How to practice drums ?

Mukund

Senior Member
Hey
see this thread has been posted a lot of times
but i have never got a perfect answer

so here are my questions
-
1)How should i practice,what should i practice,how much should i practice?
2)Should i practice daily?
3)Should i practice technique or keep learning songs and learning the song techniques?
 
Hey
see this thread has been posted a lot of times
but i have never got a perfect answer

so here are my questions
-
1)How should i practice,what should i practice,how much should i practice?
2)Should i practice daily?
3)Should i practice technique or keep learning songs and learning the song techniques?
1) rudiments/Stick Control (slow, med, fast); tunes/play-alongs; playing slowly; always to a metronome . . . an hour a day, more if possible
2) If possible
3) Both. You're gonna need to break down bit of a song to get the technique in particular sections; play the song slow (like 40/50/60 bpm) as well as at intended tempo

That's more or less my routine, min 1 hr a day, sometimes 4 - 5
 
All of these questions can be answered by a drum teacher. They could see you play and tell you what YOU need.
 
thanks for your replies
about the teacher
i had one when i started
4 years back
i learnt for 1 year with a teacher
and the rest of the 3 years self taught

another thing
i daily cant practice and if i do
can only for 1 hour because of sound problems

so how should deal with that ?
 
Play on the actual kit as much as possible (assuming your neighbors don't want to evict you because of it). Even though practice pads give you rebound, they might not mimic the actual drum head on your kit. You might get going really fast with a rudiment on a pad and then find that you aren't able to apply this as fast because the head is giving you much less rebound (like a floor tom for example). This of course is assuming you are overly relying on rebound.

Teacher's are a good thing. I would use one if I could afford it, but currently that isn't an option.

Work on rudiments/stick control (on a pad or kit, or even a pillow to learn to play without rebound) and four way independence on the kit. Don't forget you can practice when you only have a pair of sticks with you (playing on your leg, or whatever surface works). Even if you are just playing with your hands on your legs, or tapping your feet and playing your hands on your legs, keeping time as if you were using a metronome, it will still help. If you have a metronome that has an output for headphones you can take it with you and apply the above examples.

Some people will buy moon gel and apply it to the dashboard or steering wheel surface and play while at a stoplight or stuck in gridlock traffic.

Even if you are just practicing the rudiment slowly to get the pattern ingrained in your head, you are going to make progress, so any situation can become a practice opportunity. Be creative.
 
I haven't been drumming for that long, either, but I've read many things about the most effective way of practicing. For example, if you have an hour each day because of noise concerns, break that time into smaller increments, say ten or fifteen minute "sets", and focus only on particular skills. You can make the time increments longer, maybe twenty or thirty minutes, and for each block of time, focus on one thing. It could be whatever you think you need work on: sticking patterns, rudiments, coordination-whatever you'd like to focus on.

One thing I've read consistently is that, regardless of how you divide your time, it's best to take some of that time and play to music. This can include songs you're learning for your band, or those you'd just like to learn, drumming to play-along tracks, drumless tracks. This could be especially important, particularly if you're not currently involved in a band situation or are between gigs.

I experience the same time constraints. Could you do your "music practice"-playing to music-during your hour on the kit, then spend additonal time on the structured exercises on a pad or pillow? I think the others made a good point of trying to take lessons-an instructor would best explain how to use your time. Chaos was right on, too-any time you have sticks in hand, or are trying something out, even if it's tapping your knees, it's time well spent! Good luck!
 
All of these questions can be answered by a drum teacher. They could see you play and tell you what YOU need.

This^^^^

i had one when i started
4 years back
i learnt for 1 year with a teacher
and the rest of the 3 years self taught

Time to revisit. You're stuck on some pretty basic concepts that a good teacher will set you straight on almost immediately. I have nothing against the "self taught" route.....but in this case, you're not teaching yourself anything. If you were, you wouldn't need to ask "how and what should I practice" :)
 
You might find the perfect answer if you carry out an self-assessment on your drumming.

By virtue of the fact - the longer you practise something...the better you will get at it.

Hey
see this thread has been posted a lot of times but i have never got a perfect answer
 
thanks a lot guys
see the reason i left a teacher was
cause we moved out of that place and now i live in a new place
and here not many teaching institutions are there (so money no problem hehe)
 
Mukund,
just keep in mind that the more we know of the OP and his/her situation the more efficiently people can address the topic. So the more general the questions are (often times they're so abbreviated, unprecise and thus, totally free to just about any interpretation) the higher the likelihood to get some replies like "do some search" or as to somebody's IQ level. How can people know more about you than from the info you're stating?

So for the future just take the time to post some more info on whatever your threads are going to be and the replies will be less of a guesswork. Because judging from your first post in this thread some (maybe many) forum members could be simply put off by supposedly "just another newbie question" by a newbie too lazy to do some search//his or her homework, some might suppose you're a total beginner, some might... write unamusing posts etc - there will be anything between "good" infos and pointless, ironical, cynical replies. Just don't forget that the way a thread and initial posts are stated and how much info they have (or they're missing) will have a TREMEMDOUS impact on how people are going to reply.

So next time taking one more minute of your time to clarify your specific situation will help you tenfold with the quality of the replies you will get.
 
In hindsight, this is how I would have approached it if I were to do everything all over again. How you practice is just as important (maybe more) than how much you practice.

