Beginner Drummer’s Handbook: A Guide For New Drummers

The logic here is that the strong hand can better handle the speed and endurance required in hi-hat playing. The two-measure phrases in this exercise one measure crossed-over, one measure open-handed should entice you to make both techniques a permanent fixture in your practice routine. Heel-up In heel-down technique, the entire bottom portion of the foot remains on the pedalboard as the lower leg and ankle push down.

This technique allows for the beater to bounce easily off the head, producing a more resonant bass drum tone. In heel-up technique, your heel rises slightly off the pedalboard, while the ball of the foot remains. This technique uses the bigger muscles in your upper leg and hip and can yield extremely powerful strokes.

Using heel-down, beginners often have trouble keeping their toes from coming off the pedal; and using heel-up, they often lift their entire foot off the pedal and stomp on it. Lifting off the bass drum pedal provides no mechanical advantage and can produce long-term control issues. Which one feels more comfortable to you? Vocabulary Learning the names of the parts of the drum kit and the history of each, whether teaching it to yourself or communicating with your students, is not a waste of time.

In fact, it will save you hours of frustration in the long run. One Note At A Time When faced with a daunting groove or lick, you can approach it one note or one group of notes at a time. Your brain can more easily absorb small bits of information that way. Try learning it one note at a time. Copy Cat This fun method requires two or more drummers though it is possible to do this activity by yourself. The leader often a teacher plays a lick and the follower the student copies it. This can be done with or without the aid of sheet music. Deconstruction When multilayered beats and fills are broken down into their component parts, the brain can more easily accept the vertical relationships of the notes.

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Next, combinations of two components are paired together: Did this method help you? Slow It Down Slowing down a pattern allows your body to relax and gives your brain time to process the information. If you go slowly enough, a potential mistake instead becomes a graceful recovery. A metronome is a great tool. It ensures that you start as slowly as you think you should, and can help tug you along to an ideal tempo. Loud noises can cause lapses in concentration. Once you have the pattern down pat, turn it back up to ten.

Our job is to help convey the message and support the song.

Though there are many great play-alongs available, drumming to music that includes both vocal melody and lyrics is invaluable. Obviously, many more beats and songs could be added to this list. Some of the tempos are a little too fast for some beginners.

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Slow-downer programs, available as apps or software for your PC, are highly recommended to help with this issue. Metronome Developing a steady pulse is of vital importance for every drummer. Metronomes are now available as apps and are a great tool to strengthen your timing. Continue to use this concept, and it will not only enliven your practice sessions, but will have a remarkable effect on your development.

Patterns From time to time, a beginning student shows up to her first lesson, and immediately wants to learn an advanced beat or fill. As a teacher, sometimes you have to dismiss the request. Other times, you can use that enthusiasm to teach a whole slew of interrelated skills and concepts. Of course, this is a pattern not normally associated with beginning students, but breaking it down into the following elements provides a number of teachable moments: Ostinatos Drum set coordination can be a frightening prospect to beginners.

One way to develop coordination is to use ostinatos continuous patterns. I get paid for some of my gigs, but not enough for me to call myself a professional. If you can afford lessons do it. You will progress most quickly this way. Devote at least 30 minutes a day to practice. It is better to practice 30 minutes every day than 3 hours and 30 minutes one day a week. Make sure you don't jam random beats and call it practice.

It won't make you much better to do this because you'll end up playing the same beats you can already do. It may be hard as a beginner to find other musicians but you will benefit greatly from it. Make sure you keep it simple; the downfall of most drummers is trying to prove themselves with some complicated fill that adds nothing to the music.

Understand your part as a drummer is to improve the whole of the music instead of stick out as an individual talent. It is infuriating to play with a drummer that is not metronomically sound. The timing needs to be in the pocket. The metronome is on the whole time I practice. To make it even more challenging, give yourself only beat 1 of 4 - really tests your ability to keep time. Speed comes from practicing a pattern annoyingly slow.

It is easy to play fast when you have practiced slow. It is difficult to break away from comfortable beats without having a book to push you to try something you aren't comfortable with. Currently I'm working on comping in jazz with the bass and snare. It gives me more flexibility when my instructor throws a new big band chart and I have to read it on the spot. Look at the rudiments of drumming. They are the foundation of drumming like scales are for the piano. Here is a good resource. When I get thrown into a rock situation, I use all kinds of stuff I learned in books: It all helps you improvise and you will notice much improvement by structuring your practice.

Here's a really good video that you should watch: This all can be done with 30 minutes a day.

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Be warned that you may get addicted to drumming. Start with single stroke roll, double stroke roll, paradiddle. I put ear buds in and throw gun shooting muffs over the top so the IPod doesn't get flooded out by the drums. This will keep drumming fun if you spend time trying to play with music you like. If you can find a chart for the song then use it. Some of the lessons in this video can be found on YouTube.

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Work on one of these techniques in the video. Look at Moeller Technique in particular. This guy can achieve ridiculous power and speed the Moeller technique. Go to the Vic Firth Website and look at the technique videos. John Wooten does a good job of explaining. I attached a link in the Rudiments section above. This will give you some ideas of how you can do quick doubles very applicable to rock and hip hop.

There is a pure drummer forum called Drummer World that I would take a look at; there's professional players that answer questions all the time there. But sticking with it is on you, not the medium you're using for learning. If you browse on my profile you will find a link to one of my videos.

I have an oder video covering some tips for self taught drummers. I hope that helps, and further, keep learning! Check out drumeo too. Practice with a metronome. Focus on the 'feeling' of playing different patterns.

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For instance, if you're playing steady eighth notes, you should feel balanced where every note is a smooth movement rather than a jerky or off balance stroke. Grab the stick roughly a third of the way down maintaining a fulcrum where the stick balances in your hand, usually between your pointer and thumb. To be efficient, your strokes should be a rotation of the stick more than a linear movement of the stick.

This will help you harness the left over energy of the bounce. Don't hold your sticks too tightly.

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Pay attention to details when setting up your kit. Are your thighs parallel to the ground? Are your arms in a comfortable position when hitting any and all of the drums? Ergonomics is a huge part of learning to play efficiently.

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Also, practice with intent. It's important to have a goal because it will force you to focus on what you are doing and make more gains in your time practicing. The saying practice makes perfect is wrong.