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4 Simple Tricks to Improve Your Drumming – FREE DOWNLOAD

4 Simple Tricks to Improve Your Drumming – FREE DOWNLOAD

by | Apr 1, 2018 | Goal-setting, Learning approach

Summary

Becoming a better drummer requires time, so making the most it is crucial to improve your drumming, whether it’s 15mins or 2hrs per day. Planning is the one simple, and easiest, trick to do this.

You can download the FREE “How To Get Better” Pack at the end of the article.

 

Introduction

I’m constantly striving to become the drummer I want to be. Depending on my schedule, I generally sit down to practice for 2 hours, 5 days a week. However, since I started being more organised and focused through planning, my drumming has improved exponentially. It is the one simple, and easiest, trick to improve your drumming. It’s possibly the most overlooked, and you don’t even have to be sitting behind the kit to do it.

So, let’s have a look at these 4 simple tricks to improve your drumming.

 

1. Planning

Surely you’ve heard the maxim “fail to plan = plan to fail”, right? If not, you’re welcome! As previously mentioned, this is possibly the most overlooked aspect of improving your drumming.

Benefits

  • Gives you a sense of direction
  • Helps you to set goals*
  • Target areas of development
  • Lets you measure and review your progress

All of these benefits surely make it worth spending a few minutes periodically going over your plan and to review and reflect on your progress and celebrate your achievements.

Bonus tip #1: keep a practice log / diary.

* Make sure your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)

Fun

If is so beneficial to help improve your drumming, why is it so overlooked? I don’t know, but my guess is that people perceive it’s not part of the fun; that it’s time away from playing.

Let me try to change your mind about it! Fun is involved in two significant ways:

  1. Short-term: You incorporate fun to your regular routine, for instance by playing along to songs you like, and apply some the skills you’ve been developing to these
  2. Long-term: Think that, as you become a better drummer, you’ll get to do more fun stuff down the line (i.e. play more of the songs you like / more complex songs, or play more complex grooves and fills)

 

Billy Rymer, one of my favourite drummers, playing through “When I Lost My Bet” by The Dillinger Escape Plan from their “One Of Us Is The Killer” album.

 

2. Slow 

Going slow acts like magnifying glass. The slower you go, the more you’re able to hone in on your time and develop the right motions to achieve better results. Depending on the exercise, starting at 60BPM is always a good place to start. If you want to go deep, try 40BPM.

 

3. Motion 

If you’re stuck with certain exercises, learn to isolate and practice motions that allow you to perform tasks faster and more accurately. Break down these movements and create lessons out of them. See Example 1 below.

Example 1 – Single Paradiddle Here, for instance, we break down a Single Paradiddle into a control exercise for down strokes and tap strokes for each hand. The aim would be to work on controlling stick in catching it at an appropriate distance from the pad / drum following the downstroke, as well as controlling rebound strokes when playing the tap strokes.

Bonus tip #2: Don’t think of this as a waste of time, developing these motions will help you and positively affect your general playing.

4. Patience

Results don’t happen over night, so be patient and enjoy the journey. Stay on the same tempo until you’re comfortable enough to increase it, doing so in increments of 2 or 5 beats per minute.

Bonus tip #3: If you don’t already have a metronome, get yourself one! I really like Tempo Advance by Frozen Ape.

Conclusion

I hope this has been insightful and useful. Please make sure you download the FREE “How To Get Better” Pack below to help you get organised to improve your drumming and become a better drummer.

 

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Receive £5 off your first lesson when you subscribe to my Newsletter (see the footer of the home page).

Head over to the lovely folks at Bell Percussion for all your drum gear needs and wants!

 

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How To Play Drums: A Guide To Success

How To Play Drums: A Guide To Success

by | Mar 1, 2018 | Commentary, Learning approach, Technique, Uncategorized

How to play drums is popular Google search, so when trying to answer how to play drums I don’t think there are rights or wrongs. That said, there are commonly accepted beliefs, which include:

  • Solid time keeping is probably the most important aspect of playing the drums
  • Certain specific technical best practices help you achieve power and speed
  • Some styles, phrasings and grooves are more popular / trendy than others
  • The chops (speed and technicality) versus pocket (groove and feel) debate will rage on

But beyond that, in terms of how you choose to play drums, the world is your oyster. That’s the beauty of it; the freedom to express yourself however you like.

how to play drums

Jojo Mayer, the modern master drummer.