1) Find a mentor that can tell you how things work, so that you don't need to invent the wheel all over again every time you want to figure something out. A truely good one can be hard to find. Someone willing to share their secrets is even harder to find. Go for the best, and pay them if necessary, but make sure they deliver.

2) Copy pretty much EVERYTHING you hear, that you like. It's important to put politics asside at this point, and stay open minded. Even translate from other instruments as well. Nothing wrong with copying. Eventually you'll end up doing your own thing anyway. New things build on the past.

3) Work out a plan for practicing raw techqnique. Independence, rudiments, and so on. A mentor can help with that. 10 minutes a couple of times per week during practice sessions should be sufficient. This is long term.

As for time, 45 - 90 min a couple of times per week + listenig to loads of music, and keeping updated with the world of music, should do it.
 
Biggest problem I see here and on all forums, the young guys feel that asking a queastion on line is going to solve things, replace actually having to do the work. The act of asking somehow takes the place of any physical action. We dont get better by asking questions on line, we get better by sittin down on the pad or the kit and do some real study time. Not saying the OP was doing this, but after seeing some responses and seeing many questions that seem to be common sense anyhow, I guess it is the age we live in.
 
Hey
see this thread has been posted a lot of times
but i have never got a perfect answer

so here are my questions
-
1)How should i practice,what should i practice,how much should i practice?

As much as you can manage. But remember it's about quality not quantity. The kind of practice you do effects your long term trajectory. A simple rule: if it sounds too good, you're not really practicing. Avoid the tendency to waste long hours going over familiar, comfortable territory. Pinpoint weaknesses and work on improving them. Doing simple things well is key. Better to have knowledge that's a mile deep and an inch wide than an inch deep and a mile wide.

2)Should i practice daily?

If you're serious, you should get sticks in your hands as much as possible. Everyone needs some time off and short hiatuses can actually be really good for accelerating progress. But, in general, aim to get sticks in your hands daily, or at least 5 days out of 7.

3)Should i practice technique or keep learning songs and learning the song techniques?

Yes! There is an important role to be played by stepping out of context and working on technique. Piano players play scales until they're blue in the face. Drummers play hours of Stick Control, for example. The trouble with only learning song-specific techniques is that those techniques aren't always going to be applicable elsewhere. So you could end up with knowledge a mile wide, but an inch deep.

That said, it's important to take new techniques and work them into context so that they become part of your musical vocabulary.

As mentioned above: a good instructor will help you to key in on your weaknesses and give you exercises to correct them. They'll also get context-based stuff (songs, tracks, repetoire) in front of you so that you can apply what you're learning. What some are trying to say - albeit a bit harshly - is that it may be time to hunt down a teacher and get serious about practicing. I think that despite the tone, the impetus behind these thoughts is good and in the interest of helping you out.

Put down the mouse and get at it!
 
Avoid the tendency to waste long hours going over familiar, comfortable territory. Pinpoint weaknesses and work on improving them.

Doing simple things well is key. Better to have knowledge that's a mile deep and an inch wide than an inch deep and a mile wide.

Not disagreeing, just wondering ... doesn't having knowledge "a mile deep and an inch wide" mean perfecting the things you're comfortable with bit by bit?
 
Not disagreeing, just wondering ... doesn't having knowledge "a mile deep and an inch wide" mean perfecting the things you're comfortable with bit by bit?

Polly and Company. This is operating in my drumming. Picked up a book called Guitar Zero. Some smart College professor starts playing guitar at 38 and wants to get good. He is an expert in learning language among other things so his book is pretty interesting to me and my situation.

Lately I am stuck. I don't have a lot of time so I will sit down at the pad and spend 30 minutes on rudiments and jam once or twice a week. I am pretty good at those two things but I am making NO progress. Because I am practicing the things I am already good at (Relative Term).

This guy makes two points early on in his book. Set it up so you are always on the edge of your skill. If everything you practice is easy for you, no progress. If everything is too hard, frustration and quit.

The other point is to try and get it right 80% of the time, 20% of the time you get it wrong. Probably a SWAG on his part but his point is to fail every fifth time. You are still successful 4 out of 5 times but you stumble every fifth time. Practice every day and you make progress.

Many have said: not quantity but quality.

So I went back to an old book that has given me trouble and started again. My struggle is staying in the pocket. I am look like a windmill and make a helluva racket but ask me to play carefully and in time? Well that's harder. Classic goof I suspect.

Good discussion.
 
You say that you can only practise 1 hour a day because of noise constraints.

What about brush practise? Thats really quiet. Surely you could do that once your hour of sticks practise is up?

You need to find ways to practise for longer periods of time if at all possible. The more time you spend behind a kit, the better you get, and more importantly, the better you sound :)
 
This guy makes two points early on in his book. Set it up so you are always on the edge of your skill. If everything you practice is easy for you, no progress. If everything is too hard, frustration and quit...

It's all about balance, we keep practicing what we know to not loose the feel and application of what we learned, it's not progressing, it's maintaining a decent level of what we know, it's a part of the general practice session. :)

Through my practice, I always try to play along music that is above my level of playing, in terms of feel, capturing the mood, the texture, the patterns and so on, it's not necessary an improvement as such in terms of technique or rudiments, but it helps me to become a better all rounded player overall, which in some cases, making me revisiting my "comfort zone", the aquired skills we seem to possess are sometimes not as good as what we tend to believe.

But it should not be felt as frustration and wanting quiting drumming, if the aspired level of technical practice is too high, we should simply take a step back and carry on from there. :)
 
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