Request Advice from Drummers[views:4139][posts:16]________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:08pm - Ryan_M ""] I've recently started playing drums; only been at it for about 1-1/2 to 2 months. I'm getting slightly better, but it fuckin wears me out, the drum sticks frequently fall out of my hands when playing(sometimes right across the room!), my arms and hands get very tired after playing for about 15 minutes. This might sound kind of stupid, as I know playing metal can be physically tough, and practice always makes perfect, but I was just curious if there's anything I could do to help improve my endurance. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:15pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] Eating taco bell 17 times a day works for me. But seriously, the more you practice, the more you'll get used to it. You won't be tired after long. And for sticks, I actually put a polyurethane wood finish on them to give them a little more grip. Promark does this to their oak sticks (which is how I found out I liked it), but they're expensive as fuck. So I just put a finish on the hickory ones myself. |
| __________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:15pm - mOe nli ""] unfortunately....NO. Ya gotta keep playin. With my more challenging projects i get pretty tired towards the end of practices/sets and i've been playing for 12 years |
| __________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:18pm - mOe nli ""] i just had a bag full of Taco Bell burritos and 'm on my way to practice in an hour and a half...so yea, Taco Bell |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:32pm - ArrowHead nli ""] I had the same problem holding onto my sticks when I first started. Get a drumpad and practice hitting soft. At first I gripped my sticks really tight, and they'd go flying out of my hands. After I got a good grip down practicing on my pad, it happened less and less. Now, I hit really hard again but with the improved grip I use I don't lose my sticks. As for being tired, it will get better. The really fast exhaustion you're getting is because having just started recently, you're beating on teeny weeny stabilizer muscles that support and aid your major muscle groups. These muscles will eventually build up and burn out a lot less quickly. However, there's still an intense amount of cardio involved in drumming, so you will always tire out. Just not as quickly. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:32pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] haha, see? It works! |
| ________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:32pm - Ryan_M ""] menstrual_sweatpants_disco said:Eating taco bell 17 times a day works for me. haha, maybe it helps for endurance, but i think i might be taking frequent bathroom breaks! i had a crunch wrap for lunch, and my farts afterward felt like i could have burned a hole through the back of my pants! but anyway; yeah i figured there wouldn't be much else i could do besides to just keep playing. i think i'm gonna go have another round at it; thanks for the advice guys! |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:33pm - ArrowHead nli ""] mOe nli said:i just had a bag full of Taco Bell burritos and 'm on my way to practice in an hour and a half...so yea, Taco Bell You got plenty of time if practice is in an hour and a half. Bag of burritos will come out of you in about 20 minutes. |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:35pm - ArrowHead nli ""] BTW, I know it sounds weird, that a lighter grip will make you lose your sticks less, but it works. Menstrual can probably explain it better, since his technique is flawless. (If you've never seen him, he's definately someone you'd want to get tips from) |
| __________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:36pm - niccolai ""] the guy from hed pe carves gill-like slits into his drum sticks for grip. I use 80 grit sand paper on wooden sticks and on my ahead sticks, I don't use anything but I never drop sticks anyways. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:37pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] Also, if you're just starting, as Arrowhead suggested, focus a lot on padwork. Practice your single and double strokes with a good technique (a chops book might help). You want to be able to get as many strokes as possible with as little effort as possible. |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:45pm - ArrowHead nli ""] Fuck using a chops book. Get your pad on a chair next to your computer. Now click this - http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.html Absolutely amazing. I can't believe they put that shit up for free. It's got all the rudiments, multiple examples, audio clips with metronome and mulitiple speeds. It's really wonderful. Also, if you need a metronome to work on other examples, go here - http://www.metronomeonline.com/ . Free metronome. As a friend of mine would say, "I [heart] the interweb" |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:50pm - ArrowHead nli ""] another note, but you probably realize this already: use good sticks. I know wal-mart sells bricks of sticks for a few dollars, as do guitar center and other places. 10 pairs for the price of one sounds great, but you might as well be hitting your drums with a couple of wooden spoons. Theres a lot out there, and people like different ones. Darren from goratory/bis/pillory uses these huge tree trunk mike mangini sticks. They're enourmous. I prefer little tiny sticks, as when I tried his I was still in the 'throwing sticks around the room' phase. Nothing like hitting yourself in the face with a half-pound piece of lumber. Or bashing yourself in the knee. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 2:50pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] ArrowHead nli said:BTW, I know it sounds weird, that a lighter grip will make you lose your sticks less, but it works. Menstrual can probably explain it better, since his technique is flawless. (If you've never seen him, he's definately someone you'd want to get tips from) Thanks for the compliments man! It means a lot. Yeah, early on I did a lot of padwork and studied all the different classes of rudiments among other things, and then applied them to the kit in different ways, so I'd recommend doing that. It just seems the way I studied chops made for less movement and more strokes with better technique. People always make fun of me saying that I don't move while I play haha. My single stroke roll shit still needs a lot of work, though. It probably doesn't help that I haven't practiced on my own in years. I don't know why, I just lost interest I guess. I have the internet at my house, after all. You definitely don't want any tips from me involving double bass, though. I'll take some of those tips from anybody if they want to throw me some. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 3:02pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] ArrowHead nli said:http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.html Woah, that looks pretty good. I'll have to check it out more when I get home. Cool shit like this wasn't around when I started. You just had to find an old jazz guy to give you lessons before haha. One of the things the guy in the video recommended, though (for when you get a little better on the pad) was putting a pillow on your drum or playing on another soft surface, which is a good idea, but it's kind of messy. I'd recommend just going out and buying a pair of brushes and then practicing your chops on a snare drum with them, or put a batter head over your pad. That helps you get even more control, which will come in usefull when blasting or playing fast fills. Or playing on toms at all for that matter, since they're not as bouncy as your snare and pad. |
| ________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 3:02pm - ArrowHead nli ""] I'm sad to admit, once I got drumkit from hell 2 I stopped practicing drums. Why bother, when I have a better drummer and kit right on my hard-drive? My goal eventually is to learn all the parts I write and be able to play them, but sometimes I get a little overboard - http://www.masscore.com/junk/cock%20and%20ball%20monologues.mp3 |
| ____________________________________________________ [Feb 15,2006 3:07pm - menstrual_sweatpants_disco ""] Cool. I think having the creativity and building up the vocaulary to pull good fills out of your ass is most of the battle anyway though. If you can do that, you're pretty much there. |