Mike learns drumming...

stickyfiddle

I had a taster lesson yesterday, and have my first full-length lesson tomorrow. I've always wanted to play drums but never had the time, money or will to really push on it, but I've decided now's the time. I don't have the space for a full kit and still live in an apartment, so it's just not feasible, so will have to work out some sort of option for practice - likely a combination of very small electric kit and regular use of a rehearsal studio & borrowed kit. 

The tutor got me reading basic hi-hat/snare/bass parts from charts, which is the first time I've properly read any musical notation in about 16 years, but the basic stuff came back relatively quickly.  As expected, my arms pretty much do what they're told and are happy to keep reasonable time (subject to minor adjustment because the toms and cymbals aren't just different bits of my steering wheel, which is my usual "kit"). My legs are all over the shop though, at least partly because you can't practice the "foot bits" while driving  

Anyway, just thought I'd share. It's quite strange walking into a musical situation not already knowing at least 40% of what I'm doing, but quite fun nonetheless. 

Anyone have any tips for a drum noob?

octatonic

Congrats.

What are you going be doing your daily practice on?

stickyfiddle

octatonic said:

Congrats.

What are you going be doing your daily practice on?

Don’t know yet! 

At at the very least a couple of practice pads on a single stand, though it’s my feet I’m more worried about, which is trickier.

I might try something like a Roland TD1KV to see how loud that is acoustically. I wonder how well the “noise eater” type of things work? Will be doing a lot of reading..!

octatonic

OK, this is my advice.
Don't bother with e-kits- they all suck.

Get a cheap acoustic kit with decent hardware (especially bass drum pedal, hi-hat stand).
Take the heads off the kit and put on Zed triple ply mesh heads.
Stick a bunch of pillows in the bass drum and stitch a Falam Slam patch to protect from wearing the bass drum.
Then buy a set of Zildjian low volume cymbals- at least a hi-hat and ride.

You spend 90% of your time playing hats, snare and bass drum so that is where to put your energy, if not your money.

The mesh + low volume cymbal arrangement is no louder than an e-kit and if you have neighbours the thing that will annoy will be the bass drum pedal.
You cannot do anything about that- short of decoupling the room.

Here is a photo of my practice kit in this configuration:



I've had two high end e-kits, a Roland TD30K and now a Roland TD50K.
The feel of the hi-hats and cymbals is woeful because you are playing rubber.
It totally screws up your timing.
I still own the TD50K but it is packed up in the storage room- when we move back to the UK I will have more space to record with it but I do not practice with it at all, because my technique was too developed on a real kit and I want to maintain that.

Also the ergonomics are nothing like a real kit so when you get good only playing an e-kit you will struggle to translate back to a real kit.

The configuration above is the closest you get to playing a loud acoustic kit, the bass drum, snare and toms feel mostly the same.
The hi-hats and cymbals feel exactly the same.
The ergonomics are exactly the same too, obviously.

Don't waste time with e-kits, if you don't have space for a full size kit then just get a shallow, small diameter bass drum, a snare and a hi-hat and ride stand (google cocktail kit too, to see if you can fit that in your room).

Funkfingers

octatonic said:

Don't bother with e-kits - they all suck.

Harsh but understandable.

Something about the physical side of acoustic drumming never quite translates to the electronical gubbins. (I write this as a non-drummer.)

stickyfiddle said:
I might try something like a Roland TD1KV to see how loud that is acoustically. 

If you already have drumsticks, try playing a few Scottish rudiments on a vinyl handbag. 

stickyfiddle

No sticks yet! Was hoping to sort that this evening but it's 8pm and I still have at least another couple of hours of work to get through. 

The mesh heads & quiet cymbals thing appeals quite a lot, though that looks like it takes up more space than an e-kit - space is at a premium, so that's probably going to be the main factor at this stage.

Watch this space

stickyfiddle

First full lesson just done. The 45 minutes absolutely flew by. I'm still stunned by how quickly I'm reading the music after so long of not even looking at written-down music.

I've cracked through the basic opening exercises and onto basic offbeat rhythms. It's all clear in my head, and I can do almost anything for 2 bars then it starts falling apart when I start doing multiple consecutive patterns or changing between hi-hat and ride and back, or (heaven forbid!) doing a fill! But after only an hour in total of actively trying to play the drums I think it's a good start.

Turns out drumming is kinda hard. Who knew?!  

