious pro to using a pad is the convenience. Being able to sit in front of a TV, practicing rudiments on a responsive pad that makes little noise, is very convenient. Using a pad will definitely cut out the loud noise a full drum kit will make. Another big advantage to using the practice pad is the ability to track your progress. Although you can do this with on a kit, it makes it a lot easier to hear a metronome, and gauge what speeds you are performing your rudiments at. Logging your progress is very useful, and should be done by every practicing drummer.

One big benefit to using the practice pad is it is very unforgiving. You will be able to hear and see where you are weak, and where you need improvement. Having a lot quieter tone, it allows you to hear a lot more of your drumming, and you can hear the metronome louder than your practice surface – making it harder to cover up your mistakes by the sound of the drum.

When you are playing on a drum set, you can get very distracted with all the drums in front of you. This can easily hurt your practice session, causing you to lose focus faster. With a practice pad, you are limited to the pad itself, as well as the sound it makes. Having only one drum will force you to focus on the essentials, like drum rudiments and stick control exercises.

Disadvantages Of Using A Practice Pad

There are some cons, however, to using the practice pad. The first obvious con is it is not an instrument! You can practice all you want on the pad, but you will never actually play the pad at a show or in the studio at all! This poses a big problem you spend a lot of time getting used to the feel of the pad, then are forced to play on a totally different surface. A pad is supposed to imitate a drum head right? But what about the cymbals and other drum voices you use. You will not get the same feel at all from these, and therefore will find it more difficult to utilize what you have learnt. Plus, with most toms there is less bounce than a pad. Playing a single stroke roll at 200 BPM may be possible on the practice pad, but when played on a tom, you may not be able to do it. This brings your confidence level down, which discourages you from playing the drums all together!
Unless you have a practice pad drum set, you are limited to one drum. Now I said before this is a pro, it is also a con in some ways. It may force you to practice your rudiments, but it will stop you from practicing had independence, and creativity. Having a whole set in front of you breeds creativity – something that sets you apart from every other drummer. When you only practice on a pad, you will feel more like a technical drummer, and will not have experience of the whole drum set. You will also find moving around the drum set is more difficult. However, if you own a padded drum kit, you will not have to worry about this.

The Practice Pad Is Essential

All in all the practice pad is a must for drummers. Being able to work on your rudiments whenever and wherever you want is perfect. Having the ability to track your progress and see your mistakes is what will allow you to improve that much faster. As long as you do not spend all your time on one, you should be ok.

DRUM HAND SPEED, POWER AND CONTROL

Develop Drum Hand Speed, Power, And Control!

There are three basic ways to play the drum kit with your hands. You can play each stroke using your wrists, your fingers, or combinations of both. In this particular lesson, we're going to go over the wrist technique and the advantages it offers. In the weeks ahead I'll follow this lesson up with two more covering finger techniques and combinations of wrist and finger techniques.

Why Use Wrists For Drumming?

Most people don't rush out of the gate with all sorts of amazing finger-technique, and thus they have to start with the basics. Playing with your wrists comes fairly naturally for most people, so it's an obvious starting point.
However, I would argue that maintaining wrist speed, power, and control is extremely important - even after you have learned to play finger techniques. There are a number of good reasons to develop and eventually combine both methods.
One thing many people overlook is that you get significantly more power when playing with wrists. Playing double stroke rolls on a low floor tom, for example, just doesn't sound right when played with finger-based techniques. Wrists provide the full power, and control necessary to make that roll sound clean.
Developing speed in your wrists also allows you to do more with finger-based techniques when you combine both elements together. I always try to keep my wrist speed as close to my finger speed as possible. Later, when you begin playing advanced techniques like the Moeller method, you will begin to see why this offers such an advantage.

Practicing The Drums With Wrists

Sometimes it can be hard to tell if you are truly playing using only wrists. It's easy to begin bouncing the stick a little in a double stroke roll, or using some finger technique in a simple paradiddle pattern. That's why I would recommend you spend some time practicing on a non-rebound surface. You can use something simple like a pillow, or a professional RTOM workout pad. Either way, as long as you can practice on something that offers very little or no bounce - you're good to go.
Practice playing singles (r,l,r,l,r,l,r,l), doubles (r,r,l,l,r,r,l,l), or paradiddles (r,l,r,r,l,r,l,l) along to a metronome. Set the speed fairly low and just focus on control. This is extremely important. Many drummers that want to develop speed start turning up the metronome way too fast. It is vital that you develop control over speed when first learning. Speed will come automatically once you begin to develop control over your wrists with these various patterns. Trying to shortcut control by focusing on speed will only hold you back. I've seen it over and over. Do NOT make this mistake.
Focus on staying relaxed and playing things perfectly in time with the click. Breathe deeply while you play, and work towards building muscle memorization. Train your muscles to play things right the first time and you will save years of corrective practice down the road.

Building Speed and Endurance

Once you have begun to develop your technique with solid control - then you can begin to develop speed and endurance. This is done best through repetition and controlled "burn through" exercises. Like a trained athlete - you need to push your muscles to the next level without losing control.
Start by playing singles, doubles, or paradiddles as sixteen notes at 100 BPM (or a moderate speed of your choice). Slowly move up in increments of 5 BPM until you are playing at about 50 BPM faster than when you started (in this example - 150 BPM). Spend some quality time at each speed - only increasing the metronome when you have played for a few minutes with complete control.
You may very well be able to play significantly faster than 150 BPM at the time, but that isn't the point. You want to develop control at all speeds, and the ability to play for extended periods of time. When you return to repeat the exercises (a day later perhaps), try starting out about 20 BPM faster than your last start point. Repeat and only progress to 50 BPM faster than the new starting point.
It may seem like a slower method of mastery, but it pays off in the long run. Don't rush through exercises or think that a particular speed offers no value to you. Dedicate two weeks to these exercises and see the results you get with daily improvements. I'm sure you will be pleased.

Advanced Drumming Tips

1. Try setting the metronome to half-speed as often as possible. For example, if you are use to playing sixteenth notes along with a metronome playing quarter notes at 200 BPM - play 32nd notes to quarter notes at 100 BPM. It is the same speed, but will force you to use your own internal clock between the less frequent clicks of the metronome.
2. Try to develop all of your patterns with right and left hand lead. If you haven't done this before - I'm sure you will find it fairly challenging.
3. Take what you've learned here and build a practice system around your drum kit using singles, doubles, and paradiddles and use the same tempo system to develop greater control.

ADD CREATIVITY TO YOUR DRUM

          Learn How To Add Creativity To Your Drum Beats

Tired of playing the same old beats? Sometimes as drummers we just need some fresh ideas to mix things up. This lesson will provide you with some tips and suggestions to fill your creativity toolbox.
 
