Playing the drums and stuff.

eddiehimself

Platinum Member
So i have recently decided to pick up the sticks but i've been playing the guitar for nigh on 4 years now. I'm still not very good compared to the people i hear on recordings and stuff and it just makes me wonder, will i ever be anything like as good as the people i hear if i just practice a lot or are these people in famous bands simply natural freaks just like olympic athletes but at music and they were just born to be ridiculously good at what they do? Will I ever get the chance to make it or am I just not cut out for that sort of thing? Should this be in general drum discussion or the off-topic thread? Sorry maybe i'm going on but i hope you understand what i mean and maybe you can give me your thoughts on the subject?
 
Just practice. That's all I can say. You will get better.
I will say that it's awkward getting your footing when starting to play the drums so just take your time. Check out different techniques, rudiments, grooves and fills. I'd say the first thing you should do, is learn a simple beat and play along with the radio. DON'T FORGET MUSICALITY!!!!





...it's important...I think...



...also, this post is a little stupid...i don't really know how good you will be...



...what am I? a mind reader....?



...Is this thing still on?...
 
I'm still not very good compared to the people i hear on recordings and stuff and it just makes me wonder, will i ever be anything like as good as the people i hear?

i still think that and i've been playing for years!

remember, those guys on the recordings are pros. all they do is play drums. to get to the point where their band gets signed by a label and they get to make a commercial cd on someone else's dime they have to prove themselves by playing a million shows and building up a big following. in other words, those drummers have played A LOT, and it shows.

but there's no reason why you couldn't do the same thing. no one can stop you.
 
i completely agree with dairyairman
i feel the same way about my playing.
i gig quite a bit but at every show i find another drummer who just blows me away
all with practice eventually you will be as good as they guy you thought you could never match ;)
 
I agree with everyone here. Those guys on the radio have drummed A LOT. I think that everytime I pick up the sticks and start to practice. Will I ever sound like those guys on the radio / CDs?

Then I have to remember, those guys have not only practiced and paid their dues, BUT they have also rehearsed with their bands A LOT and what tracks are layed down in the studio come from hours of rehearsals and consultation on what sounds good, works well, fits the song, etc.

And that particular song you worry over "not playing well enough like the original artist" may have had a huge development arc - from concept to writing to lyrics to rehearsals to recording. Weeks, months, even years in development. No wonder that particular drummer's groove can blow you away - he's worked on it a long time.

As has been said: Practice, Practice, Practice!

Good luckl
 
yeah, there are a lot of ways to get better. You deffinitely have to play a lot, but you should also listen to the masters. Peter Erskine is a great person to listen to; Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers, all the greats. But in addition to just listening, you have to pay attention to what theyre doing, and then analyze it and mimic what you like and even be critical of the things that you dont like. then you have to keep up on your rudiments, just on a pad at first and then move that into a drum set so you can build up interdependence and make sure you get all your playing cleaned up. your playing has to be clean. play along with music too. its fun and it helps. Even when you play your rudiments on a pad, just practice them along with music.
 
all that's absolutely true about practicing and paying your dues, but some of those drummers on the recordings have other things going for them too, like studio tricks. to give you an example, my band went to a studio known for producing amazing recordings. i listened to some of their portfolio and was blown away by how perfect the drummers sounded. no matter who was playing, all double bass and other drumming was perfectly solid and in perfect time. everything sounded perfect. then we recorded there. i did not lay down perfect tracks, i'll tell you that straight up. but they assured me that there was no need to play anything over, they'd "fix everything in the mix". the engineer worked on the mix by himself and two days later we got the result. it sounded amazing, just like all the other stuff they'd done. my drumming sounded absolutely solid and perfect, but i knew it wasn't exactly what i'd played. it turned out that they'd run a protools plug in called "beat detective" on all my drumming. beat detective takes every drum note and moves it to the nearest 16th note boundary (or whatever you set) to force everything into perfect time. they'd also compressed the crap out of all my playing so every single note was at maximum volume, including grace notes, which sounded pretty weird to me. i complained, but i'm a lone protesting voice because everybody LOVES my drumming on that recording. i think i sound like a drum machine, but no one cares. so there you have it. that's another reason why drummers sound so incredible on those professional recordings.
 
