Efficient Practice

[jeffreylamoureux]

@Jonathan Curtis had a nice post a few weeks ago about orienting practice toward a specific goal, rather than having a set plan, but I wanted to ask a perhaps more specific question: what types of exercises/activities do you find help you maximize the effect of your practice time?

My time behind it is very limited (full time job, kid, drums outside of the apartment), but I take my practice seriously and have been thinking through how to choose activities that work multiple aspects of my playing at once. I'm thinking about this in an "80/20 principle" kind of way, and I'm willing to sacrifice thoroughness for efficiency.

An analogous concept here would be exercising with compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at once. You probably won't get the 'gains' of targeting one group for an extended time, but you'll advance your general fitness in shorter time.

My aim at the moment is to have a solid foundation in bebop/hard bop language, so here are my ideas so far, very interested to hear yours:

1. Instead of dedicated rudiment practice, I'm working through Wilcoxon's 'All-American Drummer', using a few simple orchestration interpretations. It's rudiment practice, but fairly musical, and adding in practice getting around the kit.

2. Using others' transcriptions of classic solos. I have done some of my own transcriptions, and I know you learn *more* from doing it yourself. But it's time consuming! For the sake of maximizing time spent getting some vocabulary worked through, I'm enjoying having "The Philly Joe Jones Solo Book" and some transcriptions by other drummers kind enough to upload their work.

3. Using play-along tracks to work on applying vocabulary in a 'real' setting. It would be better to play with other people, definitely, but this has been helpful (and humbling). There just aren't enough of these aimed at drummers?

 

[BGDurham]

Hi! In my opinion the most efficient and effective practice comes through in-person or zoom private lessons. Rather than researching different practices strategies and tinkering with them and always wondering if you are being efficient, you pay a little extra to have an expert point you in the right direction and you simply proceed. It is likely more expensive, but I think the dollars are well worth the savings in time and mental energy. I kick myself all the time for the hours I spent (and spend) using youtube, podcasts, websites, and drum forums to figure out the "best" way to practice.

 

[Sebenza]

Practice the smallest chunks possible and try to completely exhaust all their possible applications. Make that one little tidbit out of Wilcoxon or that half bar phrase from Philly, completely yours, both in how you orchestrate it around the kit and where you place it in the time. And remain patient...it takes a lot more time than we'd like to really internalise stuff to the point where it spontaneously comes out in your playing.

 

[jeffreylamoureux]

Hi! In my opinion the most efficient and effective practice comes through in-person or zoom private lessons. Rather than researching different practices strategies and tinkering with them and always wondering if you are being efficient, you pay a little extra to have an expert point you in the right direction and you simply proceed. It is likely more expensive, but I think the dollars are well worth the savings in time and mental energy. I kick myself all the time for the hours I spent (and spend) using youtube, podcasts, websites, and drum forums to figure out the "best" way to practice.

This is a great point! Having not taken a lesson in ~10 years, I spent nearly all of last year doing weekly online lessons, which were incredibly helpful. And, in fact, the idea of putting Wilcoxon on the kit came from him. Also took some ideas from Alan Dawson re: interpretations of Syncopation.

The big thing I'm getting at here is to say that, for example, while I would probably get faster at single strokes if I set aside an hour to just focus on it, I'm trying to think of ways to work on single strokes alongside other goals like movement around the kit and soloing. So, for me, that would mean like finding a Max Roach solo with a bunch of singles around the kit and making that my practice focus.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

so I come from the marching percussion world, and am a middle school/high school percussion instructor of 30+ years. I run all of the percussion aspects of our program: marching, concert, jazz band; indoor drumline; I teach private lessons to over 40 kids. I have a Music Education degree as well

Over many years of trial and error; success and failure, I sort of settled on a curriculum that hits 3 main things:
1. the technique of proper motion/muscle usage (I call it chops)
2. learning and reading music...both melodic and rhythmic theory
3. learning and understanding style

so no matter what, every weekly lesson cycle has them hitting exercises in each category regularly. And it is a step up system: I believe you can't really be successful and adaptable to every situation if you don't have good hands, the ability to read, and the ability to apply 1 and 2 to style differences in music.

I definitely think having the proper physical technique is the number 1 roadblock to success...hands down. After 30 years of teaching, that is ALWAYS the roadblock to interp that I see

You asked about specific warm ups or exercises? hmmm....there are a TON. I use exclusively marching/drum corps influenced stuff like that with my students.