1. Alter the Voices
Changing up a beat can be as easy as changing the sounds that make it up. This can include moving your lead hand from the hi-hats to the ride cymbal, crash cymbal, floor tom, or even a cowbell. Another option would be to change the snare shots to rim clicks or broken up snare/tom patterns. The main idea is take something you already know, and give it a new voice.
 
2. Change One Limb

Take a beat you already know, and change what one of your limbs is playing. You can change your lead hand from eighth notes to quarter notes, or change your snare hand to have additional strokes or ghost notes. Your kick drum could mix things up by changing the pattern or playing with a different technique (heels-up vs. heels-down, etc).

The main idea here is to keep the original beat flowing smoothly while a single limb changes it. Do one limb, then revert back and try another. You can eventually change multiple things to create an all-new beat, but the concept here is to create a range of semi-altered patterns that work well together.
 
3. Add Open Hi-Hats
Sometimes all a beat needs to take it to the next level is to have the hi-hats opened and closed on one or two beats. I typically like to add this on the "and" count of four (closing on the one count). It seems to work well over most music, so it comes most natural to throw it in there from time to time. That said, I like to mix it up and put it on other counts - even on the off-beat sometimes.
 
4. Change the Timing
This doesn't work for every setting, but sometimes you can mix things up by changing the structure. For example, taking a straight 4/4 beat and playing it as a triplet or swinging pattern. You could even add a quarter note and make it a 5/4 pattern to really mix things up.

Believe it or not, this can actually be used within a musical setting with a band too. No, you cannot alter the timing of what they are playing, but you can take a beat you already know and change it to match the timing of their song. You just have to pick a beat that doesn't already work. This is where you really start to think outside of the box.
 
5. Playing a Beat Backwards

Virtually every beat you play can be completely changed by reversing it. This is more experimental than the last tips, but it is still a great way to mix things up during practice. Sometimes it will work, and sometimes you will end up with something that is just un-musical. However, either way it is likely to challenge you in new ways and perhaps even give you some new ideas.
 
Try Them All
Give all five ideas a try. Don't skip over one just because it seems unusual at first. You never know what insight might be gained by trying something new. Play around and have fun with them. Even combine multiple elements to make things even more interesting.

PRACTICE TIPS

Practice The Drums Effectively - Practice Tips

These tips apply to any drum book, so keep them in mind no matter what you are studying. I might repeat some things that are already written in drum books, but I want to make sure all the important things are covered here in one place.

1. Take Your Time

When you start to learn something new, always start slow. Even if you think that you know the beat already, play it slow just to make sure that you are doing it right. Once you know that you are doing it right, then you can start to speed it up. Trying to play too fast at first will ultimately slow down your progress. It is important to learn to play things at a range of tempos anyway, so you might as well progress from slower to faster tempos than that other way around.

2. Count Out Loud

I remember when I first started playing drums, my teacher always told me to count out loud - even when I didn't feel it was necessary. Only later in my drumming career did I realize its importance when I was trying to learn more difficult beats and rhythms. Counting out loud is a great way to check and see if you are playing things right. If you are counting and your playing doesn't line up - you will know immediately that something is wrong.

3. Don’t Play when You Practice, Don't Practice When you Play

Dedicated "practice" time should be focused. You should never jam or play things you have already mastered during this time. Likewise, you should never be practicing things when you are playing with a live band or in another setting that is focused around "playing" music.
This is a mistake that we all have made. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. It is extremely important to stay on task during any formal practice time. I have some students who don’t follow this simple principle and as a result have been working on certain beats for months. They come into lessons week after week without making any real progress.
I take a full lesson to have them work through a few beats properly, and they immediately start making progress. It isn't because I am there guiding them, but rather because they are actually focusing on getting better. Had they done this themselves, they would’ve saved a lot of time and money. Ninety-nine percent of the time their slowed progress is entirely due to unfocused practice.

4. Sit up Straight - Be Ready to Play

I don’t want to sound like your school teacher, but it is extremely important that you sit up straight during a practice or performance. Not only is this better for your body, but it also helps you stay more focused on what you are doing. You'd be surprised how much easier everything seems when you are in the "ready position" with your back straight and your arms loose and ready.

5. Don’t Give Up - Always End with an Accomplishment

If you are having a hard time on a beat or a section of beats, don’t give up! Take it as a challenge. All too often I see people get to the hard section of the beats and then give up. The whole reason you are practicing in the first place is to learn material that you don’t know. The hardest beats, when worked out and practiced hard, will probably become your favorite.
Often in practices I will set mini-goals to be sure I am accomplishing objectives. If I am having real trouble with a particular beat, I would make it my primary objective to master it. Often I will tell myself something like: "I will not stop till I can play this absolutely perfect 5 times in a row".
It's always important to end practices on a good note. Overcoming small obstacles is a great way to wrap things up and give you that added confidence to take your playing to the next level. Always remember to push yourself to catch that one beat, fill, or pattern that is giving you trouble. In drumming and in life, confidence based on accomplishment is everything.

6. Practice Does NOT Make Perfect

Practicing RIGHT makes perfect. I always stress the importance of this. If you are working on a beat and are not quite sure whether or not you are playing it right, then you need to find out. There are many ways to check your work:

• You can ask a more knowledgeable drummer than yourself
• Take one or more lessons from your local drum instructor
  (many teachers do casual lessons with students)
• Simply count out loud to make sure everything is lining up.

When you practice it wrong then you are only getting better at doing something the WRONG way. When you finally do realize what you are doing it is going to be that much more difficult to change back to the right way. Don’t get better at doing it wrong!

7. Use a Metronome (aka - click track)

It's important to incorporate a metronome into your regular practice. Don't become reliant on it, but use it as a training tool instead. It will help you stay on beat when you are practicing at a wide range of tempos. If you don't have one - you can get one at your local music store for $20-$50.
Sometimes playing a beat extremely slow can be just as difficult as trying to play it really fast. It's important that you learn to be flexible enough to play virtually any beat in any setting. You've already learned to play through things slowly at first, but I'd recommend going back to push things even slower after you've mastered them. This will actually help you when begin to practice it faster, as your muscles will begin to memorize the pattern.
When you are ready and feel confident that you can play a beat at a range of slower tempos - use the click track to practice at faster tempos. Make sure you start at a range you can easily play, and then increase the metronome speed by 5 BPM (beats per minute) as you feel comfortable. If you reach a speed you can't play - slow it back down until you are ready to proceed.

8. Set a Practice Routine

Ideally you want to practice everyday of the week, but at very least you want to get in to any form of routine. This will help you learn at a steady pace - spending more time advancing your skills instead of re-practicing things that you've already mastered.
A professional body builder doesn’t go into the gym and lift one weight and then walk out. In the same way, you can’t practice drums hard for one day and then go back two weeks later and expect to remember everything you went over. You might still know a few of the things, but ultimately you will have lost much of what you worked on. As drummers, we are trying to build muscle memory. Practice and repetition is key to achieving this.

