Intermediate - Learning To Play Drums-px drums

Intermediate - Learning To Play Drums-px

This isnt really a lesson,but i thought i might go over some things in drumming for
you. If you dont feel like reading this, then dont but i thought it might help some people.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
>>>practicing
practicing the drums is critical to becoming a better drummer. 

First, you must not start fast. take it easy when you first get on. start out with
a simple easy basic beat and work up to more asvance ones and then speed up. IF you
start to fast, its hard, even if you slow down, to get back on track
practicing also requires speeding up because you wont be able to improve if you just do the same thing over and over. You must also try to add some extra things and experiment with things like fills. 
Practicing also should have a schedule. But dont make a schedule like this
-I MUST practice from 3:00-4:30 every Two days and weekends.
Making a schedule like that will get you discouraged because if you plan to do 
something that time or if you accidentaly miss it, you will be discouraged and wont
even want to practice. Make a schedule more like this
-I will practice for an hour and a half every or every other day and weekends
Doing this will help because of the ~every day or every other day~ so if you do miss
a day, you wont be disapointed and will want to practice the next day. But another
VERY important part of practicing is

>>>Warming up
Warming up for the drums is very important because you may not do as well as you want
to when you play. Like i said before, With out warming up and then you start fast,
you wont go as fast or as on time as you want, even if you start over. But warming
up has two parts
1.you should get warmed up before you  even touch your drumset (with your sticks too)
just do some arm stretches, like you do before you play a sport or something like
that. if your in a marching band or something, you will know how to do this. A good
warm-up is to put the set of drum sticks in one hand and just move your wrist back
and forth fast to loosen them up, then do it with the other hand. 
2.When you play the drums, practicing or really playing, Then (like i said before)
DO NOT start off fast.

>>>Set-up
Make sure your set-up is however you want it. Dont just copy other peoples or set 
them up what other people say. Do whats most comfortable for you. I went over this
in my first lesson, and i had a sort of typed in example of a set-up, but thats Just
mine. You can ask for ideas of how to set up your drums, but i wouldt suggest trying
to looks like other peoples drum sets. I have some tips on how to have a good set-up.
+Try to have to tom toms go in order (smallest to largest) for around the drums rolls)
+Dont get the cymbals to close so they overlap your drums and you can hit them by
 accident, but also dont have them too far away so when you try to hit them fast   
 youll miss
+The angle of your body between the bass, snare, and hi-hat is very important. dont
 play the drums with an uncomfortable set-up or it might affect your drumming
+The height of the hi-hat is also more important then you think. Mine is high enough
 so i can hit it on an angle (like my cymbal) when im just playing and so i can do
 rolls on it when im playing to songs (since when you do rolls or hand to hand 16th,
 you want to hit the top of the hi-hat with the tips of your sticks)
+The Crash Cymbal (and Splash) should be at a height so when you hit it, it makes 
 the loudest noise, unless you dont like that. This should make them the highest
 cymbal out of them all, exept sometimes the China.
+Put your Ride or Crash/Ride cymbal low so you can hit it loud when you want but also
 can just hit the top softly. You'll understand in the next lesson. Also make sure
 that its in an open spot, but dosnt interfere with your drum set-up (ex, dont move
 your drums around just for that cymbal)I put mine over and a little behind the floor
 tom so it feels like im hitting the hi hat on the other side of the set.

>>>Drum Equipment
This is were everything matters in your set sound wise
If you have an old set, and the tom heads are beat up (dents, cover, or you knocked
the coating off) i suggest new drum heads first off.
~~Drum heads
This is were all the sound from your drums is from. I but new drum heads every few 
years. I would suggest Remo heads first, and next to that, Evans. 
The kind you pick is also important. Theres tons of different heads (ambassador,
weatherking, emporer, Generas, etc.)I would say for a rock/punk sound,

-Remo G 2's on the batter side (the top side) and G 1's on the Resonant (bottom) side

:::The G means Genera, and if you get new drum heads, you need them for both sides:::
The Clear G1s and 2s makes a quick attack sound and the coated ones (white) makes
a deeper sound. For a different kind of music other than punk, rock, metal, etc.

-Remo Ambassador's batter side and Emporers on the Resonant side.

{I have Evans G2s over G1's on my set but my floor tom has a coated batter side for
a deeper sound, as well as my bass drum.

For a Deeper sound, i would suggest Remo Emporers, and coated heads. These are good 
for Metal music or anything Heavy like that. 

check out www.evansdrumheads.com for some more info on picking the right drumhead.

~~Sticks
Sticks are important to drumming because they affect what your drums sound like when
you hit them and cymbals. Thicker sticks may not be as comfortable for most people
but are very durable, but can also break your cymbals if you hit them hard enough.
Thinner sticks Are more comfortable in your hand and are easier to control and move
around, but for most rock and punk players, these sticks wont last for more than two
weeks, or a month topps. I would use thinner sticks (5As for example) if im not
really going to play hard, and ticker ones if i plan on doind that. 
Another option is to get nylon or woodtips on your sticks. Nylon give you a pingier
sound on your cymbals than woodtips give you a normal ringing sound. nylon is used
more for jazz or hip hop music than rock.
Prices for sticks can be a little steep now, so the more expensive dosnt mean better.
Name brand sticks like Zildian 5As are 8-9 dollars a pair and are very weak. But
other sticks that arnt big names can provide better quality at a lower price. Even
those sticks stuffed in a crate at your local music store for about 2 bucks each 
are probably better quality than most name brands.

