Image From Marvel.com

So I just finished reading a great article entitled “Brute Force Learning” on theparadiddler.com.  The entire article is based on two completely different ways that drummers tend to learn their craft – either by just pushing through without lessons or any feedback, or with finesse by assessing their progress as they go.

If you can’t afford private instruction (you really should start saving for some lessons because everyone can stand to learn something new) – Omar (The Paradiddler) gives a great suggestion…. take away the kit and setup a camera.

Omar talks about how he setup a camera to record him with nothing but a practice pad.

I want to scrutinize every aspect of my playing and how I can better it. I’ll be examining my posture, how I relax, my stick technique – really fundamental stuff. Then, when I’ve done this for a little while, I’ll start putting the kit back together little by little, at each step ensuring that I only progress, and not regress.

Working with a camera is a great way to not only monitor progression of technique, but once you’ve nailed the song you can watch for other nuances such as stage presence (do you rock it out or are you just the backdrop for your band?).

If you can’t get your hands on a camera then at the very least you should be practicing in front of a mirror and making adjustments as you play.  I’ve started on my journey back to the basics by bringing my practice pad and sticks into work.  How do I pull this off without pissing off my co-workers?  Check back later and I’ll give you the full details.

Is there an essential tool you use to monitor how well you are progressing as a drummer?  Let me know in the comments.

Click Here To Jump To the “Brute Force Learning” Article on The Paradiddler.

Well, RailRoad Media has gotten to be pretty big and they are moving their office within the next week.  What does this mean for you?

HUGE DISCOUNTS!!

We’re talking discounts ranging anywhere from $10 to over $1200!  Now this sale is ending on September 22nd so NOW is the time to save.  If you aren’t a drummer, but you know one – BUY NOW to save money on christmas presents.

CLICK HERE to check out all of the deals available from RailRoad.

I hope that this page will make it into your bookmarks so that you will be able to jump to these great sites easily.  If you have or know of a website for drummers or another great drumming resource that I missed – please let me know in the comments.

1. Prof. Sound’s Drum Tuning Bible

This site has the most thorough information I’ve found anywhere on drum tuning, wood selection, and sound theory.  This is a MUST READ for all drummers.

Click Here To Jump To The Drum Tuning Bible

2. Drummer Etc.

This site is a great blog for drummers – filled with information, videos, even a drummers forum.  Subscribe to Stephen’s RSS feed so you can stay updated with the site, or follow him on twitter (@DrummerETC)

Click Here To Jump To Drummer Etc.

3. Drum Bum

This site includes drum tips, drum lessons, and shirts (who doesn’t love a good drumming related t-shirt?).

Click Here to Jump To Drum Bum

4. Kent Aberle Drums

Aside from being a great friend that I’ve written about several times on this site – Kent puts out some great information and articles on things we don’t think about as drummers… our health, being burnt out, etc.  He’s got a pretty busy schedule, but when he puts out an article – it’s always a worthwhile read.

Click Here To Jump To Kent Aberle Drums

5. Jeff Consi (.com)

Along with the rest of the sites mentioned on this post – Jeff has written some great articles.  Jeff is a New York drummer currently living in Melbourne, Australia.  His site is a great resource for technique, product reviews, and a lot more.

Click Here To Jump To JeffConsi.com

6. Cobus Potgieter (deedlebag) on youtube

This dude has amazing chops (especially for someone who claims to be self-taught).  He’s got tons of videos posted of him playing “covers” to pop songs.  I use the term “covers” loosley because all of the videos are him playing his interpretation of the songs.  He’s also got an instructional DVD that is being shot right now.  Check him out for inspiration… especially if you are into pop.

Click Here To Jump To Cobus’ Youtube Page

7. Josh Freese on YouTube

Ok, so you won’t find much in the way of drumming… But, Josh is one funny motherfucker and his videos are great – especially if you are a Freese fan.

Click Here To Jump To Josh’s Youtube Page

8. FreeDrumLessons.com on Youtube

You’ve seen me write about freedrumlessons.com before and know how much I love them.  They’ve got most, if not all of their instructional videos up on youtube for your enjoyment (and knowledge expansion).

Click Here To Jump To The FreeDrumLessons.com Youtube Page

I know that I missed so many other great sites, but I didn’t want to post too many links too soon – digest and subscribe to these links for now and I should have more to fill your drumming apetite later.  Again, if you know of a great site or youtube page you want to share – let me know in the comments below.

This website has a ton of great videos, sheet music (even comes in downloadable pdf format), and play along mp3’s.

The website I’m referring to is FreeDrumLessons.com – they have great, professional shot video footage for each lesson and right below that you will find the corresponding sheet music.  FreeDrumLessons.com also has a drummers forum where you can communicate with all of the instructors directly.