 

Key skills

Any of the key skills that are required to play drums can be developed with practice. Put enough time, patience and perseverance, and you too can become a great drummer. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Tipping Point (2000), suggests that you can master anything if you spend around 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. And whilst this sounds daunting, it’s also reassuring to know there’s measurable metric! But think about it, realistically, you don’t need 10,000 hours to become a decent drummer… But the quest for greatness is irresistible!

Now, for those who have a natural knack for the instrument, all it simply means is that things will come to them more easily. Yet, if you’re thinking “I have zero rhythm” before you’ve even sat down behind the kit, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

So, to answer how to play drums, below are what I consider to be the key technical / practical skills, and the transferable skills essential to address the query.

 

Technical / practical

These are the skills directly linked with how to play drums.

 

Time

Having good control of time and keeping a steady beat is the biggest one! This establishes trust with your audience as well as your bandmates. Think that audiences will feel taken care of because they know what to expect. No sudden increases or decreases in tempo means they can focus on enjoying the music and dancing.

Similarly, having steady time also establishes trust with your bandmates! Holding a steady groove means your bandmates can focus on playing the best they can. Moreover, having a good concept of time and being aware of tempos will make a song feel good. Think that if you play your favourite song too slow or too fast, it can break its feel and vibe.

how to play drums time

The metronome is your greatest tool in developing great time.

Reading

To me being able to sight read doesn’t just help with being able to do gigs where charts are required. This skill, to me, strengthens the connection between your mind and body, helping reaction times. Reading also means we write music, allowing us to transcribe grooves and ideas!

 

Co-ordination

Yes, when we think about how to play drums we think moving your hands and feet interdependently. But this isn’t something you’re born being able to do, it’s a skill we develop. A simple way to this octopus-like ability is by using short, repeating rhythmic patterns (ostinatos). Here’s a great example of a melodic ostinato with the feet over hands soloing; follow this link and be amazed!

How to play drums

Richard Kass – Drum Interpretations #1 – György Ligeti “Hungarian Rock”

 

Technique

When you see drummers playing at blazing tempos, they’re playing as tension free as they can. They achieve this by letting the stick (and pedals) do most of the work. Playing drums isn’t about “hitting” things, but more about throwing the sticks and controlling their bounce (known as the rebound). Having good technique means being able to do more, at faster tempos, more easily.

 

Musicality

To play musically, a drummer needs to understand the music he or she is playing and be sympathetic to it. This is a big aspect of the how to play drums question. Obvious as it may seem, generally-speaking you wouldn’t play metal grooves with a jazz ensemble, unless that’s what’s required. Think musically!

Musicality has several implications, from the gear you’d use (e.g. drum sizes and woods, drum skins, type of sticks, cymbals, etc), to the tuning of the drums, the techniques you’d use and the touch you’d need. All this stuff falls under the “taste” umbrella; knowing what to play and when to do so.

 

Key transferable skills

The following aren’t specific to the drums but are just as important as the technical ones.

 

Listening

Actively listening to the music you’re playing means paying attention to what each instrument is doing. Likewise, being able to pay attention what your band members say is just as crucial. Listening is an important aspect of communication, and helps you be more musical!

how to play drums

Listening is a key skill in learning how to play drums!

 

Physical and mental awareness

In order to develop good technique, being aware of your body and, likewise, knowing your mind in order to get the most out of your learning are crucial!

You can learn more about this on my article about using yoga techniques to improve your drumming here!

 

Discipline

Consistent practice is king! Carve time out of your daily schedule to sit behind the kit. Remember too that focused practice isn’t the same as jamming to songs for fun. One involves developing specific skills whilst the other is about decompressing involves the latter. This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t incorporate play-alongs / fun into your practice!

Patience

Like I previously mentioned, getting good takes time. Patience is key in achieving long-term results… learning something new takes time! And sometimes you have to practice something really slowly at first to get it right. Practice makes progress!

 

Open-mindedness

This is self-explanatory.

 

Humility

Hand in hand with open-mindedness, keeping a humble attitude will make you more receptive to learning new things from others. Particularly those who are farther along the road in their playing journey.

 

Wrapping it up!

I hope this has been insightful! At least it wasn’t a case of “Q: how to play drums? A: one note at a time”. Ultimately, there are no easy answers, or a magic trick, to the how to play drums conundrum (pun intended)!

If you’re interested in taking drum lessons, check out lessons page here and get in touch and we’ll arrange a time!

Nick

What Makes a Great Drum Teacher?