9. Stay relaxed and loose

This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn as a younger drummer. It is amazing how much faster and cleaner you can play just by relaxing and staying loose. A good way to make sure you are staying relaxed is by taking deep breaths while you are practicing. This is a great way to slow down your heart rate and calm your muscles.

10. Have Fun

I have to throw in the old “Have Fun” tip. I know it might sound lame or cliché, but it’s true. Always take time to enjoy playing your kit. It's important to practice hard, but it's just as important to have fun with the skills you are working so hard to develop.

HOW TO TUNE YOUR DRUMS

      Learn How To Tune Drums 

Tuning your drums is vital in getting the maximum sound and life out of your drum heads. Without tuned drums, your drum kit will sound muddy and out of pitch. Also if you don't regularly tune your drum heads, you will find that they will be more susceptible to damage and you are going to have to buy new drum heads alot faster than necessary. This article will give you the ABCs of tuning your drums to find the right sound for you, as well as give you tips on improving the strength of your skins. That being said, you need to know that there is no one way to tune your drums. Tuning your drums is extremely personal (like selecting skins) and you must experiment to get the pitch right for you!

Lets start with an empty shell. (For those unsure on how to remove your existing skin, refer to Jared Falk's Rock Drumming DVDs for the complete Drum head replacement and tuning section). Be sure to have a cloth handy so you can give your drum rim and new drum head a wipe down. Any dirt or wood chips that remain on the drum shell can cause the skin to go on warped, causing an uneven sound, or it can also damage the drum shell. Plus no wants a dirty drum. After you clean the drum shell, and the new drum head, you are ready to install the new drum head onto your drum.
Installing The Drum Head
Place the drum head on your shell, of course making sure the size of the drum head is the correct size for the shell. it should fit easily overtop, but not be "baggy" around the drum shell. Give the rim of your drum a quick wipe down, and place it on the skin along with the lugs in the appropriate holes. Tighten all the lugs hand tight at first; leave the drum key lone for a bit. Once the rim is on hand tight, you must stretch the head. This is a very important tip that most drummers do not know about. To do this, simply make a fist, and press down on the middle of your skin. This will help stretch and set your skin so it will not go out of tune as easily. You may hear the skin cracking a bit, but do not worry, that is normal. Generally speaking you shouldn't be able to press down too hard and break the skin. I have never broken a skin by doing this, but if you do, return it to your local music store for an exchange. Once you have stretched your drum head, go over all of the lugs again, and make sure they are all finger tight.
Tuning Your Drums

Now its time to tune your drums using the drum key. Tuning the lugs on a drum is like tightening the bolts on a tire, you want don't want to go around the drum in a circle, you want to move back and forth across the drum. Pick a lug to start at, any one will do. Say you turn it one and a half times, be sure to turn every lug (using the tuning pattern below) the same amount to keep the skin uniform. Keep tuning opposite lugs until they are all snug. Take this example below. You would want to tune each lug in alphabetical order. Start by tuning A, then B, and so on... 

Once you get the drum head snug, its time to actually “tune” the drum. Grab a drumstick, and tap 1-2 inches from any lug on the drum skin. How does it sound? If its the sound you want, use that lug as your “guide lug”. Again you want to tune your drums by tapping opposites, making sure you are tapping the same distance from the lug as the first tap. Make sure you tune every lug has the same sound in front of it or the whole drum will sound out of pitch. All that is left now is to find the right sound for you and the music you are playing.!
Tuning The Batter Head

Tuning your batter skin (the skin you hit) is the same as tuning your resonant skin (the bottom skin). To get a better sound from your drum, try tuning your resonant skin a few tones lower than your batter skin. Weather its a bass drum, snare, or tom, you can use this method on all. Just make sure you have the snare turned off when tuning.
Finding The Right Sound For You

There are many different types of drum heads that you can use depending on your style of drumming. There are different heads for jazz drumming, rock drumming, and country drumming. Next time you are in your local music store take the time to experiment with different types of drum head.
NOTE: tune your drums to your taste............

DRUM DICTIONARY WITH TERMS

Drum Dictionary with Terms and Definitions

Drum Kit /Set - A complete set of drums. This can consists of as many, or as little drums as desired.

Drum - A musical instrument with a hollow body, covered by a tight skin / head on one, or both ends. Used for rhythm by percussionists, these can range from small to very large.

Throne - The stool or seat of a drummer. This is usually a round adjustable padded stool specially designed for behind a drum kit.

Drumsticks - The main accessory to a drum set. Usually made out of wood, these come in pairs, and are used to strike the drums.

Cymbal - Concave brass or bronze plates used to produce high ringing sounds on a drum set. Can be played in pairs, or on their own with a stick.

Snare - Also known as the heart of the drums, the snare is the drum that creates a loud cracking sound. This drum has a set of coiled wires (snare) on the bottom skin of the drum. Tightening these will create a different sound.

Tom Tom - The drums with a certain pitch or tone. These drums produce a different sound depending on the size, and tightness of the drum.

Stand - A three legged upright pole, made to hold different drum hardware. Stands are used for cymbals, snares, toms, tambourines, and anything else needed to be help in place. Usually made out of chrome aluminum.

Wing Nut - A unique bolt designed for the tops of cymbal and other stands on the drum set. These are used to tighten the percussion piece to the stand.

Tension Rod - A screw that tightens the drum hoop onto a drum. These are long and narrow, and allow you to tune your drum by tightening and loosening your skin to a certain tension.

Practice Pad - A drummers best friend! A Practice pad allows drummers to play without making any noise. Usually the same feel as a drum, these are smaller surfaces, that offer the same bounce as a real drum with almost no noise.

Crash Cymbal - A powerful cymbal that emits a loud crashing sound. Used in all types of music, this cymbal ranges in sizes from 14 inches to 21 inches, and can be played loud or soft.

Ride Cymbal - A much larger, and thicker cymbal. This is more of a rhythmic cymbal that produces a higher pitch sound than a crash when played with your stick tips.

Splash Cymbal - A much smaller and thinner cymbal, used for quicker attacks, and higher pitched sounds. Ranging anywhere from 6 inches to 14 inches.

China Cymbal - A uniquely shaped cymbal that looks like it has had its edges folded upwards. This produces a darker effect sound, used in many styles of music. These can range in all sizes, and is usually played upside down.

Gong Cymbal - A very large and very thick cymbal played with a mallet. Has a much lower tone.

Stack Cymbals - A pair of cymbals stacked on top of each other to creat a unique rhythmic sound. Can be a combination of any two cymbals.

Cowbell - A thick bell origionally used to be hung around a cows neck. However, when struck with a stick, it creates a unique sound. Great for funk grooves, as well as salsa beats.