For #1 above - the technique of proper motion/muscle usage (I call it chops) - they have a list of 5 exercises that hit the 5 main stroke types in percussion:
1. Single Repeated Strokes on one hand (like your hi hat or ride cymbal hand). We call it "8-on-a -hand" exercises that I have written for this*.
2. Alternating Strokes - we use some Alternated Stroke exercises that I have written to do this*
3. Double Strokes - again, we use exercises that I have written to do this*
4. Multiple Bounce rolls (buzz rolls)- again, we use exercises that I have written to do this*
5. Accent/Tap (or two heights in one nad) again, we use exercises that I have written to do this*

*my exercises are graduated according to abilkity level. The beginning ones are easier, and then as the students grow, the warm ups add on new challenges as they grow

by their 6th month, we add the first page of Stone Stick Control to apply these different stroke types

they are NOT to skip these routines. I always tell them that if they only have a limited amount of time, skip everythign excepot your "chops" work

For #2 above - learning and reading music...both melodic and rhythmic theory - we usually do short excerpts from books that teach and test concepts. As they get older, we don't have to focus as much on this as they are applying it all the time in band class.

For #3 above - learning and understanding style - we do a lot of listening and analyzing both written and recorded music. And this goes for more than just drum set....they learn the different styles of wind band music, classical, ethnic etc....in my program, drum set is just one of the many percussion instruments that they have to master. Often times, this is being done within the context of what we are learning for concerts, but it is also - especially in drum set world - what we are doing on our own for fun

if you want examples of specific exercises, I can get them to you. All of the "chops" exercises can be memorized in minutes, and the build on each other as well. I think it is always just a matter of getting the most "bang out of your time", and over the years, I found that most books are just "too much"...there are too many things to hit that you never apply. I want my students to be able to get to the "application by way of playing live" piece as soon as they can.

In my situation at school - I am in charge of 9 middle schools that feed into one high school - I needed things that were quick to learn; quick to adapt as the students get older, that sound cool to play, and that can create a language for me to use when there is a room full of 60 kids, and I don't know 30 of them. My colleagues use the system and it makes it easy for all of us.

So...to sum up:
pick 4 or 5 short things to do to teach you proper technique, and then do them EVERY DAY
learn how to read
learn about style by both listening and analyzing, and then by playing
and if you can really try to fit live lessons in. Even if it is just twice a month. That will help you in more ways than you will ever know

you will not learn how to drum by running every page in the Stone Stick Control book, or the Chapin book, or only by playing along to music. I think you will learn quicker if you learn fundamental concepts, and then apply them

 

[Push pull stroke]

5-10 minutes of page 1 of Stick Control, 2-3 times a day, played at all stick heights, will do more more for your playing than anything else out there. Even just played on a drum pad.

Especially played extremely slowly.

Especially the first 3 exercises.

Alternate between high and low stick heights every 4, 8, or 16 strokes.

I’ve tried it all, and this is the way.

 

[ColdFusion]

how to choose activities that work multiple aspects of my playing at once. I'm thinking about this in an "80/20 principle" kind of way, and I'm willing to sacrifice thoroughness for efficiency.

Lets see if I am interpreting 80/20 correctly in this context. This "heuristic" only makes sense if you frame it in certain ways. It seems to conclude that you could cut down on your 'effective drumming practice' time by up to 80%, if only you knew which of your exercises were the "most" efficient use of the time (i.e. for just 30 to 60 minutes per session).
Another way to frame it is that "generally speaking", 80% of the practice you already do is less efficient than the other 20%. So these "20% exercises" are the mystery meta-exercises that are "perfect' use of your time?

For a point of reference I just listened to a short podcast about the 80/20 method relating to jazz guitar. This particular player said that each person needs to identify "their own 20%", and then he proceeded to break it down further and further like a math equation. It became rather complicated, and at the end of it, it felt like mostly a thought exercise, or a circular logic game.

An analogous concept here would be exercising with compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at once.

while I would probably get faster at single strokes if I set aside an hour to just focus on it, I'm trying to think of ways to work on single strokes alongside other goals like movement around the kit and soloing. So, for me, that would mean like finding a Max Roach solo with a bunch of singles around the kit and making that my practice focus.

