Thinking of learning to play the drums

[The Ozzman]

I've talked to a few drummers I know and they say to get a practice pad and some sticks and do that first.

Any other tips?

[Jerusalem]

There are no drummers here?

Brilliant..

I play drums. I started out by having my generous granddad buy me a 2nd hand kit and taking lessons at my school...

Guessing neither of those are really an option.

But yeh, a practice pad sounds good as they're cheap. Or you could just play on an old chair...

[Jerusalem]

Well, I don't want to dish out money for a kit unless I get the basics down first.  I want to be able to become decent on a pad or some buckets first.

Sounds like a plan to me.

If you do decide to continue, I recommend a second hand kit as brand new ones are hella expensive to get a good one.

[Valentin Zukovsky]

Definitely at least check out some snare rudiments if you going the practice pad route.

[Jerusalem]

Definitely at least check out some snare rudiments if you going the practice pad route.

Are you talking practice accessories or just books/media on how to do snare rudiments?

The second one.

[Valentin Zukovsky]

Definitely at least check out some snare rudiments if you going the practice pad route.

Are you talking practice accessories or just books/media on how to do snare rudiments?

The second one.

 

[jesus sanchez]

my brother just went ahead and got a drum set

[.]

I've talked to a few drummers I know and they say to get a practice pad and some sticks and do that first.

Any other tips?

i play guitar
and ive pkayed many other instruments and i can play drums pretty well
if youve been into music for a long time and have good rhythm sklls, then you should be natural at drums.

[VoteNo4Pants]

I second the practice pad. This way, if you find it's not really your thing, you didn't blow 400 bucks. Also the pad is portable, so you can play it wherever if you're to lazy to go over to the drum set. It's also a lot quieter

[Marc]

Work on increasing your hand cordination, and strength.


Warm-Up

Do a couple of 8th notes, like a dozen, until it's a muscle memory and you don't have to think. That is easy and shouldn't be hard. Then work on 16th notes, do the same, only longer.

After that's into muscle memory, work on 'paradiddles' they go like this:

(right paradiddle)Right, Left, Right, Right (Left paradiddle) Left, Right, Left, Left.

At first do them as basic quater notes, then work at 8th notes. Keep working at 8th notes till your sick of them, and you'll thank yourself later on. After that work on going as fast as you can while still in control.

This was the best way of improve cordination for me. Hope it does the same for you. This also takes time, i've been playing the drums for around 8 years, and it took me around 2 months at first to get this solid down without having to think about it.

EDIT:

Stepping It Up A Notch

Try doing flams. Flams are hitting one stick down, while consecutivly hitting the other one down afterwards. It's hard to explain till you've actually seen it done. Ask a friend or a person you know that plays drums how to do it.

Anyway, start off with you dominate hand hitting down first (Ex. right hand) and fallow with your left hand right after. before you start make sure your left hand is higher then your right, it should give you the proper timing. Do this slowly, then switch to your weaker hand hitting down first. Then repeat while doin paradiddles (above).

This is the most i can come up with for now, i'll edit with more later

[Jerusalem]

One of the best things I ever did was to start actually playing to music. Good timing is the one thing you should have over anything else/

[Nuns at a Truckstop]

I play the Drums.

If you want to learn, don't buy a set, because that's what loads of people do, then decide they don't like them, probably the reason there are 2,000,000+ drumsets locked in attics all over the world.

I used to hate drums, or playing them, but a friend got me playing Hand drums, like Djembe, Conga, Bongo.

Once I had learned those, I could teach myself the drums, and they became a lot more fun to play.

[Marc]

don't buy a set, because that's what loads of people do, then decide they don't like them, probably the reason there are 2,000,000+ drumsets locked in attics all over the world.

Son, I Have NEVER Said This Before But You


FAIL.

[Nuns at a Truckstop]

I can name ten people off of the top of my head who have tried out drums, bought a nice set, decided they didn't liked it, and atticked, or basemented it.

Your face Fails.

[Marc]

I can name ten people off of the top of my head who have tried out drums, bought a nice set, decided they didn't liked it, and atticked, or basemented it.

Your face Fails.

FAIL.