What to do when you don't know what to do when your trying to play drums?

Find a muse.

Thought this thread was going to be about what do you do if it happens in the middle of a song, my answer to that is usually buzz rolls or a 4/4 ride/snare beat.

Yes, try to listen to as many styles of music as possible, find out what inspires you.

Sometimes at the beginning of a practice session I don't know where to start, so I usually
just start jamming a simple groove or motivic idea on the toms. Most times it'll come.
 
One of my bands we never get a responce from the bassist so at the moment as bassistless and the other band we've just finished a gig so we'll be practicing soon. The other band is a school jazz band which hasn't been on for 4 months. My dad also cancelled drum lessons and I never get to learn anything new, so I'm kind of just improvising drum beats in different time sigs at the moment and using different techniques. But that's all I really have and when I just want to play something I have nothing to do on drums, not many song suggestions or anything.
I don't know, but it sounds to me like you might need a short break. There are times where I will go to play my drums only to stop 10-15 minutes later because I'm just not feeling it. But I'll do that like 3-4 days in a row! Unfortunately, this results in a little bit of depression which causes me to not play for a week or 2. However, when I go back after that short break, I feel it again and have several new things to "say" with my drums and I end up having a very fun little solo session.

So I think what might be happening is you might need to take a break in order to store up some new things to say on your drums.

I used to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien mostly just to see Max Weinberg play. I still remember a show where, from the very first note of the opening theme song, I noticed that the entire band sounded more enthusiastic than usual. Max even played a few things that he normally never really played before during this opening theme song. Even Conan noticed! As soon as the band finished the opening theme song, he made some comment about the band sounding different (like more energetic, or "zippy" or something - I can't remember his joke). Max replied that it was because it was the first day back from their 1-week vacation during which Max didn't play his drums at all. I remember that even though he was joking back with Conan, he got serious for a second and very briefly explained in just a few words that sometimes taking a break renews your enthusiasm.

But if you can't take a break, then I guess all I would be able to recommend is that you may need to stop trying. A good friend of mine once told me, "Tim! Don't make it happen; let it happen!" We were trying to write a song, and I kept having problems playing because I kept trying too hard.
 
When I find myself lagging, I put on one of my hundreds of concert DVDs and I get inspired in a real hurry.
 
Take dance lessons ( no I'm not kidding )

You'll use your body is new and very different ways.

That will then translate over into your playing.

Plus, chicks dig it ;)

An interesting suggestion. Could be worth looking into, except for the fact past attempts at dancing have landed up horribly
 
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