Depending on how you frame it, it sounds perfectly rational. It may be that there are some busy hobbyist drummers out there who really have figured out how to work those "compound muscle groups" and get real gains on 60 minutes a day. You have done a clear and respectable job of expressing why you seek the "perfectly efficient" practice routine. You could even say that you have asked the million dollar question here.

It's a reasonable question to ask on a drum forum. And insofar as it has been asked many times in many different forms, it's almost become a meme among more experienced drummers. What I'm referring to is all the "non-hobbyist" amount of time that it usually takes to get truly solid at something like jazz. That's the other "inefficient" 80% that doesn't feel wasteful to us because we've already scheduled a lot more than 30-60 minutes per day to practice. I know it's a paradox, as you said you don't have that much extra time in the day.

I'm not trying to derail your question. As I said, it's the King of Questions for busy intermediate and beginner drummers. My Two Cents here is just that 80% is a hell of a lot of trimming to do to what might otherwise be considered a "normal" healthy drumming practice routine. The reason why the whole formula makes my head hurt is that the constant re-framing makes it feel like another feel-good formula to "cheat" the process. To be fair, it's rational. Maybe not like cheating but more like "solving". But even if you "solve" for the perfect practice routine, it's still a steep and tedious accomplishment, like solving an algebra equation that literally everybody has been trying to solve forever. I'd rather just clear my schedule and practice till dark, than try to create a functioning homemade jazz practice cold fusion reactor out of a ratio between a couple of numbers.

about orienting practice toward a specific goal, rather than having a set plan..

FWIW, the way I conquered proggy jazz drumming was to spend as much time as it took to truly internalize the feel of jazz. Even more than their command of the "rudimental stickings of jazz", good jazz drummers are known by their feel. So I spent a few years focused on perfecting my swing feel, and solid hours of triplet singles and triplet paradiddles. I was not thinking in terms of 80% vs 20%, but I was very goal oriented about what exercises I spent "most of my time" on.

Instead of transcribing drum solos, I memorized them by listening. Internalizing the vocabulary "by heart", so to speak. Eventually I became able to emulate the exact strokes of some of my favorite proggy jazz drummers. This may just be the difference between right-brain learning and left-brain learning. I just know that for me I was able to command fluency in deep jazz while skipping the step of writing it down. Normal caveat here, I believe every drummer benefits from being at least literate in drumset notation. It comes in handy, even if you aren't practicing to read charts on the fly.

So as I type this it is coming to me what my "20% focus" must have been for jazz playing. It's basically two things, re-iterated:

▪️ Can I strike the bow of the ride cymbal in such a way that it sounds both sweet and authoritative? (every stroke)
▪️ Can I lead a whole jazz band with just the sound of my stick on the ride and my left foot on the hat clutch?
▪️ Can I pull tasty note after tasty note out of a variety of challenging ride cymbal sizes, weights and finishes?
▪️ Does my left-foot "chic" sound like it's welded tight to my ride cymbal note, and does it pierce through the pocket like a knife?

At least one other person in the band is listening for and benefiting from the clear reliable sound of your left foot bringing those hats together. Don't let them down.

👆Notice how all those points were just about how I sound holding down the swing pocket. Not a mention of sticking patterns, fills, or "classic drum solos". Of course I was able to fill in all those cool, necessary elements. But I always made sure that my swing feel, my groove, was always a little ahead of my "cool licks". To keep my priorities straight.

I mean literally you could argue anything should be practiced more than anything else. Well, maybe not anything, but you see how this theory could be kind of confusing and polarizing among people who want to help. My personal approach is just one of many, but my advice is always more, more, more time spent practicing. You can become efficient with your time as you go. But to start out trying to be "perfectly efficient" with the intent of utilizing the shortest amount of time available seems a little nuts, lol. Indeed as I said it's the Holy Grail of hobbyist drumming equations: Can you solve for T and D, where D represents a good jazz Drummer, and T represents all the Time that D didn't have to spend practicing, lol.

So the bottom line of my reply may as well be that I am unqualified to help the OP, because it's too late for me to embark on the kind of regimen being described. Before hearing about the 80/20 theory I always just assumed only drum prodigies got mad gains in short sessions, lol. I wasn't sure if I was a slow learner, but certainly slow enough that I lost track of my practice time long before I started getting really "good". So much for solving for T, in my case anyway. I've grown fond of the lonely shed cat lifestyle though...

