Fun with Drums [rewarding yourself with improvising]
Whilst getting camera angles before shooting one of my videos I was told to just play anything on the drums. So this is one such opportunity when you can have fun with drums [rewarding yourself with improvising]. As a result of improvising, you’ll sometimes come up with little drum licks that you can incorporate into your playing. I certainly did!
So as well as focused practicing such as; technique, rudiments and reading, do some improvising to see what comes out. Drums ARE fun and sometimes we need to be reminded of why we took up the instrument in the first place.
Important to note that it’s still best to improvise WITH A CLICK (see video below) or by playing along with music. This will give you a better perception of time and of the subdivisions you’ll be playing. Otherwise you’ll effectively be wasting your time improvising out of time due to no reference point.
So, how about it? Reward yourself with some improvised playing after you’ve done some….
Focused Practicing
Focused practicing is by far the best way to practice. Usually this is difference between players who seem to advance quicker than others. Not to mention what separates the greats from the rest.
In order to improve your drumming, spend most of your practice time on your goals or weaker areas.
For example, let’s say you want to improve your timing. You should definitely:
- practice exercises with a click,
- play a groove to a click and get yourself familiar with consistent time pounding away in your eardrums,
- practice drum fills or your ideas with a click,
- Play along to music/songs.
Furthermore, it has been argued that this alone will not improve your innate / internal timing. Rather, a better understanding of the subdivisions will. As you’ll get a better idea of the spacing/s between each note.
So, when counting subdivisions, we can count 8th notes (quavers) like this;
- 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
Triplets (tuplets) like this;
- 1 trip-let 2 trip-let 3 trip-let 4 trip-let, OR, 1 and-uh 2 and-uh 3 and-uh 4 and-uh
and 16th notes (semi-quavers) like this;
- 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a
etc., etc.
Fun with drums exercise:
Try this fun with drums exercise you can practice without drums.
Count aloud the 1/4 notes (crotchets) highlighted above in bold to a click. Without disrupting your 1/4 note count, now include speaking out the subdivisions. Try snapping your fingers to the pulse (1/4 note). This will help you separate the 1/4 notes from the subdivisions. Do not disrupt your 1/4 note flow.
Then try it without a click. See how your innate 1/4 note tempo feels with your new found knowledge / feel of subdivisions. This will be handy when working on your inner clock. After all, not all gigs you do will be done to a click!
The Better Player You’ll Become
The more you practice your weaker areas instead of what you already know, the better player you’ll become. Which, in the long term gives you more fun with drums. Why? Because it’s easy to do the stuff you already know. Hence boredom and lack of progress. But, if you continually work on stuff you don’t know, then master it, you’ll steadily progress and won’t feel restricted or set in your ways.
This especially applies if you’ve hit a plateau in your playing. Try something new that’s difficult, but not too difficult that you can’t achieve it with a decent amount of practice. Once mastered, repeat the process with something new. You’ll see progress with your improvising. The new challenges you’ve worked on will inevitably creep into your arsenal of drum chops.
Admittedly practicing this way won’t necessarily be fun but your progress will. Remember, there’s always your improvising to reward yourself with afterwards!
Do you recall the first drum beat you played? Through persistence, frustration and may be even a dash of intrigue, you mastered it right?. Continue on with that method of practice for life and you’ll always have fun with drums.
Do you have fun with drums? Leave a comment in the comments section below.
