Beginner trouble with kick drum.

arfartt

New Member
I'm a beginner on drums, and am catching on pretty quick. I've had my electric drum set for about 2 weeks but used to go to guitar center for hours just to play the drums. The one trouble that keeps getting in the way is the kick pedal. I'm having so much trouble having one beat with my foot, and another with my hands. Its like whenever i try a special beat with the kick drum, my hands want to do the same. i can only do songs with SUPER simple kick drum beats. i can play miss you, and at best comfortably numb. But nothing else. Is there any exercises to get better with my kick drum or any practice that will help me? Please help!
 
Beatdown Brown has a special lesson for this on Youtube.
It's a problem all beginners have apparently: doing a faster beat with the foot than the hands forces the hands to follow.
Will look up the link for you ?
 
I'm a beginner on drums, and am catching on pretty quick. I've had my electric drum set for about 2 weeks but used to go to guitar center for hours just to play the drums. The one trouble that keeps getting in the way is the kick pedal. I'm having so much trouble having one beat with my foot, and another with my hands. Its like whenever i try a special beat with the kick drum, my hands want to do the same. i can only do songs with SUPER simple kick drum beats. i can play miss you, and at best comfortably numb. But nothing else. Is there any exercises to get better with my kick drum or any practice that will help me? Please help!
It took me years before I tackled this problem. If you've only had a kit two weeks, I wouldn't stress about it too much!
 
Nothing special. Just a logical progresssion. Something you'll find in any progressive beginners drumset book.

Typical progression will be:
1) 1/4 note beats
2) 8-note beats
3) 1/4 ride pattern with 8-notes on BD.



Tips:
1) Slow way down
2) Even just get the coordination down in free tempo. If it's a long pattern do a bit at a time.
 
If you're a "beginner on drums," I would suggest devoting a lot more attention to your hands than to your pedals right now. Four-way independence comes much more easily when you've first established two-way independence. I've never understood the logic behind starting on a drum set rather than on a pad or a snare, but a lot of drummers disagree with me. I don't care. I still think getting your hands in order first is the wiser formula.
 
If you're a "beginner on drums," I would suggest devoting a lot more attention to your hands than to your pedals right now. Four-way independence comes much more easily when you've first established two-way independence. I've never understood the logic behind starting on a drum set rather than on a pad or a snare, but a lot of drummers disagree with me. I don't care. I still think getting your hands in order first is the wiser formula.

I hear you. I just wish I had been REQUIRED to play set when I was in school band. It’s an extremely marketable skill. 4-mallet marimba, not so much.
 
I hear you. I just wish I had been REQUIRED to play set when I was in school band. It’s an extremely marketable skill. 4-mallet marimba, not so much.

My first instructor enforced, and I do mean enforced, the following regimen:

First six months: practice pad only; second six months: practice pad/snare.

Year two: practice pad, hi-hat, snare, and bass.

Year three: practice pad, full drum kit.

I'm not arguing that everyone must follow that format, but it worked quite well for me. When I got to a full kit, four-way independence was an afterthought.
 
It takes a lot of time, and it's something that has to be worked out piece by piece. Well, for me that's how it was, anyway.
Try playing hi hat on the quarter notes, snare on 2 and 4, and then put the bass drum in different places. Like try playing it on all the quarter notes first, then all the &'s, then all the e's, all the a's, etc.
Or you could try with some sheet music. Here's one I found that has some basic beats that you could get started with: https://musescore.com/user/8500706/scores/5970697
A book I found very helpful when I was first starting is called The Total Rock Drummer, it has tons of stuff like that in it and if you try to play through everything in the book it will give you a good foundation as far as limb independence.
The biggest trick to all of it is, try it very slowly at first. Don't even worry about playing in time or with a metronome at first, just focus on being able to move your limbs in the correct sequence, then start to think about timing.
 
That's quite normal for a beginner. I remember everytime I hit my snare drum I would stop playing my ride. all that stuff will go away in time especially if you do some of the things that were mentioned earlier the exercises and so forth. It's a lifelong journey so take your time and above all have fun
 
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My first instructor enforced, and I do mean enforced, the following regimen:

First six months: practice pad only; second six months: practice pad/snare.