WOW! Thanks Dairyairman for writing about that. I had no idea they did that. Now it all makes perfect sense.
 
oh yeah. they do all kinds of stuff in the studio. they even have pitch correction plug ins that can automatically fix vocal tracks if the singer is off key. it's amazing. and they can do tons of stuff with your drumming. they can move around individual notes, cut and paste from other parts of the song, completely change your drum sounds. they can even substitute entirely different drum sounds from a drum sample library. it's incredible what can be done!
 
all that's absolutely true about practicing and paying your dues, but some of those drummers on the recordings have other things going for them too, like studio tricks. to give you an example, my band went to a studio known for producing amazing recordings. i listened to some of their portfolio and was blown away by how perfect the drummers sounded. no matter who was playing, all double bass and other drumming was perfectly solid and in perfect time. everything sounded perfect. then we recorded there. i did not lay down perfect tracks, i'll tell you that straight up. but they assured me that there was no need to play anything over, they'd "fix everything in the mix". the engineer worked on the mix by himself and two days later we got the result. it sounded amazing, just like all the other stuff they'd done. my drumming sounded absolutely solid and perfect, but i knew it wasn't exactly what i'd played. it turned out that they'd run a protools plug in called "beat detective" on all my drumming. beat detective takes every drum note and moves it to the nearest 16th note boundary (or whatever you set) to force everything into perfect time. they'd also compressed the crap out of all my playing so every single note was at maximum volume, including grace notes, which sounded pretty weird to me. i complained, but i'm a lone protesting voice because everybody LOVES my drumming on that recording. i think i sound like a drum machine, but no one cares. so there you have it. that's another reason why drummers sound so incredible on those professional recordings.

Dude, I'm sooooo getting Beat Detective for Chanukah.
 
haha i guess your right and yeah i've heard of all that studio stuff i mean i do some recording myself which is one of the things that gets me down, all the song ideas i'd like to get down but i can't because i'd have to set up all my mics and it'd probably sound crap anyway because i'm not the best at drumming. I also hate the fact that i can't seem to record a song all the way through on any instrument even on the guitar which i know some people who have been playing as long as me (or less) and they're a hell of a lot better, to be fair though i suppose that doesn't say how well they'd do in a recording environment. Maybe they wouldn't be as good as me. Who knows? So yeah i guess i just have to practice. So i will.
 
Some people may possess inborn talents or physical characteristics that make them naturally better drummers. But for the most part, great drummers perfected their skills through endless practice and playing.
 
Thanks for all the responses guys. Yeah i suppose certain people must possess certian characteristics that make them good at drumming but no-one is actually like born a drummer or anything. Another thing i just thought of on similar lines is that my mate just met as i lay dying and the drummer gave him the sticks he'd just used at the show, these were big sticks like 5bs or something and he managed to break both of them just in that one set. Another drummer i saw managed to break 3 in one show. How come i can't do that, even with 7a's? I know it's nothing to be proud of or anything but i'd say i was a pretty hard hitter but the worst i managed was about 3 days or something.
 
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Thanks for all the responses guys. Yeah i suppose certain people must possess certian characteristics that make them good at drumming but no-one is actually like born a drummer or anything.

Sorry, but I was a born drummer. I used to drum on little toy drums (which I still have, behind my kit) when I was two, with the pictures to prove it.

Also, when I was little, whenever we went to my grandparent's house, the first thing I would do when we got there was head for the pots and pans.
 
Sorry, but I was a born drummer. I used to drum on little toy drums (which I still have, behind my kit) when I was two, with the pictures to prove it.

Also, when I was little, whenever we went to my grandparent's house, the first thing I would do when we got there was head for the pots and pans.

yes i know a lot of people start from a young age but we all have to start somewhere is what i'm trying to say here.
 
Some people may possess inborn talents or physical characteristics that make them naturally better drummers. But for the most part, great drummers perfected their skills through endless practice and playing.

I'm onboard with this view. All one can do is practice their butt off and see where their own ability takes them. Not everyone can be a Steve Smith or Vinnie Colauita. But even if you don't reach those heights one can still be a very good drummer. There are plenty of drummers out there who don't have nearly the talent of Smith or Colauita but still have managed to make successful careers for themselves.
 
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