Wood Blocks - Blocks of wood with a hollow center. These are designed to create a certain note when played. They come in many sizes, ranging in all different notes and sounds.

Chimes - A set of cylendar bells or metal slabs hung together to create a high pitch musical tone. Usually hung in a row, they make a sound when they hit each other. A great mood instrument that adds ambiance and personality to any song.

Djembe - A hand drum made from wood, and covered usually in an animal hide skin. This African drum has a distinct low end sound, that can range in all tones, as the drum can be all sizes.

Conga - Deep wooden hand drum.(deeper and bigger then a djembe) Usually very big, these are used more for rhythm, and played in a lot of salsa, funk, and other latin grooves.

Bongo - A wooden tuned drum played with your hands. Like the djembe, these drums usually come in pairs, and are a little more rhythmic than the Djembe.

Timbales - Two drums like the bongo, but a little wider and longer. These are played with drum sticks instead of your hands, and are a great accessory to any kit.

Hi Hat - 2 cymbals stacked on top of each other that open and close. These are played closed for short high end hits, and opened for lengthy sloshy sounds. These sit on a hi hat stand.

Hi Hat Stand - An upright stand meant to hold the Hi Hat cymbals. This has a unique design to it, with a pole in the center that is connected to a foot pedal that allows you to open and close the hi hats.

Bass Drum - Usually the biggest drum. This drum creates a low punchy sound that you can usually feel. This drum is usually played with your foot hitting a pedal.

Bass Drum Pedal - The foot trigger that strokes the bass drum. This can be used on any percussion instrument, like a cowbell, or wood block. These are driven by either chain, belt, or direct drive.

Double Pedal - Similar to a single bass drum pedal, this has 2 foot triggers that are connected to two beaters that can hit the bass drum alternatively. Allowing for faster strokes.

Bell - A very thick cymbal smaller than most, in a large arc shape. These produce a very high pitch note that carries its note for a long time.

Cymbal Bell - The part of the cymbal that has the most arc. Located right in the center of the cymbal, striking this will give you a higher pitch “ting” then the rest of the cymbal.

Drum Skin - The piece that gets strung overtop of the drum. Also known as a head, this is what you hit to make the drum sound. Can be coated, clear, doubly ply, made from animal hide, and more. These are placed over the drum, and tightened to certain tensions to create different pitches.

Drum Head - See Drum Skin

Drum Module - The main brain on electronic drum sets. This is what stores all the drum voices, beats, metronomes, and songs. Usually what costs the most on a E-drum set.

E-Drums - Electronic Drums. Virtual pads that are full of sensors that when struck, send a signal to the drum module and create sounds. Can be played as single drums, or whole kits.

Effects Cymbal - Cymbals with different designs and shapes to create unique sounds different from regular cymbals. There are a lot of different effect cymbals out there.

Drum Rims - Circular rings that cover the rim of the drum. These are places over the drum skin, and are used to hold them on. By tightening these, you push down the skin (head), causing it to become more tense, and changing its sound.

Hoops - Like a drum Rim. These can be wood, or metallic.

Rack - Large stands that surround the drum set, allowing for easy connectivity of your drums and cymbals. These are very common for bigger drum sets, and usually eliminate the need for most drum stands.

Shakers - Ranging in different sizes and shapes, these are rhtymic tools. Hollow in the center, these are filled with small particles, sometimes sand or beans, that give it a unique feel when shooken.

Tambourine - An instrument with a set of small cymbals stacked on top of each other. When hit, it creates a high pitch, fast note that compliments most music. Can be hand held, or mounted for drum set playability.

Piccolo Snare - A smaller drum that is snared. This drum is usually a lot thinner, and offers a higher pitched snare sound when struck. Produces a very tight sound.

Firecracker Snare - Like a Piccolo snare, this drum is smaller in diameter, but larger in depth. Usually tuned very tightly, this also produced more of a high pitched “Cracking” sound.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT DRUM STICK

               Learn The Different Types OF Drumsticks 

With all the different varieties and brands of drum sticks on the market today, you really need to make sure you are selecting the most appropriate stick for your style. Would a heavy metal band want a drummer to use jazz sticks? Maybe your sticks are breaking too often, or you can’t seem to get the right sound out of your cymbals. Before you get down on yourself, check and see if the stick you are using is right for you. Start With The Drumstick Wood

To really find the best stick for yourself you should start with the core; the wood. There are 3 main types of wood used to make sticks. There is Maple, which is a lighter weight wood that has excellent flexibility. Maple is great for energy absorption, meaning you will fell less of the hit in your hands. There is Hickory, which is the most common wood with decent energy absorption and flex. Hickory is a well rounded wood. Lastly, there is Oak, which is the densest of wood. Oak sticks will not break as much, but you will feel the vibrations a lot more due to poor energy absorption. If the stick doesn’t state what wood it is, back away. This usually means it is a blended wood and is not made up to standard.
Choose a Tip

Now that you’ve selected the right wood, its time to chose the right tip. There are 2 types of tips to choose from; Nylon and Wood. Most common is the wood tip. This is a solid choice for most applications. The only real downside to wood tips is the fact that they may chip after extensive use. Nylon tips are great for bringing out your cymbals and getting better rebound from your stick. They are great for studio work when you want to really make your cymbals shine. The problem with nylon tips is they sometimes fall off your stick, which can be a real problem in the middle of a show! If you are playing on an electric drum set, you want to use nylon tips. Wood tips can splinter and severely damage your drum pads! There is alot to know about which tips work best for certain applications.
 Choose Your Size

Once you have an idea on you wood and tip, you need to find the right size stick for you. Different manufacturers will code their sticks a bit differently, so you may see a slight difference in a Vic Firth 5a compared to a Zildjian 5a. However, they are all very similar, and follow a general pattern. There are three main stick categories.

-7a. This is a thinner, lighter feeling stick meant for a softer sound on you drums. These work great for jazz drumming, or younger drummers.

-5a. This is the most common stick. Medium thickness allows for both loud and softer play. Great for rock drumming!

-2b/5b. These are thicker than average. They allow for louder sounding drums, and are ideal for heavy rock.
Funky Drumsticks

You may have gone into a store and found some different “Funky” looking sticks. These are unique designs made to either increase longevity, or grip of you stick. Rubber sticks are becoming more popular, promising to “never break” and offering replacement sleeves if they do. The problem with these sticks are they are very costly. Furthermore; you will find they cut easily on cymbals, and offer weak rim shots on the snare. Colored sticks are another design that is growing in popularity. Watch out with these, though, as you will find they tend to mark up your cymbals.

Always remember; if you are constantly breaking your sticks, check your technique before changing to heavier sticks. With proper technique, sticks should break very seldom. With all this said, you should have no problem selecting the proper stick for yourself. Keep in mind that a drummers stick choice is personal, so feel free to experiment around with different sizes and styles.

