SELF TEACHING: WHERE TO GO NEXT?

Lukemccarthy58

Junior Member
Hello, I've been playing drums for 8 years now! (Seems like only yesterday getting my first lesson!) I was taught by a drum teacher for 6 years of this, but I was only really taught to play rock songs/techniques. I really want to improve as a general drummer, as I am now part of a band and feel as though it would greatly benefit my drumming learning how to play in different styles.

The thing is, I was kind of given everything on a plate. My drum teacher knew exactly what he was going to teach me each week and gave me rudiments and grooves to practice for the following week. As I am now trying to learn on my own, I'm struggling to find what I need to practice!

I'm in love with rock music, but feel as though learning new genres of drumming would help improve my rock drumming as well as my musicality as a whole. Has anybody got any ideas on where I can go next with my drumming? A problem I have at the moment is not having regular access to a drum kit due to being at university; I only have a practice pad. Any ideas? Genre ideas would be greatly appreciated also as I wouldn't really know another genre that would help vary my techniques and give me ideas to implement into my rock drumming. Thanks a lot!

If anymore information is required to give me more precise information, don't be afraid to ask!
 
Self-taught metal drummer here. I found myself wanting to expand too, and I can tell you in three words what has helped me do this:

youtube - gospel chops.
 
Hello, I've been playing drums for 8 years now! (Seems like only yesterday getting my first lesson!) I was taught by a drum teacher for 6 years of this, but I was only really taught to play rock songs/techniques. I really want to improve as a general drummer, as I am now part of a band and feel as though it would greatly benefit my drumming learning how to play in different styles.

The thing is, I was kind of given everything on a plate. My drum teacher knew exactly what he was going to teach me each week and gave me rudiments and grooves to practice for the following week. As I am now trying to learn on my own, I'm struggling to find what I need to practice!

I'm in love with rock music, but feel as though learning new genres of drumming would help improve my rock drumming as well as my musicality as a whole. Has anybody got any ideas on where I can go next with my drumming? A problem I have at the moment is not having regular access to a drum kit due to being at university; I only have a practice pad. Any ideas? Genre ideas would be greatly appreciated also as I wouldn't really know another genre that would help vary my techniques and give me ideas to implement into my rock drumming. Thanks a lot!

If anymore information is required to give me more precise information, don't be afraid to ask!

No offense to the poster above, but the last thing I would do if my aim was to learn applicable stuff from various genres would be to learn a bunch of gospel chops. But, hey, that's just my opinion. My playing career consists of being a chameleon of sorts. I regularly do everything from musical theatre to rockabilly, with jazz, swing and standard cover stuff in between. I played on cruise ships for many years which required me to cop just about every genre of music you can possibly imagine at some point or another, save for some heavier, more technical styles. Not a lot of speedmetalcore on cruise ships, you see. But, in all of that I almost NEVER have to pull out gospel chops to get through a gig. Mileage may vary.

In my experience, the first port of call is to learn timekeeping in whatever genre you choose. First you need to know the nuts and bolts, but then each style has nuances and inflections which set imitators apart from the players who really understand them. There's a difference between putting the notes in the right order and getting your Super Bad groove to sound like Jab'o Starks. Worry about the particular style of filling and soloing later. Even if you join a gospel/funk/RnB band tomorrow, they won't care if you can play the most outrageous fills in town if you can't keep solid time in the right style the other 99% of the time. They'll just get a player who can. Simple. Since groove playing is a drummer's primary job in the vast majority of genres of popular music, you'll have no trouble finding stuff you can take back into your rock playing. The basic combination of BD/SD/Cymbal is nearly ubiquitous. The reason is down to the history of the drum set and the music drummers developed their parts to accompany. Check out your history. Everyone who plays drums and wants to understand style and genre needs to be familiar with Daniel Glass' work on the history of drumming, in my opinion.

Most importantly, if you want to learn new genres, you need to be actively listening to those genres. Immerse yourself deeply enough into the sound and style of a genre and you'll know what to start working on. Your ears will tell you what you need to know. And you'll start to understand the role of the drums in that genre and how they interact with the other instruments. Imitate and Assimilate.

That said, perhaps since you've had some success learning rock from a particular teacher, you'll consider going to see an instructor who is an expert in the genre(s) you'd like to learn to play? Even a couple of sessions with the right teacher could save you a whole lot of time finding the kernel.
 
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Boomka has absolutely nailed it as usual.

'Gospel Chops' are something that may help you mechanically but you're not going to learn music out of those. You'll learn a few sticking patterns and maybe some rudimental knowledge but it won't help you learn how to play funk, reggae, jazz or bossa nova. Gospel chops are something that I will say are almost musically useless (and if you've ever been around a lot of drummers doing them at the same time, you'll argue that they should be banished from the face of the Earth).

What Boomka says about learning the time in each genre is critical. Jazz uses swing most of the time. Learn about that. Learn how to swing, which voicing you'd use, what kind of touch and feel you need and how to comp. Learn how to interact with other musicians in that genre and listen to it. Reggae uses a one-drop and also swings but in a different way. Learn the tropes of the genre, how to lay back, how to displace the kick and lay off the '1'. Listen to it.

Don't be tempted to skip around between genres either. Really immerse yourself in one for a while and learn the basics, then learn how to do 'slightly more than basic'. Once you can solidly hold a band together in that genre, try another one. Once you've worked on a few, return to the first and keep improving, then move on. This way you'll work into a multi-faceted player.

