What are you working on now? (Aka the idea stealing thread)

I

iwearnohats

Silver Member
Since we as drummers are such a sharing, caring bunch I figured it would be nice to start a thread where we talk about what we're currently working on, and maybe tips and tricks as to what helps you learn.

I'm sure a thread like this exists but I couldn't see anything stickied!

So, to start off, here are the things I am primarily focused on at the moment:

- Latin independence, with a focus on Salsa music (as I enjoy Salsa dancing as well).

- Virgil Donati's Double Bass Freedom book

- Endurance work, since this is something I have always neglected and right now it's causing me some very clear problems (especially with my double kick playing)

- Linear grooves and fills.


So with the Latin related playing, I'm working a 3-2 Son Clave with my left foot on a jam block, and playing a Songo rhythm with my right foot on the kick. My goal for now is to be able to solo with my hands on top of these ostinatos, so I've started following Stick Control on top with the hands. I also work on playing a Cascara with either the right or left hand as this is also a pattern used extensively in Salsa music.

Double bass has always been an interest of mine, and there's not much to say here. I work on two sections in the book at once - the first being early on where you are playing certain patterns over the top of either singles, doubles or paradiddles played with the feet, and then later on I am currently working on a section dealing with mixed groups of, for example, 3, 5 or 7 notes. I'm also putting a little bit of time into re-learning Alien Hip Hop but as time is a bit limited for me right now it's not a priority.

So thanks to a remarkably short attention span and a greater interest in playing music, I've neglected the more long-duration work that I should be doing. However, I'm now going to force myself (starting quite slow - 140bpm) to play single strokes for 15 minutes straight simultaneously with hands and feet, focusing on execution and also ensuring I vary my dynamics whilst doing so. I also am working on alternating 1 minute sets between hands and feet, bumping up the tempo by 5bpm until I can no longer hold a whole minute straight, and then working with groups of 16 consecutive notes per hand and/or foot, and sitting at 5bpm below the tempo where my technique starts to fall apart. It's a fairly conservative approach to speed development but again comes down to wanting to preserve good technique and build endurance first.

With my linear pattern work, I am doing the Nasty Vinnie Licks posted on here by Mark Feldman (feldiefeld), working through Gary Chaffee's Linear Time Playing; as well as my own creations inspired by Gary Chaffee's Stick Control book.
 
This week is all about my attempt to have the same independence with my left hand that I possess with 8ths on the right, but with 16ths on the right.


Basically, this...

2Mfyu16.jpg
 
Not much for a while now. Busy trying to fix the employment situation and haven't really been feeling it.

If I get one of the two local jobs I've applied for I'll have to do some work geting my woodwind cops back, but on the other hand drum practice will just be perfect diversion.

My all day practice kit, of course in combination with little general variation gave me a bit on a achilles heel issue. Haven't had that iin over 20 years, but here we are.

I'm getting back into it now and it's all the same stuff as always really, but have to give the right foot some rest still.

A little break does give one time to organize more, though.

I do a bit of hand conditioning and snare work in the morning.

My typical SC, Chaffe, Syncopation and New Breed is spread over the week. There's a log so it's not just maintenance, but it's all the basic stuff.

Those wo things are just the essentials and they're getting less and less time and most time is spent on songs and style studies.

Obviously no real double bass work at this point, but doing that as an evening thing combined with other physical training was always a good way for me.
 
The only thing I'm really working on is the "harmonic" section of Dahlgren & Fine, which I've finally figured out a productive way of practicing. Also working on Chaffee's linear system, both out of his book and my own practice phrases. Other than than, I'm doing maintenance practicing out of Haskell Harr and Stick Control, and Mitch Peters's Odd Meter Calisthenics, and playing out of D&F's Accent on Accents over various bass drum ostinatos. Also playing through the long exercises in Reed a couple of different ways: as fast rock, and cut time funk.
 
My main concern these days is my time. I have enough ability to play what I want to hear. I don't like overly note-ey drum parts anyway, I prefer some space in the drum part. So right now, I feel the area that needs improvement the most is my meter.