ESSENTIALS EVERY DRUMMER MUST LEARN

                     Essentials Every Drummer Must Learn!

Learning the drums for the first time can be a very difficult thing to do. There is so much to this massive instrument that someone could get lost very easy. Perhaps you already know how to play the drums but are finding it hard to progress with your skills. Whatever the situation is, learning the essentials of this massive instrument is a must. There are a few lessons that need to be learnt in order to be able to play and practice the drums effectively. Before starting any other lessons on the drums, make sure you go through these essentials and master them. If you are an advanced drummer already, you definitely want to go through them again to make sure you haven’t missed anything. There are a lot of drummers that do not know a few of these skills, which throws their whole groove off! Like I said; these skills are ESSENTIAL for every drummer!

The first essential skill a drummer must know before anything else is how to hold a drumstick. This is something that most drummers do not take the time to actually learn; they will just grip the sticks any way they feel comfortable. This is not the right thing to do at all! There are specific ways to hold the drum sticks for a reason, so make sure you go over all the different variations. Whether you play traditional grip, matched grip, or French grip, there is a distinct way to hold the sticks in order to get the maximum bounce and response from your stick. If you learn this right early in your drumming life, you will be that much better off, as your practice sessions will become more effective.

The next thing every drummer should know is how to count time. This is not as easy as counting to 4, there is a little more to it. Being able to count time means being able to count different time signatures, notes, and beats. If you cannot count the beat or groove you are playing, then how do you expect to play it properly? That is why you must develop your internal clock skills right away as a drummer. Most drummers think they can do this no problem, but when asked to play a 16th note pattern in 7/4, they stare at me with a blank look. So work on counting time so you can master you beats on the drum set.

One essential skill most drummers do not know is how to tune a drum set. You would be surprised how many students I get asking me how to tune a drum kit. The method isn’t really that hard, yet so many drummers never take the time to learn it. If you can tune your drum set correctly, your whole drumming experience will sound that much better. You will also get a further understanding for the instrument you are trying to master. Knowing your instrument is the first step in learning it.

Believe it or not, another essential skill drummers must learn is how to read sheet music. So many drummers do not take the time to even consider learning this. Understanding a little bit of drumming theory is the best thing any drummer can do for themselves; after all, drums are still music. Knowing how to read drum notation will get you a ton more gigs and jobs as a drummer. Musicians will appreciate you more too. But aside from all of this, you will be able to learn more quickly. When you are starting out on the drums, this is key, fast development. When you can read sheet music you can take advantage of all the free drum lessons and beats online. You will be able to learn more diverse beats.

These 4 skills are a must for any drummer, beginner or not. If you learn these concepts correctly before you start practicing, your practice sessions will be much more effective. If you are a drummer who has been playing for years now, go back and see if you can cross each one of these off. If you can’t, then you better get practicing. I guarantee you will see an improvement in your drumming if you follow these steps!

HOW TO BUILD A DRUM SOLO

BUILDING A DRUM SOLO

The best way to look at a drum solo is by thinking of it as its own song. With a song, it starts out with a bit of an intro, and slowly starts to build. Towards the end, the song will build and build, giving off more energy to keep you the audience intrigued. You would not want a song to start with a heavy bridge and end with a slow, softer feel would you? The same is with a drum solo. A lot of drummers will throw their best chops, rolls, and drum rudiments in right at the beginning, realizing they have nothing left for a solid outro. This being said don’t think this is the only way to do a drum solo. A drum solo should be an expression of the drummer, if you want to do a solo with slow rolls for five minutes that is totally fine. Drum solos should always be unique and personal, but try your best to make them as innovative as possible!
Building A Drum Solo

It is very important to keep a solo in time. That being said, most times you can change the tempo to achieve a certain feel during your drum solo. A good way to keep time is by using a metronome, and playing a solid quarter note beat on your bass drum
Now its time to fill in the rest. There are many ways in going about doing this, so do not feel limited, this is only a very basic solo idea. Try adding some toms over top of your bass drum pattern. One example would be to add a 16th note roll on your toms.
All that is left is to add some cymbals in, and expand on the beat a bit. There’s no limit to how long you can’t go for, as long as you keep people interested. You don't want to keep repeating the same roll over and over. The audience will get bored very fast. You have to keep changing different techniques and feels, while keeping them all related. Just like a song, you wouldn't totally change the feel every time you go from verse to chorus, you always need something relative to tie everything together. Make sure that all elements of your drum solo all have the same type of feel. You can get a lot of ideas from going on websites like YouTube or Google-Video, these websites have home made video's from many talented drummers that you can learn drum solo techniques from.

Finishing A Drum Solo

There are many ways to finish off a drum solo. One way is to bring it down to a soft stop. This can be done by bringing the dynamics down, and slowing the beat down a bit. You may like this technique if you are doing a long solo, where all attention is on you. It will bring closure to your beat. The other way is to go out with a bang. This is a great method if you are ending a show, or song. Crash away at your cymbals, while playing on the set as fast as you can. Fast drum rudiments going around the toms are sure to impress your crowd. End with a final blow to your crash.

Like I said before, a drum solo does not have to be too technical. They just have to be able to keep the listener intrigued. I cannot express enough how important it is that you continue to be creative with your solos.To add some spice to any solo, try playing it with brushes. Make sure that every solo you create is unique to your style, the audience can easily sense if the drummer is bored, or dissatisfied with a performance. Soloing is very fun and rewarding, so always try new tricks, and never stop learning! Try to add some spice to your soloing by playing some patterns in a linear style

DEVELOP HAND SPEED, POWER AND CONTROL

Develop Drum Hand Speed, Power, And Control!

There are three basic ways to play the drum kit with your hands. You can play each stroke using your wrists, your fingers, or combinations of both. In this particular lesson, we're going to go over the wrist technique and the advantages it offers. In the weeks ahead I'll follow this lesson up with two more covering finger techniques and combinations of wrist and finger techniques.

Why Use Wrists For Drumming?

Most people don't rush out of the gate with all sorts of amazing finger-technique, and thus they have to start with the basics. Playing with your wrists comes fairly naturally for most people, so it's an obvious starting point.

However, I would argue that maintaining wrist speed, power, and control is extremely important - even after you have learned to play finger techniques. There are a number of good reasons to develop and eventually combine both methods.

One thing many people overlook is that you get significantly more power when playing with wrists. Playing double stroke rolls on a low floor tom, for example, just doesn't sound right when played with finger-based techniques. Wrists provide the full power, and control necessary to make that roll sound clean.

Developing speed in your wrists also allows you to do more with finger-based techniques when you combine both elements together. I always try to keep my wrist speed as close to my finger speed as possible. Later, when you begin playing advanced techniques like the Moeller method, you will begin to see why this offers such an advantage.

