Starting drumming lessons!

Fuggan said:
Never played on a pad so will let you know how it is when I get it. :)
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I found pads very good for developing your techniques and warming up, but in the end (as in many months down the line) many have a bit too much rebound for precise feel on an actual drumhead.

Just bear that in mind - Most of us still use practice pads (I have a lovely pocket-sized one), but they are just for practice and you'll still need to work on the real kit to turn solid, good-sounding techniques into full-on awesomeness!

Cambarker said:
Are lessons recommended or do you think its possible to use online resources/books etc. to learn?
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It's perfectly possible, even without online resources.
All you need is a pair of sticks and a basic understanding of how common drum beats work. That's how I started and earned my way into severeal quite decent bands before my first actual lesson.

You will of course benefit from the online resources, especially these days as YouTube has drumming tutorials galore.

But still, the absolute best way and most recommended is to have an actual teacher. There is NO substitute for a second pair of eyes, because all the videos in the world cannot point out the small corrections that will get you doing things SOOOOOO much better!


As an aside, I recommend watching Whiplash.
Probably won't make you a better drummer in the slightest, but will entertain you and the ending alone is worth watching the whole film!!
 
I started drumming in about 1987. I managed to blag lessons at school and trained mainly in jazz and swing and played for a big band that did numbers by the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Baisie and my favourite was Big Swing Face by Buddy Rich although I'm not fit to pick up his dropped stick - awesome drummer and for me the best there has been.

I didn't do much, if any, rock stuff but at the time I used to listen to a lot of Phil Collins and pretty much taught myself. Listen to Inside Out from his No Jacket Required album from 1985 - it's a lesson in itself for rock/pop drumming.

My advice is work on keeping time. I will take a basic drummer who keeps Tim over a technically proficient drummer who can't, every time.

My kit is a 5 piece Ludwig CS Custom Accent in maplewood.
 
Awesome, this is turning into a good thread. :)

How do people go about practicing on kits? I would definitely be up for buying a kit down the line but living in a flat I'm not sure how it would go down with my flatmates/neighbours. :D

My teacher has recommended I just listen to a metronome at different BPMs and count different note structures just to get used to an even rhythm. If anyone has any decent YouTube pages or such like with some good beginner stuff on then stick them in here!

Off to listen to some Phil Collins. :)
 
Fuggan said:
How do people go about practicing on kits? I would definitely be up for buying a kit down the line but living in a flat I'm not sure how it would go down with my flatmates/neighbours. :D
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1/. Do NOT buy a kit until you can play a few beats and rhythms reliably enough that they sound at least OK.

2/. Speak to everyone and see if you can negotiate an hour each night when it is acceptable for you to practice.

3/. Consider a 'practice kit', which is the same framework as a normal one but with pads instead of actual drums. Much quieter than a live kit, but may still create vibrations as you play, which will wear on some peoples' nerves.

4/. Consider also/instead a 'silencer' set, which are foam-rubber overlays for a normal kit, designed to do the same job. The advantage of these is that you still get the drum sound, but it will be quiet enough that you can hear a stereo over it as you play along to a track

Fuggan said:
My teacher has recommended I just listen to a metronome at different BPMs and count different note structures just to get used to an even rhythm.
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For now, that is one thing to do. Try and play the count with your sticks or even hands on thighs, rather than just listening. While you may be consciously counting in your head, your body will be developing the muscle memory to maintain the count by 'feel'.

Fuggan said:
Off to listen to some Phil Collins. :)
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Other good ones (IMO) include Joseph 'Zigaboo' Modeliste, Jorn Andersen, Dave Weckl and Joey Kramer.

- Zigaboo does some wicked New Orleans drumming.
- Weckl is a great Jazz player with 4 hands!
- Kramer apparently doesn't use double-strokes to create his feels.
- Andersen is a (comparatively) minimalist drummer who uses that to create solid play.

We studied all the above to help develop drumming feel over just applying techniques.
 
1. record your practice. what you hear and what you hear from a recording seem very different!
2. metronome is good

Listen to Purdie.. and Stubblefield (james brown's "funky drummer").

In the end being able to hit accurately is one thing.. understand the feel to get the sound is another.
 
Is an e-drum kit an option?

I don't know much about them but you can get mesh heads which seem quiet, use headphones so your neighbours don't here you but you can still have the sound? (this is from what i have read/seen on the web when looking at them)
 
Cambarker said:
Is an e-drum kit an option?

I don't know much about them but you can get mesh heads which seem quiet, use headphones so your neighbours don't here you but you can still have the sound? (this is from what i have read/seen on the web when looking at them)
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I have a Roland v-drums TD6KX (or XK) which is a mesh pad MIDI drum kit, I have double pedals and a extra cymbal.

