State your unpopular drumming opinions

I would definitely prefer playing to records. I think half the battle is finding ways to make metronome practice fun.

If possible, check out Spencer Strand’s “Test of Time” tracks. They are drum-less tracks at various tempos with random gaps in the music. The variety of music is good and I found them to be an excellent tempo exercise. They really helped improve my timing, especially on fills.
 
If possible, check out Spencer Strand’s “Test of Time” tracks. They are drum-less tracks at various tempos with random gaps in the music. The variety of music is good and I found them to be an excellent tempo exercise. They really helped improve my timing, especially on fills.

I didn't know that exercise page : great info thank you.
 
"Guitar players should stop bossing everyone around as though they are the only member in the band who knows anything."

They don't and far too many of them spend too much time high fiving themselves in the mirror and deluding themselves into thinking that the business is exactly the same as it was in 1973.

i watch the crowd and dance floor like a hawk. No pretty girls in sight - and i'm not talking about their soon-to-be ex-wife; something needs to change and quick.

That's my unpopular drumming opinion.

Mike

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Drums only sound like drums to the ears. A microphone "hears" and presents the sound differently. In other words, once you mic up a kit and put the signal through processing and a sound system, you're not hearing what the drums sound like anymore.
 
I used to play in a country band and the lead singer's dad was more into bluegrass and acoustic country pickin' and he had an unpopular opinion of drums. He used to say, "There's only two places for drums. A marching band and the river!" Always makes me laugh when I think of that but that's just because none of my drums ever went for a swim, lol!
 
Drums only sound like drums to the ears. A microphone "hears" and presents the sound differently. In other words, once you mic up a kit and put the signal through processing and a sound system, you're not hearing what the drums sound like anymore.

Well yes and no. When you close mic you are amplifying only a tiny part of the overall drum sound. So typically I see mics very close to the drum and an inch away from the rim. If you stuck your ear right there you would hear a terrible representation of how the drum sounds as a whole. That's why you see the popularity of 2 or 3 mics to cover the entire kit when recording.

Of course that doesn’t work so well when you are trying to do live sound with a rock band as you get too much bleed.
 
Years ago I met a former student of my then current long time drum teacher. Our drum teacher was kind of a Guru figure in our area and he was a master of teaching very advanced technique, he was also pretty strict about it.
After talking for awhile the former student said "You know what? F$%k technique." That was kinda eye opening for my young ears (or is that ear opening?).
 
The music industry forces musicians to be publicly agreeable and not share their true thoughts. Of course, everyone says they are not liying...when what they mean is that they are not telling the whole truth. This makes most musicians morally questionable as they are willing to trade integrity for financial opportunity(not so different from the average joe, but we should keep higher standards).

Most musicians that are critical of other musicians are usually jealous and deep in the 'im not good enough' thought process that they reduce the quality of their art. Have self respect without letting your ego take control and your playing will reflect it.

An audience is not worth the $ loss it takes to play publicly when you do not have a demand that calls for a meaningfully profitable pay scale. I can invite people to my place, play at home...less headache and potential threat.
If you believe you will get discovered at a jam then you better get active buying lottery tickets as they are more likely to be productive. If I want to get more popular, I can hire a PR firm...its more reliable and likely to have effect on myself as a business than going to jams. Jams are where 'marks' are found to 'play for exposure'...yes, some contacts can be good from jams but most are poor contacts and the good ones you could have made with proper PR/Management.

Playing music you do not like effects your playing... detrimentally. Fake enthusiasm can be heard and felt.

After developing your skills for decades, mental practice(off the set, no sticks) can be a significant enhancer of your skills.

If you don't play at least 2 additional instruments and work on your singing, you are selling your drumming short....does not mean you will be performing the additional instruments or voice but cross training WILL make your drumming better.(had a lot of drummer try to dissuade me from that opinion).

Music theory is as important as rudiments to a drummer. Be able to read rhythm on the fly (Classic, Coral and Nashville Notation) and at least be able to interpret pitch notation...and that's at a minimum. Nail down your circle of 5ths and alternate modes...understand what intervals are and what they are called and how they work together.

Thinking you will make money playing music(without side businesses) to make a living is usually a fallacy.

Teaching sucks - I want to play!

Get an entertainment lawyer and contract everything you do if it involves money or property risk. insure yourself as a musician as well as your equipment. How much is your ability to play worth to you?...insure it for that much.

Question all things told including those told by popular musicians.

Never be a band follower, be the band leader and take your enhanced portion of profit. Don't be on the other end.