Practicing The Drums With Wrists

Sometimes it can be hard to tell if you are truly playing using only wrists. It's easy to begin bouncing the stick a little in a double stroke roll, or using some finger technique in a simple paradiddle pattern. That's why I would recommend you spend some time practicing on a non-rebound surface. You can use something simple like a pillow, or a professional RTOM workout pad. Either way, as long as you can practice on something that offers very little or no bounce - you're good to go.

Practice playing singles (r,l,r,l,r,l,r,l), doubles (r,r,l,l,r,r,l,l), or paradiddles (r,l,r,r,l,r,l,l) along to a metronome. Set the speed fairly low and just focus on control. This is extremely important. Many drummers that want to develop speed start turning up the metronome way too fast. It is vital that you develop control over speed when first learning. Speed will come automatically once you begin to develop control over your wrists with these various patterns. Trying to shortcut control by focusing on speed will only hold you back. I've seen it over and over. Do NOT make this mistake.

Focus on staying relaxed and playing things perfectly in time with the click. Breathe deeply while you play, and work towards building muscle memorization. Train your muscles to play things right the first time and you will save years of corrective practice down the road.

Building Speed and Endurance

Once you have begun to develop your technique with solid control - then you can begin to develop speed and endurance. This is done best through repetition and controlled "burn through" exercises. Like a trained athlete - you need to push your muscles to the next level without losing control.

Start by playing singles, doubles, or paradiddles as sixteen notes at 100 BPM (or a moderate speed of your choice). Slowly move up in increments of 5 BPM until you are playing at about 50 BPM faster than when you started (in this example - 150 BPM). Spend some quality time at each speed - only increasing the metronome when you have played for a few minutes with complete control.

You may very well be able to play significantly faster than 150 BPM at the time, but that isn't the point. You want to develop control at all speeds, and the ability to play for extended periods of time. When you return to repeat the exercises (a day later perhaps), try starting out about 20 BPM faster than your last start point. Repeat and only progress to 50 BPM faster than the new starting point.

It may seem like a slower method of mastery, but it pays off in the long run. Don't rush through exercises or think that a particular speed offers no value to you. Dedicate two weeks to these exercises and see the results you get with daily improvements. I'm sure you will be pleased.

WHAT A BAND LOOK FOR IN A DRUMMER

Learn What Bands Look For In A Drummer

I am a firm believer that some of the best drummers in the world will never be discovered. This is because they are lacking certain qualities that bandleaders are looking for. Usually a bandleader will try out a drummer for a single practice or gig, and only call them back if they make a good first impression. Here, in no particular order, are 10 things you can do to make that better first impression:

1. Don't be late!

When you are late for a gig you get labeled as unreliable. If you are ever late or are going to be late, make certain you call the leader and explain the circumstances, and apologize for the inconvenience you are causing other affected parties. When you are late you are wasting valuable set-up, sound check, and practice time. The easiest way to ensure you are on time is to plan to be 30 minutes early.

2. Know the music

Listen and learn all the music for the gig you are playing at. If you are playing all original and un-recorded music than you should listen to the artists previous recordings and get a feel for what style of drumming they like.

3. KISS - "Keep it simple stupid."

Don't think that you need to show everyone how fast you can move around the kit. Most leaders are more concerned with "groove". If the song has no groove it becomes very hard to listen to for the crowd and even harder for the other musicians to play with.

4. Attitude

Always express how happy and excited you are to play with whomever you are playing with. If the leader thinks that playing with him is a burden to you he will not call you anymore. Get to know your fellow musicians who you are sharing the stage with. Even if you don't like some of them you must be nice. You want to build a good relationship with everyone.

5. Playing with a click

You must know how to play with a click. You don't want to have to stop in the middle of the song because the drummer can't keep the beat. I do not recommend playing every song with a click. When you are comfortable playing with a click then you can focus more on groove and not be worried about staying on time with the click.

6. Playing what they want

Sometimes you will have to play a groove that you think doesn't suit the song. You might be playing a groove that the leader tells you he doesn't like and asks you to play something else. Instead of throwing your sticks at him and telling him where to put them I recommend just playing the song the way they want it. You can play whatever you want when you go home at the end of the night with your paycheck. You can also pay the rent the too.

7. Monster Kit

I am a big kit type of guy, but it doesn't always work with every circumstance. Don't plan on taking up the whole stage with your huge ass kit. If you know that there is a big stage with lots of channels for mics and lots of room for other musicians than fly at it. However, if there is limited space then bring a smaller kit. The sound guys will love you more too.

8. Sensitivity

Don't play so loud! This is a mistake that too many drummers make. If the leader cannot hear his guitar or vocal and his monitor is cranked then there is a problem. Listen to the sound in the room and then you can make a decision about how you are going to play or what type of sticks you are going to use. It works both ways, I have been told to play quieter and I have also been told to play louder. Of course I like it way more when they say "LOUDER!", but don't get your hopes up...You should be able to play the drums with dynamics.

9. Memory

If you cannot remember all of the 2/4 bars, 7/8 bars, and 15/16 bars along with all the other parts that leaders want to add to their songs - you must write it down. There is nothing worse than going through a part of a song in practice if you just forget it when it comes time to play it in front of a crowd. If you do, your only hope is that you have an understanding leader. I hate the nasty looks from the head honcho after I miss a important part.

10. Play for fun, not for money

Everyone has to make a living, and I am not saying to just play every gig for free. However, that cannot be the only motivation for you playing the gig. If a leader senses that you are just in it for the money he is not going to want you back. Only ask for the check right when you are about to leave. Do not ask for payment prior to playing the gig.

Follow these guidelines and you're sure to have improved success in seeking regular gigs. With any luck you'll form some great relationships along the way. Good luck!

TIP FOR DRUM SPEED

TIPS FOR DRUM SPEED

HERE ARE PRACTICAL TIPS TO HAVE IN MIND IF YOU WANT T O PLAY THE DRUMS FAST..........

1) Hydration

Not beer. Not soda. Water!
You need to stay hydrated when you’re doing anything physically demanding or else you’ll notice your performance take a nose dive. Remind yourself a take a few swigs in between songs! Keep those joints lubricated!

2) Breathing

When the majority of people do something strenuous, they’ll often hold their breath while performing the task. That’s generally not what you want to do when you’re doing this sort of physical activity for longer periods of time. If you don’t have oxygen in your blood, you’re going to cramp.

How do you get better at breathing? Try this: breath in for 4 counts, breathe out for 4 counts. You’ll notice that with slower tempo music, you’ll breathe very slow and deep. With faster music, you’ll be breathing a little quicker.

