How to play something different..

H

Herzeleid

Member
Recently I've gotten very bored with my playing because I just have been recently playing the same thing over and over and over again. I can't seem to learn how drummers do all those chops and licks, because I can't find them anywhere. I keep playing the same beat and doing to same chops, fills and grooves and its becoming very very fulfilling

What are some good ways I can learn those common rock fills in a lot of today's rock music, such as post-hardcore, alternative rock, some forms of punkier stuff. .

Here some sick songs I'm talking about. Look these up on spotify or any music service,

Jawbox: Reel
Chinese Fork Tie
Spolier
Mirrorful
Native: Legoland
Shirts and Skin
Wrestling Moves
Hum: Comin' Home
I'd Like Your Hair Long
Channels: To Mt. Wilson from the Magpie Cage

The World Is (TWIABP): Heartbeat In The Brain

Texas is the Reason: Johnny on the Spot
Something to Forget (Version I)

Heres a cool video with some easy chops and cool improvised grooving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf_A9uW86K8

Perhaps tell me stickings from the video used?

Thanks!
 
Ummm, in another recent thread you wrote:

I have been playing for only 7-8 months on drums and really start practicing about 3 months ago...

So I think the answer to your post is more *practice*.
You want some chops, or ideas? Listen to music and sit down and practice. Work on any small part of it, piece by piece.

It doesn't come in weeks/months.
 
opentune said:
Ummm, in another recent thread you wrote:

I have been playing for only 7-8 months on drums and really start practicing about 3 months ago...

So I think the answer to your post is more *practice*.
You want some chops, or ideas? Listen to music and sit down and practice. Work on any small part of it, piece by piece.

It doesn't come in weeks/months.
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Yes thanks, I am pretty young at drumming, but I need ways to figuring out the sticking on what I'm learning. And how its played, and I'm having hard time with that.
 
Take it from somebody selftaught and who never did them early on - learn some Rudiments

Fills? search some youtubes on 'paradiddle fills', or any kind of fills if those interest you interest. Many of the vids slow things down to see the stickings.

But at 7-8 months you could still be working on your hands and timing.

It can be a long road - be sure to enjoy the journey not the destination.
 
Herzeleid said:
Yes thanks, I am pretty young at drumming, but I need ways to figuring out the sticking on what I'm learning. And how its played, and I'm having hard time with that.
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Find a qualified teacher. They'll help you get the tools you need to figure this stuff out.

The ability to decipher rhythms and stickings comes from years and years of building up knowledge of, and experience playing and hearing, rhythms and stickings from the simple to the more complex. You gotta earn it.

In general, people who start trying to bite off more difficult fills/etc. before their hands and feet -- and more importantly, their ears -- are really ready may end up being able to play those fills with copious repetition, but they tend to play them without real control and technical facility because they don't have a strong technical foundation. You might muscle them out, but there's likely to be kinks in your technique that need to be fixed. Moreover, players who learn by imitating licks tend to have rhythmic knowledge that is a mile wide and an inch deep. You'll always be stuck playing someone else's licks that way.

You have to learn to walk before you can learn to run. Battle your need for instant gratification and get some help. Then do your homework.
 
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opentune said:
Take it from somebody selftaught and who never did them early on - learn some Rudiments

Fills? search some youtubes on 'paradiddle fills', or any kind of fills if those interest you interest. Many of the vids slow things down to see the stickings.

But at 7-8 months you could still be working on your hands and timing.

It can be a long road - be sure to enjoy the journey not the destination.
Click to expand...

I have a video of me playing if you want to see it.

I've tried searching those fills but I can't seem to find ones that are "useful" in my "book" if you know what I mean.
 
The post above by Boomka is from a teacher - listen to that one.
Learn to walk before running. You need foundations not fills.
 
Boomka said:
It sounds to me like you don't have a book, yet.
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True, I do however have Ted Reeds Syncopation book, and the The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method by Carmine Appice. I really really want The New Breed by Gary Chester.

