Tips and advice for the modern drummer including advice from Steve White www.whiteydrums.com (Paul Weller) and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
We practice and practice and practice and we want more, something different... Hungry for knowledge we scour the net looking for more information on how we an improve. Well here it is, you’ve found it. Your vital alternative blast of information that will change the way you play the drums and probably a thousand other things too….
This is for anyone that wants to know how to get over playing plateaus, to shape their life and habits to enhance and enrich their playing to new levels.
80% of the things you see masters of the drums doing will make sense the other 20% will be slightly less intuitive…
This is the counter-intuitive approach to the drums...
The avant-garde approach to drumming that will enrich your playing forever...
Three statements you will understand, that will give you an insight into where this valuable information is going to take you:
1) Imitate the best until you are getting consistent results – find the best and imitate them until you can track you results and say that every time I try to this, it works as I so desire…
2) Learn how to make finer and finer distinctions until you learn which new method of practice is most effective – why does this addition to my routine help me. Clearly understand why it works.
3) Doing the obvious thing doesn’t necessarily work. Spending hours and hours practicing paradiddles will give you very fast strong paradiddles, granted. It is everything else you do that enables you to use these paradiddles to great effect!
DANCING AND DRUMMING
It’s a well known fact that by strengthening other areas of your life you will automatically help develop the areas you really wish to develop. For example if I build my confidence in social situations I will have more success with women. Or, if I begin exercising I will increase my overall fitness and thus have more stamina and alertness at work. How does this apply to drumming? Lets take a minute think about Buddy Rich.
Buddy Rich - what did he do? I hear you saying, he was a drummer, one of the finest. What else did he do that some of you might have overlooked? DANCED!!! He was awesome! And he drummed with dancers too. Drumming and rhythm is a whole body experience. I was a terrible dancer for years and years, despite being able to lay downs some massive beats. Something was lacking, really missing. It was groove, it was feel, creativity, control and confidence. I've been taking dance classes for 6 months now and my kit playing has gone through the roof!
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FEET
Learning to play heels down will help in your overall footwork but what you need is to feel balanced when both your heels are up. When your playing single bass your left foot is still and keeps your balance, like a kickstand. Once you pick that left heel up and start playing double bass you have no more kickstand. Your balance will come from your abdominal and lower back muscles. Here’s a great exercise i got from Derek Roddys book to strengthen those muscles.
This applies to single bass players too. If you can have the control a double bass drum player has over
Sit at your drum stool with your feet directly under your knees.
Lift both of your legs directly up about 3 or 4 inches.
Do not curl them under your throne. lift them straight up.
Try to hold this for as long as you can each day before practice. Try sitting with a straight back, pinching your shoulders back with your feet hovering a couple of inches above the floor.
At first you might feel like arching your back or moving your upper body backwards. This is okay at first but work toward keeping your back straight.
One of the reasons we have difficulty using our left foot is because it is because your left leg is at the bottom of the totem poll as far as your apendages go (For most right handed players the order is right hand, right foot, left hand, left foot. This is not an absolute though). Some things you might want to try would be playing basic beats with your left foot on the bass drum instead of your right foot when you're playing beats that don't require double bass. This will be basically a double workout for you. Not only will you be practicing left foot control and building strength. You will be gaining even more comfort and precision with beats you have already mastered. Another thing you might want to try is learning rudiments with your feet. If you have bought the *** Need to Know *** deck try practicing all the patterns the same way you would with your hands except with your feet. These two things should do a lot to help you out.
I used to get a pain in my left groin when I played. It would kick in after around 10 minutes of playing. I went back to my drum teacher from when I was 12 years old (I’m 25 now) and asked him to watch me play. He instantly adjusted the way I was sitting, got me to sit on my stool and stop leaning on my left foot. Instant relief! He also pointed out a number of other bad habits I had picked up. It’s always good to have a more experienced player watch you play and be ready for them to question some of the things you are doing – it will probably enable you to take your playing to a whole new level.
MIND AND DRUMMING
Great importance should be placed on the link between the mind and your limbs. In a nutshell, to really develop extremely efficient lines of communication from the brain to your limbs (so that you can play whatever it is you want to play), you must practice with extreme repetition. How much repetition? I'll quote volume 1 of ***’s book:
"My students and I have found that when we maintain any repeated motion for at least 90 consecutive minutes, 4 days a week, for 6 weeks, we see a noticeable improvement and we stay 'up there' for months, even without practicing the motion again"
So he's basically saying you need to ingrain a motion for 36 hours in total to lock it in. It's a mind-numbing amount of practice...