Below you will find one of the demonstrational play along videos – hope you enjoy and please let me know of any other sites like this in the comments below so that I can feature them on this site.

Photo by Calabro on Flickr

After I learned how to play drums all over again.  The first thing I started working on behind the kit was a basic triplet groove.  If you aren’t familiar with how to play a triplet, the best way to explain it is this:

Break it down in syllables and say it out lout – TRIP – O – LET – TRIP – O – Let…. there are many different sticking techniques for a triplet, but most learn it as RLR LRL RLR LRL, where each sylabol matches one stick drop.

The triplet groove I was working on started off on just hi-hat with ghost taps (very light taps) on the snare – so it looked like this

S= Snare & H= Hi-hat

HSH HSH HSH HSH HSH HSH HSH HSH HSH

RLR RLR RLR RLR RLR RLR RLR RLR RLR – sticking

Now, you will notice that the sticking to this isn’t what I posted about…remember, I said that sticking can vary for triplets.

Once I got the triplet groove going and I could play it at different tempos , I started vocalizing over top of it – BOOM….. CRACK…… BOOM…… CRACK – it almost sounded like this:

BOOM-o-let-trip-o-let-CRACK-o-let-trip-o-let-BOOM-o-let-trip-o-let-Crack-o-let-trip-o-let.

Once the part was vocalized I just turned the vocals into an action – BOOM = Bass Drum hit and CRACK = Accented Snare Drum hit.

This groove, when complete and put together sound very similar to the beat John Bonham put down behind “Fool In The Rain.”

Once you’ve mastered this Music City Drummers has written a great article on how to practice tripelts by putting the bass drum at the front, back , and middle of the the triplet.  Click Here and read the full article on Music City Drummers

However, it always bored the living crap out of me…..

the constant Boop Beep Beep Beep of the metronome, RLRRLRLLRLRRLRLL, RLRLRRLRLRLL

- It all began to look and sound the same.

Recently, Drummer Etc. has given me a new way to get back to practicing those rudiments with a little bit more fun (and possibly more efficient) way of going about it.

Drummer Etc. suggests playing the rudiments against your favorite songs…. this will help inspire creativity, keep time, and keep you from getting bored.

From The Article:

The end goal is to play the rudiment within the time signature of the song in as many subdivisions and dynamic ranges as possible. Traditionally when you work on your rudiments, you go from slow to fast to slow…doing this allows you to play the rudiment at any speed. It’s boring though, and I hate boring practice.

To read the full article – Click Here to go to the Drummer Etc. Blog

It’s funny that no matter how many summer camps I went to and instructors that I had – very few of them actually focused on hand technique…. lots of “use your wrist and pinch the stick”, but that is about it.

When I started studying with Kent Aberle, the first thing that he taught me was – loosen your grip and use the natural movement of the stick and wrist.  Our entire first lesson was dedicated to nothing but re-learning everything I knew about hand technique…..

“forget about playing rudiments, forget playing to a metronome, you need to work on your whip”.

For weeks, even months I stopped looking at exercises… I put away the metronome (I kinda missed that click for a while) and I did nothing but focus on be loose and relaxed.  The work definitely paid off as I can now play faster and more relaxed then I ever did before.

I’m not saying that I have mastered the Moeller Whip, I know I have a long way to go with it… but having someone come in and change the way I was thinking has definitely benefited me.

By the way – if any of you have any tips for practicing the Moeller Whip, I would love to hear about it… Let me know down there in the comments section.

However, I’ve been using his technique for the past few months while at work, watching tv, playing video games…. it can be done pretty much anywhere.

Kent teaches this technique in his soon to be released DVD – if you order a pre-released copy you will get a bunch of extras including free shipping.

I was present during the filming of most of this video, and I can tell you from first hand experience – you DO NOT want to miss picking this up.

If you would like to find out more about Kent Aberle – check out his website here: www.kentaberledrums.com

If you would like to pre-order the DVD – Click Here

Photo by * Nina * on Flickr

All drummers have gone through it.  You may have even experimented with it in college.   It’s been a question many have asked since the day they found out there was another option…. Should I use match grip or traditional?

All throughout my years in drumline I stuck to traditional grip, even when playing on a drumset… It came to feel completely natural.  Now that I play mostly rock and don’t do any sort of field percussion anymore I tend to stick with match grip.

No need to fear – Drummer Etc. breaks it down for you in hopes of making the right decision.

From The Article:

…there does seem to be a steep divide between proponents of Traditional grip and the supporters of Matched grip. Is one better? Does one provide more finesse? Is one easier? If I’m not going to play marching snare or jazz, is there a reason to learn traditional?

Read the full article at Drummer Etc.