You maybe should try to find a jazz cat who did it real big on maybe 5 to 7 hours a week practice. A 'proof of concept' to make it worth investing your own time and faith that this particular formula will get you where you want to be.
There are already a handful of drumming/music teachers and creators online who are using the "80/20" method as their main teaching theme. So I'm sure there's plenty of further discussion to be discovered on the matter.

 

[ColdFusion]

Using play-along tracks to work on applying vocabulary in a 'real' setting. It would be better to play with other people, definitely, but this has been helpful (and humbling). There just aren't enough of these aimed at drummers?

I love playing jazz drums along to walking bass lines that I record with my synthesizer. It’s dead easy to walk a jazz bass on a keyboard. My little Juno rompler came with some fat bass guitar sounds on board. Having basic facility with a bass type instrument can make drum practice way more entertaining for you.

Also there ought to be a goodly amount of high quality “No Drums” jazz play-along tracks on youtube. They might be a little “empty” or “elevator” feeling, but they are just fine for academic/practice purposes.

 

[JohnRick]

Benny Greb's book "Effective Practicing" is really useful in this regard. It's not about a specific exercise. You have already pinpointed that you want to focus on bebop/hardbop. So it's really more a matter of discovering your weaknesses to be able to do what you ultimately want to achieve, eliminate friction and truly separate practice time from playing. Play stuff until it feels good, not just that "you can play it" and probably also use the SMART method, i.e. that something is:

- Specific (I want to get my right hand up to 240 BPM för at least 3 minutes)
- Measurable (keep a simple journal)
- Actionable (do you have the possibility to actually record yourself by set deadline)
- Realistic (shoot slightly above the treetops basically. 320 BPM might not happen)
- Timebound (have a deadline for when this should be ready

 

[toddbishop]

I basically always tried to make music, I would never do anything in a "neutral" or mechanical way.

And I would include as many things as possible at the same time-- e.g:

-- reading, by working out of Syncopation
-- improvisation, by not stopping for mistakes, and improvising, developing whatever idea I was working on. I spent a lot more time doing that than playing patterns verbatim.
-- time, by playing with a slow click
-- touch, by playing with a realistic musical touch, and dynamics, only playing a flat/neutral way for a specific purpose.
-- 4 way coordination, by doing everything on the drum set, not just snare or pad

2. Using others' transcriptions of classic solos. I have done some of my own transcriptions, and I know you learn *more* from doing it yourself. But it's time consuming! For the sake of maximizing time spent getting some vocabulary worked through, I'm enjoying having "The Philly Joe Jones Solo Book" and some transcriptions by other drummers kind enough to upload their work.

You could save time not doing that. Just listen to records and practice soloing based on their vibe. You know what Philly Joe sounds like, just do something that sounds like that as best you can.

3. Using play-along tracks to work on applying vocabulary in a 'real' setting. It would be better to play with other people, definitely, but this has been helpful (and humbling). There just aren't enough of these aimed at drummers?

I make my own loops from records-- 5-30 seconds of music looping for 5 minutes. It's an especially good way of practicing mundane stuff. The context gives it a chance to sound like music, and you can play things in a way that matches the vibe of what you're hearing.

But just being goal oriented or working out the perfect practice system isn't enough, you have to love music and love to play. You also have to be playing, and have some idea of the playing situations that are going to be available to you in ~ the next 5 years, so you can be preparing for that, not just doing stuff you heard about online.

 

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

While there are some things one could say are basics anyone should cover the trick is really to look at what you want to be able to do and use that as a framework.

Though on occasion I've lived in a place where getting to my kit was super easy and I could get to it any time, I've put quite a lot into having a practice kit that feels realistic to play on. That also goes for where I place things, so these little pads are where real drums would have to go on a real kit because of their dimensions.

Don't stop with "simple" orchestrations. Take it all the way and make it your own. The stuff you like and that sticks will be part of your style.

Anything can be inspiration to build on. A certain sticking pattern or phrase from AAD is just one way to play that idea. What would someone who plays a "melodic" instrument do to that lick to be something they learned from as a concept? That's the only real way to approach it as just playing something rubatum and making it work generally requires a bunch of factors to be present that rarely are. It won't flow and be rational musical choices, so work on it in the same way it will be used. Isolated practice should be based this idea because then you're making an informed choice on what to work on. Then get back to working on it in context.