What Makes a Great Drum Teacher?

by | Sep 1, 2017 | Commentary, Learning approach

An ancient Chinese proverb says “to know the road ahead, ask those coming back”. It’s a good one, right? In our journey to becoming better drummers, we want to learn from the best drummers around, that’s a no-brainer. However, not all of them have a knack for / are good at / enjoy teaching! So, picking a great drum teacher is important!

With this mind, I wanted to share some thoughts when searching for a drum teacher. And I think a good place to start is establishing the similarities and differences between a great drummer and a great drum teacher. Let’s explore below.

Similarities

Let’s start with the things both groups have in common.

To my eyes there are basic elements that can make a great drummer and a great drum teacher very similar. At the end of the day, both groups are knowledgeable drummers!

 

Differences

Great drummers

When it comes to the differences, I believe the devil is in the detail. Great drummers come in many shapes and sizes. Some focus on technical proficiency and speed, some on pocket and feel, and some are great at both, and some are just great entertainers. Generally-speaking, what all successful drummers all have in common is great sense of time, musical sensibility, and are active listeners.

Yet when it comes to teaching, however, they might struggle. This is because:

  • They might not know how to explain and break things down and explain concepts
  • Might struggle in guiding a pupil through a development path in order to a skill that comes naturally to them
  • They might not have the patience to do the above, and not know how to motivate a student

 

Great drum teachers

In contrast, a great drum teacher is the drummer who is able to provide guidance, nurture and develop skill. The focus, therefore, turns away from his / her own abilities and towards the student’s. This translates to understanding where you stand as a player, identifying your goals and getting to know how your mind works to use to effectively communicate with you. This goes in tandem with spotting areas that need development and creating tailored exercises for these. In doing so, being patient and supportive, keeping fun in mind, yet always challenge to push you forward.

 

Conclusion

To sum up, I think it’s important to acknowledge that some drummers are better teachers than others. This doesn’t make anyone worse or better drummers or musicians than the other by any stretch of the imagination. Some like teaching, and are great at it, some don’t like teaching and therefore prefer not to. Conversely, it’s important to be aware that some may like teaching but may not have the aptitude, whilst some may not like teaching but be reluctantly be good at it!

If you’re interested in learning the drums, check out my drum lessons. Yet I would also encourage you, if you haven’t already, to check out other drum teachers, as it’s important to find someone whose style you can connect with! You can find drum teachers near you by searching the DrumTeachers.co.uk database!

Nick

Is Your Attitude Stopping You Being The Best Drummer You Can Be?

Is Your Attitude Stopping You Being The Best Drummer You Can Be?

by | Sep 30, 2016 | Commentary, Goal-setting, Learning approach

Since I started teaching drums as a full-time thing a few years ago, I started noticing that when learning or, more specifically, becoming a pupil in our adult life, students above 25y/o seem to behave a bit like children. Now, I don’t mean this in a negative way at all! In fact, I behave exactly the same way when I’ve gone to see a drum teacher. So, how can we use this to learn drums better?

What interests me about this observation is this perceived change in attitude; the shift in which we proceed to accept information from an ‘expert’ (i.e. someone who’s considerably ahead of us). We surrender our trust and our will to this person, placing ourselves in a vulnerable position, and perhaps making feel a bit like kids again.

Have you noticed this yourself perhaps as a teacher or as a student? My partner, who teaches English in an ESL school, reports this exact same behaviour of her students. Senior as they may be in age or job in their native countries, she says they behave like middle schoolers. Now, her stories revolve around immature behaviour, which isn’t the case in my experience; my focus here is a general approach to learning.

So with that in mind, how can we make the most of this (i.e. learn drums better), our rejuvenating child-like sense of learning and adventure? To me, it’s about approaching learning something new with an open mind and a disposition to change something about ourselves (i.e. learning a new skill or developing it further).

The great Dom Famularo, said it best. To him, the fountain of eternal youth was to constantly be on the cusp of learning something new. Therefore, following on from those very wise words, consciously and actively try to

  • Keep an open mind, but not just when going for a lesson; do so in picking up new information and perspectives. Even if you might not agree with it, it might enrich your knowledge

  • Take advantage, and try to impress your teacher. On one hand, learning is done for ourselves, yet it’s also motivating to hear encouraging words from your teacher

  • Work with a mate on things you’re struggling with

  • Base your learning around projects like songs you’d like to cover, for instance

Thank you for reading my blog, as usual. I hope you’ve found this useful or interesting in one way or another. I would love to know what you think; whether you like it, or think it’s rubbish!