Importantly, get to know your strengths and weaknesses and bear in mind that a strength in one genre might not be a strength in another. If you've got a heavy right foot, that's great for rock but not for jazz.

Lastly, try and get some lessons from competent players of different genres.

PS. Please edit the title of the thread. All caps kills my brain...
 
Did the teacher start you off with rudiments, or just go into rock drumming?

If you don't have a set now, but you have a practice pad, this would be a great time to practice rudiments and reading. In addition to your rudiments, get some of the standard snare drum books (Reed, Whaley, et cetera) and just woodshed on that practice pad. This will improve your reading, overall playing, and sense of time. The next thing to do is to try playing the same parts with a swing feel on the 8th notes, that'll help you learn to swing, which will help in jazz, blues, and early rock.

Whenever you do get the chance to use a set, you can play an ostinato on the bass and HH, and then play the parts as written; this will again help with overall playing and limb independence.

Everyone learns differently, but that's what I would do if I only had access to a practice pad.
 
The whole title seems like an oxymoron to me. Self taught would be the self. You. Or are you looking for sources, reading, video, etc that you can watch or read by yourself. Youtube is full of videos and tutorials. The local library should have books to borrow. And there are online, and Skype lessons out there as well. If nothing else, Google Rudiments, and learn the 26 or 42 that are promoted.
 
Learning a new style of drumming can be like learning a new language. Bookma said "imitate and assimilate." That's exactly what I'm doing trying to do now to learn to speak German. I would add that the third part would be, interact with other's in the new language you want to learn.

An example- For over two years I listened to almost nothing but big band music of the 1940's and took lessons from a teacher who specialized in that type of playing. I then worked my way into a band and found I needed to learn some more modern arrangements which increased my knowledge of that genre (language). I still listen to it on occasion to remind myself of what made the drums work in that style. I listen and play other styles, but I have a decent grasp of that genre due to immersing myself in it when I was younger.

Learning to communicate more effectively and authentically is something we develop over a long period of time. It takes work but it can be rewarding as well.
Best of luck in your studies.
 
To me, the obvious question is what are your goals?
 
There are lots of "what do I practice?" threads in the technique section that could be worth reading. I am 99% self taught. I am not a good student, I don't respond well to structured learning systems and I don't like deadlines or homework, but as I've gotten older and cherry picked things that work for me I have become quite systematic in how I practice. This is how my average week pans out:

Each day I play for about 2 hrs a day (more when I have band practice or gigs). I start off by putting on a little performance, I imagine I'm on stage and people are listening... it might be a groove with some fills, or some doodling or chops. This is a form of trouble shooting for me, I will take note of something that sounds crap, and I'll either work on it then and there or just add it to my mental list of things to fix, this is not a conscious process, it just happens, and over time I fix what needs to be fixed.

After that I'll play my routine for the day (detailed below) and play through songs for an hour as well (sometimes routine first then music, sometimes vice versa). I am in a few different bands and I always have new stuff to learn or work on.

Routine stuff that I do:

Mondays: I go through my coordination exercises... I stole these from Benny Greb's dvd "language of drumming" and I developed my own routine based on that. You should get that DVD, it's prob the best one you can buy.

Tuesdays, I play beats to the metronome, ranging in tempo and subdivision. I start with 30, then go to 40, 50, 60, 70, sometimes 80. I subdivide the pulse by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. I made this routine up for myself and I have made a demonstration video, here it is:

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

Wednesdays, I play through Virgil Donati's double bass drum book for about 45 mins. I don't play as much double bass these days so this sort of keeps my double bass chops up. This is a fantastic book, Virgil is the man.

Thursdays, I play through Gary Chaffee's Linear time playing for about an hour or as long as I can stand. I love what this book has done for my drumming, particularly with fills but also with beats. I think it has filled a pretty big gap in my knowledge about playing fills around the kit.

Fridays and Weekends are my "holidays" from routine stuff, usually I'll be playing a gig having a band practice anyway.

I also have Tommy Igoe's groove essentials play along books and they are awesome but I can't justify playing along to it while I have so much real music to learn. I will go back to it when things change. I also used to practice on a pad when I lived in the city but I get bored of it easily. Tommy Igoe's Great hands for a lifetimes is probably the other DVD you should pick up, if you don't know much about rudiments or hand technique.

Funnily enough I have become a drum teacher myself, this has me exploring all of the very basics, some of which I never really covered myself. So, having to be a model of perfection and demonstrate things like counting as I play has found its way into my routine and I'm seeing some benefit from that too... teaching is a form of slow, simple practice (and some frustration too).

I hope that helps. There's enough material there for you to not need a teacher but obviously I took a long time to learn how to practice the things that I do.
 
My mistake, regarding gospel chops (that's what I get for using just "three words") .

I didn't mean learn gospel chops "period". I actually meant study the drummers. That's why I posted "Youtube - gospel chops". Doing a "gospel chops" search on youtube and studying the drummers who come up in that search continues to help me improve.
They also have fantastic lessons and tips far beyond "this is how you do this fill", or "this is how you play a "gospel chop". For example they cover dynamic playing quite a bit. Their drumming in general is incredible.

Anyway, as a rock drummer like the OP, this really helped me break out of always sounding like a rock drummer even when playing jazz fusion, funk, R&B, etc.
 
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