Mental Drumming?

[Reverse Gravity]

I was wondering wether anyone share the same experience with me :

I started learning the drums at about 13 yrs old. However I remembered I had the tendecy to tap the cover of text books while readng them in primary school, to create rythms i had in my head.-always got scolded by my teacher for that.

In high school,I drummed my hands on tables more now that I was learning the drums.
In university, boring lectures was a 'practice session' to me. Tapped my fingers, drummed my hands on tables(lightly) and sometimes on my lap.. .sometimes I practiced different rudiments on my legs too...

Now that I am working (3 months now) as an engineer... it was a boring job,that I took 'toilet breaks' occasionaly....locked myself in the toilet, sat on the cubicle, praticed my rudiments with my bare hands and legs :)

Any of you guys share similar experience?
Practicing mentally..i think its a great way to improve too

*I hope I dun sound crazy to any of you**

[NUTHA JASON]

not at all. i drum in my head while showering. there have been many times when i've run downstairs dripping wet and wrapped in a bath towel to try something out on my kit. when the hands and feet are not in the way the mind can wander to strange new areas.

j

[KCDrummer]

I think I do it more with my teeth than with my hands or feet. I wish I could record some of it, my teeth have laid down some funky stuff!

[gusty]

oh man...i tap almost non stop...sometimes i get some good stuff, but i dont know if it actually helps me, since itll just be all ab lib

[drozzy]

I've done all these things, grinding teeth, tapping fingers, thighs and feet...

However since starting work at a music store, i pretty much have a practice pad and sticks going constantly!

[Leadfoot]

I think anyone who does NOT do this is not a true drummer.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Ya, I'm a pretty great mental drummer. If only my limbs could catch up to that skill level. hah!

[mandion]

I find it's better for working out coordination than for chops.I used to work on Stanton Moore beats during class. People who sat in my row finally started asking me to stop because I was shaking the whole row.

[XJ99]

Doesn't sound crazy at all. I think it started when I used to play records on the old console stereo. (I was around 6?) I'd close the lid and have my own little drum set. After that I just kept drumming in my head, with my teeth, fingers, and hands. Matter of fact, I went with out a drum set for so long I think I got better playing with my bare hands. LOL

BTW, I hate when I can't get YYZ out of my head.

[=J=]

Yup, yet again, same here! I never stop tapping, it must look like a nervous thing! I think thats why when you take a break you come back better, youre constantly practicing new stuff on ur knees and teeth :D

[Sirwill]

I drum in my dreams and even use my tongue when my hands and feet are doing things like riding my Motorcycle. I even use the centerline road makers to keep time when riding my motorcycle! We are not freaks, we are timekeepers!

[XJ99]

Originally Posted by Sirwill

I drum in my dreams and even use my tongue when my hands and feet are doing things like riding my Motorcycle. I even use the centerline road makers to keep time when riding my motorcycle!

Oh man I can relate. The helmet provides a certain acoustic advantage when you drum with youre teeth.

We are not freaks, we are timekeepers!

Quoted for truth!

[Johnny from the block]

Same here:)
I tried to stop doing it in class because it was irritating to teachers and fellow students, but I failed, anyway they're all used to it in the mean while.
My mom still isn't and it pisses her off regularly...

Not familiar with the thing you do with your teeth

[badlydubbedsean]

When I hear a beat or a groove that I want to try it sticks in my head until I practice it at home. And I'm forever tapping on table and my chest with my finger, or trying out rudiments on table or something. Just like normal practice to me, only with a different medium!

[GRUNTERSDAD]

I deliver stuff all over the hospital with a small cart. Im better with my hands on the boxes than with my sticks right now. I see people on the elevators nodding their heads to the rhythm at times. A man has to do what a man has to do.

[maddrummr]

TOTALLY!!!
The teeth was all 8th grade though not as much now that im in high school, who knows why. One time i overheard a couple of our snare drummers talking about doing a whole marching show in their biology class. VISUALS AND ALL.

Coincidentally i was doing paradiddles throughout a biology class and WOW they got so much better.
I dont know how I couldnt drum on something during down-time.

[Tenbroya]

I am an obsessive tapper as well. When I tap my fingers most people can stand in, but when I start incorporating feet into the equation people start getting annoyed.

But me and the other guy in my class who drums just move to the back of the class and practice all our favourite stuff.

[Sirwill]

I just got home from the grocery store and was stared at for playing a 32nd beat with three fingers on a can of pizza sauce and a tube of nylon ties! My wife is very accustom too this but the people who stare I'm not shore if they dig the groove or think I have some disorder. In the end they usually have there feet or head bouncing almost in time.

[Mike Firth]

I do alot of tapping in class and some people get anoyying but most people don't care. My girlfriend HATES it and my mom doesn't mind it (at times)

[jollymosher]

im the same way! i get all of my REALLY good ideas from just leting drum beats play in my head, and then adapting them for the kit. maybe us drummers really are nuts!

[remnantdrummer]

I am always playing in my head... tapping... typing in rhythm... I am costantly being hurt and yelled at for it... I thought I was just crazy...

[ldwset05]

At my highschool the lectures on how a worm digests it's food leave plenty of time for mental drumming. I am always drumming in someway. At my school or at my job i'm always tapping. Annoys people but it's a habit. I feel for the mental drummers cause i am one. I see that it is a great way to practice without a drum set. Just doing the rudiments in your head is a way to practice and tapping feel it's a great way if you are away from the drum set and can't get to one or you are just bored in class. Keep mental drumming alive!!

