What do you still want to learn?

bermuda

Drummerworld Pro Drummer - Administrator
Staff member
You can ask even the most accomplished drummer if they know it all, and they'll always say there's still more to learn. This question is for the drummers here who have been playing a few years and are perhaps not taking lessons anymore - what is it that you feel you need, or want to learn? Maybe it's a particular technique or exploring a genre, or getting professional direction on a percussion instrument.

There are a LOT of things I could stand to work on, but I feel particularly remiss on my brushwork. That is, I play brushes like the average rock drummer, by stirring the soup. It was never something I felt like pursuing before, but after 40+ years of playing professionally, I finally had to use brushes on a regular gig. I'm not terrible at it, but some technique training would definitely help me sound smoother and play with more confidence.

And just for fun, I'd also like to learn Gospel (Motown) tambourine. I know it's just hitting the accents, but I need someone to show me. :)

Bermuda
 
Great thread Mr Shwatz!

I also would like to get better at my brushwork. I use them every week at this church gig but nothing fancy, slow ballads, swish on 2 and 4 or slow waltz, swish on the 1. I remember seeing a small Jazz group at a hotel in Flagstaff and the kid played the whole gig on a snare with brushes. I'd love to be that good.

I love the trading 4's thing that really proficient Jazz cats can whip out. I'd love to be able to do that in a trio setting.

I'm also on the fence about building some double bass chops. Won't do me a whole lot of good with the bands I play with but it looks like fun.
 
Ya nice brushwork is great to hear and watch.I never knew that Tamb style was named 'gospel'.
I personally would like to learn fast, solid, evenly-spaced, one-handed 16th notes, push-pull, ala Gadson or Porcaro. I work at this forever, going nowhere, but I push on.
 
For me it’s limb independence. Not because it’s something new that I want to learn, but because it is something that I continuously work on. To me, it’s the Holy Grail of drumming - the thing that elevates you’re playing like nothing else.
 
The next song we decide to work on. I learn stuff that I need to do the gig. Not being a pro drummer I follow the Benny Grebb philosophy of using what I need, and acquiring new technique when the song dictates and time allows.
 
for me it's always "emergency" (or endurance) chops: like being about to play relaxed 16ths at 96 for "i keep forgettin' ". so realistically 100 bpm for 5 minutes, super relaxed.

and i want to play bass more...but always run out of time.
 
I want to learn fun and cool fills while playing a train beat that does take away from the feel of the song.
 
I have only played for 2 years and my main peeve is speed on the hats and ride...

Oh.. and odd times.... Odd times throw me off way to easily.. but only cause i don't practice them. No one to blame but me :)
 
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The only thing I want to learn still is.....everything. Sigh.

I'm having fun, coming back to gigging in my mid 50's after 20 years off. So my technique and skill isn't terribly well accomplished. I can keep time tho, for the most part :)

Always trying to learn something. If I get even a little better on just one thing each time I play, its a good thing.
 
Brushes for me too. Considering taking some lessons locally on brushes and also improving my jazz ride playing.

The other thing would be beat displacement. I have Gavin's first DVD on the subject and I just never jumped in and really tried to work through it. Probably because I rarely have a music situation in which to use it.
 
Rather than list things, I figure that my total aggregate drumming knowledge, is about 1/10th of

0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%

of what is available.

And I'm not trying to boast or anything :)

It's like trying to drink the amount of water in the Atlantic Ocean in your lifetime, it will never happen.
 
So, so many things.. blindingly fast single strokes... soloing over a very fast samba pattern.. more to do on Latin.. lots of stuff that I will probably never use per se (but make you a better player in other aspects)

but more than anything I need to learn imagination (if that's learnable) throw up a chart and I can play it, open a page of a book and I can knock it out pretty quickly.
But give me a blank sheet and say go and apart from the same old same old I give a blank look back.
 
So, so many things.. blindingly fast single strokes... soloing over a very fast samba pattern.. more to do on Latin.. lots of stuff that I will probably never use per se (but make you a better player in other aspects)

but more than anything I need to learn imagination (if that's learnable) throw up a chart and I can play it, open a page of a book and I can knock it out pretty quickly.
But give me a blank sheet and say go and apart from the same old same old I give a blank look back.[/QUOTE]

Can you "learn" to be a natural?

I know next to nothing about "technique" or formal drum learning. Ask me to read drum music and I am red faced with lack of knowledge, but I have been told I am an intuitive and inventive drummer and I have no problem improvising over almost anything. Horses for courses.
 
I'd like to get my arms around some of those crazy fusion fills.

But in reality, what I'm practicing after a couple years of taking no gigs, is the basics. Lifetime warm-up, Rod Morgenstein's book, soloing over a samba pattern, rudiments with the feet, that sort of thing.
 
Brush work, but mostly for my own enjoyment and low-volume practice. I also want to learn better open handed playing and develop that a lot more.
 
for me it's always "emergency" (or endurance) chops: like being about to play relaxed 16ths at 96 for "i keep forgettin' ". so realistically 100 bpm for 5 minutes, super relaxed.

and i want to play bass more...but always run out of time.

Check my username for a fix for that problem. LOL

But seriously, Jojo Mayer's DVD is pretty good for teaching the push-pull stroke.
 
Brushwork, incorporating electronics in a way that's innovative and helps the song, learning to swing harder, continuing to improve on halftime shuffles.
 
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