Rockband Drums: good practice?

Jonesy

Jonesy

Senior Member
I'm not sure if this thread fits here, but it seems like the best place for it.

I'm just wondering if any of you guys have played the Rockband drums, and if so, what do you think of them?

I've thought about it a fair bit, and here's the benefits I've noticed:
- Increased ability to fill on time.
- Increased single-stroke and double-stroke ability.
- Increased coordination.
- Increased endurance simply from playing it so much.
- Increased exposure to new drumming styles and fills which is helped out by the visual representation of the drums patterns. (this has had the most prominent effect on my playing)

At the very least, if you're gonna spend time playing a video game instead of practicing drums, it might as well be on a game that helps practice drumming techniques.

Let me know what you guys think.
 
I can't Play rock band drums but I can play real drums. Point being, rock band drums are nothing like real drums.
 
Jonesy said:
I'm not sure if this thread fits here, but it seems like the best place for it.

I'm just wondering if any of you guys have played the Rockband drums, and if so, what do you think of them?

I've thought about it a fair bit, and here's the benefits I've noticed:
- Increased ability to fill on time.
- Increased single-stroke and double-stroke ability.
- Increased coordination.
- Increased endurance simply from playing it so much.
- Increased exposure to new drumming styles and fills which is helped out by the visual representation of the drums patterns. (this has had the most prominent effect on my playing)

At the very least, if you're gonna spend time playing a video game instead of practicing drums, it might as well be on a game that helps practice drumming techniques.

Let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...

It's an interesting question. Madden games have actually increased kids' understanding of the game of football, since it's a fairly realistic simulation with real plays and real-time speed.

That said, the Guitar Hero game is a horrible simulation of guitar and, in fact, would ruin your timing. However, the drum game seems better, since you are hitting the thing like you would a drum set.

Any practice is better than none at all.
 
nfiora said:
I can't Play rock band drums but I can play real drums. Point being, rock band drums are nothing like real drums.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, I never said that the rockband drums are similar to playing drums; it leaves out the important parts like dynamics and total 4 way coordination. I mean that some parts of playing rockdrums are important in real drumming.
 
I think it would be helpful. I've only played it once, but I felt little difference between playing the rock band drums and playing on a practice pad kit. One weird thing was hitting the crash where a floor tom would normally be. Also, the drum parts in rock band can be different from the actual song. But yeah, I can see it being decent practice. I mean you're hitting the sticks on rebounding surfaces, and you are working on things like timing. It's certainly much closer to playing the drums than the rock band guitar is to real guitar.
 
I am also terrible at rock band but good a regular drums and I definitely think it can help your single-strokes....I never really thought of it that way either....
 
Disco Stu said:
I think it would be helpful. I've only played it once, but I felt little difference between playing the rock band drums and playing on a practice pad kit. One weird thing was hitting the crash where a floor tom would normally be. Also, the drum parts in rock band can be different from the actual song. But yeah, I can see it being decent practice. I mean you're hitting the sticks on rebounding surfaces, and you are working on things like timing. It's certainly much closer to playing the drums than the rock band guitar is to real guitar.
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yeah the game could improve all the things previously discussed + hand eye cordination

but the only bad thing is if your trying to learn a song from the game the charts are often time not all that similar to the actual notes for the song
 
JanoHatesDrumming said:
yeah the game could improve all the things previously discussed + hand eye cordination

but the only bad thing is if your trying to learn a song from the game the charts are often time not all that similar to the actual notes for the song
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True, sometimes they screw up.
The green pad is designated as a crash, but sometimes its played as a floor tom. WTF?
The only constant, is the snare (red).
 
LeeLovesSabian said:
True, sometimes they screw up.
The green pad is designated as a crash, but sometimes its played as a floor tom. WTF?
The only constant, is the snare (red).
Click to expand...

yeah and also on run to the hills and the hand that feeds the charts are nothing like the actual song
 
LeeLovesSabian said:
True, sometimes they screw up.
The green pad is designated as a crash, but sometimes its played as a floor tom. WTF?
The only constant, is the snare (red).
Click to expand...

well you only got 4 pads, some pads gotta change depending on what you're playing. All the pads change at some points during songs, the red pad is used when you gotta do quick 16ths on the hi hat for songs like run to the hills.
 
LeeLovesSabian said:
I dont know about the hand that feeds, but on Run to the Hills, yeah.
The red pad is used as the hats, and the yellow is the snare.
Thats the complete opposite of what its supposed to be.
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think about it...your not gonna play the hats on the yellow and have to cross over just to hit the snare on the red pad. they do that to make it easier and not just plain impossible.
 
None have read the Modern Drummer article about teachers noticing increase of skills improvement when students used Rockband at home ?

IMHO, it should probably help getting better, I cant see why it wouldn't help...
 
Well, didn't read all the posts nor have I had a chance to play Rockband drums. But, it would seem to me that it would help get the idea of rhythm and playing along to a song instead of just playing a drum solo.

It would also be VERY cool if the Rockband drums came with a metronome wired to a hot plate that you sit on so when you drift it shocks the hell outa' ya!!! Now there's an idea. You would straighten up that "clock" right directly wouldn't you son?
 
As far as speed, accuracy, etc. Playing on a pillow works fine, but I am not sure how you can double on a rock band drum set...I think I can pull off a multiple bounce, but the drums really don't have much rebound at all. oh...or were you not talking about rolls and just doubles in general?
 
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Essentially it's metronome training. A lot of people here don't regularly practice with a metronome - well, Rockband drums are just that; an objective metronome with a song underneath. Of course it's going to train your timing and maybe some co-ordination too. Not your technique, however. Give it a couple of years and there will be court cases about Rockband drums and a link with RSI.
 
Nodiggie said:
Well, didn't read all the posts nor have I had a chance to play Rockband drums. But, it would seem to me that it would help get the idea of rhythm and playing along to a song instead of just playing a drum solo.

It would also be VERY cool if the Rockband drums came with a metronome wired to a hot plate that you sit on so when you drift it shocks the hell outa' ya!!! Now there's an idea. You would straighten up that "clock" right directly wouldn't you son?
Click to expand...

Hahaha, yeah, that would definitely teach your inner clock who's boss.

And as for the rebound issues, there are a lot of mods out now that have the sole intention of increasing the bounce the sticks get off the pads. They're expensive, but they're really helpful.

As someone alluded to already, I think playing rockband drums would be a great practice supplement for a beginner who has a teacher as well; It'll give them a chance to practice their grip/strike/coordination.
 
I have played it a few times, and my observations are that it could help you improve your timing. If you are a VERY beginner drummer, it might help you with fills and stuff, but nothing on there is something that anyone beyond their first year or two on the kit shouldn't be able to do anyway.

My biggest concern is that people will see it as a game, and not use proper technique. Even drummers who normally use proper technique will not do so while playing this game, and it will make their technique worse. If a person doesn't let this happen, that's great!
 
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