[drummerchick435]

yeah I'm a mental drummer too. One day at lunch in school I was tapping on the table and one of my friend's friends asked me if I had a nervous disorder. lol. We drummers are so misunderstood!

[hauk]

always, always drumming... hopefully it helps

[Backwards Marathon]

lol sometimes id just be walking down the street/hallway, and id think of a beat, and try to time my steps accordingly to the beat of the bass drum for the new beat i thought of.

[Reverse Gravity]

Originally Posted by Backwards Marathon

lol sometimes id just be walking down the street/hallway, and id think of a beat, and try to time my steps accordingly to the beat of the bass drum for the new beat i thought of.

Yea..same here with me...

[thecraponline]

I tap with my fingers, and make drum sounds with my tongue. During orchestra class I knock on my violin.

[Deathmetalconga]

Yes, I do this a lot, sometimes in boring meetings. I can just barely twitch the muscles so no one can tell I'm practicing a rhythm. I also bring in other muscles, not used in drumming, like twitching the hamstrings. There's absolutely no technique involved as far and sticks, etc., but I think it's a really good exercise because you really hone in on muscle memory and coordination.

www.terrasonus.com

[balboa]

mind over matter...i think therefor i am... these are all true. i play in a jazz/fusion prog trio, and in down time on my job i think about different approaches, techniques and all sorts of other things. this really seems to help me out. usually if i can say a beat, i can play it. and of course thinking of a beat for long enough and being able to play it one day....priceless

[beefythedrummer]

Of course, I think all drummers do this lol. In fact, I was tapping on the mouse pad while reading this. I'm always thinking up cool stuff on anything; desks, my chest, fingers, sides of cars haha. I never really got in trouble in school for it though because I usually did the desk tapping before class started, but the firm carpet we had made it a good place to practice my heel-toe pretty silently =)

[hauk]

Whenever people get really annoyed at my tapping, I just keep my fingers in contact with the surface I'm using and press in on the beat. Silent, and almost as good as tapping.

[Velimor]

I used to do this all the time in school. Usually, I tried to stick with the carpeted classrooms, cause hard floors make the footwork kinda loud at times.

Last night I was very inebriated and was sitting at a table with some acquaintances and started doing some double bass. It took me a minute to realize that I was drumming on her foot :0 She was very understanding though- her boyfriend is a drummer as well.

[That Guy]

What can I say that hasn't already been said in this thread? I can only add my 2 cents. Today I was visiting DrummerWorld, and this double bass fill came into my head. I immediately ran to my kit to try to immitate what I was hearing in my head.

I FAILED COMPLETELY! I came close, but I just didn't have the memory to actualy lay it down. That happens alot.

Thats my 2 cents on this thread.

[Manicoti]

It's all in the power of the mind, sort of like visualizing. They've had athletes run a race in their minds before the actual race and with positive end results. Sort of the same idea here.
Before i actually physically started playing the drums, i air-drummed for years. When i sat down at a set for the first time, i was able to play a standard 4/4 without any coordination problems.
M

[hawk9290]

Originally Posted by That Guy

What can I say that hasn't already been said in this thread? I can only add my 2 cents. Today I was visiting DrummerWorld, and this double bass fill came into my head. I immediately ran to my kit to try to immitate what I was hearing in my head.

I FAILED COMPLETELY! I came close, but I just didn't have the memory to actualy lay it down. That happens alot.

Thats my 2 cents on this thread.

I know that pain! just today i had a perfect triplet single pedal coming out at nice tempo with only having to to one stroke of the foot- but then i turned around to try to get a recording of it and haven't been able to do it again since. and its pissing me off to because i had some sweet fills going there too!

but i find often my mind is much better at drumming than I am- which has its downside in that if I listen to band play and I hear where a fill should be that the drummer doesn't play, it makes me want to smack the guy over the head. But i can't complain because when i record myself, i have often hit my own head many times afterwards. And i always get in trouble for drumming with my fingers when i'm in a car- so now i have resorted to having a practice pad in the door slot and bring some sticks along so while on the highway one hand gets a good workout, and at a stoplight i roll on the rudiments. Also I once got in trouble in school for practicing heel-toe on the floor, not because my teacher heard it, but the teacher below did!

[JCM]

Whenever I am learning something new I constantly go over it mentally and when I do get down to practicing it, it's much easier. Sometimes I will be quiet for ages and people are probably wondering what is wrong with me but I will be practicing in my head! Oh the joys of drumming...

[fazzybOO`]

To the thread maker

I'm just like you man. It's really beneficial in my opinion too...

[nebula821]

I do tap ALL the time, but the real good stuff happens in the car. I wear my steering wheel out. Then there's this hard plastic kind of foot plate over on the left side where my "hi-hat foot" never stops going. It's an obsessive thing or a habitual thing, either way it's a good thing.

[drumbandit]

Originally Posted by KCDrummer

I think I do it more with my teeth than with my hands or feet. I wish I could record some of it, my teeth have laid down some funky stuff!

I play on my lap, table, basically anything like most drummer but I didn't think anyone else did the teeth thing!

[jim314]

And would you say doing metal drumming helps your mental health?