Just last Saturday during a song, the bandleader made a loop in the front of the song, and checked my tempo to the loop later on in the song, and no it didn't line up perfectly. So I got told during the song that I sped up...a lot. In reality, it couldn't have been more than 3 bpm, because I'm not THAT oblivious, and the recording...whatever I did didn't stick out. It's always a gradual thing. For some reason, he can't fathom the fact that I'm not a machine. He can't understand how I can possibly slow down or speed up, (I'm not playing to a click) and he thinks that him and the bass player can do whatever they want and that it should have no influence on my time. Well it does.

So I work on my time because I don't like hearing about it. Except working on time in my studio....is so different than performing. That's my issue. The only real way to make the time perfect is for everyone to play to a click while we perform. The minute that happens, I'm out.
 
My swing. Mainly the solidity, endurance, and speed of it. Not only has it helped me immensely with jazz so far, but the hand speed gained in general is quite incredible. You should definetly check out Rob Browns YouTube video on hand development. That's where I got the idea!
 
Well I've been working through Groove Essentials 2.0 the past 2 years, finally finished the jazz section, gonna take a short break from it before starting the latin/world section. Probably delve back into New Breed, haven't worked on it since December.
 
My new obsession is picking up my guitar, putting it into some random tuning and working through some scales by ear. Then Ill try and write some kind of riff in that tuning. Then Ill put back into D standard (my bands tuning) and try to recreate the riff. I was getting pretty bored with playing and this has made the guitar fun again.

Ive been thinking about what the equivalent would be on the drums, but walking in and randomly rearranging toms doesnt seem like the most practical exercise.
 
larryace said:
.So right now, I feel the area that needs improvement the most is my meter.
Click to expand...

Hi Larry. I hear you and empathise. Timing is the most important aspect of what we do.

Not to be pedantic but just a small point. Allow me to waffle for a moment, lol.

I've seen you mention 'meter' here and another thread when the main thing you've actually been talking about is improving timing. Excuse me if I'm misreading you, are you saying the word meter to mean your timing/tempo?

Meter just means the grouping of notes that time signatures are made from. Like duple, triple and quadruple meter which are respectively groupings of 2, 3 or 4 beats per measure found in time sigs like 2/4, 2/8, 2/16, 3/4, 3/8, 6/8, 4/4, 4/8, etc.

That said, of course meter and timing work in synchronicity. Meter provides the repetitive rhythmic pulse that we play on the drums, and keeping that meter steady and groovy is where working on our timing is important.
 
iwearnohats said:
Since we as drummers are such a sharing, caring bunch I figured it would be nice to start a thread where we talk about what we're currently working on, and maybe tips and tricks as to what helps you learn.

I'm sure a thread like this exists but I couldn't see anything stickied!

So, to start off, here are the things I am primarily focused on at the moment:

- Latin independence, with a focus on Salsa music (as I enjoy Salsa dancing as well).

- Virgil Donati's Double Bass Freedom book

- Endurance work, since this is something I have always neglected and right now it's causing me some very clear problems (especially with my double kick playing)

- Linear grooves and fills.


So with the Latin related playing, I'm working a 3-2 Son Clave with my left foot on a jam block, and playing a Songo rhythm with my right foot on the kick. My goal for now is to be able to solo with my hands on top of these ostinatos, so I've started following Stick Control on top with the hands. I also work on playing a Cascara with either the right or left hand as this is also a pattern used extensively in Salsa music.

Double bass has always been an interest of mine, and there's not much to say here. I work on two sections in the book at once - the first being early on where you are playing certain patterns over the top of either singles, doubles or paradiddles played with the feet, and then later on I am currently working on a section dealing with mixed groups of, for example, 3, 5 or 7 notes. I'm also putting a little bit of time into re-learning Alien Hip Hop but as time is a bit limited for me right now it's not a priority.

So thanks to a remarkably short attention span and a greater interest in playing music, I've neglected the more long-duration work that I should be doing. However, I'm now going to force myself (starting quite slow - 140bpm) to play single strokes for 15 minutes straight simultaneously with hands and feet, focusing on execution and also ensuring I vary my dynamics whilst doing so. I also am working on alternating 1 minute sets between hands and feet, bumping up the tempo by 5bpm until I can no longer hold a whole minute straight, and then working with groups of 16 consecutive notes per hand and/or foot, and sitting at 5bpm below the tempo where my technique starts to fall apart. It's a fairly conservative approach to speed development but again comes down to wanting to preserve good technique and build endurance first.