3) Being Aware

If you’re aware of a problem, you can fix it. Make a list of important things you want to keep in mind and even write a list on your snare drum! For example: breath, sit up straight, drink water, relax, and so on. If you’re not consciously thinking about these things, they can tend to float away on you.
Bonus Tip: Balance!
Balance is especially important when it comes to playing double bass. When one foot goes down, the other comes up. You’re constantly shifting your weight! This means you need to have a strong core and keep yourself centered on your throne so you don’t have to rely on your legs for balance.

DRUM RUDIMENT

DRUM RUDIMENT

Drum Rudiments are the most important aspect to drumming. They are the fundamentals to all percussion, and should not be ignored. A drummer should know all of the key drum rudiments, and be able to perform them without hesitation. Without the practice of these, you are limiting your skills and possibility as a drummer.Let’s break this down a bit, and look at why drum rudiments are so important to practice.
What Is A Drum Rudiment?Drum rudiments are basic drum patterns, used as practice exercises. They are basically the foundation of drumming, or the basics of stick control, and wrist movement. There are many different rudiments out there. You may hear some people talking about the 40 essential drum rudiments. This may seem like a lot however, most of these are just variations of each other. Drum rudiments should be practiced on a practice pad or a snare drum. They simply help train your fingers and wrists with speed, power, control, as well as independence.
Why Are Drum Rudiments Important?Practicing your drum rudiments as a drummer is a lot like going to the gym as a professional athlete. A hockey player must train his muscles to be able to skate faster, shoot harder, and hit harder. The same is for a drummer – we must train our muscles to hit harder, more accurate, and faster. This is where drum rudiments come into play. They force us to do nothing else but practice stick movement. A lot of times drummers will get side tracked on a drum kit and lose out on valuable practice time. Going through the basic exercises will drastically improve your skills on the drum set; allowing you to roll a lot faster, and giving you more options on the drum set.
Pros and Cons of Practicing RudimentsTo be honest, there are not a lot of cons to practicing these drum rudiments. As a drummer, you should be practicing these drum rudiments more often then you practice on a drum set. You can never go wrong by practicing your essential drum rudiments. The good thing about these is it will force you to go back to the core of drumming. Like I mentioned before, it is easy to get distracted with the drums in front of you, but when you are using a practice pad working on your rudiments, you do not have that option. However, that could also be a problem. Some may get used to the practice pad, and find it hard to transfer back to the drum set. Another problem with rudimental practice is it does not work on creativity, and independence on the drum set. Being limited to a single pad, you are unable to hear the different drum voices, thus hindering your creative edge.




Take your time to practice at least the 40 major rudiments, check the next article for that............

40 DRUM RUDIMENT

40 MAJOR DRUM RUDIMENTS

Like I have said before, there are many different drum rudiments to practice. In fact there are 40 rudiments in total. These can be all broken down five main categories: Single Stroke Rudiments, Double Stroke Rudiments, Diddle Rudiments, Flam Rudiments, and Drag Rudiments. Here is a list of all 40 rudiments. Remember to practice these rudiments with your brushes as well as sticks.

1. Single Stroke Rudiments
Single Stroke Roll
Single Stroke Four
Single Stroke Seven

2. Double Stroke Rudiments
Double Stroke Roll
Five Stroke Roll
Six Stroke Roll
Seven Stroke Roll
Nine Stroke Roll
Thirteen Stroke Roll
Fifteen Stroke Roll
Seventeen Stroke Roll

3. Diddle Rudiments
Single Paradiddle
Double Paradiddle
Triple Paradiddle
Paradiddle-Diddle

4. Flam Rudiments
Flam Stroke
Flam Accent
Flam Tap
Flamacue
Flam Paradiddle
Single Flammed Mill
Flam Paradiddle-Diddle
PataFlaFla
Swiss Army Triplet
Inverted Flam Tap
Flam Drag

5. Drag Rudiments
Drag
Single Drag Tap
Double Drag Tap
Single Dragadiggle
Drag Paradiddle #1
Drag Paradiddle #2

Single Ratamacue
Double Ratamacue
Triple Ratamacue

Other Rudiments
Multiple Bounce Roll
Triple Stroke Roll

TIPS FOR PLAYING IN CHURCH

TIPS FOR PLAYING DRUMS IN CHURCH

TIPS FOR PLAYING DRUMS IN CHURCH
90% of drummers starts playing in church either from childhood or when are grown up,there are tips every church drummer must know or have in mind ........

1. ITS ABOUT SERVING THE MUSIC

This is the golden rule. This applies to all music but it’s especially true here. It’s not about you coming and imposing what you think should happen in the music. Lay back and let the music breathe!

2. IT’S A GROUP EVENT

People come to interact and participate in the music whether it be traditional hymns or a full band. This means you need to approach what you play in a different way. In short: keep things simple. Make it easy for people to latch onto the groove of the song. It might be tempting, but don’t make things too complicated

3. WATCH YOUR FILLS

This isn’t saying you can’t do fills, but we need to make sure we’re using the proper fills in the proper places. For example, don’t play a big, bar long fill in the middle of a verse. This might work in other styles of music, but this will lead the audience to believe that you’re heading into the next part of the song. So as a general rule of thumb, keep your fills short and sweet unless you want to lead the listener to the next section.

4. YOU ARE THE LEADER

Remember… this is a group event. Every group needs a leader. The “song leader” can lead them with the lyrics, but you control the rhythm and flow of the song. We have to make sure everyone stays together and tight. If you notice someone in the band is lagging behind, try and help them by changing up what you’re playing and providing another firm anchor for them to latch onto.

5.DYNAMICS, DYNAMICS, DYNAMICS

Many churches enclose the drummer behind some sort of sound dampener. They do this to isolate the sound and in some cases, control the volume of a drummer who has poor dynamics. You have to understand the acoustics of the environment you’re in and be aware of who’s around you. Sometimes you need to make even further adjustments such as playing with special sticks!

BASS DRUM TIPS

BASS DRUM TIPS




Bass Drum Immersion
Many drummers have amazing hand speed and control, but still find it difficult to master basic single strokes on a double pedal. They work at it from time to time, but never quite get it to the functional stage. I believe this is because the development of pedal technique is largely absent in most beginner lessons.
It's a proven fact that kids at a very young age have a significant advantage when it comes to learning a second language - while teenagers that have spoken English for 15+ years find it more difficult. I believe this is because teenagers have gotten past the initial stage of development, and no longer *need* to learn in order to communicate. This would explain why French (or other) immersion classes are so effective. The student is forced to learn if they want to participate on any level.
I suggest you take a bass drum immersion class of your own. This is especially effective for double bass players, but also relates to single pedal drummers. Decide for yourself that virtually every beat or fill you practice for the next three months will incorporate some unique pedal work. Spend a good portion of your daily practice focusing specifically on bass drum development. Most importantly of all, do NOT stop or slow down until you have developed the ability to use your new found skill in a musical context. Work through everything until you are comfortable playing it in virtually any setting. Only then will it become a true ability.

