How do you practice?

[User Name]

What does your normal, everyday practice consist of?

[AveyTare]

i'm also curious. i still don't know how to practice properly.

[Alex Luce]

I think you need to make two assumptions before you start practicing at all:

You love music and that is why you started playing drums in the first place; and,
You acquired the correct form (a good drum stroke) before you started practicing, much like a golfer would learn a golf swing before he started hitting balls.

Assuming those factors are in place, their are two schools of thought for practicing:

Play the music, and when you run across technique problems, work on the specific technique related to that problem until it is solved.
Practice a multitude of technique exercises so you will already have the technical ability when it comes time to play the music.


Number 2 above will require a lot more time than number 1. At my advanced age (44), I really don't have much time for number 2 anymore, so I spend most of my time doing number 1.

A combination of both schools of thought is probably best, but you definitely don't want to go overboard on number 2, practicing technique for technique's sake. There is no joy in that. If you want to have fun, play the music...the reason you started playing the drums in the first place...I hope!

Alex

[AveyTare]

well, i'm still not sure whether my technique is at least correct.

[Alex Luce]

well, i'm still not sure whether my technique is at least correct.

I assume you when you say "technique" you are talking about your form (physical approach to the drums).

I saw in a previous post that you own Dom Famularo's book. Did you go through his exercises? If so, did it help or hurt your playing? I would be interested in knowing.

Thanks.

[Bossa Nova]

A combination of both schools of thought is probably best, but you definitely don't want to go overboard on number 2, practicing technique for technique's sake. There is no joy in that. If you want to have fun, play the music...the reason you started playing the drums in the first place...I hope!

Alex

I see this alot on here, people discouraging structured, boring technique work. All the great musicians in the world have had times in their lives when all they did was focus on what they could not play and went through whatever technique exercises they had to, to get the technique under their skin. This is the exact opposite of practicing technique for technique's sake. It is practicing technique so that you don't have to struggle to express yourself musically. I love boring, technical practice b/c it makes me a better musician. There is joy in undertaking discipline in any art form, b/c it makes you adequately prepared to express yourself. If you fail to play with emotion when the time comes, that's a separate issue, but I can't believe that you can go overboard on technical practice. John Coltrane practiced 14 hours a day. Jimi slept with his guitar.

If you see someone who plays "too technical" or without emotion, it's not because their technical prowess suffocated their ability to play with feeling. There are many musicians that get too caught up in their technical abilities, true... but there are also alot of really sloppy players out there. If you really love music, you will make the sacrifice to spend the mind-numbing hours it takes to become a real player, just as every great musician has. If it's tedious and boring, it's probably working.

To answer the original question, my everyday practice consists of doing an hour or two of Stick Control, two or three hours of Ted Reed's syncopation, then I break down/work on some difficult Latin, Afro-Cuban, Rock grooves that I want to learn. Within each area, I usually try to start with the most difficult stuff that I can play without struggling to sort of warm up and maintain, then I move on to stuff that I can not play, start slow, and try to get my four limbs to do what I want. How many hours total I practice has to do with how early I can get up, how mentally-able I am on a given day, and if I am working that day.

[maddrummr]

Heres my practice break-down

Warm up (some eights, altering heights, changing tempo.)

Rudimental fun. (turn on some music and just mess around with the rudiments. Play your favorite song and put some flams paradiddles drags or whatever. Its fun because its all improv and your making your own chops.

Rudimental exercises. (yea stuff out of a book)

Mess around the set for a little warm up

My self-lesson (if i'm trying to learn a beat its the time to break it down and practice slowly)

Play-along with my favorite songs.

More messing around till i'm hungry.

[Alex Luce]

I see this alot on here, people discouraging structured, boring technique work. All the great musicians in the world have had times in their lives when all they did was focus on what they could not play and went through whatever technique exercises they had to, to get the technique under their skin. This is the exact opposite of practicing technique for technique's sake. It is practicing technique so that you don't have to struggle to express yourself musically. I love boring, technical practice b/c it makes me a better musician. There is joy in undertaking discipline in any art form, b/c it makes you adequately prepared to express yourself. If you fail to play with emotion when the time comes, that's a separate issue, but I can't believe that you can go overboard on technical practice. John Coltrane practiced 14 hours a day. Jimi slept with his guitar.

If you see someone who plays "too technical" or without emotion, it's not because their technical prowess suffocated their ability to play with feeling. There are many musicians that get too caught up in their technical abilities, true... but there are also alot of really sloppy players out there. If you really love music, you will make the sacrifice to spend the mind-numbing hours it takes to become a real player, just as every great musician has. If it's tedious and boring, it's probably working.

To answer the original question, my everyday practice consists of doing an hour or two of Stick Control, two or three hours of Ted Reed's syncopation, then I break down/work on some difficult Latin, Afro-Cuban, Rock grooves that I want to learn. Within each area, I usually try to start with the most difficult stuff that I can play without struggling to sort of warm up and maintain, then I move on to stuff that I can not play, start slow, and try to get my four limbs to do what I want. How many hours total I practice has to do with how early I can get up, how mentally-able I am on a given day, and if I am working that day.

Like I said, there are two schools of thought, and apparently you are from school # 2--and you have that kind of time to practice--more power to you, bro.

The argument between the two schools is probably as old as nature vs. nurture, and I would rather not get sucked into it. Personally, I prefer a balance, but I have also had my share of days of long practice sessions, and I enjoyed every minute of it. However with a wife and kid, those kind of days are now far and few between for me.

Regards,

Alex

[AveyTare]

I assume you when you say "technique" you are talking about your form (physical approach to the drums).

I saw in a previous post that you own Dom Famularo's book. Did you go through his exercises? If so, did it help or hurt your playing? I would be interested in knowing.

Thanks.

yes, i'm talking about the grip, posture, seat height... the fact that i know how it should look like doesn't mean it looks the way i want.

yes, i do own Dom Famularo's book. but i'm practicing for Stick Control at the moment.

BUT... within next days, i'm going to the teacher who lives really very close to me. i've heard he's the best out there and there's no more than 10 minutes for me to get to him :) i hope he will point me out things i need to correct.

[Vinnysimmo]

My practice routine is half an hour of singles and doubles at different tempos.
Any time i play drums after that is just playing around with stuff, sometimes with a metronome.

[Jimothy]

It does depend on what time you have to practise and where you actually wanna get to.

With limited time then concentrate on simple technique, i.e. improving your strikes, the bounce etc. Try and make everything feel comfy.

With oodles of time then yeah work through every damn book or dvd you can. Play to tracks and try to immitate how the drummers on those tracks play them (or improve)
Push yourself to break barriers even if it brings a tear to the eye and makes you wanna drop the sticks and go have a pint. Persistance pays!


Me..well I don't need to practise...I'm naturally good

I wish!!! :-)