~~Other Equipment
-Metronomes are useful in drumming. They help keep time, when your doing a fast beat,
 and some have some other useful features. Metronomes are also useful when you have
-Practice pads. These are just peices of plastic or polyester or wood with a rubber
cover on top. These will help you with drumrolls and timing. They helped me when i
started a lot. Since theres no real way to learn drumrols better, these will help

NOTE:Some of this info i have to give credit to some users on Musicianforums.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Heres some songs i think that are good and fun to play on the drums for anyone whose
been using my lessons from the beginning.

Warning-Green Day
Brainstew-Green Day
Otherside-Red Hot Chili Peppers 
7 nations army - White Stripes
any songs by the white stripes
Faint - Linkin park (its easier than you think)
Like a Stone-Audioslave


Im going to be adding songs to that list when i think of some more. If anyone else
can name some, email them to me (its on the bottom of this lesson)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Here's just something i want to mention because ive been getting a lot of emails on
this, to sum it up, its "how can i improve my rolls and using the tom toms in punk
music" Well Im going to list what you can do
-practice pad (like it says above)
-Try to create some new cool fills since their used a lot
-get comfortable with using the other drums, just try to makes some beats using them
 and you might find something cool (like in the songs longview and in solo's from 
 old songs like Rock n roll - Led Zepplin and Radar Love - Golden Earrings)
-When you do use the other drums, dont forget about the bass drum and snare.
-Improving punk drumming means practicing new things and mastering them. For example,
 I have a lesson called around the drums, and that might help some of you, but it
 wont help if you cant remember them and play something like that at any given moment
 in your drumming
-Punk Druming also has a lot of speed in it, Like Blibk 182, Green Day, Sum 41, etc.
 so try practicing at a slow rate, then every few measures open the hi-hat  (to 
signal the end of the measure) and speed up your normal drumming after that.

I hoped this helped
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Heres just an idea of what a practice session should sort of look like. Its just 
good to look at and get an idea of how to practice. were i put FILL, then just add
you own thing there

H |o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-       }  
S |----x-------x---|----x---x-----x-|----x-------x---|----x-----x---x-       }
B |x-x-----x-x-----|x-x-------xxx---|x-----x---x-----|xxx-----xx-xx---       }
                                                                             }
H |o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-O-       }
S |----x-------x---|----x--g-g----x-|----x-------x---|----x-x-----x---       }  X 3
B |x-----x-x-x---xx|x-x---x---x-----|x-x---x-x-xx----|x-x----xx-------       }
                                                                     vFILLv  }
H |o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-----|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o---O-       }
S |----x-------x---|----x-------f-f-|----x-------x---|----x-------ff--       }
B |x-------x-x-----|x-----x-x-x-----|x-x---xxx-------|x-x---xxxxx-----       }

H |o---o---o---o---|o---o---o---o-O-|o---o---o---o---|o---o---o---o-O-         }
S |----x-------x-x-|----x-------x---|----x-------x---|----x-----x---x-         }
B |x-----x-x-------|x-x---x---x-----|x-x---x-x-----x-|xxx-----x-------         }
                                                                     v--FILL--v}  X 3
H |o---o---o---o---|o---o---o---o---|o---o---o---o---|o---o---o---o-O-         }
S |----x-----x-x---|----x-x-----x---|--------x-------|----x-------x---         } 
B |x-------x-------|x-x-----x-x-----|x-x-x-x-----x-x-|x-------x-x-----         }
                                                                     v-FILL-v
H |oooooooooooooooo|oooooooooooooooO|---ooooooooooooo|oooooooooooooO--       }
S |----x-------x---|------x--------x|-------x-------x|----x-------x---       }X 2
B |x------x-x------|x-x-x-----x-x---|---x-x-----x----|x-x-----x-------       }

RC|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-|      }
H |----c-------c---|----c-------c-O-|----c-------c---|----c-------c-O-|      }
S |----x-------x---|----x---x---x---|----x--g-g--x---|----x--g-g--x---|      } X 4
B |x-----x---x-----|x-----x---x-----|x-x-------x-----|xxx---x-g-g-----|      }

and repeat these in any order you want

This is probably a really bad example, but im no tabmaster. you should practice
around the drumset and Fills too but i didnt want to tab that all over. I would defintaly not attempt playing that tab, not because i dont think you can do it, but it might not sound right and thats just an example. >>>but you should defintaly practice more than what i have here. about an hour around 5 days a week or i like to practice 45 minutes every day a week.<<  
                    

     				
  
      			        
          	
          	

              
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