need help with a practice routine

zakhopper316

Silver Member
hey guys, so right now i'm at my in between high school and college stage of my life, and i dont have a job, so it leaves me with alot of practice time, about 5 to 6 hours a day.
i think my time practicing might be missing something because i haven't seen to much progress. i just play whatever i feel like, and work out of different jazz books.

so im thinking of pulling out my copy of stick control, doing an hour of that with different feet patterns,

then doing 2 hours of jazz comping out of my jazz book,

then start reading and playing charts, an hour each day,

then playing along to music for an hour,

then an hour of fill work/ cool down

does this sound well rounded? am i missing something, i'm about half way through this today, ill see how i feel when i'm done? i just dont know whats sufficient for 6 hours
 
The only thing I see missing is spend some time transcribing, watching drum footage, possibly working off some dvds. Give yourself time to really sit and listen to music intently. Give yourself a break from the sticks for a little bit and you will be surprised how you improve away from the kit.

Of course you also should really be playing with other people as much as you can, there is only so much you can learn by yourself. especially in jazz.

Another thing to think about is spending some time listening back to recordings of yourself playing. I know I thought I was laying down some really cool comps and creative hits only to listen back to my recordings and found out I was doing the same annoying fill all over the place.
 
Overall your practice time looks good.

Here's my advice. Get a plan, i have attached my long term and medium term goals which i laid out a year ago. I am going to re-evaluate them shortly but you get the idea.

As you can see my long term goals (5-50 years) are pretty much going to always be there as you can always improve those 3 elements. However the medium term goals (6 month to a year) help me draw up my practice for each day as i have a clear idea about what I want to accomplish and where i want to go with my playing.

You might want to use stick control/accents and rebounds/master studies etc on their own as a way of focusing on hand technique. You, a metronome, a pad and one of these books. Also maybe look into doing a book of snare studies. The blue book i am referring to in the medium goals is this one. Very cheap and actually really good. Lots of cool things in there.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intermediat...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271927213&sr=8-1

Good luck

Dave
 

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Overall your practice time looks good.

Here's my advice. Get a plan, i have attached my long term and medium term goals which i laid out a year ago. I am going to re-evaluate them shortly but you get the idea.

As you can see my long term goals (5-50 years) are pretty much going to always be there as you can always improve those 3 elements. However the medium term goals (6 month to a year) help me draw up my practice for each day as i have a clear idea about what I want to accomplish and where i want to go with my playing.

You might want to use stick control/accents and rebounds/master studies etc on their own as a way of focusing on hand technique. You, a metronome, a pad and one of these books. Also maybe look into doing a book of snare studies. The blue book i am referring to in the medium goals is this one. Very cheap and actually really good. Lots of cool things in there.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intermediat...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271927213&sr=8-1

Good luck

Dave
whaw nice goals, I liked it!! , actually I am on the chapin book myself, in the C section, I have to say that it is one of the best book I have ever saw. and it can show you very well what is your position when it comes to coordination :)
Jim was really a great guy did a great job.
Hey Dave you just gave me an idea I opened new thread on it ..
 
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Cheers overg,

I am just redoing my medium term goals as we speak.

From the last medium term goals here is what i did, what i discarded and what I haven't done yet.

Chapin book - Finished (when I say finished i mean I got to the end)
Riley Book - Ended up buying Art of Bop, have completed all comping and am through soloing. However I am taking a break from it as I ended up losing interest slightly but I'll go back to it.

Rhythm magazines. I am about half way through my collection of 50-60 magazines. Lots of good stuff. I have noticed i am going through a lot of the stuff a lot quicker and finding it easier to get them to usable tempos. I call that improvement.

Stick COntrol - Finished am now half way through Accents and rebounds

Through doing S/C I have improved my left hand so that is done without really spending specific time on it.

Snare book - Done.

Co-ordination

Have improved more through doing jazz, rhythm mags etc than focused co-ordination practice.

I discarded the clave thing as well as heel toe, while it was fun to explore. I havent really found it useful for what I actually play.

Cheers

Dave
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and offer a really crazy suggestion:

Take some dance lessons too!

Now I am going to hide behind a wall to avoid the invective. But I must resurface and say the same exact thing.

One of the best ways to be a sick player is to really...really...really.... internalize rhythm to a point of being an effortless groove machine.

I have seen some great dancers sit down behind my kit, and bust out a really tasty groove almost as if they had been playing for a long time.

It's just a suggestion, and something that I've done in the past.

( there are a billion how to dance videos on you tube ;) )
 
ah.....advanced.
What is advanced. It isnt for me to say what level you are but please dont disregard any book because you think it may be 2 easy.
Heres how i am using groove essentials. I can play most if not all of the grooves and the variations off hat but.....as it says in my updated goals i am playing and recording the songs and see how it sounds.
Does it groove?
Do the fills i played fit?
Did that cool complicated thing i played actually work......more oftdn than not the answer is a resounding no!

It can happen that as our skill level improves we think that the basics dont matter when they do.
 
What about world beats? Like bossa nova, samba, songo, and so on. That is a whole different world of music that has helped my drumming by leaps and bounds.
 
There was a time in my life......from about 1980 to 1987 where I played in my head SO MUCH....no actual drums....just thought....and deep thinking about drums and drummers. I came to appreciate John Bonham for who he was and what he did.........I always appreciated David Garibaldi, Buddy Rich, Ian Paice, Nigel Olsson, Jeff Procaro, Ringo, etc..... I have been always heavy handed so I took advantage of it. I LOVE David Garibaldi's drumming. I LOVE John Bonham's drumming. Combine the 2 and you have me (sort of). Think harder about what and why you play dude.
 
hey guys, so right now i'm at my in between high school and college stage of my life, and i dont have a job, so it leaves me with alot of practice time, about 5 to 6 hours a day.
i think my time practicing might be missing something because i haven't seen to much progress. i just play whatever i feel like, and work out of different jazz books.

so im thinking of pulling out my copy of stick control, doing an hour of that with different feet patterns,

then doing 2 hours of jazz comping out of my jazz book,

then start reading and playing charts, an hour each day,

then playing along to music for an hour,

then an hour of fill work/ cool down

does this sound well rounded? am i missing something, i'm about half way through this today, ill see how i feel when i'm done? i just dont know whats sufficient for 6 hours

sounds like a great plan you have zak! im sure you'll see some really good results with that kind of effort.

my opinion would be put more time into playing along to music but really thinking about it as you play. how your groove is, how you fit with the music, how your fills work within a tune ect. and with songs and styles you're not familiar with.

future sounds is a good 'advanced book", i got a lot out of it when i went through it. i also bought dave dicenso's book yesterday, looks interesting.
 
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