No drums to practice?

veecharlie

Senior Member
Hey drummers!

I though to share here a video I made last week regarding practicing without a drumset. I have been without a kit at home for around 2 and a half years now, honestly 0 regrets. I have learned a lot more than I could ever imagine and it kept me away from getting distracted to play songs instead of practicing.

Especially if you are a beginner, this might be handy for you :)

I hope it helps..!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yap-KbScKo
 
I've practiced a lot without my kit. Not having my full kit and other percussion stuff set up in one of my livig rooms and instead being essentially homeless and never at "home" anyway made it necessary to come up with som other solutions.

The main place I work I'm also prohibted from making noise during regular school day hours as we share a the building with a regular lower seconday school and it's too disturbing.

I tried different ways, but ended u with something really small.

Xymox 14" Reserve snare. (Not my only pad, but the only one that doesn't have the potential to ruin your technique IMO.)
L80 Hi-hat
L80 ride
Aquarian Super-Pad bass drum pad that I've attached to my ld RealFeel stand.

If I travel light and want pedal I have the old DW fiberglass thingy as well as a couple of Hansenfutz pedal.

Bruses obviously don't have to be loud, but I have a Brush-Up pad as well. Not just softer, but it's easy to move around. Wanna focus on brushes, the best way is to just bring this and a pair of brushes around and nothing else for a while.

I'm working a lot on my hands right now though and thereæ's no way that can be done correctly without a real snare. Finding a place I can bring my BB and a couple of books is a lot easier than bringing a whole kit.

This situation will probably continue a while, so I think I'll start finding way more time practicing tabla, kanjira, cajon and so on.

Just working on rhythms without and instumrnt or xompletly different sounds is also a very good idea. Clapping an singing gets stuff really deep in there.

Internalizing patterns with no instrument at all is also a god way to get really deep with it.
 
Mental practice can also be very important..

Not to completely replace practicing with sticks, but just as an additional skill..

Someone like Stef Broks (dutch metal drummer and teacher) also first practices and sets the drum parts in his head, before touching a stick..
 
Mental practice can also be very important..

Not to completely replace practicing with sticks, but just as an additional skill..

Someone like Stef Broks (dutch metal drummer and teacher) also first practices and sets the drum parts in his head, before touching a stick..

Indeed. Even just using one of those egg-shakers is a boon to your time and rhythmic dexterity.
 
I use a practice set to learn my (cover) band's arrangements. They have a HUGE set list, and there's no point in using the real drums just to memorize how many times a phrase is repeated before an important fill occurs, for example.

I can play the drums pretty much any time, but it's too much wear-and-tear for many purposes.

I hated my teacher's practice set when I was a kid, but now it's great!
 
Mental practice can also be very important..

Not to completely replace practicing with sticks, but just as an additional skill..

Someone like Stef Broks (dutch metal drummer and teacher) also first practices and sets the drum parts in his head, before touching a stick..

That's absolutely true. In many aspects... from mentally being prepared, to mentally practicing or practicing without the instrument.

My teacher taught me to just mentally picture my drumsticks and slowly practice rudiments. No sticks or pad needed. This helped me balance and perfecting my strokes. I should do it more often, lol.
 
I use a practice set to learn my (cover) band's arrangements. They have a HUGE set list, and there's no point in using the real drums just to memorize how many times a phrase is repeated before an important fill occurs, for example.

I can play the drums pretty much any time, but it's too much wear-and-tear for many purposes.

I hated my teacher's practice set when I was a kid, but now it's great!

True! Same here... Only certain fills, depending what style I'm playing I'll sit down to the pad kit.
 
Back
Top