With my linear pattern work, I am doing the Nasty Vinnie Licks posted on here by Mark Feldman (feldiefeld), working through Gary Chaffee's Linear Time Playing; as well as my own creations inspired by Gary Chaffee's Stick Control book.
Click to expand...



work on his method with a 3-2 and 2-3 son and rumba clave (he only does 3-2 rumba most of the time). Most dance music is on 2-3 son clave, so do all that stuff with that :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbnz1vM1Lz4
 
Thanks Drum4fun! I've been meaning to look for something like that :)
 
larryace said:
My main concern these days is my time.
Just last Saturday during a song, the bandleader made a loop in the front of the song, and checked my tempo to the loop later on in the song, and no it didn't line up perfectly. So I got told during the song that I sped up...a lot. In reality, it couldn't have been more than 3 bpm
Click to expand...

For some reason this made me angry. Too many musicians just 'dump' all the responsibility of timekeeping on the drummer. We may have the role of timekeeper, most of the time, because we are the ones with the most rhythmical instrument. In the same way, horn players and singers usually want chords or notes from the keyboard player underneath them to pitch the right notes. That doesn't mean if they play or sing out of tune they can automatically blame the piano player... Not sure why, when so many soloists accelerate through their solo - often taking the rest of the band with them, that think they can then turn around and blame the drummer? Surely it is everyones responsibility to play in tune - and it is should be everyones responsibility to try and stay in time, too...
I suppose it is different if he is accusing you of being the one who is causing the speeding up, but 3bpm? I bet a lot of Buddy Rich big band recordings have more variation than that!

Have a look at this. I have no idea how reliable or accurate it is - it is just a bit of fun:

http://jesuspunk.com/got-rhythm-this-website-will-test-your-ability-to-keep-a-steady-beat/

I hope I'm not breaking any rules by linking to it...

By all means try it - but more imporantly, make sure your band leader and bass player give it a go, too...
;-)
 
Great thread!

Jake943 said:
My swing. Mainly the solidity, endurance, and speed of it. Not only has it helped me immensely with jazz so far, but the hand speed gained in general is quite incredible. You should definetly check out Rob Browns YouTube video on hand development. That's where I got the idea!
Click to expand...

I'm working on swing too, since about 2 years ago on and off (mostly 'on'). I spent the first year and a half working on vocabulary, and more recently I'm trying to use that and develop my phrasing, playing along with recorded jazz tracks until it feels more organic.

Jake, thanks for that Rob Brown tip! Suddenly decent uptempo ride cymbal playing seems achievable. Gonna keep working on that.
 
Wonderful topic.
Personally working on actually practising and trying to stop the 'I can't practise because *whatever*' lies I tell myself. Granted, due to my living situation I can very rarely actually get behind the kit, but I know there is a ton of other things I can work on. My insistence to myself to recognize limited kit time as the only developmental time is promoting a downward progression in my playing.
 
The only interesting thing I've been doing is practicing jazz independence with the left hand ride, right hand traditional. And bouncing between LF hat and LF bass depending on the day or week. My left hand ride patterns and coordination is definitely coming together. Some brush stuff too, I'm really weak in that area.
 
currently I'm working on switching up accents with my hands. Stuff like RlrLrlRlrLrlRlrlRlrLrlRlrLrlRlrl where the capital letters are the accents
 
I've been working on open handed technique, mainly to get my left hand to be more independent and accurate. I've been working on it since about a year ago and have been seeing improvement, but still a ways to go before I stop having to think about it. Simpler songs haven't been as much trouble and I've even been better about leading fills with my left. What I've discovered though is the more the right hand has to do, the worse the left gets. Journey's Don't Stop Believing starts out great. The second verse adds a ping on the ride, between snare and toms. Still not bad, but when the next verse adds ping, snare, 2 pings, toms, then my left hand starts to play flams and my level of concentration goes way high to try and control it. Overall, I've gotten to the point where I can get through the song, but not close to being second nature.

The other thing I've been working on is swing. Just love the finesse and feel, but still sucking air at this point.

Had to lay off rudiments for a while. I definitely need work there, but the practice pad really aggravated my arthritis, so had to back down. Things are looking up there too, so I'll get back to it when I can.
 
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