Year two: practice pad, hi-hat, snare, and bass.

Year three: practice pad, full drum kit.

I'm not arguing that everyone must follow that format, but it worked quite well for me. When I got to a full kit, four-way independence was an afterthought.


If you can get away with it it works, but many places you won't.

The last place I worked I did a week here and there where I just took anything not needed away and had everyone do it that way for the whole week.
 
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Create your own exercise. Work through it slowly. Count it out as you play. Practice it a little bit every day. In a few days you may be noticeable better.
 
I would suggest working on The New breed book (Gary Chester), system 6, Melody IA. First, you play only the system at the exclusion of the left foot. Count out loud! Then, when it feels good, you add the LF. Then, when you are perfectly fine with the system itself, you can add the melody IA with the right foot. Do this with a metronome and start at 40-50 bpm. Work on the melody measure by measure, and wait to be fine with a measure before skipping to the next one.
Results guaranteed in a week ! And you'll use this book for the rest of your drummer life...
 
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Watch the Colin Bailey videos on DW. He's a senior citizen who makes it look so easy without any fancy technique. The exercises he does are great too. I also always suggest trying to play simple tunes with your kick pedal-Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Adams family, Bolero, any tune that comes to mind-you'll naturally develop dexterity in the effort. I do it with my hat foot too.
 
Two really simple exercises that helped a lot with that same issue early on, one's that I've recommended to many new drummers with success, and something I still use almost 20 years later as a warm up:

1. Simple 4/4 backbeat that alternates the bass and snare: closed hi hat on 1,2,3,4, bass on 1, snare on 3, then alternate so it's snare on 1 and bass on 3

1 2 3 4
H H H H
B___S__

Then

1 2 3 4
H H H H
S___B__

2. Simple paradiddle (RLRR, LRLL) on your Snare and Bass:
Bass Snare Bass Bass, Snare Bass Snare Snare

Just keep doing that over and over, preferably to a click/metronome, and add in a steady hi hat or ride over top (it's just another 4/4 like my first example so you can hit 1,2,3,4 again):

1 2 3 4
H H H H
B S B B

Then

1 2 3 4
H H H H
S B S S
 
If you can get away with it it works, but many places you won't.

The last place I worked I did a week here and there where I just took anything not needed away and had everyone do it that way for the whole week.

Yes, your teaching environment will somewhat dictate the paradigms you use. The reason I like incremental learning approaches, especially when applied to a drum kit, is that they allow muscle memory to form in stages, and they instill a lot of confidence along the way. Often, when a beginner sits down behind a full drum set, he's tempted to try too much at once, which can be more discouraging than inspiring. Of course, every player is different, so tailoring a teaching strategy to accommodate specific needs can be useful as well. It's hard to say that a single method works better than all alternatives.
 
Yes, your teaching environment will somewhat dictate the paradigms you use. The reason I like incremental learning approaches, especially when applied to a drum kit, is that they allow muscle memory to form in stages, and they instill a lot of confidence along the way. Often, when a beginner sits down behind a full drum set, he's tempted to try too much at once, which can be more discouraging than inspiring. Of course, every player is different, so tailoring a teaching strategy to accommodate specific needs can be useful as well. It's hard to say that a single method works better than all alternatives.

Yeah.

All to often I get a student that got on a kit, learned a basic rock beat and has been at a complete standstill for years. It takes a while to get them in order.

It is discouaging even though they or their former "fun" teacher won't admit it.

Really knowing the basics is the only real tool of long term motivation. How that gets done can be up for discussion, but not if it has to be done.

Everyone is different, but once I get their individual lessons going well and push as much group activities in as possible, things just solve themselves. The group things anyone can be a part of and that's why it's so valuable. It's a lesson in humanity a much as anything else.
 
"All to often I get a student that got on a kit, learned a basic rock beat and has been at a complete standstill for years."

And the stalemate is all the worse if the unvarying beat is executed with poor form. Breaking bad habits is a lot harder than starting from scratch with good technique. "Fun" early on can lead to a lot of trouble down the line. Also, "fun" gets boring if it prevents you from making progress.

"Really knowing the basics is the only real tool of long term motivation."

We need more instructors who share your philosophy.
 
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