An Easy Guide To Learning and Playing Drums By Ear

An Easy Guide To Learning and Playing Drums By Ear

by | Apr 6, 2016 | Learning approach

A student of mine recently asked me how I learn to play music, and more specifically, drums just by listening. So, I thought I’d write a quick guide to learning and playing drums by ear!

To me, learning the skills to playing drums by ear isn’t as too complicated. In the following paragraphs I put a framework that to help you accurately transpose what you hear into the drums.

This framework based on asking the right questions. Let’s suppose that your job is to learn drums to songs by ear. As with any other work, you go through a mental process of asking yourself a set of specific questions. Asking the right questions will lead you to the correct answer.

playing drums

The better we define the problem, the clearer the solution!

So what are these questions? Below are the ones I think most relevant. Keep in mind, however, that this takes time and practice, so you’ll need patience in training and develop your ear.

Question #1: How good is my time? 

A very important aspect of learning and playing drums by ear your sense of time. This means being able to feel the music at the correct time; not faster or slower, and to the correct time signature. You need to be able match each stroke to its corresponding drum in time.

If you are a beginner, or new to playing drums, developing your timing doesn’t necessarily start with you playing single strokes on a pad against a metronome. A great alternative is listening to music and clapping or tapping along to the pulse created by the bass drum. Incidentally, most popular music is counted in 4/4 (i.e. four beats per measure), so this is not too difficult to achieve with a little practice!

By the way, if you’re interested in lessons, check my drum lessons page here! I teach this stuff and more, so get in touch when you’re done.

 

Question #2: What sounds am I hearing?

This question is just as important as Question #1 as you need to put the work in before going any further!

The drum set is an instrument made up of multiple instruments. Being able to recognise what each element of the drum set sounds like is crucial, as it can help us isolate these sounds. This is important for several reasons, including helping you determine:

When are those sounds taking place

We want to be able to place the sounds we recognise along a timeline or map – much like we would programme a drum beat in MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).

Who and what is producing those sounds

We need to be able to differentiate whether the sounds are being produced by the drummer, or someone / something else. This is because extra rhythm layers can be produced by a percussionist, a DJ, or by samples. For instance, if we hear shakers and we know the drummer is using all his limbs on the drum set to deliver the groove, by process of elimination we can discard that as part of what we want to be playing.

Which sounds should each limb play

Watch videos or drummers play isolated drum grooves to help you assign the different sounds they’re creating with each limb! Generally-speaking, the feet play the bass drums and hi hats, and the hands will play the snare, toms, hi hats and cymbals.

An extra, fun consideration is that it helps to know who is the drummer playing on the track. Masters like Thomas Lang can create the illusion of multiple drummers playing at once! Simply check out this brilliant performance below and you’ll know what I mean.

 

Question #3: When are these sounds happening?

Once you’re familiar with the sounds you’re hearing, you then need to start mapping them in time. Think of this as putting the sounds in order of which you hear them. If you’re familiar with MIDI, this is similar to programming a drum beat whereby you allocate sounds along a piano roll (or timeline).

To begin this process start with a reference point, which can be very abstract. For instance, with the guitar you’d first need to recognise a note within a song. Once you’ve recognised it, determine whether the subsequent note is higher or lower in pitch, and so on.

When you learn drums by ear, the reference point I’d like to demonstrate, given it applies to most popular music, is a basic rock beat (i.e. snare drum on beats 2 & 4, bass on beats 1 & 3 with eighth notes on the hi-hats).

Being able to count beats will help! Particularly being able to break 1 2 3 4 down into smaller subdivisions like sixteenth notes (semiquavers) 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a, etc.

Once we determine our reference point we’re then able to match it. In other words, we can place it directly on top of the beat we’re trying to figure out, making sure that we’re superimposing it at the correct time.

On a related note, you can check out my article on how to play drums here.

 

Question #4: What’s happening within the groove or fill that makes it sound like it does?

Once our reference point has been established correctly within our mental piano roll / timeline, start thinking about how the groove differs from our reference:

  • Can we recognise extra snare or bass drums happening?

  • What’s happening with the hi-hats? Can we hear extra hi-hats being played as sixteenth or 32nd notes?

  • What cymbals are being played, and what drums are happening at the same time?

  • If so, where do all of these fall within the piano roll / timeline?

  • When talking about a fill (assuming we’re still counting 1 2 3 4) how many additional sounds / strokes are occurring in between each beat? Do we hear tom toms? If so, how many?

 

Tips

Here are a few tips to further help you in the process.

