Learning the drums

[Incorrigible]

Now, I'm at the age when most people are thinking about buying their children musical instruments...

However, after a "productive" night at a local drinking establishment I have acquired a drum kit

I will require an on-line, step by step instruction manual for going from here to John Henry Bonham in several easy steps

Any suggestions ?

can't even find a drumming smily

[davepoth]

Take a couple of lessons to get the posture and grip right - it's not like playing guitar where you'll just be rubbish forever if you do it wrong, there's the possibility of doing quite bad damage to yourself if you don't drum properly.

[Incorrigible]

Shirley I need to be able to knock out a decent 4-4 before employing a tutor

There must be a play-station type "are you even in time" sort of thing before I subject a professional to my noise

[Whitester]

I don't have much advice as I am utterly hopeless on the drums, but make sure you get some good ear protection. You're subjecting your ears to very high SPL by sitting right behind the drumkit, especially if you're playing heavy music where you have to hit hard. Each time you hear a really high-pitched noise in your ears, you've damaged them and will NEVER hear that frequency again.

Also don't use headphones/earphones to guide you unless they are sound isolating. You'll end up turning the volume up to very dangerous levels.

[Z06George]

Grip and posture definitely come before timing/getting a basic groove down. I agree with getting a decent teacher to help, in the first year at uni there were quite a few "bedroom" drummers as it were having to re-learn good technique when they were told the reason their arms/wrists hurt after 30 minutes of drumming was down to having bad technique.

[davepoth]

Incorrigible said:

Shirley I need to be able to knock out a decent 4-4 before employing a tutor

There must be a play-station type "are you even in time" sort of thing before I subject a professional to my noise

It's things like how to hold the sticks - I don't drum, but I know the way you would think to hold them is wrong, and can lead to wrist issues and blisters. Not fun.

Similarly if you don't get the kit set up properly you'll end up twisting around to reach various things more than you might need to, which can lead to back problems.

It'd be much better to have lessons right at the beginning rather than going a couple of months down the line and having to unlearn everything you've taught yourself.

[Jayyylo]

You should get a teacher from the beginning. It will save you time and effort in the long run.
A few simple tips to get you started:
Holding the sticks - pinch your nose, take your hand off while holding that position, drumstick goes between thumb and and index finger exactly where your nose was i.e. between 2nd and 3rd knuckle (count from hand).

Posture - sit upright, roll your shoulders back, done.

Setting up the drumkit - (stool height) tops of legs should be parallel to the ground, and comfy. Like sitting in a normal chair really.
(snare) put on end of the drumstick on the snare and the other on your belly button. The stick should be parallel to the ground, if it isn't then raise/lower your snare. A lot of lazy drummers have the snare too low and they rest their hand on their leg between hits. NO NO NO!
The angle of all the drums and cymbals should be tilted forward just a little bit so you can hit them comfortably without the stick hitting the rim, (but this will be developed with time as you build your playing technique). Nothing should be set up at a crazy steep angle.

So yeah, these rules may make you look a bit stupid, but they work.

Edited by Jayyylo on Thursday 8th March 04:59

[Roadru77er]

Plenty of drum lessons on You Tube.

I'm sure Mr Hetherington will be along soon with some sage like advice!

[Incorrigible]

Thanks for the sage advise chaps. Picked it up last night but far to late to do anything about it.

I have to say I think I got a bargain especially as I bought it when when I was pissed

I shall set it up as suggested, have a quick blast and get a few lessons

Ta

Look out for the "Cheap drum kit for sale" thread in a month or 2

[drumsterphil]

Mostly covered already and I agree for the most part -

Definitely go for a few lessons to get grip and posture right. I am currently going through the process of relearning my grip (even though I've been playing 20 years) as I've discovered an issue with my grip which is hindering me learning a particular technique.

However, there are no set rules as to how you should set a kit up. Set the kit up to how you feel comfortable - as you progress you will move tom angles and cymbal placements to suit your better technique and knowledge - I look at the first pics of me playing and think "Holy Tom Angles, Batman" (much used internet drum forum phrase!..) but through time everything has changed and settled.

Certainly, stool height is very much subjective and again depends on what you are comfortable with (extremes being Dave Lombardo who sits as low as possible but still manages blistering speed/precision and Mike Portnoy who sits so high it really does look like he plays on tippy-toes).

Anyways, that's probably completely off topic (apologies) so good luck with your forth-coming drumming adventures!..

[offspring86]

Don't forget to warm up before playing too! Shoulders, arms, wrists, and fingers. I used to get the most terrific pain across the centre of my palms if I ever started playing kit without warming up.

Edited by offspring86 on Thursday 8th March 16:06

[Incorrigible]

I've been doing pretty extensive forearm and wrist exercises fro years

[Incorrigible]

And I'm left handed, set the kit up left or right handed ?? I think I could definitely keep the tappety tap stuff faster and more consistent with my left hand

[drumsterphil]

Being left handed you have two options - either set the kit up left handed (in simple terms, hi-hats on right, ride on left and bass drum played with left foot) or set it up open handed (hi-hats and ride on left and played with left hand, bass drum played by right foot and toms set up as a right handed kit).

In my opinion, open handed has the distinct advantage of allowing you to play a right handed kit but just move the hi-hat and ride to the left - the majority of drummers are right handed and if you end up gigging it's very rare to be changing kits with drummers (and saves you messing with another drummer's set up too much).

[davepoth]

drumsterphil said:

In my opinion, open handed has the distinct advantage of allowing you to play a right handed kit but just move the hi-hat and ride to the left - the majority of drummers are right handed and if you end up gigging it's very rare to be changing kits with drummers (and saves you messing with another drummer's set up too much).

This is very good advice - Drummers can be quite particular about people moving their kit, and if the drums have been miked up it can be a complete nightmare to move things around.

[GnuBee]

drumsterphil said:

I am currently going through the process of relearning my grip (even though I've been playing 20 years) as I've discovered an issue with my grip which is hindering me learning a particular technique.

Moeller by any chance?

[drumsterphil]

More basic than that - just holding the stick correctly to allow me to play blast beats properly using the 3rd finger to bounce the stick instead of using the wrist.

[Z06George]

Moeller+Good finger control and you'll be able to blast away for ages!

[drumsterphil]

Yeah,I do double drumming with a local black metal drummer so he's teaching me correct hand technique and I'm teaching him double bass technique (heel toe and patterns to build left leg strength) - you certainly learn a lot of different things double drumming - would recommend it (plus it's fascinating how different drummers approach various concepts).

[Mars]

Sort of teaching my 7yo son how to play on my kit which is too big for him to reach the pedals properly (hence the "sort of teaching him" statement).



Advice? I have none. I'm completely self-taught but I play a few things wrong, and I don't know the names for many of the commonly used techniques and patterns. I would like to learn properly but after 20 years of gigging, I am almost too proud to suffer any criticism even though I need it if I'm to improve now.

I suppose the only advice is to get some proper tuition before you learn and settle-upon some incorrect techniques.