How long before your first play along?

kicksare4ribs

kicksare4ribs

Junior Member
I am a new drummer (almost 7 days practice!) and was curious about some of the training material that was pushing play alongs.

As I mentioned I have trained for 7 days now,and you see my progress( or lack of) through my live drumming practice video journals and updates, but I still can't keep up with a slow play along.

So I'm curious if that is one track with others (learning all the basics like rudiments before drumming along), or if most people jumped right in to songs first flailing to keep up. WHat's your thoughts?
 
apparently i used to always jam to MJ when i was like 7, so i'd say whenever you want
i mean if you want to play with music, then play with music

you can practice rudiments and stuff over the top, just use the songs as a backing track. makes things less boring
metrenome
 
kicksare4ribs said:
I am a new drummer (almost 7 days practice!) and was curious about some of the training material that was pushing play alongs.

As I mentioned I have trained for 7 days now,and you see my progress( or lack of) through my live drumming practice video journals and updates, but I still can't keep up with a slow play along.

So I'm curious if that is one track with others (learning all the basics like rudiments before drumming along), or if most people jumped right in to songs first flailing to keep up. WHat's your thoughts?
Click to expand...

Your blog seems quite involved, please take no offense to this(I understand some people really enjoy blogs) but if you spent all the time on your drumming, instead of typing about drumming interests, you'd progress much faster!

Just some food for thought, again I don't mean to sound..aggressive?

Honestly, if you have a smart phone, download a metronome, or get one online for computer, or just go out and buy one.

Secondly, headphones. (nice, but not 100% necessary)

Thirdly, comfortable sticks and a nice drum pad.

Fourth, Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone.

All those combined and 6 months later you'll be a completely different drummer. The book is only a suggestion, not a necessity, but I highly recommend it. The metronome is 100% necessary. And although a drum pad isn't 100% necessary, I found that the additional rebound helped me find my balance and stride much better when first starting out.

Good luck and Godspeed!


*edit* One thing that I caught on to late, that I hope to pass on to every new member of the drumming community; while practice rudiments, beats, patterns ANYTHING! Keep time with your feet. I like to use my feet, alternative quarter and eigth notes while playing my rudiments/patterns in sixteenths. What you gain from this is, not having to essentially start over once you start working on any level of syncopation. I found while my hands were progressing rapidly, my ability to play alternating patterns between my feet and hands became very poor.

Even if you just keep time with one foot. It's night and day down the road.

Code: 
 R L R R L R L L 
 K       K

In the above example you are playing a simple paradiddle, and you are playing on the downbeat with your foot.


Once you're able to perform simple rudiments as such, you'll be able to play along to MANY songs! There are so many simple drum patterns out there, that really sound great! And you'll have a great start to many of them.
 
There is no set timeline for learning drums. Just have fun.

I did just a practice pad for 6 months before moving to a kit. Learning coordination on the kit can take a while at first.

Just have fun!

The blog is a cool idea. It seams like a good way of tracking your progress. Nothing wrong with keeping a practice log.
 
A year in and I havent really focused on nailing an entire song but can bash and fill along with easier music (acdc).

Learn the rudiments and get your hands up to speed with a metronome. That is the foundation. The indepoendence between limbs will come with time and practice but it will come much faster if your hands are already there (easily play single strokes clean fast and even, doubles same way and paradiddles).

Sounds simplistic but it really is true.
 
my drum teacher had me learning songs from day one, actually it was a couple of weeks in, 1 lesson a week. he picked songs that were very basic and went along with what i was learning so i got to use what i was learning in context. not just mindlessly going through the same thing.

granted it was fun and i think i learned more & faster that way, but i now have an even deeper dislike for weezer and green day now.....
 
I've been playing songs, or at least attempting to, from the beginning. It's not something my teacher assigns, just music I enjoy. I also don't attempt to play the exact drum parts, mostly a basic beat and a couple of simple fills. I always practice my lessons first and then finish with just some fun playing along to whatever. My teacher encourages it and is always willing to give me advice on parts I'm having trouble with. Go for it...just dont forget to keep on learning all of basics along with it.

Happy drumming!
 
iontheable said:
Your blog seems quite involved, please take no offense to this(I understand some people really enjoy blogs) but if you spent all the time on your drumming, instead of typing about drumming interests, you'd progress much faster!

Just some food for thought, again I don't mean to sound..aggressive?
Click to expand...

Haha, you didn't sound aggressive, but like mcbike mentions it is a way for me to keep a practice log, and share some updates with the family members who helped chip in for the set.

My day job is software development, and my hobby (other than drumming!) is web design and such, so it turns out to be a nice way to encourage me to practice ( and long enough to show some progress).


All the other advice is very good, sounds like I can try and play along, but shouldn't be concerned if i can't yet.

It's funny you mentioned the foot keeping the beat thing. I was working on that tonight (day 8) to help me do some fills that were too fast for me to keep a 1234 count in my head. A 1, 3 beat on the kick drum helped me jump right back in.
 
kicksare4ribs said:
I am a new drummer (almost 7 days practice!) and was curious about some of the training material that was pushing play alongs.

As I mentioned I have trained for 7 days now,and you see my progress( or lack of) through my live drumming practice video journals and updates, but I still can't keep up with a slow play along.

So I'm curious if that is one track with others (learning all the basics like rudiments before drumming along), or if most people jumped right in to songs first flailing to keep up. WHat's your thoughts?
Click to expand...


Kicks, this is a good question.

Back in the days of vaudeville, there were three percussionists in a fully staffed pit orchestra, these being the cymbalist, the snare drummer, and the bass drummer, who also played one or more tom toms for jungle or indian music.

What I am getting at is that since it is the keeping-up here which seems to be he focus, you might want to think about just focusing on one instrument at a time until you have that instrument up to speed.

After all, you are trying to do the work of three musicians, and that is not an easy thing to do!
.
 
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kicksare4ribs said:
Do you mean some other drummers, or more instruments like some buddies on bass or the git'box?

By the way nice videos! Especially the jazz play, that is my a major objective of mine.
Click to expand...

bassists/guitarists/pianists
 
I've never had a lesson in my life. I went straight into developing beats and learned fills from playing along to simple rock n' roll like the Scorpions Blackout album. Herman Rarebell was my drum instructor. Actually, I learned the most from jamming with others. I never learned the rudiments properly and now after 30 years I'm finding out where my flaws are as a drummer. There's no way I could properly teach another person. After all these years, I'm finally starting to learn my rudiments properly. That's the only way I can advance my playing now.
 
I was shown the 'money' beat - straight 8ths by my Dad when I was 9. As soon as I got the basic coordination down on went Billie Jean. If I tried a fill he just rewound the tape and said 'start again'!

Maybe not that tune (if you're not keen on it), but find something that just holds down something simple, and not too fast.

It's a good way of making your basic groove 'solid'.
 
The way I see it, if the playalong doesn't complain about your playing then you'll be fine :)

I started playing along with music immediately. On the other hand, Tristan Fry from the band Sky spent (I think) four years having lessons and working out hard on a pad before ever playing a drum set.

I am a local no name. He is a renowned professional musician. Take your pick as to the most effective approach :)
 
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