So what's your practice routine like

konaboy

Pioneer Member
As in how do you approach practicing? I have to say most of the time for me it's warming up around the kit, working on the songs I need to learn for the week then calling it a night. When I was younger it was working on the rudiments and lessons my teachers were giving me. Saw this video by Mike Johnston and it really got me thinking more about my playing and my practice routine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDJypIjV_kg
 
3 hours daily...


First 25 min is rudiments /hands & feet patterns to warm up.

I alternate days on grooves vs. fill exercises.
55 min of fills or 55 min of grooves (each split into 5 min for each each pattern).

The hour and a half I have left I work on songs I need to learn for gigs/sessions/auditions etc...
 
I still use the first page warm-up of The Funky Primer book. I play each pattern 'til it flows naturally.

Next I work on rudiments, rolls (singles and doubles.)

Then I work on music that is at hand.

Peace, MT
 
Start off with the first page from stick control, then tommy igoe's beginner and intermediate warmup. I can't do the advanced one, I think I need to take baby steps to get up to speed.

Then, depending on how much time I have, I can go through any of the following things in any order;

- Practice beats at different subdivisions like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RRhtu6mYIk

From 40bpm-100bpm, or I start a bit faster and touch on faster tempo's (I'm not very fast).

- Play through most of Virgil Donati's double bass drum freedom. I also have a couple of pages of extra material that I add to the tail end of that routine.

- Benny Greb's alphabet system applied to the drumset - I do 4/4, 6/8, with the jazz ride pattern, 5/4 and 7/4.

- Play along to songs I'm supposed to learn for one of my bands or just for enjoyment. It's amazing how fast time goes when you're just playing along to music.

- Creative playing (usually free form) until boredom ensues.

That's pretty much all I do, not including jams/band practices.

I wanna learn some linear stuff next.
 
Actually, I never had any kind of set plan. I just kind of get sticks and a pad and work on stuff from time to time, but I try to sit at a drumset at least 30 minutes a day, or every other day and play some. Except when I have a show week with the choir kids like this week. I'm not playing at all as my set is in place on stage for the week. So the only time I play is from downbeat of the show and on.

When I was a kid I had a set schedule of stuff to do, but not anymore.
 
It's the only activity where I experience anger, sadness, joy, regret, fear, and acceptance in a 30 minute span.
 
For better or worse, most everything I do is based around songs and expanding my library by learning parts of songs I like or feel I should know. My daily routine is something like:

Stretch: 5-10 minute
Improvise: 15 minute
Song work / part isolation: 60 minute
Stick Control: 30 minute at night

Im not going to play double bass or be a chopsmeister....my focus is playing music and with exception of the stick control work, my practice focus around playing music.
 
Depends on what I'm working on but what I usually do is a simple beat to warm up, going into sixteenths on the snare and random accents to get further warmed up. Since I'm working on my left foot's speed and strength along with double bass work I immediately go up to as fast as I can on double bass (Which is not clean) until my left foot can't continue. After that I'll let my right foot start playing something complicated and hard and than move to my left foot and try to do it at the same speed. My left foot is not remotely clean but its not really the point, its to force it to speed up and become strong enough to keep the hits even on each stroke. The beat I usually play thats not just straight double bass is from Immigrant Song if anyone's wondering. Even my right foot will wear down if I keep it up for to long. My left foot can do it but it sounds horrible with half the doubles not even being articulate. I also won't leave the kit until my left foot is literally unable to keep going.

Inbetween these I'll usually move into random fills where I'll avoid playing ones that I know and like to do to find new ones. I'll also drift into fast beats to give my hands a bit more of a work out.


Mostly what I'm looking at is things that I can't play cleanly and get them clean. I want to be able to move around the kit and play anything I can play cleanly though when I drift into other stuff. A lot of this stuff is also meant to push what I can do.
 
I don't have any form of routine, really, and I'm pretty lazy when it comes to using the practice pad.

To work on rudiments, I'll occasionally sit down with the pad, but otherwise, it all gets practiced on the kit, in beats, in fills, etc.

I find I learn rudiments or stickings easier if I play songs that involve them, Whether I can play them correctly or not is another story; I just play until I can replicate the correct sticking. I'll usually focus on said specific rudiment for a while, messing around with it, before adding it to my 'repertoire'.

Sometimes I'll sit down and just play variations of the same thing over and over and over, until it drives everybody in the house crazy. Like when I was learning the 2-over-2 triplet fill, I just did it over and over, until I was able to play it cleanly and with speed.

As for deciding to learn new things?
I'll learn some new rudiment if I feel it will benefit the music that I play in some way. I primarily play for fun, so frankly, I don't care if I can't play ratamacues, inverse paraddidles, 9-stroke rolls, etc. Unless of course I hear some awesome fill or groove, and just HAVE to learn it, I'm very happy with where I am, skill-wise.

All that to say I'm lazy! :p
 
don the headset
10 min hand/foot warmup
listen to base of tune I need to learn
1 hr, practice tune - til Im comfortable
beer


F
 
Think about drums from the time I get up til the time I hit the rack, at some point I go to rehearsal or a gig. Sometimes I go to the garage and tinker around with an idea I hear that's impossible for me to play (but that doesn't last very long). After 40+ years of doing this stuff it's sorta like breathing now. It's just how I roll.
 
-bust right into stuff that's too hard at full speed,
-get frustrated,
-hit harder,
-break e-cymbal,
-rage quit.
 
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