 

[vxla]

Outline a few major goals that you want to work towards. For example, maybe you want to learn push/pull technique, Moeller technique, a new marimba concerto, etc. Once you identify those things, try and take some time and break down what needs to get done into medium-sized chunks of work.

Each week, take some time to break out those chunks of work into smaller chunks, then make yourself a few tasks that will require concentrated work (maybe like 2-3 hours of practice time, per task) for the week that you can work on each practice session. Examples: "4-Way Coordination, Page 4 ex. 4A-4D @ 110bpm", "conga warm up...palm-finger for 10 minutes", etc.

Eventually the small goals get knocked out and medium sized chunks of work get done and it all rolls up against the major goals you planned.

 

[jeffreylamoureux]

You maybe should try to find a jazz cat who did it real big on maybe 5 to 7 hours a week practice. A 'proof of concept' to make it worth investing your own time and faith that this particular formula will get you where you want to be.
There are already a handful of drumming/music teachers and creators online who are using the "80/20" method as their main teaching theme. So I'm sure there's plenty of further discussion to be discovered on the matter.

I agree with you! It's too late to edit the original post, but I want to be clear the goal of the post was not "tell me how to short-cut my way into drum mastery", but rather "What do you do to practice multiple parts of your playing at once?"

I do not think that there is an 'easy' way to become a master. I'm not reading Tim Ferriss or trying to 'hack' or looking for 'cheat codes' to this. Rather, I'm weighing trade offs and trying to find strategies to touch multiple areas at once.

5-10 minutes of page 1 of Stick Control, 2-3 times a day, played at all stick heights, will do more more for your playing than anything else out there. Even just played on a drum pad.

My pride demands I mention that my copy of Stick Control is 15+ years old and shredded to prove it. I have pg. 5 committed to memory. It *is* good! My idea here is that, at least in this period of my drumming journey, I am trying to "do more at once." So, for example, taking Stick Control to the kit - say, interpreting the sticking between hands and feet while keeping time.

But, look, if I had to stay committed to the 80/20 bit (I'm not, really), I would say that, for a non-beginner, this is the 20% stuff. "Just play Stick Control" is a little like how every few months a big name will post a video of themselves just keeping time at ~40bpm and say, like, "this is the way." I mean, it's not wrong! They all sound much better than mere mortals doing this! But I put this stuff in a bucket with cliched sentiments like "technique doesn't matter" or "it's about the notes you *don't* play." These ideas are aesthetically appealing, directionally true, but kind of like how the wealthy are most likely to say "money doesn't matter", they're ideas you hold when your surplus of technique/capability/money gives you the luxury of taking it for granted.

I basically always tried to make music, I would never do anything in a "neutral" or mechanical way.

And I would include as many things as possible at the same time-- e.g:

-- reading, by working out of Syncopation
-- improvisation, by not stopping for mistakes, and improvising, developing whatever idea I was working on. I spent a lot more time doing that than playing patterns verbatim.
-- time, by playing with a slow click
-- touch, by playing with a realistic musical touch, and dynamics, only playing a flat/neutral way for a specific purpose.
-- 4 way coordination, by doing everything on the drum set, not just snare or pad

I like all of this, and to be honest reading Cruise Ship Drummer has shaped how I've been approaching this. The improvisation point has been a big one for me recently. Finish an exercise and improvise with the ideas from it to see how much I own the material. In his mini-documentary "Life On Drums" Billy Martin said he tells all his students to start each practice session with an open improvisation, and I've made this my warm up.

 

[OHD]

Outline a few major goals that you want to work towards. For example, maybe you want to learn push/pull technique, Moeller technique...

I think this is one of the dangers musicians face nowadays. Your goal is to learn a "technique".

BTW, I'm not attacking you personally, @vxla, your post is very useful in general, but I think highlighting that bit is important.

A "technique" can't be a goal by itself, as todd & others say, the goal has to be something directly related to music. For instance, you could have the goal of faster/smoother 16ths on the hi-hat for a song or a genre. That may lead you to learn moeller or push-pull, but the key thing is that it may not!

You may come up with a different way to do it (like 2-handed), or challenge yourself to do it without any special technique. You may also find that the problem is elsewhere, like on your coordination, or that you don't even "need" to do fast 16ths on the hi-hat at all, and can make it feel better with 8th notes.

I'm not saying that these techniques are wrong, but they can't be the end goal by themselves, because they are just ways to move, they are not music. Music is not about efficiency.