Single Bass Drum Technique

At first, it may seem like you are at a disadvantage when playing a single pedal. However, I don't look at things that way at all. The simplicity of a single pedal setup can, in many ways, allow you to achieve usable results sooner. Better still, it's all the more impressive to play amazing hand to feet combinations using just one foot. This is used all the time in music styles like punk rock, and heavy metal rock!
I've got a special secret method for playing amazing hand to feet combinations that is an excellent alternative for single pedal drummers. More on that later...

Double Bass Drum Technique

Playing double bass, whether it be two bass drums or just double pedals, has a very different learning curve when compared to single pedal drumming. You will find that it takes twice as long to initially develop speed and control, however, things become significantly easier once you have the basics down. A concept or pattern that a single pedal drummer struggles with will often be fairly simple with two pedals. Beyond that, there are some things that just cannot be done without having a double pedal.

Imagine playing drums with a single hand. Yes, you can use methods like the Moeller or finger control technique to play fairly fast, but it just isn't the same. Likewise, playing with a single pedal can be limiting when you want to branch out into more creative drumming concepts (flams, single stroke or double stroke rolls, etc.).

Heels-Up vs. Heels-Down

Playing heels-up can be significantly easier when you are first learning to play, and thus many drummers become completely reliant on it. As I explained earlier with my second-language analogy - they just find it easier to stick with the one method that is already working perfectly. The line "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind.
However, I think drummers that skip out on the heels-down method really sell themselves short. You see, playing heels-up uses many more muscle groups - including the same muscles used to play heels-down. Thus, it takes almost twice the energy to play a beat with that method.
I would encourage you to take up both methods. Playing heels-down will help you develop important muscles that will actually speed up your heels-up playing, and give you added control. It's like comparing finger control technique with using all wrists to play around the snare and toms. Yes, you get more power out of using wrists, but the fingers save energy and give you added speed. Develop both techniques to see best results.

Using Ankle Weights To Develop Speed

Using ankle weights when practicing drums is a relatively well kept secret in the industry. A few drummers, that I consider to be reliable sources, have told me that even Thomas Lang and Virgil Donati make full use of them to develop speed and control. I'm not sure why this isn't covered in instructional videos (that I have seen). You can draw your own conclusions, but I'm guessing they may want to keep a method or two quiet as to not give away all of their secrets.
Essentially, you want to wear the ankle weights as you practice both heels-up and heels-down. When you go to remove them after 20+ minutes of practice - it literally feels like your feet are floating on the pedals! It's truly a unique feeling.

Double Bass Synchronization

The key to achieving single stroke speed on double pedals is to find the sweet spot on both pedals. It's like the balance (or fulcrum) point in a drum stick that allows do the least amount of work. It is vital that both of your feet play at the SAME balance point. Don't get used to playing your left foot slightly different than the right. It will make it significantly more difficult to synchronize your singles at top speed - which adds one more hindrance to achieving your best result.

The Secret To Bass Drum Speed

Ever wonder how the world record speed of 1407 BPM was achieved with double pedals (23.45 strokes per second), or how drummers like Travis Barker play insanely fast hand-to-feet combinations with a single pedal? The secret is a simple method that, while difficult to explain in text, is really quite simple when applied to the pedal.
No, it is NOT some accessory you have to add to your pedals or lug around from gig to gig. This method can be played on any pedal (single or double bass) to produce fast double strokes with your feet. It's called the heel-toe technique.
Think of how you play the snare drum with your hands. Playing a double stroke roll allows you to play significantly faster than singles, and by incorporating doubles you can play many more patterns and rudiments that would be virtually impossible with single strokes alone.

The Heel Toe Technique

The heel-toe technique not only allows you to play doubles with ease, but it also allows you to play them with speed and precision that just cannot be achieved without it. You can use it with two pedals to play double strokes rolls, or on one pedal to connect fast hand-to-feet combinations. I still come up with new ways of implementing it on a regular basis.
If you want to learn this method the right way, I recommend you check out the instructional video on Jared Falk's Bass Drum Secrets web site. It shows the right way to play the technique by breaking it down step-by-step in slow motion video. It'll cost you less than an average drum lesson, and this technique will honestly revolutionize the way you look at playing drums. This bass drum speed technique will enable you to play the drums better than many drummer with your level of experience.

BENEFITS OF DRUMMING

          Learn The Benefits of Drumming 

 For those of you out there who believe drumming to be just about rhythm and noise, you are wrong! The art of drumming possesses a huge variety of benefits in all aspects of day to day life. Most of the skills and techniques learned with drumming can be applied to other situations. And for all the parents with hyper active kids, drumming just may be the solution to bringing back the focus in your young ones. So before you judge drumming, know that there are pluses beyond being musical.

Drummers are a different breed of people - they are set apart from other musicians. They have a totally different job, and different feel with their instrument. They are required to be able to move, and separate themselves from the rest of the band. Although they are still musicians, and share much of the same qualities, you cannot really compare a drummer to a melodic musician. There are certain things that you get out of drumming that you can't get out of other instruments.
 
Physical Benefits Of Drumming
The first obvious benefit to drumming is the physical aspect to it. Like mentioned above, drumming is a physical activity, one that takes a lot of energy. Sit on a stool, move your hands and feet around the kit at fast speeds, for long periods of time, and see how you feel. Tired? Its not an easy job. The cardio muscles in drummers are much more developed than in non-drummers. For all the parents out there who have trouble getting their young ones to get some exercise, try sitting them on a drum kit. Not only will they get the exercise they need, they will also have fun!
 
Mental Benefits Of Drumming
Drumming takes a lot of work, time, and energy that- when done right- is very rewarding. These kinds of reward can bee seen and heard very easily; so drummers are very self motivated. This determination and focus you learn can be applied to any situation. When playing a beat, drummers use every part of their mind to make sure every part of them is playing on time. For the younger kids out there, this helps to develop fundamental skills in channeling their mind, and focusing on one thing. Any parents out there who have kids suffering with ADD or ADHD? This is a big benefit for you. Getting your young ones to start playing the drums is a great way to help them take out their excess energy on something that is very useful, and physical.
 
Musical Benefits Of Drumming  
Throughout this article you may get the impression that a drummer is not a musician. This is far from the truth. Being a musician is just another benefit of being a drummer. Having the feeling like you are accomplished is a feeling that no one can explain. Being in a band or other music group will give you confidence and meaning that other activities just cannot give you.; If you are a parent of a child who is lacking in self confidence, drumming may be the solution for you.

Weather you are young, old, or middle aged, playing the drums can be the most rewarding experience. It will keep you active, it will keep you thinking, and it will keep you in the know. I would strongly suggest drumming to parents with kids of any type. It helps shape the personality of a person by teaching them some fundamental life skills.