New to Drums..

IndustrialOkie

IndustrialOkie

Esoteric Order of R'lyeh
Bought an electronic Roland kit a few weeks ago for a new band i've formed. O/m not the drummer but since their laying around, I thought I may as well try to learn a thing or two. I can keep time on a couple of simple styles, but have no concept yet of fills etc. Can anyone give me some direction outside of ponying up for some lessons? Thanks!
 
There's a lot of things on YouTube under "drum lessons" (I know, duh).

A teacher I had said playing a musical instrument started out like falling in love. You become infatuated/fascinated with the instrument. When I was about 9 or 10 I always watched drummers and looked for drums in stores. That's the first step and it never goes away.

The next step is fooling around by yourself. He said to do that for 1 -2 years.

The next step is getting accurate knowledge. You can do that by the "look under every stone method": private lessons, listening to recordings, on line videos, watching good drummers, talking to drummers etc...

None of the steps goes away, the next is just added on.

It sounds like you're in the second stage approaching the third, so I think the best thing you could do is what you're doing - fooling around, playing with some songs and checking out YouTube etc...

some basics:

all drumming is based on the single stroke roll (R-L-R-L) so practice that, and make your kick do 1/4 notes with your hands doing 1/8ths' or 1/16ths.

your hands won't be solid if your feet aren't, so feet first.

you're an accompanist, so try to get to the point where you can put your drumming on autopilot and listen mostly to whatever the lead thing is - the lead vocals or guitar solo, whatever the hood ornament is at the time.

I know a pro drummer here and if I phone him up and tell him about a drum I just got you'd think you were talking to a 10 year old, the excitement never went away and he's in his 50's. :)
 
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I'd stay clear of those voodoo things! If you hold the sticks for any length of time, you may open yourself up to the dreaded "let's make fun of the drummer jokes". You know, knuckle dragging, girlfriend stealing insulting things like that.

for example:
What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?
A drummer!

What did the drummer get on his IQ test?
Drool

What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?
You only have to punch the information into the drum machine once!

Are you sure you want to be relentlessly tormented like this?:laughings:
 
I taught myself - never had a single lesson. Of course it helped that I had played guitar for a few years so I knew the basics of rhythm, but I think most people can pick up drums pretty quickly if they work hard at it. *Keep in mind I was only 10 or 11 when I started drumming* When I started I really had no direction at all, I would just beat on the drums and try to make it sound like some of the bands I liked, but I eventually got the hang of some of the more difficult aspects of drumming such as keeping steady time on the hi-hat while carrying out a bass and snare rhythm. If you can already do that (play with your hands criss-crossed, one on the hi-hat and one on the snare) then you are well on your way. I'd keep practicing those simple rhythms, varying in tempo, until you get them down 100% solid, because those simple rhythms are the core of everything else you will ever play. I learned most of my fills and other tricks by watching drum videos on YouTube, watching my favorite bands live, and listening and observing. I recommend looking up the user "deedlebag" on YouTube. He is a fantastic drummer that I'm sure you can learn a lot from by watching his videos. If you are having trouble with a certain fill, make a micro-exercise out of it; start out by playing it at a low tempo and slowly play faster until you can't keep the beat anymore. I do that all the time with lead licks on the guitar, fills on the drums, etc.

Good luck! :D
 
I think Wailin could scare small children! :(

I liked this one, it's all "right hand, left hand, bass drum":



I like Van's unpretentiousness, at 4:55 he's a blur. To me his toms are very well tweaked. Overall though, I'd stay away from fancy shit and a guy told me once if you just think about the beat that the fills will come out without thinking about them.
 
