How to improve?

Justkiller91

Junior Member
Hey there, im new on drummerworld ive been playing for about 5 years now and i have a question i need answered.

The thing is i started playing when i was 10 years old started off with a good 2 years of lessons. I found out that when at these lessons i wasn't actually learning anything at all after about 3-5 months of the same basics i stopped taking lessons. I just gave up on myself and didn't touch my kit for a good year then i came back to playing. Ive tried all sorts of things in the past year trying to improve my drumming but all i seem to be able to do is fall into that same stupid plain beat i played back when i was taking lessons. Its like im stuck in a rut of some sort and i need help getting out. So im asking you all this, What can i do to get out of the rut and improve.
 
go back to the learning part, learn to transcript and hand order and then start listening to music and try to do what the drumer is doing.
aspecially go back to your teacher.
 
Whether drumming or anything else,you have to stop what you are doing ,take inventory of where you are deficient and determine what needs changing. I would advise you to face your biggest fear,conquer your largest enemy,tackle the biggest problem first, like David and Goliath. This could be learning to read rythmic notation,working on independence,slowly building speed,etc. Commit yourself to the process,routinely work on it,and don't set a time frame . Keep chipping away at it and the largest sequoia will fall.
I began learning to read Hebrew at 54 , and 4.5 years later am able to do it (on some level) so in theory no dog is too old-no trick too new.
 
Welcome to Drummerworld. You seem to have the same problem as a lot of people. It is possible that you and your teacher did not "click". My suggestion is to find a teacher that is experienced both in performing and teaching. Call a few teachers and talk to them for a while. Find one who will give you a complete education - reading and technique on snare drum - styles, coordination, and chart reading on drum set. Without a teacher, you will most likely continue the rut you are in now.

Let us know what area you are in and one of us might be able to recommend a good teacher for you.

Jeff
 
Hey there, im new on drummerworld ive been playing for about 5 years now and i have a question i need answered.

The thing is i started playing when i was 10 years old started off with a good 2 years of lessons. I found out that when at these lessons i wasn't actually learning anything at all after about 3-5 months of the same basics i stopped taking lessons. I just gave up on myself and didn't touch my kit for a good year then i came back to playing. Ive tried all sorts of things in the past year trying to improve my drumming but all i seem to be able to do is fall into that same stupid plain beat i played back when i was taking lessons. Its like im stuck in a rut of some sort and i need help getting out. So im asking you all this, What can i do to get out of the rut and improve.

Welcome to drummerworld!

You aren't the only drummer stuck in a rut! It happens to us all! What you have to understand about the basics is that they are everything you will build off of. Michael Jordan was/is the King of Basketball because he had such master of the basics, they were always present in his thinking!

I think one of the things is that you have to be honest with yourself and your motivations. What are your goals? How do you get motivated? What inspires you?

My story was, that if I wanted to be a professional drummer, that I was going to have to take my game up a level! So you have both my goals wrapped up in one sentence - I wanted to be a professional drummer, i.e. - I wanted my primary source of income to come from drumming. This meant that I had to do some things that I didn't really want to do - like learning to play to a click track or learning the Purdie shuffle or leaning to be a better reader or many different musical notations. When I started doing these things, I noticed that, not only did I have a better understanding of what I desired to do, I found that I liked more music than I ever thought I would and a whole new universe exploded right before my eyes! The universe is something of a journey which I will never complete; it is just too broad and filled with too many interesting nooks and cranies to explore!

One thing is for you to start gravitating both to and from what you like and know! Download a Tito Puente song! You are of the tech-savy generation; being technically proficient is really hard for some of us!!

I have a few students like yourself who maybe haven't had the motivation or the vision to see past just what you are learning. After a few months, they are ready to learn as much as they can! Keeping your goals and objectives in mind as you practice will help you go beyond what you currently know. Also, I have several resources on my website to help you get going in the right direction, if you are game!

Here again, I usually try to keep my replies short and to the point but your question seemed so broad, I hope I haven't gone into overkill!


Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
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http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
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http://www.facebook.com/mike.mccraw
 
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Hey there, im new on drummerworld ive been playing for about 5 years now and i have a question i need answered.

The thing is i started playing when i was 10 years old started off with a good 2 years of lessons. I found out that when at these lessons i wasn't actually learning anything at all after about 3-5 months of the same basics i stopped taking lessons. I just gave up on myself and didn't touch my kit for a good year then i came back to playing. Ive tried all sorts of things in the past year trying to improve my drumming but all i seem to be able to do is fall into that same stupid plain beat i played back when i was taking lessons. Its like im stuck in a rut of some sort and i need help getting out. So im asking you all this, What can i do to get out of the rut and improve.

Hi and welcome to DW.

I have a number of younger students and have found that although I would like them all to spend time practicing, often this does not happen. In an ideal world a student would practice the lesson so that at the next lesson we could then move forward to the next. But the world is not ideal.

Lessons with a good teacher are invaluable, but it is a two way street. Often a student will take a lesson, go home and throw it in a corner and play along with his or her favorite record instead. This is a shame because a good teacher has a plan for the student to follow that will offer the best results. As a general rule one is not concentrating on the accuracy of one's 16th note subdivision while playing along with a record. Unlike working with a metronome and an exercise.

Again I am not saying this was your situation. I do not know you. I simply offer it as something I have seen quite regularly.
 
Hey there, im new on drummerworld ive been playing for about 5 years now and i have a question i need answered.

The thing is i started playing when i was 10 years old started off with a good 2 years of lessons. I found out that when at these lessons i wasn't actually learning anything at all after about 3-5 months of the same basics i stopped taking lessons. I just gave up on myself and didn't touch my kit for a good year then i came back to playing. Ive tried all sorts of things in the past year trying to improve my drumming but all i seem to be able to do is fall into that same stupid plain beat i played back when i was taking lessons. Its like im stuck in a rut of some sort and i need help getting out. So im asking you all this, What can i do to get out of the rut and improve.

dvds can be a good way to take in some knowledge while trying to find a teacher that works for you. tommy igoe's "groove essentials" dvd's are great, come with charts and tracks and cover a range of things - might be good to check out. and also jojo mayer's secret weapons, great for your hands.

listening to as much music across many styles can help aswell. trying to play what you hear will help you improve once someone guides you through the basic language of that style.

i think early on, or when faced with a situation like you have now, a teacher is great to help assess you, give you goals and help you acheive them.if your practise is based on short and long terms goals, replacing the short term ones as you acheive them, you'll avoid any periods of time without direction.

under a good teacher over time you'll gain enough tools to get yourself out of whatever rut or plateu you face in the future.

to me a good teacher should inspire you, be encouraging and positive about your playing and development and be able to answer any questions you have and encourage you to ask them.
 
Do you read music? If you don't read music or rather drum notation... you should learn right away... then being able to read, you should get some books with different grooves in them and expand your vocabulary of grooves to include many different ones. Try finding ones that are completely different from what you usually play to experience different styles and stuff.
Taking lessons would be good for you... but make sure you find someone that is good and will work with you on different stuff.
We all get stuck in ruts though... where every groove sounds the same and is just like what you describe... you just need to work past it.
 
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