Visualisation

It’s a lot easier to recognise what’s happening when what you’re hearing coincides with how it’s being played. If you’re hearing the hi-hats on your right speaker (or headphone), chances are you’re hearing what it sounds like to be looking at the drummer from an audiences perspective (i.e. tom toms will also start highest to Floor Toms from right to left). Ergo, why not try switching your headphones around so that you’re hearing and visualising the kit from the drummer’s seat?

playing drums

Visualise how the drums are being played, and from which perspective the sounds are coming from.

Subdivision of beats

The more you are able to subdivide your 1 2 3 4 count in your head the more freedom you’ll have placing hits in relation to others, no matter what time signature. You want the subdivisions to be endless, giving you a certain fluidity to drop a stroke anywhere you want along your timeline.

 

Conclusion

Following the above framework will hopefully provide you with a good foundation to learn playing drums by ear. I’ve tried not to go into excruciating detail, or use too many musical terms, in order to keep things in plain English. That said, my biggest suggestion would be to start with simple songs and drum beats!

What’s interesting to me is that not everyone is able to accurately figure music out by ear. This implies there’s a certain element of “hearing what you want to hear” versus what is actually happening. We need to be as objective as possible throughout the process.

Yet does playing what you hear as opposed to playing what is ‘actually’ being played matter? If not, then once we’ve built our interpretation, we could proceed to refine our results. There are tools online which can help us with this such tablature (i.e. tabs), YouTube and its covers, software to slow down a song without losing pitch, etc. The trick, once again, to start simple and to remain objective. Keep an open mind to other interpretations, as this will further help you hone and tune your ears.

If you enjoyed this and are interested in learning drums, check out my drum lessons and get in touch! 

Also, check out my drum book to help you develop your creative ideas on the drums, and my pillowcase practice pad CHOPZzz; the world’s first!

Originally published by Drummer Magazine in Issue 131, August 2014

Apply Yoga Techniques to Learn Drums Better

Apply Yoga Techniques to Learn Drums Better

by | Mar 5, 2016 | Commentary, Learning approach, Technique

This article explore how to learn drums better by using yoga principles. These will help you:

  • Gain awareness of your body and muscles in the context of developing technique

  • Improve technique by changing your approach to practice

  • Gain freedom and spiritual peace when practicing technique through focusing on your body

By the way, if you’re after my article on how to play drums, you can read it here. Anyhow, let’s continue…

Background

One of my drum students is a yoga instructor. Recently, during a drum lesson focusing on relaxing the wrists, hands and understanding rebound, she mentioned something that really caught my attention.

Whilst going through some hand exercises, she seemed almost hypnotised as she performed each stroke trying to generate rebound. I remarked on her focus, which she replied had to do with meditation. She pointed out that she’s able to stand barefoot on the floor and feel the ground beneath her feet for hours to be aware of herself; a technique borrowed from her training in yoga.

learn drums girl

This got me thinking that part of learning good technique, essential when we learn drums and becoming a better drummer, effectively coincides with being aware of our body. More specifically, our muscles, movements, and truly feeling these experiences. In other words, being able to understand, isolate, visualise and feel muscles and movements in order to ‘work’ them to their full potential.

The goal when we learn drums, therefore and as with yoga, is to achieve physical and mental liberation; to remove our limitations. In the context of learning technique, this is to freely express what creatively comes to our mind and into the instrument in real time, without our bodies “saying no” to what our heart and mind sing.

Update 29/01/21: I now practice yoga daily, and this article rings more true than ever! If you’re interested in how to learn drums with a yoga-informed sensibility, check out my drum lessons and get in touch! 

Re-examining the basics

So how can we learn drums better by using yoga principles? Let’s start by getting back to basics and re-examine what we take for granted. So, let’s look at defining percussion.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, percussion is a “musical instrument played by striking with the hand, a stick or beater, or by shaking”. It includes drums, cymbals, xylophones, gongs, etc.

learn drums percussion

Wonderful percussion instruments!

So when it comes to the drum kit, it’s our body using external tools, i.e. drum sticks, drum pedals, in order to produce the desired sound. Shouldn’t we, therefore, become intimately acquainted with such tools to get best results?

Certainly! Here are a series of questions that may, or may have not, already crossed your mind.

Our hands

  • How do the sticks feel in our hands (their weight, thickness, surface, material and vibration)?

  • How do the sticks rebound on different surfaces, and how that feels to our hands?