Greg_L said:
I agree with this. Fuck fills unless they just happen.
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The worst thing you can do is concentrate on fills. That was me at 13: "here it comes, here it comes....aaaAAAAAAHHHHH!" and then fuck up the crash on 1, or that was supposed to be on 1. :mad:
 
I agree with Greg. Get the groove down and then feel it from there. My nephew was somewhat of a difficult student when he first started out and then progressed quickly but was very inconsistent with his hitting. He plays with emotion and that's good because he's feeling the song but his playing suffered due to his inconsistencies in stick placement on the drums. I actually recorded the band one night and I sat in for a few songs. On the following day i played the recordings of him on the kit and then what I played. It was night and day and it somewhat hit him. I say somewhat because he still attacks the kit in a destructive way. The point here is that I wanted him to relax and let the drums and cymbals project naturally but many cymbals and drums later he still can't get it right because he feels that hitting the drums and cymbals hard get's his playing across to the audience and by the end of the night he's lost all of his drive with many mistakes. Playing in a relaxed state helps big time when learning how to play. If you get frustrated then get up from the set and do something else. Learning how to play in a relaxed state helps with your grooving and I'm sure Greg would agree with me here because once you tense up, you've lost it. Tensing up will throw you out of the pocket and cause you to cramp which will most certainly bring about mistakes in your playing. Simple grooves in a relaxed state means steady playing and in the pocket.

Happy drumming IndustrialOkie
 
Lol. I don't agree with "grooving" and all that magical, mystical, immeasurable music cliche crap. I'm strictly anti-"groove". If you play well, play with good players, play for the song, and don't overthink anything, then the stupid "groove" just happens on it's own. It's not magic and it's not special. It's supposed to happen. All you need to "groove" is a tight band.

I do agree with relaxing and just playing the song though, but hitting hard while relaxing. I'm a hard hitter, but I play aggressive music. I can dial it down, but i don't ever want to. I don't hit the cymbals hard though....anymore. :D
 
I agree with evrything mentioned in this thread. Just play and think more about the pulse and the groove (I do believe in it), and mainly PLAY FOR THE SONG.

But, being a teacher, I also know that to keep students interested, you have to give them some candy. That means that sometimes you have to let them learn some stuff that you might not think they NEED. Like anyone starting, most people want to learn a few fast "tricks" so they can pick up a pair of sticlks and impress people with a fancy roll or rudiment.

If that's the case with you, I have a pretty basic "Drum Tips" page on my site, that will help you with rudiments and some basic sticking exercises. They'll also make you a better drummer.

If you want to check it out, it's here: www.ramirami.com/drumtips

Just turn off the music player that starts automatically in the bottom left corner.
 
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Good drum page Rami - lots of good fundamentals. :)

Joe Morello has some lessons on YouTube that I liked:

 
Lol. I reallllllllyyyyy hate drum videos. They're all the same.

"Here, do this slowly, and then.......blast-off"

That one was pretty good because he's a respected dude, but most of them are show-off drum wank sessions.
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. I reallllllllyyyyy hate drum videos...
Click to expand...

Ya know... I couldn't agree more. :)

They're boring and the whole thing of learning something and speeding it up is exactly what you shouldn't do. They always concentrate on the bullshit and never touch what drummers really do.

I took tons of lessons, went to university... did everything "you're supposed to do" as far as drums and I could play but I still knew something wasn't right. Then around 1981, I took, believe it or not, a mail order course from a guy who had a drum school in NYC named Stanley Spector and his way of teaching blew everybody else out of the water. It was what I was looking for and I did it for a bit over a year, recording his lessons and sending them to him and he'd send back his comments. I got more out of that than anything I'd ever done. And still I am at almost a complete loss to tell anybody in a sentence or two what they guy had discovered. He didn't use rudiments at all, and he was against using a click.

I will say this: he was the only person I've ever come across that could teach you how to play a beat right. How to play time. Most people are clueless about that and think it can't be taught and I did before. That's why almost all drum lessons and videos just talk about "everything except what you really need to know" about drums. Because people in general think that you can't teach people to play good time, that you're either born with it or you aren't. Or you get it from "experience".

I've thought about carrying on teaching Stanley's course but truthfully I hate teaching. I think what he figured out should have become the main way drums are taught.

Sorry for the long post.
 
