Newbie Drum-learninq question.

IndustrialOkie said:
Anyone recommend a few good bands/songs for a beginner to jam along to? Thanks.
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I've never played a cover tune in my entire life,...(probably cuz I can't play for shit)
and I've been playin' for 25 + years.

But, if I were to try,..I'd probably go with a Sabbath tune.
Bill Ward is one of my Favs,...I love the simple catchy beats.

I'm more of an Industrial / Groove / Noize musician,...
but born and bred on Sabbath and Zep.

Don't know if this is your cup o' tea or not..
I'd check out Sabotage by Sabbath, or Paranoid might be a little easier to learn.

I would like to do a cover of "Horse with no name" by America, though
and make it really heavy, with crunchy guitars, and tribal drums
But I believe the song was done with congas or bongos, along with kit drums.
So, I'd have to do a little improv., to switch it up a little.
I've never heard anyone do a heavy cover of that song, and I think it would be interesting.
 
IndustrialOkie said:
Anyone recommend a few good bands/songs for a beginner to jam along to? Thanks.
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It depends on what you wanna play. Playing along to pop-country isn't gonna help you any if you wanna play speed metal.


But if you're a total n00b and wanna get solid, throw on some AC/DC. It's not hard and you'll learn a solid backbeat.
 
I agree

ACDC is a good choice.

Ive just started learning For those about to rock and im somewhat of a new drummer as well.
 
Greg_L said:
It depends on what you wanna play. Playing along to pop-country isn't gonna help you any if you wanna play speed metal.


But if you're a total n00b and wanna get solid, throw on some AC/DC. It's not hard and you'll learn a solid backbeat.
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Get really good at that AC/DC and you'll learn the value of simple beats that simply rock.
 
I would say just flip on the radio to a good station and practice jamming to different songs.

Believe it or not, Lady Gaga is a lot of fun to drum along to.
 
 
I was going to say AC/DC, then I saw everyone else recommend it. Probably the best band for a beginner drummer to play to.

And, also Pink Floyd. Like AC/DC, the drums are always super simple. But, most Floyd tunes are slower tempo, which I find beginners have as much, if not more, trouble with. It's almost impossible to get a beginner to play slow without speeding up. Too many "experienced" drummers have trouble with it, too.
 
RAMI said:
I was going to say AC/DC, then I saw everyone else recommend it. Probably the best band for a beginner drummer to play to.

And, also Pink Floyd. Like AC/DC, the drums are always super simple. But, most Floyd tunes are slower tempo, which I find beginners have as much, if not more, trouble with. It's almost impossible to get a beginner to play slow without speeding up. Too many "experienced" drummers have trouble with it, too.
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Yeah, slow is harder even for me and I've been playing a while. I'm much more comfortable ripping through something at 200 bpm than I am at 80 bpm. Lucky for me I don't write slow stuff. :drunk:
 
One of the biggest oddities of drumming is that it's often harder to play slow than fast.

It's the opposite of what a beginner would think.
 
Thanks again guys.. yeah coming from my half-ass self taught other instruments backgound, I always thought slower would be easier. But then again everything else I ever played I never worried about anything other than playing my simple ass rhythms or chords in time with the drummer! :D
 
Good Drum Stuff

Go to your grandparents attic and raid their collection of old 45's.

Get a bunch of Motown stuff and get a bunch of Stax stuff. Benny Benjamin at Motown and Al Jackson at Stax are among the best drummers ever.

Grab some of the pre-Beatles Top 40 stuff; the studio guys who did that are masters.

Despite what one of the other posters said, get some old country such as George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson. Those Nashville and Bakersfield cats laid down some amazing licks.

Try to pick up something from every song you hear, and put it in your "lick box". I've used country likes in hard rock songs and hard rock licks in country songs. The more licks you have in your "lick box" the more versatile drummer you will be.

Find some jazz stuff and learn to play along with it. Learn how to play softly without losing your power and projection. Learn how to play blues; some of the old Chess records had some great drummers.

Finally...

Put on Chicago's "Make Me Smile" and listen to it closely; Danny Seraphine is an absolutely amazing drummer.

After you've listened to "Make Me Smile" a couple of times you'll say "Fuck it...I think I'll learn guitar instead".

Do learn guitar, bass, keyboards, whatever, but don't give up on drums. Any other instrument you learn will make you a better drummer.

But stay with drums, and learn "Make Me Smile" note-for-note. If you were meant to be a drummer you'll be able to learn it. And during the process of learning it you'll learn how to "pull out" the drum part from any song you listen to.

Another good tune to learn is "Kind of a Drag", John Poulos is doing fills and stuff all through that song.

In short, listen to everything you can get your hands on and learn from it. Steal licks from the best drummers you can find.

Then move on to the newer stuff...

Bill Ward did some nice stuff with Sabbath; listen to his stuff and steal a few of his licks.

Phil Rudd is a very good drummer; unfortunately, he came along during a period of drum "minimalism". Straight beats, few bass pedal accents, limited fills. He's playing what the songs need, but they just don't need a lot of great playing. Another guy who excels in this genre is Matt Sorum; check out the stuff he did with The Cult.

Enough of my old fart's rant, but always remember that the guy who can play "Make Me Smile" can play "You Shook Me", but the opposite is often not true...
 
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