I think part of the reason that a lot of drummers sound very similar to each other these days is that they all learn the same stuff, from the same books & videos, and don't try to find out things on their own.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

I'm not saying that these techniques are wrong, but they can't be the end goal by themselves, because they are just ways to move, they are not music. Music is not about efficiency.

ok...Devils Advocate here in a way:

but isn't moving correctly, comfortably and efficiently the foundation of what we do as drummers?

if you told a trumpet player, or piano player, or vocalist to forget about technique and "just play music", they would be very limited to what they can do. Technique - at least to me - takes you beyond intuition. It takes you beyond "natural talent". It takes you beyond "luck"

Whether or not they dwell on it, or know that they even did it, the legendary players developed technique that allowed them to get to that level. Ignoring technique in drumming is like ignoring the keys to the car. Yes, the car can move without turning the engine on, but it is way more difficult and presents insurmountable roadblocks as you go.

music is actually about efficiency to me...and developing the ability to make that efficiency seem to be automatic. I am pretty sure that Elvin, Miles, Geddy Lee, Wynton, Geoff Tate, Dave Brubeck, Chopin, Mozart, Stockhausen, Copland - all of the greats - did not want to waste time getting what they heard in their heads out, and that ability became easier as their technique got better, and more varied. They might not have been "technique nerds" who talk about it and analyze it, but they developed it and used it. Those guys playing ability did not come from luck, or "just jamming with people"...

in my experience of playing with amateur musicians over the last 47 years, I find the worst experiences I had were ones where time was wasted, or mistakes were made because we were waiting for someone to find ways around a technique issue....in my experience, the players who did not, or had not learned the proper technique became the "problem" and caused whatever musical strife ended up happening. They are always the guys who say :" man, this is harshing my groove. You guys take this too seriously" and then they leave and have trouble finding bands who will play with them.

and I was one of those problems until I developed techniques that allowed me to execute musical ideas quickly so as not to bog down the playing process.

so to end this....rant, I guess?....I still believe that technique is a crucial element to playing an instrument, or doing anything physical really. Being efficient at something makes it more fun to do. It allows you to enjoy the higher level parts of an activity. music needs to be efficient, but not in a mechanical way. Efficiency begets clarity, and music definitely needs to be clearly readable to be effective.

 

[OHD]

I agree with most of what you say, Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX, I didn't say that technique is bad. I was talking about the "techniques" that plague drum instruction these days. Things like moeller, push-pull, heel-toe, etc. Nowadays the goal is to simply learn those techniques, but for what end? There are a million videos saying "wanna play fast? the secret is the moeller technique"... Really? I don't think so.

I can assure you that none of the players that you mentioned practiced any isolated technique for the technique itself. They did it to overcome issues that came up in their playing. Sometimes these techniques came up naturally, and other times they had to learn them, but always for a reason. In fact, some of those players, like Elvin or Copeland are not known for their perfect technique, just the opposite. They found a personal way that worked for them but wasn't efficient at all.

One of my teachers met Ricky Lawson, who told him he never learnt how to play a double stroke roll. Didn't hurt his playing at all.

I didn't talk about "jamming with people", "natural talent", "just play music" or ignoring technique, I was saying that you may not need moeller at all in your playing. Whenever you stumble onto something that you can't play, then you can look into technique, but first you have to get there.

 

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

The simplest answer is to just pick a tune you want to play and use that as the platform.

Technical warm-ups can be done quickly and they should be based on current challenges, not something you've done a billion times that you're tired of and bored with. You will not loose basic ability, but rather gain general control.

If you have a list of things you go through and you get stuck on the same thing every time don't waste time, focus and energy on anything else but that one thing. Do that thing only and do it properly. Soon that one thing is as easy as anything else.

Things are never hard. You're just not used to them.

 

[Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX]

I agree with most of what you say, Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX, I didn't say that technique is bad. I was talking about the "techniques" that plague drum instruction these days. Things like moeller, push-pull, heel-toe, etc. Nowadays the goal is to simply learn those techniques, but for what end? There are a million videos saying "wanna play fast? the secret is the moeller technique"... Really? I don't think so.

I can assure you that none of the players that you mentioned practiced any isolated technique for the technique itself. They did it to overcome issues that came up in their playing. Sometimes these techniques came up naturally, and other times they had to learn them, but always for a reason. In fact, some of those players, like Elvin or Copeland are not known for their perfect technique, just the opposite. They found a personal way that worked for them but wasn't efficient at all.