I don't think you can teach people "time". I think you either have it or you don't. It's something you feel. Some people simply can't play music because they have no sense of beat or rhythm. Some people have it from birth, some don't. I can find a natural rhythm in everything. Always could. I might not be the most skilled drummer ever, but I've never had lessons of any kind and my timing is good. I'd say it's my strong suit. My youngest kid can't clap along to a simple four-on-the-floor beat in any capacity. I've tried and tried every way imaginable to teach her to find the beat. Counting, feeling, music lessons, metronomes, nothing works. The downbeat escapes her. She just can't do it. It's not in her. She might be a lawyer or doctor or a fucking astronaut one day, but she'll never in a million years be a musician in any way shape or form. Her sister can dance and clap or tap her foot along to anything. She can play the flute and tap out simple, in-time rhythms on her lap with her hands. She has it - whatever it is. It wasn't taught. She was just born with it while the younger one wasn't.
 
dintymoore said:
Then around 1981, I took, believe it or not, a mail order course from a guy who had a drum school in NYC named Stanley Spector and his way of teaching blew everybody else out of the water. It was what I was looking for and I did it for a bit over a year, recording his lessons and sending them to him and he'd send back his comments. I got more out of that than anything I'd ever done. And still I am at almost a complete loss to tell anybody in a sentence or two what they guy had discovered. He didn't use rudiments at all, and he was against using a click.

I will say this: he was the only person I've ever come across that could teach you how to play a beat right. How to play time.
Click to expand...

Could you please elaborate? Or at least give us lesson 101 tips?
 
Greg, I know what you mean that some people can do it naturally and some people can't. It sure seems that way. I'm not sure everybody can get it. Not everybody can get driving a car. But that teacher I had actually worked on developing that. Much drum teaching comes off like learning a series of yo-yo tricks.

Racherik said:
Could you please elaborate? Or at least give us lesson 101 tips?
Click to expand...

He was the guy who told me to fool around for a year or so and then get accurate knowledge. That's what I'd do.

As far as the actual method he taught me: if you came over to my place and did his exercises for an hour or so, after about a year your playing would improve to where you never thought you could be. And here's the weird part - you'd be like me, you couldn't put it in words and every time you'd try to it would sound wrong.

That's why I don't bring it up very much because I always end up sounding, to me, like I'm trying to hold on to a "secret formula" or that I'm a bullshitter.

It's something I think about all the time. For instance, imagine the amount of money there is in teaching the people in China how to play drums.
 
Keep it Simple!

I'm self taught and have been playing for about 7-8 years. My advice would be (anyone feel free to comment if you agree or disagree) -

Don't focus on playing as fast as you can which is a common mistake. I'd rather hear a 4/4 rock beat played slow in perfect time than a sloppy double bass ridden metal beat.

Listen to many styles of music and many different drummers. Don't pigeon-hole yourself and get caught up in one type of music. You can learn something from every type. Some drummers I would recommend are - Gavin Harrisson (Porcupine Tree, 05Ric), Thomas Lang (Independent), Steve Smith (Ex Journey, Now Plays Jazz Again and is about as good as they get), Jordan Burns (Strung Out), Thomas Haake (Meshuggah), Dave Discenso (Ten Ton Shoe, Cro-Mags, One of my personal favorite Modern Drummer Performances), Jaamaal Thomas (Maceo Parker), Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band) Obviously there are so many more but listing them all would be impossible but that should give you a well rounded head start.

Get a practice pad and a heavier set of stick than you would normally play with strictly for the pad. Use it when your watching T.V., on the toilet, bored late at night. You have to build the muscles in you wrists and forearms especially in your non-dominant side.

Relax and take the time to stretch and warm up. Resistance and tension wont get you anywhere.

Everyone might not agree with me on this one*
Only practice when you really feel like it. Don't make it a chore. You get alot better practice in when you want to be there and your likely to play alot longer if you are enjoying yourself. Theres no point in forcing yourself to practice and hour a day for 3 days in a row when one of those 3 you might play for four hours you wont be forcing it.

Hope these help and I'm always open to suggestions I can use to improve my playing.
 
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