Practicing without a kit

V

vorsybl

Guest
Hello everyone, I haven't been around in a while and so I will get straight to the point. Hope everyone has been excelling at their music and kicking butt.

Basically, I don't have access to a drumkit any longer, but I do not want to stop practicing. All I have is some sticks and my drum pad, so I figured at the very least I can develop my hand technique/speed while still studying and practicing music. I spent 3 1/2 years studying under a drummer at college as part of my courses, and developed an understanding and real appreciation for drum theory if that's what it's called? Basically I know how drum notation works, I can read and write drum notation, and at least I think it is an asset in that I can practice almost anything I want to.

So my question is, what can I do with my practice pad to continue practicing?
 
Guess there's nothing I can do with it, thanks for the help!
 
Psst... "search function"... 10 seconds later you'd have lots of info. There have been similar threads before. So there's quite something you can do... Use the internet.

Because people would pretty much repeat what has already be said. Do a search. Come back if you still have questions. Help yourself!

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Now if I were you I'd absolutely incorporate my feet into practice, too. Personally I have a double pedal (& kick practice pad) right under my PC desk and, thus, can practice for hours a day (working at home is a nice thing, too). Or use a pair of Hansenfutz pedals. There's so much you can do with your feet while doing handwork - it would be quite uneffective to have one's feet idle.
 
If you add a bass drum practice pad (with a pedal of course) and put yours on a stand, you can do much to improve your drum set playing. Technique and overall facility can be greatly improved that way. Good luck.
 
Practice with your practice pad! You can't ever be fast enough! And practice rudiments, basics and everything you need to be able for great drumming. If you are good in rudiments and do the rudiments over cymbals, toms and go over the set with those rudiments you just learned on your pad it will sound great! Just practice and try it :)
 
Even without a pad (which is great, I agree) you can practice with your hands. In one of Mike Johnston's linear fill videos, he advocates practicing with your hands against your knees to get a pattern into muscle memory. With odd time and convoluted patterns this can really help. Doesn't help your stick control like a pad, but you can work displaced rudiments and reversed lead things into your head and hands.
 
You can learn a lot by playing along with recording while sitting in a chair and tapping your
feet (bass and hihat of course) and playing with sticks on the top of both legs. You learn to
control your sticks where you don't hurt your legs for one thing but seriously, learning to
play rolls on your legs will make playing them on the responding drum head much easier.
Your legs just don't give back much.....and practicing this way is quiet. I still practice this
way from time to time. Maybe use the pad and work both feet too. Good Luck!
 
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