Write songs, have an automatic copyright process set up for every recording of your song development(live stream to a backed up server is wise)...but note, people will lie about 'writing the song first'...so proof you wrote it can be a bit difficult when fighting truly unethical money mongers.. Never release without copyright protection. Chase violators of your copyrights and pursue stiff penalties(and never settle!! Better to let the lawyer have a larger take than to let the rich *%#$^ get away with it.) Pursue criminal prosecution when your materials are stolen...be it a stolen drum set or a stolen song or performance.

No one really wants to do the business side until its too late...and most drummers I have met argue against being financially/legally sound! Surprises me...the excuse is usually that it looks bad to be business like??!!??
 
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Are people still doing unpopular opinion threads? well I guess i might as well put mine down

Number 1. I have no idea what "Gospel Chops" is supposed to mean and most drumming i've heard termed gospel chops sounds like somebody kicked their drum set down the stairs.

Unpopular Opinion Number 2. Most of the "Hot Girl" drummers on youtube are very good.

Unpopular Opinion Number 3. All the Wuhan Cymbals I've heard have been great. Hi Hats and Rides to Crashes and Chinas.

Number 4. With the way that I learn. All those books like "Stick Rudiments" and "Stick control for the modern jazz drummer" or whatever they're called are useless to me and I've never learned anything practical or useful from them. I don't doubt that some people have learned much from the, but listening and doing is how I learn and what helps me with how I play.

Rudiments are another thing that can be useless and a waste of time to try and learn, Especially with the beginner advice often given to learn the Rudiments. They can certainly be useful and a great way to improve your playing but it's far more important to learn how to use them in a musical context so you actually can implement then in your playing. and being told to play rudiments and a certain BPM is also useless as drummers all start out at different levels and you should find a tempo you can play comfortably instead of struggling with one you can't handle.

Number 6. A vast majority of people use unpopular opinion threads are used as a way to talk shit instead of a way to actually present unpopular opinions and legitimate discussion (and i'm not pretending to be an exception to this rule).
 
Here's something unpopular - I don't use overhead microphones live. Cymbals already cut through stuff, and on stage that's all bleeding into the vocal mics, so you really don't need overheads for the drums. Try it.
 
No it wasn't directed at you, just a dig at the AWESOME crowd in general. You know for eg. Q..How are you this morning? A.. I'm Awesome! Heaps of people say it.. personally i prefer FANTASTIC .. or Really Well Thank You. but that's not popular anymore, cest la vie! Also studies have shown that men's beards have more bacteria in them than your dog. ha! bet you look at those Hipster Chefs differently now.. Awesome. And Hipsters were originally Girls.. Awesome.
I said brilliant to a Canadian waiter, and he looked at my like I just told him how his mum tasted.
 
People are way too caught up in number of drums, number of cymbals, that maker is the best, that maker sucks, I'm the best, you're the worst....whatever.
 
My opinion is SO unpopular, I fear for everyone's mental stability.

So I have a duty to not mention it.

As Jim Keltner says, I wear these sunglasses for YOUR protection.
 
I only fear for Larry's Mental Stability-yeah that's choice coming from me-but don't stop me-I'm ripping. In Larry's defense he is a secret agent (he admitted it-I saw the thread) and if he did tell us-then he'd have to kill us.

My unpopular opinion is in regard to my being the greatest player than ever lived. Yeah has like zero popularity. I win.
This has been a long thread-talk of mounting tom, virgin kick, protection-my mind wanders.
 
Here's something unpopular - I don't use overhead microphones live. Cymbals already cut through stuff, and on stage that's all bleeding into the vocal mics, so you really don't need overheads for the drums. Try it.

This is like every gig I have ever played. If you play rooms up to about 500 people this couldn't be MORE true. Once you get into really large rooms where eveyrthing has to be super loud to hit the back, or there are remote PA speakers then overheads come in to play. A stadium show would sound like crap without it.

But I fully agree with this.
 
Technique can hold some drummers back from being spontaneous. Technical ability doesn't mean you can colour the song. Most bands in my experience hate spontaneity. They want the drums to sound exactly as they want it right from the very start, which is a shame because a large art form and joy of playing is lost doing it that way. The greatest thing about Keith Moon is that he coloured songs spontaneously. A lot of bands don't want that from a drummer and it leads to arguments. Most of the time the song writers feel that they want to write the drum parts which in my opinion is the wrong way of going about it. Bands have to hear what new places a drummer can take the song.
 
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