One of my teachers met Ricky Lawson, who told him he never learnt how to play a double stroke roll. Didn't hurt his playing at all.

I didn't talk about "jamming with people", "natural talent", "just play music" or ignoring technique, I was saying that you may not need moeller at all in your playing. Whenever you stumble onto something that you can't play, then you can look into technique, but first you have to get there.

yeah, you didn't mention those things specifically, that was my stream of consciousness sort of interrupting as I remembered other people saying that stuff when talking about the same subject...that was sort of my bad as I was typing/thinking fast.

and I definitely agree that there is no one secret technique to playing anything - it is a combination of what many different techniques can offer...the sum of the parts.

I just get fired up when I encounter people who slam those of us that work on technique, but then also lament how they can't play certain things <-- the "legends are great because of natural talent/luck" crowd. I deal with that a lot locally and it just brothers me. To say that any one element of playing is more or less important to success is very shortsighted, so I sort of always have my defenses up about that.

 

[doggyd69b]

@Jonathan Curtis had a nice post a few weeks ago about orienting practice toward a specific goal, rather than having a set plan, but I wanted to ask a perhaps more specific question: what types of exercises/activities do you find help you maximize the effect of your practice time?

My time behind it is very limited (full time job, kid, drums outside of the apartment), but I take my practice seriously and have been thinking through how to choose activities that work multiple aspects of my playing at once. I'm thinking about this in an "80/20 principle" kind of way, and I'm willing to sacrifice thoroughness for efficiency.

An analogous concept here would be exercising with compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at once. You probably won't get the 'gains' of targeting one group for an extended time, but you'll advance your general fitness in shorter time.

My aim at the moment is to have a solid foundation in bebop/hard bop language, so here are my ideas so far, very interested to hear yours:

1. Instead of dedicated rudiment practice, I'm working through Wilcoxon's 'All-American Drummer', using a few simple orchestration interpretations. It's rudiment practice, but fairly musical, and adding in practice getting around the kit.

2. Using others' transcriptions of classic solos. I have done some of my own transcriptions, and I know you learn *more* from doing it yourself. But it's time consuming! For the sake of maximizing time spent getting some vocabulary worked through, I'm enjoying having "The Philly Joe Jones Solo Book" and some transcriptions by other drummers kind enough to upload their work.

3. Using play-along tracks to work on applying vocabulary in a 'real' setting. It would be better to play with other people, definitely, but this has been helpful (and humbling). There just aren't enough of these aimed at drummers?

I think this is a hard question to answer due to the fact that everyone has different goals of things they want to accomplish. I for example want to increase my double bass speed (and consistency) others may want to be able to play complex patterns, and others may just want to groove more confidently. In other words, everyone here will give you some advice (well intentioned) but such advice is what worked for their situation/goals, it doesn't mean is bad advice, it just means it might not be what you need. So, my sugestion to you will be to determine what it is that you want to accomplish and with that knowledge seek advice that is tailored to that..

 

[OHD]

yeah, you didn't mention those things specifically, that was my stream of consciousness sort of interrupting as I remembered other people saying that stuff when talking about the same subject...that was sort of my bad as I was typing/thinking fast.

and I definitely agree that there is no one secret technique to playing anything - it is a combination of what many different techniques can offer...the sum of the parts.

I just get fired up when I encounter people who slam those of us that work on technique, but then also lament how they can't play certain things <-- the "legends are great because of natural talent/luck" crowd. I deal with that a lot locally and it just brothers me. To say that any one element of playing is more or less important to success is very shortsighted, so I sort of always have my defenses up about that.

I know what you mean, technique IS really important. But I wanted to make a distinction between improving your technical facility and working on 'fancy' techniques because some social media influencers (that have never uploaded even one single video playing music with real people) are promoting it.

In my opinion, if the 1st thing that comes to mind when you think about what to work on is something like "push-pull", then you need to think deeper for an actual musical reason. In fact, just trying to look for a reason to learn push-pull is actually doing it backwards. You should go from music to technique, not the other way around. That's like buying something on impulse and then trying to rationalize it.

An example of how I'd do it is: You need to smoothen out your rolls for playing fills or solos? then let's have a look at that push-pull thing.