What's your practice regimen?

B

baddarryl

Junior Member
Hi all. I just started playing in my 50's. Have played bass for a long time. A good drummer told me it would be good to play any new beat for 3 minutes perfectly before increasing speed. I have started to apply this to rudiments, beats and assignments from my teacher. Also using a metronome often. Sound ideal?

I can usually practice between an hour or two a day. What else might I add? Thanks
 
baddarryl said:
Hi all. I just started playing in my 50's. Have played bass for a long time. A good drummer told me it would be good to play any new beat for 3 minutes perfectly before increasing speed. I have started to apply this to rudiments, beats and assignments from my teacher. Also using a metronome often. Sound ideal?

I can usually practice between an hour or two a day. What else might I add? Thanks
Click to expand...

Hour or two a day is pretty good. Should find people to jam with too. Personal practice is a must but jamming with people I find leaps and bounds
 
Since you asked, I don't use regimens. It's whatever I feel like doing that day. I need to feel like my drums aren't work, even though they are. So I make it up as I go rather than have a set agenda. It's what works for me.
 
I put on the sheet stand whatever I feel like working on and the next time I sit down I either work on that or I do something else. It's like a suggestion.
Enough To do lists already :)

I must add that I think playing with beginners probably made me lazy. I learnt our 8 songs set list in a fraction of the time the others needed and I was not much motivated to strive for perfection as long as I had to give cues to the singer as to when to start each phrase in Superstition 😁
 
Sounds like you’re doing good..
I try, and usually manage 3/4 30 minute blasts focusing on different things, everyday.
Pad work 45mins to an hour everyday.
Band practice, (4/5 hours) twice a week..
I focus on jazz a lot..
 
Keep going guys...i need the inspiration. I'm about to get back on that horse again and get my mint sparkle renowns out and on stage befor the sand in the hour glass runs out. I'm here reading all these responses to steal what I need. Keep it coming.
 
When I’m in a band, my regimen is to perfect my performance. I repeat the tune and play note for note what I should/want to play until it’s locked into my brain. No guessing at arrangements, tempos, rhythms or fills.

As for rudiments and learning a beat, I play along to a repeater/echo device and set it to a certain tempo. My flubs are instantly obvious. When I finally lock in (after a week or two) I increase the tempo and/or try moving around the kit with that rudiment.
 
My practice routine has been consistent for the last 20 years or so. I’m not able to practice every day, and the length of time per individual practice always changes. However, no matter how often or for how long I’m able to practice, each session always consists of:

1: Getting sounds dialed in.
2: Establishing a groove. Could be anything.
3: Working on variations of the baseline groove.
4: Incorporating cliché fills into the groove and deciding which fills sound best in that particular groove.
5: Self-mixing (far and away the most important part of any practice session for me) to sound as close as possible to favorite soul/pop/rock/country records from the 60’s through today. Cymbals softer than drums, snare and bass drum loudest, etc…
 
I go to our church just about every Monday morning (I am retired). I take two drum books with me: Stick Control and Syncopation for the Modern Drummer. I turn off the snare wires and play one column from Stick Control. Then I play two pages from Syncopation... on the snare with both hands, then with one hand on the hats, then playing hats and bass drum I play it with one hand on the snare, finally I play it on the bass drum while keeping time on the hats and snare. After about an hour of that, I whack out and go home. It really seems to help my drumming. Peace and goodwill.
 
I could never do 2 hours by myself.. I'd get bored. When I was learning I used to practice an hour a day for several years. Now I just do speed practice.. best bang for the buck kinda thing. I work my hands (fingers) and feet either relaxing outside or while watching TV.. on the kit I'll run through tempos using my Tempo phone app, Usually running setlists of partial tunes and try to recall and sing each tune in my head as I play. Usually finish off with a freeform, anything goes groove with lots of solo type rudiments thrown in. I try to change it up to something different every minute or 2.. as it's easy to get stuck in a rut - so change it up with transitions to other beats..
 
I don't really have one. Our band practices once a week for about 3+ hours. Every other day I just try to hop on the kit as much as I can. I just sit down and play whatever I'm feeling at the moment and try to practice things that I'm not super good at yet. I don't break down time periods of different exercises or anything like that; I don't have time for that stuff.
 
I had a much better work ethic in my first 6 months of returning to drums than the past three, but I had a lot happening on bass learning repertoire for 3 bands in rapid succession in the last 3 months. Fortunately the learning curve is over, and I’m getting back to drumming more. I basically just play what I want but always with improving my steadiness and getting fancier with dazzling fills and footwork as the main goal. So I make a little time for rudiments and reading sheet music in there.
 
I never practice unless I'm playing with the band. I have one long practice each week and then anywhere from 1-3 gigs every weekend.

I have 4 kits, but only 3 sets of hardware:

1 kit stays in the band trailer locked up in a warehouse (with the band PA).
1 kit stays at the rehearsal spot (25 min. from home, and I don't have a key).
1 kit stays in cases packed up at the house for gigs where the PA is provided at the gig.
1 kit is on the shelf, but does not have hardware.

I'm too old to set up a kit every time I want to play it. I need another set of hardware, but I'm too stingy to buy any right now.
 
I never stop.

I form sentences using rhythms I am working on, I constantly have a pattern going that I am comparing/contrasting to other musical ideas...my constant tapping is odious.

I even click patterns with my teeth while sleeping/heading for sleep.

It isn't really a choice.
 
baddarryl said:
Hi all. I just started playing in my 50's. Have played bass for a long time. What else might I add? Thanks
Click to expand...
Just started... This is the important part I see here. I guess it depends what your goals are. You don't say.

I too started in my late 50s. I play guitar (45 years now.. wow!). My drum goals are to be able to sit down with a Snare, Hats, and Bass drum. and make music. Nate Smith anyone?

My lessons sort of naturally gravitated to playing along with/covering songs. I realized that my original goal was being lost in the process. I recently told my instructor, I want to focus on hands only for the next year. No kit, just pad or snare. His back ground is Drum Core (is that what you call it?) so he was very pleased with the direction I suggested.

The point is, in our later years, being a beginner means we have to focus on what we really want to achieve. If you want to cover songs and play with a band, practice kit based abilities and those things that will get you to that point "B". For me, these things hold little charm. My practice may look different than yours.
 
Suspect what works is very individual and goal dependent like Square says above. For example, my main goal for the next year or so is to get enjoyment playing solos alone at my drum kit with no backing of any sort.

And like Uncle Larry indicated earlier, for me it means doing whatever I feel like doing.

Typically:

1. Free improvising solos, which seems to be the key to my improvement as a drummer and a musician. This is how I spend most of my practice time and where both technique and musicality is developed.

2. Spending a small amount of time reading and playing, as musically as possible, the technique exercises from the classic basic instruction books. This is where basic reading skills are developed which of course is useful for studying musical ideas and collaborating with others.

3. Spending an even smaller quantity of time working through style books such as John Riley's jazz books, Gil Sharone's Jamaican book, and Stanton Moore's Groove Alchemy. This is where perspectives on other people's creativity are studied, genre conventions practised, and reading skills furthered.
 
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