Practice
I
guess this is the part where I tell you that mastering anything takes
time, dedication and hard work. Drums is no exception. In order to
truly master the drums you have to put in the time. This starts with
exercises to improve stick control (
more further down),
excercises to improve wrist strength and finally practicing beats,
rythmns fills and basically putting it all together. Most good drummers
will carry a set of sticks with them wherever they go, this means that
I can practice my rudiments while on a bus, train or in a car. All of
this goes towards stick control which is the foundation of good
drumming.
You may ask how much is enough? The answer is... there
is never enough. The more you practice the better you will get, so I
guess the question should really be "How good do you want to be?". I
would say as a guideline though if you are doing anything less than 3
or 4 hours per day then you are aiming very low.
Playing in a band
This
is for me the second most important thing. When you ask good musicians
about what makes a good drummer they will generally say 2 things. 1. He
can keep a beat. 2. He has a good "feel". What do they mean? They mean
he can feel the flow of the music, understand where the groove is and
keep the band in that groove. This comes primarily from playing with
many different musicians and many different styles. This is not
something can really be taught and to be honest some people just never
learn to feel the groove. But by playing in lots of bands (even styles
of music you hate) you greatly increase your chance of success in
this area.
Research
We live in a world where access to
information is really easy. You do not need to go to your library for a
book on drumming, you can simply google drumming tips and pull up a
host of information. Do this often! It will constantly expose you to
new ideas and techniques.
Stick Exercises
The
best way for me to explain these is simply to give you the names and
for you to google them and have a look. Most of these can be found with
youtube videos to actually show you the technique.
- Doubles The building block of fast fills and beats
- Moeller Technique A more advanced technique for rolls etc
- One Handed roll Speaks for itself, how to impress your friends!
- Paradiddles Basic exercises to improve control
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