Good points
* allows practice, means you can focus on your flams/paradiddles etc.
* can easily record and playback (infact the TD6 allows you todo this with a metronome lead in, and it has a metronome) in the controller. However it's not hard to record audio out.
* allows you to audio - in and it will allow you to play over the top of the audio - the output via headphones (which you could record too or put to an external amp).
* MIDI - should you want to use it for things like Reason with the right i/f hardware etc.
* actually kick pedals means it feels more realistic
* No 'noise' more like someone tapping on the table or stamping on the floor. You can also turn down the sound in the headphones.
* controller sounds good for learning - with how hard you hit resulting in different sounds, with rim sounds and different symbol sounds on the two zones.

Bad points
* Mesh pads are not the same as a drum kit - different. Did I say different?
* Cymbals are certainly not the same - hit them that hard in real life they're not going to last long..
* Acoustic drummers will look down their noses at you.
* high hat is not an opening clam and the pedal isn't as sensitive as I'd like (hard to get some open-close close-open transition sounds).
* Vibration of playing can easily go through walls - the usual suspect is the kick drum so some players have their kit on a piece of MDF board with 1/2 tennis balls underneath to absorb the vibration.
* kit sounds aren't replaceable (although you can use a MIDI device that does the MIDI-to-sound conversion on the computer).
* sound timing is MIDI, so it works great for normal humans.. but has a max drum rate and even with the quantify off, the sound timing can feel as if it's on rails plus the sounds will be the the same for every part of the pad (if you hit the same hardness etc).


Good practice tool - but you should also do practice on a real drum kit or loose the 'subtle'
 
NickK said:
with how hard you hit resulting in different sounds, with rim sounds and different symbol sounds on the two zones.
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Personally I found these a bit limited in range and stepped between levels.
You do a long roll that builds in volume and it goes from quiet to medium to loud, rather than a smooth raise.
Also a bit limited on the REAL POWER type strokes that, on a normal kit, cut through the venu air like a gunshot.

NickK said:
Acoustic drummers will look down their noses at you.
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Only the ones not worth speaking to.
I've used practice kits, electronic kits, Flats kits (Lite and Pro), full kits, half kits, marching kit, stands, frames and all sorts.
Most different types of drum kit has its place, whether you personally have a need for it or not. The ONLY rule in any of this is that it must sound good - Doesn't matter if it's electronic or not, so long as it works!

And for the record, I still liked the eKit and would happily buy one for home use.

NickK said:
high hat is not an opening clam and the pedal isn't as sensitive as I'd like (hard to get some open-close close-open transition sounds).
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Yeah, this bit does suck, unfortunately. I'm quite into hi-hat subtlety in my jazzier playing!

Best thing I found about playing an eKit live is that you can get your monitor feed from the sound board directly into the kit controller/brain/thing and through earphones into your head. You can then control it yourself and hear exactly what you want, rather than relying on some crappy monitor speaker badly configured by the singer or guitarist and placed awkwardly due to weird venue restrictions, where you can't hear a thing anyway!
 
Another lesson tonight, that is my 3rd one. Started to learn to read music and then did some 3 way co-ordination bits and then brought it together with a bit of a jam-a-long at the end! Given me some homework to do as well before next week. Still enjoying it! :)
 
You can get e-drum hi hats that are clam like - Roland VH-12? (though they are much more expensive and only compatible with the (much more expensive) higher end brains)!

I have an 'entry level' TD3 (but with all mesh pads and extra cymbals) and am planning on changing the brain unit for something better at some point. It is a godsend for practicing at home and keeping the noise down but even when I feel like making a noise, plugged into a mixer and output on some active monitors it's more than enough.

Performed pretty well at a few smaller gigs too (feedback suggests that the output is much more controlled and consistent compared to a 'real' kit - that could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it!). I think ultimately, the sound you get will be determined a lot by the rest of the PA...plus not having to mic up and set up as much is a bonus... :p
 
Here's a couple of gospel licks I've taken and rejigged a bit; been working on them recently since they're all the rage.
If you want, you could possibly go through these with your teacher at some point when you're ready, now or in a few
weeks/months as you get more comfortable at the kit.
I start off slow so you can catch the patterns, and I've
posted my dots for them too.




 
Merlin that sounds really cool and doesn't look that complicated, I'm going to ask my teacher if we can give these a shot! Nice that you start slow too, I get in a muddle pretty quickly when I try to speed it up.
 
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First one sounds very Rosanna.. ;)


Get some bonham (led zeppelin):

and some bernard purdy (start here):

Watch in awe..specially when it stops after fast.. groove laid down..

Big kit? Nah.. here's the same guy playing a spongebob and square pants kit:
 
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One book that I've recently got into (and by and large is a bit of a bible) is Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone. Really enjoying going through each exercise and essentially going back to basics. I've been playing for a number of years but it's good to really focus on the fundamentals and make sure they're solid.

I used to play snare drum in a marching band, and while you do learn rudiments the warm up routine was preparing you to perform the 7/8 minute show music. Plus the fact it was all traditional grip not matched grip like I play on the kit!
 
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