Practice drumming on a regular base is the key to become a great musician.
However, it isn’t always clear how to start your hard hitting journey.
Or what’s meant by the concept of practicing after all.
If you agree and don’t know how you should fill your practice time or start drumming in general, my blog hopefully will help you out. 🙂
In this article, you’ll learn about three basics beginners on the drums should be aware of.
I regard them as key elements to be successful at practice drumming not only in the beginning, but in general.
So, let’s look into them, shall we?
Practice drumming: It’s not about time
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Don’t get my wrong, making music is of course about timing.
But not about time which means practicing for hours on end.
So how can you master your drum exercises in an effective and time-saving way?
Well, I’m glad you ask! 🙂
1. Set the right mood for practice drumming
Nah, you don’t really feel like playing the drums at all today?
Maybe you shouldn’t.
Am I crazy talking?
No, I’m not.
The thing is, if you force yourself to learn, you’re not likely to achieve anything.
Or at least anything worth to mention.
This could demotivate in the longterm you and for sure you don’t want that.
So when not feeling like practicing your drums, don’t be too harsh on yourself.
The time will be right again and I’m sure you’ll return to your drum throne highly inspired after a short break. 🙂
But!
Of course, this shouldn’t be an excuse for you!
To be honest, sometimes you will struggle with your drumming practice routine.
On nice sunny days, for example, it might automatically be a bit harder to focus on your musical goal …
Try to keep in mind where you want to be in the future:
Short, middle and longterm goals I’m talking about.
In the future, you will benefit from the work you get done today. However, if you don’t do anything, what will you benefit from?
Be honest with yourself.
2. Go for goals as a key element to success
Being in the right mood for practicing drums is a great way to start.
However, it’s only the fundament you’ll be building on.
The next important step is to set your goals properly.
This will inclue the trio I mentioned before: Short, middle and long term goals.
I do so by writing down the topics I want to learn in a certain time span.
Of course my long tearm goals are way harder to achieve than the short ones. For example:
- Playing the doublebass 40 bpm faster, in time and in a relaxed way is a good long term goal.
- Learn a new groove or drum fill is pretty easy, even though
- a middle term or even long term decision if you want it to groove as hell.
- The same goes for learning the rudiments as you’ll work with them your whole drummerlife.
3. Follow your individual learning strategies
Some people learn by listening, some by reading or watching and some prefer a good combination of all three things.
If you know what works best for you, you’ll more likely to get better practice drumming results.
So do spend some extra time figuring out how you learn the most effective way. It will be worth the investment.
Unfortunately, at this point I can’t tell you what’ll be best for you. But I can give you some good starting points:
- Videos and audiomaterial
- Drums sheet music
- Drum lessons online or offline
- Blogs (like this one 😉 and drum discussion forums like drummerworld
- Social Media Groups
- Going to a concert (this helps a lot!)
Conclusion: How to practice drumming
My three drum practice basics have to be adjusted to your preferences, of course.
This is because what works for me or my students will not automatically work for you as well.
However, if you
- have fun playing the drums
- set realistic goals and
- learn in the most effective way for you
I’m sure you’ll soon achieve great results.
Anyway, keep in mind that not only these fundaments are important.
The stuff you’ll be working on and how you manage to do this, is also a key to your drumming success.
What do you think is a great way to practice drumming on a regular base?
I’d love to read from you in the comment section below.
Cheers,
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