Playing Drums

A lot of people see someone playing the drums and think, “man that looks so easy, I could do it!” Clearly, they’re usually wrong. Without years of dedication and practice, and in many cases, drum lessons, “playing drums” would really end up sounding like a bunch of noise and you’ll most likely get yelled at by your neighbors or parents. Being a drummer not only takes dedication on your end, but also takes a commitment from the people you live with, unless you start out on an electronic set(more about that later). The drums may not be the loudest instrument on a stage (damned bassists!) but unfortunately it is the only one that can’t be turned down or palm muted, so the majority of a drummers technique will start out acquiring the dynamics ability. (ability to control your volume to impact certain parts of a song)

Picking up a drum gig while going through school is a good idea in my opinion. I unfortunately never did it, however, looking back I wish I would’ve! It’s almost like free lessons! Learn how to read and write music, learn how to play the

Getting ready to play drums

written music and translate the paper into a song, and also they teach the very important aspects of different styles of music. A majority of the school bands in my area (back when I was in school) actually played jazz, which is one of the most intricate styles of music still to this day. If I had that under my belt, who knows where I would’ve played by now. A lot of styles of music are interchangeable with each other, not including jazz. Like playing drums to a rock song, and adding a little punk groove, or a metal song with a pop groove during a specific part. But jazz is all by itself. Try putting a jazz beat in a rock song, or a punk beat in a jazz song! What do you think would happen?

Rhythm is by far the most important tool any drummer is going to need. If you can tap your fingers or hands to a beat on the table, school desk, or find yourself banging on your steering wheel to the beat of a favorite song, chances are you can drum. If you don’t have rhythm, with my personal experience and what I’ve seen, you don’t want to start trying to drum. It’s far too expensive to “test the waters”, plus, you don’t need to play drums to find out you don’t have rhythm. If you do have rhythm, coordination would be the only thing that can possibly hold you back at this point, and if you didn’t know, coordination often comes by practice. (So don’t give me that “I’m not coordinated” crap) A lot of your big name drummers in the world, such as Mike Portnoy, Tony Royster JR, Travis Barker, and Neil Peart actually started out at a very young age, so if you’re just starting out, and feel overwhelmed by the talent of some of your peers! They may not have had coordination in the beginning either, so just hang in there! It takes years and years of experience.

Coming out of a musical back round is always a big help. I was actually born into a family where my father plays guitar (which we’re actually in a gigging band together currently), and out of his 4 brothers, 3 of them played instruments, as well as my grandfather played bass, and my grandmother sang (that’s how they met!) So interestingly enough, I believe that music runs in the family, since my parents never pushed the drums on me, and I eventually just wanted to play drums on my own. Just in the local area I live in alone, I know 2 other fairly large families that have very young talent, as well as the parents and grandparents playing instruments at some point(or still today). So if you have music in your blood, for gods sake, pick up a set of stick or a guitar (just not a bass), and get to practicing!

Be sure to check  http://playingdrum.com For more information and fun drumming tips!