"Q
If you have six things to practice, how much time should you spend on each?
A
In general, it takes anything from one to three consecutive hours a day, for four days (in a one week period), to successfully record a reasonably complicated piece into the human 'muscle memory system'. (Your definition of 'reasonably complicated' will change as your ability-level changes)
....
Q
Why should you count while playing?
A
Counting provides a physical link between your body and in the intangible concept of 'time'. Without this link, your sense of time is at the mercy of the (often flawed) motion of your limbs
PERFECT TIMING
Perfect timing is the most difficult aspect of drumming to teach. I can crack the whip & stuff a metronome in your head, but you ultimately have to control your body to accomplish the main objective. Coordinate your body to feel the groove and hold it steady.
Drums really are a full body feel instrument. From the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Other instruments don't demand every inch of your body like the drums do.
With that said, your whole body has to feel the timing and groove with confidence. You need to feel the meter and play it as solid with strength and definition and stay focused.
I see many frustrated players in the forums talking about their frustration with speed and their limbs tensing up. Think back to the beginning of this article: It’s a well known fact that by strengthening other areas of your life you will automatically help develop the areas you really wish to develop.
What can I do in other areas of my life to relax my left hand on the ghost notes or gain independence through all four limbs, of to have greater stamina and while playing. For me the answer was dancing. It literally took my playing to the place I wanted it to be. Ask yourself what are the specific areas of your playing that you want to develop? Then think laterally, or post on the forum and get someone else to thing laterally for you!
Dancing not your thing? Below is a list of other things I’ve been incorporating into my life that have had a direct positive impact on my kit playing:
Salsa Dancing (this was the big one! For men, the leading foot is your left. Almost every time a man begins a Salsa move he starts with his left foot moving forward. For around **** % of you this is fantastic practice at exchanging the dominant limb for the weaker one. The rest of you ‘lefties’ can also benefit from this full body coordination experience. Not only does Salsa dancing offer this benefit, you as a man have to lead. To be in charge of your partner, otherwise nothing happens. Relate this to the drums. Before I danced, without knowing, I was a quite a passive drummer. In rock that doesn’t work. You have to be in control at all times. Even if it is being in control, knowing you’re out of control. We have to know where we are going. In How does a man communicate to his partner what dance move is coming next? With his hands. Our hands become the steering wheel. I practice four-way coordination every time I dance salsa.
Break dancing (physically the most challenging thing I have ever experienced). For me, this one is up there with Salsa dancing. The physical demand on your body is second to none. Listening to the beat, moving your body simultaneously and independently with the music. Build stamina, improve full body coordination and really drive the physical movements into your muscle memory.
Brushing my teeth with my weak hand. This is one that they teach at mental hospitals. It creates new neurological pathways - the very thing we are aiming for by practicing our weakest movements.
Samba Band / African hand drumming. Let me know if you agree, in my experience and from research, most drummers want to be more creative, have more grooves, be recognised for their originality, be more confident and have more stamina. When you drum with drummers or percussionists a new whole world opens up and the level of mutual understanding and support increases dramatically. It’s likely that many of us are yet to experience the delights that playing with 2, 5, 20 or 100 drummers brings. The sheer power and energy created is enough on its own. Combined with the fact that we are learning new grooves, new co-ordinations, learning about how drums actually work it is a massive win-win situation. Spend 2 hours learning with a Samba band, African ensemble or conga outfit then go back to your kit and see how it feels!
When you strip down any kind of hand drum, particularly an African djembe and build it back up with you bare hands we gain an insight into the physical make up and tuning of a drum that no other experience can offer. If you want to excel at something get to it’s roots.
Aerobics at your gym or leisure centre. Every routine equally plays on left and right sided coordination. If we do one move to the left we will most certainly be doing the same move to the right. It challenges your full body coordination. I didn’t think it was for me at first then I just said to myself “what have I got to lose?” nothing…. Everything to gain! Increase your aerobic performance, stamina, strength and full body coordination all at the same time. Then feel how this helps your kit playing. Go with a friend or go on your own, whichever you feel most comfortable doing.
One of the other benefits of dancing are that you practice all of this full body coordination to music – more often than not it will be music you would have not listened to, which obviously widens your musical knowledge. It also means you will be practicing four-way coordination to a strict metronome-like beat.