Funkfingers

This bugger makes it look easy.

stickyfiddle

Yes, but he's also playing a drum solo that lasts more than 8 bars, so I'm not sure it's a strong argument! 

octatonic

stickyfiddle said:

First full lesson just done. The 45 minutes absolutely flew by. I'm still stunned by how quickly I'm reading the music after so long of not even looking at written-down music.

I've cracked through the basic opening exercises and onto basic offbeat rhythms. It's all clear in my head, and I can do almost anything for 2 bars then it starts falling apart when I start doing multiple consecutive patterns or changing between hi-hat and ride and back, or (heaven forbid!) doing a fill! But after only an hour in total of actively trying to play the drums I think it's a good start.

Turns out drumming is kinda hard. Who knew?!  

Congrats.

Reading music is much easier when there is only one place on the instrument to execute the instruction.
The problem with guitar reading is there is usually 2-4 places on the guitar where each note can be placed.
I am a much better drum score reader than I am a guitar score reader, even though I've been playing 1/10th the time.

Enjoy this time- you will rapidly develop your skills.
After 6 months to a year it gets harder because you've picked the low hanging fruit.

stickyfiddle

octatonic said:

stickyfiddle said:

First full lesson just done. The 45 minutes absolutely flew by. I'm still stunned by how quickly I'm reading the music after so long of not even looking at written-down music.

I've cracked through the basic opening exercises and onto basic offbeat rhythms. It's all clear in my head, and I can do almost anything for 2 bars then it starts falling apart when I start doing multiple consecutive patterns or changing between hi-hat and ride and back, or (heaven forbid!) doing a fill! But after only an hour in total of actively trying to play the drums I think it's a good start.

Turns out drumming is kinda hard. Who knew?!  

Congrats.

Reading music is much easier when there is only one place on the instrument to execute the instruction.
The problem with guitar reading is there is usually 2-4 places on the guitar where each note can be placed.
I am a much better drum score reader than I am a guitar score reader, even though I've been playing 1/10th the time.

Enjoy this time- you will rapidly develop your skills.
After 6 months to a year it gets harder because you've picked the low hanging fruit.

Ta, that's in line with my understanding. I wasn't that bothered about the ability to read charts, because it hasn't held me back from playing whatever I want to on guitar, but you're right that it's much easier. And so far I'm not doing anything rhythmically challenging because doing simple stuff is plenty challenging enough  

The tutor is away for the next couple of weeks, but the music school has said I can go in whenever the room isn't in use to practise, which is great of them. I'm quite sure that once I've got my feet doing what I want when I want I'll get half-decent fairly quickly. The "goal" so to speak is to get to a level I can play music I enjoy, which is a Springsteen/Nirvana/Foo Fighers sort of level rather than Rush/Dream Theater, so we'll see how long that takes. 

Can't wait!   

octatonic

stickyfiddle said:

octatonic said:

stickyfiddle said:

First full lesson just done. The 45 minutes absolutely flew by. I'm still stunned by how quickly I'm reading the music after so long of not even looking at written-down music.

I've cracked through the basic opening exercises and onto basic offbeat rhythms. It's all clear in my head, and I can do almost anything for 2 bars then it starts falling apart when I start doing multiple consecutive patterns or changing between hi-hat and ride and back, or (heaven forbid!) doing a fill! But after only an hour in total of actively trying to play the drums I think it's a good start.

Turns out drumming is kinda hard. Who knew?!  

Congrats.

Reading music is much easier when there is only one place on the instrument to execute the instruction.
The problem with guitar reading is there is usually 2-4 places on the guitar where each note can be placed.
I am a much better drum score reader than I am a guitar score reader, even though I've been playing 1/10th the time.

Enjoy this time- you will rapidly develop your skills.
After 6 months to a year it gets harder because you've picked the low hanging fruit.

Ta, that's in line with my understanding. I wasn't that bothered about the ability to read charts, because it hasn't held me back from playing whatever I want to on guitar, but you're right that it's much easier. And so far I'm not doing anything rhythmically challenging because doing simple stuff is plenty challenging enough  

The tutor is away for the next couple of weeks, but the music school has said I can go in whenever the room isn't in use to practise, which is great of them. I'm quite sure that once I've got my feet doing what I want when I want I'll get half-decent fairly quickly. The "goal" so to speak is to get to a level I can play music I enjoy, which is a Springsteen/Nirvana/Foo Fighers sort of level rather than Rush/Dream Theater, so we'll see how long that takes. 