Speaking of getting hands ready, I've gotten most of my rudiments down up to spead and as even as possible, but my weak hand (right) feels weird and odd gripping the stick is this normal? No matter how hard I've worked my weak hand out, it doesn't feel good as my dominant hand (left). Is it always like that? Is your weaker hand feel almost the same as your strong hand from practicing? What are some ways I can improve the feeling of my grip? Is it just more practice? I practice rudiments about 15-30 mins a day sometimes twice a day, non stop straight through.
 
Herzeleid said:
Recently I've gotten very bored with my playing because I just have been recently playing the same thing over and over and over again. I can't seem to learn how drummers do all those chops and licks, because I can't find them anywhere.
Click to expand...

For me, this is where the academic side of drumming has proved useful. 50% of the time at the kit, I spend working on what my teacher has assigned. It's usually "Learn to play these 6 hand patterns over these two foot ostinato's" and "Learn to play these 6-note Gadd patterns". The effects are astounding, because I can now hear someone play a fill, and quantify it into the constituent parts. Learning to play new things becomes a matter of starting slowly and building the coordination.

My advice:

1: Get your hands and rudiments in shape sooner rather than later. I'd recommend joining BillB's site and working it hard for a month or two. I joined his site 1 year into playing and deeply regret not having joined sooner.

2: Get a personal teacher. They're going to be able to look at what you've picked up from BillB and make suggestions, corrections, and correct your weaknesses. They're also going to give you kit-oriented exercises like a 16th-note groove matrix and stuff like Samba/Bossa which will take you completely out of your element. They'll be able to answer your questions and give you interpersonal feedback.

3: Play what you want. Remember to incorporate your academic training into your playing when you do.
 
Herzeleid said:
True, I do however have Ted Reeds Syncopation book, and the The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method by Carmine Appice. I really really want The New Breed by Gary Chester.
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You're done with Syncopation in the 3 months you've been practicing? Don't bother with Chester right now. That isn't a book for a guy who's been playing for less than a year.

Speaking of getting hands ready, I've gotten most of my rudiments down up to spead and as even as possible, but my weak hand (right) feels weird and odd gripping the stick is this normal? No matter how hard I've worked my weak hand out, it doesn't feel good as my dominant hand (left). Is it always like that? Is your weaker hand feel almost the same as your strong hand from practicing? What are some ways I can improve the feeling of my grip? Is it just more practice? I practice rudiments about 15-30 mins a day sometimes twice a day, non stop straight through.
Click to expand...

Again, you've got all your rudiments (26? 40?) together and "up to speed" in the 3 months you've been practicing? Sounds unlikely, if you'll forgive me saying it.

As for your weak hand feeling weak compared to your strong hand. Get used to it. Very few of us are ever fully ambidextrous. It's normal. More practice will help, however.

Anyway, these are all questions and issues that should be addressed with a real, living and breathing teacher or - at the very least - a pixelated one via Skype.

Good luck.
 
Boomka said:
You're done with Syncopation in the 3 months you've been practicing? Don't bother with Chester right now. That isn't a book for a guy who's been playing for less than a year.



Again, you've got all your rudiments (26? 40?) together and "up to speed" in the 3 months you've been practicing? Sounds unlikely, if you'll forgive me saying it.

As for your weak hand feeling weak compared to your strong hand. Get used to it. Very few of us are ever fully ambidextrous. It's normal. More practice will help, however.

Anyway, these are all questions and issues that should be addressed with a real, living and breathing teacher or - at the very least - a pixelated one via Skype.

Good luck.
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I've been practicing rudiments for about roughly a year and a half. I got my drum set around December 2014. I started really practicing 3 months ago on my drums set (timing, grooves, bass drum control, apply rudiments ECT.
 
New Breed, really? :D

I think you should pay some money and find a top-notch instructor, who will break you down and make you look bad but in a constructive way. And then can guide you from there with your weak hand issues, fills, creativity and etc.

