Dull, boring..lacking the Swing of Things..

iontheable

Senior Member
Alright gents, I've been behind my kit for over a year at this point and I'm finding my creativity and drive to play consistently- to be quite lacking.

I try to keep things fresh by playing different styles but I find when I'm not trying to cover something; when I am just jamming out on my own..I become incredibly repetitious and it's beginning to obviously demotivate me.

I fall into an all too common beginners groove. Boom tat, boom tat tat, boom tat...you get my drift? It allows for me to show off my (basic) abilities with ghost notes(which are steadily improving) and accents..as well as the occasional quick doubles on the bass..but aside from that it lacks so much.

I unfortunately don't have the time nor patience for a teacher..a want I hope to accommodate in the near future..but I'd like to try and attempt to resolve some issues on my own.

So where do I begin to expand?
 
Been there. Can you read music at all? If so there is a wealth of books out there on any number of techniques and styles that can help expand your vocabulary.

Youtube is also a great resource that's free. You often have to wade through some crap but there's lots of helpful stuff.

Keep at it!
 
Been there. Can you read music at all? If so there is a wealth of books out there on any number of techniques and styles that can help expand your vocabulary.

Youtube is also a great resource that's free. You often have to wade through some crap but there's lots of helpful stuff.

Keep at it!

I cannot sight read, but slowly I can interpret the "easier" pages. Ha

And youtube is a great point, however I often find myself motivated but lacking direction as all the videos are either:

A: Too easy/bad
B: Too difficult/savant status

Ha, but thank you
 
Keep up the inner strength and focus, turn the page and move on drumming...
 
So where do I begin to expand?

It's simple, you've spent enough time alone in your bedroom.......it's time to play with others. Join a band.....even just a jam band. Watch your motivation and creativity evolve in that setting.

Get outta the practice room and go make some music mate.
 
It's simple, you've spent enough time alone in your bedroom.......it's time to play with others. Join a band.....even just a jam band. Watch your motivation and creativity evolve in that setting.

Get outta the practice room and go make some music mate.

Also good advice. Playing with others will force you to expand and give you new things to practice or improve upon.
 
Playing out/with others is definitely a great motivator to spice things up a bit, and I try to do so as often as possible.

Conflicting schedules, styles, bla bla bla get in the way.

I am not one to make excuses, or I try to not; however this rut is just getting to me so I figured I'd express such
 
Agree with getting a jam band. If that's hard to do, here is an exercise for you ...

Okay, next time you decide to noodle alone, you are NOT allowed to play any standard backbeat grooves - there always has to be a twist.

So make up a rhythm that's non standard, stick to it, and work out how to make it groove before coming up with variations. If you get it sounding good for a sustained period (say, 3 minutes) then next day work on another. That way you can build up a "library" of beats.
 
I try to keep things fresh by playing different styles but I find when I'm not trying to cover something; when I am just jamming out on my own..I become incredibly repetitious and it's beginning to obviously demotivate me [. . .] So where do I begin to expand?

If you feel you don't have the time/patience either for a band or a teacher then - and don't take this the wrong way - what do you want? Surely the main point of music is to bring people together: to make connections and have conversations that move us in some way. If you've been playing on your own for over a year it's no wonder you're bored out of your mind. After all, how do you think those "covers" got made?

You say that playing covers gives you "fresh" ideas . . . well, if that's working for you then why not stick with that? You want some variety, then try playing along to something you feel would be challenging. Think of it as a project - set some goals and try to achieve them: you could try to learn how to play along to Aja [or whatever] note-for-note. If doing that doesn't "expand" your playing then I don't know what will.
 
I unfortunately don't have the time nor patience for a teacher..a want I hope to accommodate in the near future..but I'd like to try and attempt to resolve some issues on my own.

So where do I begin to expand?

You can start here, start with the very basics and work your way up until you get challenged. Jared Falk and his crew are a friggin god send! Hope it helps a little.

http://www.drumlessons.com/
 
You have a teacher Ion?

I am about 8 months ahead of you and the things that keep me alive are:

playing with others-played "how many more times" by LZ last nite and my whole body charlie horsed practically- such an awesome show of my weaknesses (shuffle, fast feet)
teacher (first and foremost)
I buy every drum book I see and when bored, just open one and go
Turn it up and lay it down CDs- buy volume 1 and 2 and love it- its great stuff(bass lines only)
tommy igoe great hands warm up poster- you cant get through it in less than an hour

Pick one and go.
 
Been playing for about a year as well and I haven't had any major ruts just yet. I too am trying to find some people to jam with more consistently, that helps.

For me I mix my practice up quite a bit to keep me interested, but I will still have 1 or 2 focuses for a certain period of time. For example since January I decided to work on my Samba and odd groupings of 3, 5, 7's. I will practice those the most during the week, but I still leave time to learn other things like independence, Linear drumming, world grooves etc

What really helped me was learning world grooves, samba, nanigo, guaguanco etc. Worlds apart from your standard rock groove with 10,000+ variations! hahaha. Learn about Linear drumming too, that can keep you busy for a life time.

Pick up books like David Garibaldi's Future Sounds, Benny Grebs Language of Drumming (i have the dvd but plan on getting the book soon), Mike Johnston's Linear Drumming. These 3 resources keep me busy but most of all I have fun.

Truth is you HAVE to practice all the tedious stuff so that the creativity in your head can flow from you. Otherwise you will stunt your drumming growth. When I learned the nanigo it took me months and for awhile I walked away from it to come back to it a month later, now I'm working on a groove/solo based on the nanigo.
 
Truth is you HAVE to practice all the tedious stuff so that the creativity in your head can flow from you. Otherwise you will stunt your drumming growth.
Absolutely, but just as important is to have fun drumming, cause if you ain't having fun at it you better find something else you do enjoy!
 
Set up some goals! What do you want to achive with your drumming. What do you want to learn? Spend some time thinking and instead of just playing "what you know" focus on what you don't know.

If you see something on youtube that you can't play instantly, don't get discouraged by it. It takes time! Start trying and don't give up! If you see someone playing a really awesome groove that you really like, then start practising! One annoying painfull stroke at a time, and you will get there :)

And most of all, have fun! After just a year playing, drumming should be super fun!
 
Don't freak out over trying to play mind-blowing things. Its those steady beats that you actually use, especially when playing with other people. And most drummers I know have a few go to beats, the rest they have to think about playing at some level. If you really are getting bored of the same old thing try different time signatures or swing, those force you to play different things. A pro drummer is one who takes that simple beat and puts all the right feel into it (which it sounds like you are working on) so keep at it, and maybe try to find some new music that inspires you, I find that often helps in a rut.
 
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