Can't wait!   

A few months is all you need before you can get out and play with others- that is where you will really learn.

mudslide73

I tried to get into it but couldn't get my limbs to respond independently. Then my co guitarist brought his 12 year old kid to sit in with us and I got very disheartened very quickly. Easily the best drummer I've played with too. Edit: he's 16 in this video

stickyfiddle

After about a month off due to work, illness and travel, I had my first lesson in AGES and still only lesson #5 I think. I did my first full song playthrough today. The modern classic that is Uptown Funk, sightread and got up to speed within a 45 minute lesson. I couldn't quite master the tricksy outro part, but all the rest was grooving nicely. Not exactly complex, but the teacher was impressed how quickly I picked it up - I've always been much better picking things up with my ears than reading rhythms from charts, but this was a good middle-ground, I think. 

I could get used to this - it's quite fun! I just need a kit of my own (of some description) so I can actually practice properly. My single-pad solution is actually way better than nothing, but a long way off a full kit, obviously. 

VimFuego

nice one, I am constantly seeing ads for drummers wanted, and the additional benefit is scaring the shit out of your neighbours when a new drum kit is delivered. 

stickyfiddle

VimFuego said:

nice one, I am constantly seeing ads for drummers wanted, and the additional benefit is scaring the shit out of your neighbours when a new drum kit is delivered. 

The issue is I'm in an apartment, so would literally get arrested if I tried. I've never had complaints about guitar playing, although I'm certain the neighbours can hear it. But I'm a *significantly* better guitarist than drummer!! 

But keen to stick at it, even if that means hiring rehearsal rooms on a regular basis. I'm already starting appreciate how differently you hear music as a drummer than a guitar player. I barely think about melody at all when I'm behind a kit, just rhythm, timing and groove. 

digitalscream

My brother's the drummer in our band, and by the age of five his son could play most of our material almost as well has he could. He's even better now.

This is an excellent reason for me to never even attempt playing drums.

stickyfiddle

digitalscream said:

My brother's the drummer in our band, and by the age of five his son could play most of our material almost as well has he could. He's even better now.

This is an excellent reason for me to never even attempt playing drums.

Ha! Yeah, I know that feeling. I'm under no illusions of being the next Steve Jordan, as I'm at least 15 years too late if nothing else. But I reckon I can get to "decent functional drummer" relatively quickly. 

What I'm finding really good is that because it's relatively difficult & I don't find any of it fully natural yet, I have to think about a lot of things while playing to keep everything working, which makes it a brilliant stress reliever. I can't think about work or relationships or dinner plans, or anything while I'm doing it. I'm much better at guitar, to the point I can play while having a conversation, or thinking about other life-shit, which means I don't get the same relief from playing casually. 

LuttiS

My old drummer used to live in an apartment too, he did lots of the things @octatonic said to quiet it all down, but he also made a mini platform which really cut the sound. I think it was a carpeted bit of wood, on a base of cut in half tennis balls, he bough a shit load of them then spent an evening cutting them and attaching them to the underside. Minimal vibrations going through the floor and around the apartment. 

Congrats btw

I always found drums to be one of those instruments that is the most unlike riding a bike.. you can get fairly ok, quite quickly if you constantly play, but if you stop for any period of time you somehow forget it all... 

LuttiS

Also, i do have an electronic drum kit, it is no substitute for even a shitty acoustic one, but for sticking headphones in, playing along to a track and just basic practice its good. Fits in a small corner, and if you're feeling special you can hook it up to EZDrummer or something and get some good half decent sounds. 

stickyfiddle

Yeah, the trouble is that getting any sort of raised platform would require significant compromise in terms of floor space, meaning it could only really go in our hall way or in place of the spare bed. Neither is really an option. 

The kit at the school is actually an electric alesis one, not an acoustic kit, so now I’m not complete shite I’m keen to find a studio with a proper acoustic kit I can have a go on for a couple of hours every so often. 

Also, I’m completely unrelated news, I find the notation fascinating. I can actually read it pretty well (as in I remember all the functions of the various rhythmic squiggles) but that’s really interesting is how you can write the same rhythm  differently because you don’t have control over sustain (aside from cymbals, to an extent), e.g. a dotted quarter note is essentially the same as an eighth followed by a quarter note rest, whereas on the majority of melodic instruments that wouldn’t sound the same.