CONFIDENCE BEHIND THE KIT
Another one of things that pops up often is playing in front large groups of people - performing. One of the main things most of us are working towards. A lot of drummers report that they drum really well when practicing alone, are good in front a few people, and then when it's a large group of people they get nervous and just forget the things they have learned. “I feel like I want to learn everything before I go out there and do my thing.”
It’s great to keep learning and watching others, in fact it’s vital. It’s also really important to understand that the way in which we will learn the most is by actually playing with other musicians. They will, for sure, pick us up on our faults.
I felt the same way for years, and wondered why, I finally figured out its just like any other skill we put into practice. Sometimes it feels flowing and natural and sometimes it doesn't...
It depends on how your body feels at the time and maybe what you did previous to playing will effect different muscles, so maybe your actually doing all the right things but your body & muscles don't feel comfortable. Or, very often, you will be dehydrated and your underperformance and anxiety are caused by that. Alcohol will always inhibit any kind of physical activity. We, as humans are more than 70% water – if we are dehydrated that means we done have enough of ‘us’ to perform. Think about it…
WEAK HAND
The one that I am focusing on right now is my left hand, (being right handed). For some reason I just hit walls when working on it. I found that by simply playing 8th's on the hat, and using my left hand to play the snare line, everything loosens up nicely... Then swapping hands and repeating everything.
The solution to weak limbs is much easier than everyone thinks. Deep down we know what we have to do. We have to practice doing the things that we are weak at. If its your non-dominant hand then pu that hand on your hi-hat and groove out some 8th’s beats, start 16’s with your left hand / right foot and feel the frustration as your body and mind conflict. Feel that discomfort and work through it. All of the extra curricula drumming activities I’ve been talking about above will all help any weaknesses in your playing. I challenge you to try dance classes once or twice per week for one month and then report back to us here. Let us know how you have got on.
Check out the 'Salad Chops' drum cards we have on the products page, try practicing them with you weak hand first, then with your dominant hand. It’s much harder to practice working your weak hand after an hour or so of concentration. Get on with the thing you really want to improve. There is a book called ‘Eat that Frog’. They play on the metaphor that eating a live frog first thing in the morning is probably going to be the hardest thing your do that day. So, Eat that Frog and practice the thing you really don’t want to practice first! Thanks Brian Tracy…
FINDING FLAWS
There are a few ways to highlight areas in our playing that need work. The two most effective I’ve found are asking other musicians after a rehearsal / gig, and recording myself (with a click where possible) and listening back. Asking for genuine honest feedback is sometimes difficult because our big fat egos get in the way. I try to detach myself as much as possible and listen objectively. Listen and learn…
Millionaire businessmen (and women) swear by a few rules in their life. One of the traits they have in common is planning. You will save 10 minutes of faffing around for every minute of planning you put in at the beginning. Make sure you set some time for going wild and being creative on your kit. A few minutes at the beginning and as much time at the end as you so desire. That’s the time when new ideas come to light. Remember to eat that frog! Practice the things you know you should.
I applied this to every area of my life and have been reaping the results!
IMAGE AND DRUMMING
EXTRA THINGS TO HAVE WHEN PRACTICING
Mirror – you should look relaxed and comfortable
Clock – monitor progress
Water – hydration helps performance and endurance
Snack – keep concentration
Metronome – you know why
WHAT STEVE WHITE SAYS
WHAT CHAD SMITH SAYS
THE FILLS YOU LOVE
CREATIVITY
Fills, grooves, breaks. How can we become more creative. Well if you’re like me and always want to be more creative then its times to start doing something different. If the things you’re currently doing are not making you as creative as you want to be the answer is simple – try something different. Find inspiration in from new sources. Dancing, Samba bands, Hand drumming, Free running (its all rhythm and timing) even the gym.
I have been weight training for years now, I wish they had been some way to record how effective weight training had been at helping my coordination. It might sound a little strange though if we think about it when weight trainer curls a weight his brain is telling his arm to perform a specific movement in isolation to the rest of his limbs. This creates new neurological pathways in our brains, thus enhancing coordination. I used to train 6 times per week – far too much for my liking now, though at the time I loved it! I was strong and fit and able to drum for hours and hours. I’ve since introduced dancing and other forms of drumming which have been far more beneficial though I’m content that my body learned the things it did through the gym.