I've always had my biggest epiphanies and most playing "gains" after being humbled by a certified pro.
 
Brian said:
New Breed, really? :D

I think you should pay some money and find a top-notch instructor, who will break you down and make you look bad but in a constructive way. And then can guide you from there with your weak hand issues, fills, creativity and etc.

I've always had my biggest epiphanies and most playing "gains" after being humbled by a certified pro.
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Thanks. I do have a teacher, I use to take lessons but I was taken out because of the expenses. I will be having a few more lessons with him at home.
 
From what you say, it seems to me that you are relatively competent in terms of technique/rudiments, but that you're having difficulty translating this into actual playing.

There are two pieces of advice that are given most often on here. One is to get a teacher; the other is to start playing music with other people. You've been given the first already, now I'm giving you the second!

The whole point of playing drums, as much as any instrument, is to play MUSIC, and while most of us would like to have the most amazing chops, the reality is that we wouldn't have much opportunity to play them in a musical context: just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should.

I'm not a very experienced drummer, just a few years more than you. When I first started to play in a band, I played as simply and basically as possible. It worked: I supported the other musicians. As I improved, I started to put in more interesting things, but my job is always to support the others, and you might be surprised how little you actually have to do in order to play sympathetically, and how good it sounds even though you're doing much, much less than you are capable of.
 
Check out some instructional videos. Chad smiths red hot rhythm method for example!
 
Magenta said:
and you might be surprised how little you actually have to do in order to play sympathetically, and how good it sounds even though you're doing much, much less than you are capable of.
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No one has put this exactly like this. This is so true. As drummers, we practice so we can go 300 mph, but in reality, most of what I do stays under 50 mph. It almost seems silly, practicing stuff that I never will use, but it's not. Headroom is what makes a player sound good, someone who is not operating at the edge of their ability.

I like it when the drummer makes it look easy, as opposed to someone who looks like they're going to blow a gasket.
 
Herzeleid said:
True, I do however have Ted Reeds Syncopation book, and the The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method by Carmine Appice. I really really want The New Breed by Gary Chester.

Speaking of getting hands ready, I've gotten most of my rudiments down up to spead and as even as possible, but my weak hand (right) feels weird and odd gripping the stick is this normal?
Click to expand...


How are you using the Ted Reed book? If I were you, I'd play through the book in its entirety using just my right and left hand. Once you've gotten the hang of it, change up one of the limbs. Maybe right hand and left foot. Just keep going through the book cycling limbs. Once you're able to play through the book with any combination of limbs, try ostinati. An ostinato is a simple rhythmic pattern that you could keep while playing the exercises (this could be playing a ride pattern then doing the exercises with two other limbs). And just cycle through as many ostinati and limbs as you can.

Using these exercises will be a great ADDITION to your rudiment practice, which you can use in the same way. Don't just play rudiments with right hand and left hand, try other limb combinations.

Most importantly, on all of these exercises, focus on timing, control, and dynamics. For example, a paradiddle should have a louder first stroke (RlrrLrll). rudiments aren't about speed, they are about technique and control, and no one is "mastering" rudiments in 8 months, 1 year, 2 years, et cetera. Drumming is a life long process: you cna't just practice for a few months and become the best in the world and never have to practice again.

To echo the other posters: get a teacher (if you can, I know it's expensive), practice at least once a day, play with other musicians.
 
I don't have anything new to offer (the rudiments are very important) but I found this by searching for Jawbox, because I always loved the band and their last drummer was a monster! After Jawbox he played with Burning Airlines and it was just as impressive.
I also got to see Texas is the Reason back in the 90s and loved them. Chris D was a really solid drummer, even back in his hardcore scene days.

Both drummers did a lot of ghost/drag stuff on the snare, so that's just getting your snare hand up to speed so you're comfortable with it. Best of luck, and keep rocking to good 90s post-hardcore!
 
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