Bring Your Practice Pad on Subway Train?

[delta]

I'm thinking about moving to a city where I'm almost positive I'll have to take mass transit to and from my place of work. Probably around 1 - 1.5 hours total roundtrip. Right now, I'm enjoying the fact that I have extra time in the day to practice drumming since my total commute to/from work is like 25 minutes total. With so little time nowadays, I was wondering if anyone ever brought their practice pad with them on the subway or something? Maybe get some weird looks or something from other people when you whip it out, but it'd be valuable time to knock out practicing you! rudiments or something. You'd have to find a stable to place your pad...hmmm. I'm just a complete multitasker. The thought of just sitting on the subway for over an hour a day without doing anything drives me nuts.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to practice anything drumming related when you're in transit? Thanks!

[Drummist222]

I, too, am an avid multitasker, always trying to be productive. I try to play on a practice pad while doing lots of other things(TV, computer, video games, riding in the car, sometimes even when I'm driving). I'm always looking out for exercises I can do away from the drumset/pad, also. The best stuff for this is learning new beats, polyrhythms, and other coordination kind of stuff. I remember practicing bossa novas during class in high school. Best if you can memorize how they go at home with the book or whatever, and then just work out the kinks when you have down time. You don't even have to make big motions; its more about getting it in your head. I find that tapping my index fingers and feet is good enough, and this can be pretty subtle. One exercise that was perfect for this was given by Gavin Harrison in a Modern Drummer(the one with Beyonce's drummers on the cover). It was a five against seven polyrhythm,(one hand goes hit-rest-hit-rest-rest(repeat), the other hit-rest-hit-rest-hit-rest-rest(repeat)), which took me a lot of time to work out but certainly doesn't require any sort of equipment. I would just be on the look out for stuff like this to practice, and I suppose you could bring a drum book along and tap out the beats. As far as your specific question, you'd probably be stuck with practicing traditional grip with the pad on your knee, and it would probably slide around a lot. Still, I doubt people would think it was all that wierd, though they might get annoyed with the tapping(this happens to me a lot, pad or no pad).

Good luck finding a good way to fill the time!

[Michael G]

I'm thinking about moving to a city where I'm almost positive I'll have to take mass transit to and from my place of work. Probably around 1 - 1.5 hours total roundtrip. Right now, I'm enjoying the fact that I have extra time in the day to practice drumming since my total commute to/from work is like 25 minutes total. With so little time nowadays, I was wondering if anyone ever brought their practice pad with them on the subway or something? Maybe get some weird looks or something from other people when you whip it out, but it'd be valuable time to knock out practicing you! rudiments or something. You'd have to find a stable to place your pad...hmmm. I'm just a complete multitasker. The thought of just sitting on the subway for over an hour a day without doing anything drives me nuts.

Anyone else have any ideas on how to practice anything drumming related when you're in transit? Thanks!

You won't be playing long until someone asks you to stop. Usually when playing a pad you don't realize how annoying it is to other people, but they hate hearing it, alot.

[Drummer Karl]

You won't be playing long until someone asks you to stop. Usually when playing a pad you don't realize how annoying it is to other people, but they hate hearing it, alot.

I agree. Unfortunatly they do but I can understand them....however I understand, I do. haha
Though: I also take my pad with me when moving but just if I`ve got some free space in that train, bus etc.

And actually it is not too tragical when people ask you to stop practicing on your pad, then I take out my pencil and a sheet of paper. Remember: It`s your friend, write down ideas, licks you heard or developed.

Karl

[ajgdrums722]

Get the pad that straps to your knee. Much lighter and portable and compared to a standard Remo pad...quieter.