  • What’s happening with our fulcrum, and auxiliary fingers (or the cradle, as I like to call them)?

learn drums hand

Be mindful of how you grip the drum sticks, how your hands and arms move, etc…

Our feet

  • How do our feet feel against the pedal’s foot plate? For instance,

    • The tension of the springs

    • Angle of the foot plate, and foot plate resistance

    • How does the pedal rebound

    • Should we wear shoes or not

Explore your relationship relative to these tools. Consciously examine how they feel, how you use them. How they currently react and function, how they should, or perhaps how you want them react and function; what are the physics, and mechanics taking place?

Think of oneness with the instrument as the goal of this exercise. To work as one with it, in harmony.

Yoga and mediation

Yoga aspires to instil oneness / harmony, which leads to liberation; to be completely free. Adyashanti, an American-born spiritual teacher, describes this liberation as “emptiness dancing”, or perhaps in our case, “emptiness drumming”.

To achieve harmony, we’ll need to consider the following Yoga concepts, as identified by, London-based Yoga teacher, Charlotte Carnegie on her book The Incomplete Guide To Yoga:

  • The ground and how it feels beneath you (i.e. sitting on the stool, your feet on the pedals). Drop and relax into it.
  • Softness is strength, not a weakness. Let go and soften your body as much as you can, asking yourself how much can you let go.
  • Laughter, joy, curiosity, and wonder. The experience of learning new things should be joyful.
  • Listen intently, and do so with your whole body. Be aware of sounds, vibrations, and your surrounding.
  • Feel. Open and free your chest and ribcage to focus on the physical sensation of playing.
  • Connect your pieces together to achieve fluidity; your body parts working as one.
  • Flow. Relax through your hips, pelvis, chest and shoulder girdle.

Create space in your mind, body, and time. For instance, attend to the spaces between the notes when refining your timing. Or the space between the drum head and tool (stick, pedal beater) when refining dynamics.

learn drums yoga

In Practice

As previously mentioned, removing limitations from our body opens doors to freedom. By utilising all of our senses in the development process, we will achieve a more rounded experience of our bodies and tools we’re working with to achieve our goals.

Hands

For instance, when explaining the principles of rebound and stick control, I refer to the basics. How our grip should, by definition, flow freely with our sticks’ movement, without intruding on it’s natural trajectory and force. This means a relaxed fulcrum, and fluid cradle.

For this to happen, our body needs to be soft, and aware that our movements are interconnected (i.e. arm, wrist, fingers). These fingers must become accustomed to feeling how the stick moves, adjust to the movement and provide the necessary space required. The trick is in visualising and isolating each finger to let the stick flow in order for rebound to occur as freely as possible.

An example of this would be that this feeling can help us evaluate when a double stroke or controlled rebounds are required.

The same principles applies to our feet, with both the bass drum and hi hat pedals. We want to drop into the ground and feel the surface underneath our feet, and how these surfaces react to our movements. The more intimate the relationship with the tool, the more limitations we can overcome.

Taking the heel-toe technique as an example, it’s important to understand that the initial stroke of the two doesn’t come directly from the heel, but from the sole of the foot. This happens as we drop, not push, our foot onto the pedal which suggests the motion is a relaxed one. This also applies to our toes, which should remain on the pedal board the whole time, providing a constant connection and conduit to feel.

feet

Where do we start with all this?

Yoga can be based around the basic surya namaskar (sun salutation) vinyasa (sequence). Different positions can then be added to this vinyasa once mastered – like building blocks. We should apply the same principle to technique, adding the points addressed above into our development process and awareness through practice.

Let’s revisit basics such as our grip, single strokes, etc. Yet, this time, focusing specifically on the muscles and muscle groups involved, and how our choice of tool interacts with our anatomy and application of it.

Conclusion

So! Everything we’ve talked about has several threads in common, yet repetition is the one I’d like to finish with. As boring as it may sometimes seem, when we learn drums, repetition is key. However it needn’t be a drag if we can also achieve freedom and spiritual peace as we practice by focusing on our movements and truly feeling our instrument.

Learning should be a joyful experience – gaining and improving our skills can only benefit us, which should make us happy! Give yourself to your practice; be at one with the process to achieve better results. This will, in turn, bring you inner peace, which you can then be applied not only to your playing, but to every day life as well.

Update 29/01/21: There are some fantastic yoga apps out there including Down Dog, DDPY, and others. Check them out! I have experience with both, currently using the Down Dog; they’re both very different, but great!

Thanks for reading, and if you liked this and are interested in my drum lessons, check them out here and get in touch!

Originally published by Modern Drummer, October 2015.