[beatsMcGee]

im thinking you might have trouble practicing on a subway train. people are going to get anoyed, but if you dont mind the added attention i say go for it. other things you could do is just knock out some book work (reading etc...) its a damn shame that you would have so much extra time and can't use it for practice on a pad... i say give it a try and see what happens... worst is they ask you to stop,

[7red7]

You could always try one of the Vic Firth or Evans HQ pads like this one...

http://www.guitarcenter.com/shop/product/Evans-Apprentice-Drum-Practice-Pad-?full_sku=443275

I personally own the Vic Firth model of this same type of pad and I find it easy to be in public while practicing on it...It has some weight to it, so sitting still will keep it in place on your lap...I haven't had a problem with it moving around on me...You'll get a bit more bounce than a standard Remo pad with the thick rubber surface, however, that surface keeps your sticking fairly quiet...Public parks, the local coffeehouses, and on our BART trains (which are sort of subway system here in NorCal)...No one has asked me to stop yet, and in fact I've had a couple drummers compliment me on the speed of my Moeller :D

[NUTHA JASON]

you may be arrested for illegal busking.

sometimes the carriages are empty and then its alright.

j

[jayp]

I live in seattle and my current commute is about 2 hours round trip on the local metro... I wouldn't suggest using a pad because after 20 seconds people are going to start getting annoyed so what I do is I bring a pair of sticks and practice playing traditional on my legs, that or I either read or try to work out complicated comping patterns with my hands/feet.

Theres also a little warmup called the "geek technique" that whats his face from onlinedrummer shows. heres a link to the video(I dont personally use this but It works I guess :-\)
http://www.onlinedrummer.com/drum_lesson_video.php?Id=16

[fijjibo]

My practice pad on a stand in my room sound louder to the people downstairs than me playing on a real snare drum.

Explain that.......


I would say that you could flip through Stick Control and then write down adaptations of how you could use them.

[ahum]

If you use the vic firth or hq practice pads, I don't imagine you'd get any complaints unless someone was right next to you. Those pads are A LOT quieter than the remo pads. And you don't really need a stand with those pads because they're big and heavy enough to set on your lap. It probably depends on how quiet or noisy the train is.

[GRUNTERSDAD]

you may be arrested for illegal busking.

sometimes the carriages are empty and then its alright.

j

Thank you Wikipedia. I had to look up Busking.

[rockinrider]

I bought this pad years ago. The brand name was "KEN". I used this pad for years when I worked in an office.



I found this online:
http://store.drumbum.com/sku-A-92.html

[DestinationDrumming]

You won't be playing long until someone asks you to stop. Usually when playing a pad you don't realize how annoying it is to other people, but they hate hearing it, alot.

That's one of the benefits of the London tube system - people ignore you all the time except for when you do something they don't like - then they ignore you even more!

[fijjibo]

That's one of the benefits of the London tube system - people ignore you all the time except for when you do something they don't like - then they ignore you even more!

Yeah - Its the only place on earth where a man can fall down a 60 foot escalator and no-one even runs to help him.

[DestinationDrumming]

Being from 'uup north' I love visiting London so I can engage as many people in conversation on the tube as I can ;-) The amazing thing is that many of them love to have a good old natter so I imagine the drumming practice will keep them amused for hours!

[bluesquaresound]

I'm so temped to practice on long flights as well, but I don't, unless I have the whole row to myself and then I just quietly tap rhythms on my knees. Maybe it's because I'm a drummer, but I immediately notice anyone else tapping their feet or hands and it drives me crazy.
I do spend a lot of time writing out songs though when I'm commuting.
JD

[SantiBanks]

Maybe it's because I'm a drummer, but I immediately notice anyone else tapping their feet or hands and it drives me crazy.
JD

Thats maybe because you notice that the person doing it doesn't have any feel for rhythm and that really annoys...

[jayp]

Thats maybe because you notice that the person doing it doesn't have any feel for rhythm and that really annoys...

I look at their hands and try to distinguish if they are a drummer or not by seeing if the actual patterns are rudiments :P

[JCM]

Same here, I get annoyed when someone taps out of time and it is obvious there is no head or tail to what they are doing.