The 'Show Yer Licks/Practice Tips' Thread

[Jax]

I'm gonna see if that works. Seems like it would.

[GuelahPapyrus]

I learned this when I studied with Bob Gullotti, who is hands down the best teacher I have ever studied with. If you are anywhere near the Boston area look this guy up.

Anyways, this is a study in poly-rhythms and a warm up exercise that will put you in the "zone" to practice or perform. Follow the link for the full description and a PDF of the exercise. It looks more complicated than it really is...check out the example videos and it will all make sense.

Cheers.

Zildjian.com - en-US

[Rolf Fiesel]

http://www.nextcat.com/wolfpack

check out .... is there a drummer in the house ??

[TamSim]

I call this "Freddie the wheel"

Play single stroke RLRL etc etc starting on 1/4notes and move through all the rhythmic cycles..i.e 1/4 notes,1/4 note triplets,1/8th notes etc etc...all the way to 32nd note triplets...

Do this with 1/4 notes on bass drum/2 & 4 hats

Do this with doubles RRLLRRLL etc etc

Also this exercise is badass too

RRLLRRLL
RLLRRLLR
LLRRLLRR
LRRLLRRL

Play each line 4 times then move on without stopping...you can also do this with cycles or 1,2,4,5,8, etc etc

Try this too...badassed

RLRRLRLL
RLLRLRRL
RRLRLLRL
RLRLLRLR

[reflexbc]

Originally Posted by Goliath|Audio

lllR

three gracenotes preceeding an accent.

-------

it all comes down to the building blocks. Practice technique in front of the mirror. Start slow, ramp up to top speed and then back down without breaking technique.

Just clarifying here. I think when most people say "ruff," they mean a three-stroke ruff, which is two grace notes with one hand, and then an accented note with the other hand (llR). The first two notes can be played as kind of a buzz-roll stroke ("closed"), or "open," i.e. as two discernable notes. A four-stroke ruff (i.e. four notes played), is most commonly played alternating (lrlR, rlrL, etc.) Obviously, you can do whatever you want, but playing lllR fast enough to get the sound of a "ruff" (i.e. very fast notes leading up to an accent) would be extremely hard, and what's the point, if you can do it alternating and it still sounds great?

Peace

[Bennett Williams]

On the topic of paradiddles, I find it best to practice all rudiments in an open-close-open format:

CLICK HERE: YouTube - Rudiments - Single Paradiddle (I somehow can't get the youtube embed feature to work properly)

[cajonezzz]

It would be great if more of these tips had video demos with'em... easy to do!

I'll try to drop a couple here soon.

[checodrum25]

Here is littel video of me checono24's Channel - YouTube hope you guys like it leave youre comments so I can learn more , also if you have afacebook send me link so I can add you!!!!serjaz25@gmail.com

[totallybertini]

Play along with Al Jackson tracks! You'll be crushing more sessions!

WILLIE MITCHELL - LAST TANGO IN PARIS - YouTube

[LimpyLoo]

Playing rudiments with no accents has made a huge difference for me. It allows for more options if you can play, say, paradiddles where all the strokes are even.

The classic exercise for regularity (in level) is RLRL RLRL RRLL RRLL RLRR LRLL. The goal, of course, is for someone who is listening (and not watching) to not be able to tell the difference. Paying attention to stick height is helpful.

Play it super slow for starters and one finds that the natural tendency is to accent RLRR LRLL, which of course limits its flexibility/applicability.

A great way to practice regularity/even-ness of time (a metronome only addresses notes of the subdivision it's set to, e.g. quarter notes; everything in between is up to you to address) is by offsetting patterns/rudiments/groupings.

For instance, if you wanna hear how even your doubles are, try: RLLR RLLR as 8th- or 16th notes, or RLL RRL LRR LLR as triplets. You will IMMEDIATELY be able to tell how clean they are, whereas playing RRLL RRLL may not tell you how weak or uneven the 2nd strokes are.

Anyway, happy drumming!

[pan60]

cool thread!
love trying new exercises.

not a drummer but i love beaten on these things when i can.

[LimpyLoo]

Important stuff.






Cheers and happy drumming

[ImJohn]

Originally Posted by LimpyLoo

Playing rudiments with no accents has made a huge difference for me. It allows for more options if you can play, say, paradiddles where all the strokes are even.

The classic exercise for regularity (in level) is RLRL RLRL RRLL RRLL RLRR LRLL. The goal, of course, is for someone who is listening (and not watching) to not be able to tell the difference. Paying attention to stick height is helpful.

Play it super slow for starters and one finds that the natural tendency is to accent RLRR LRLL, which of course limits its flexibility/applicability.

A great way to practice regularity/even-ness of time (a metronome only addresses notes of the subdivision it's set to, e.g. quarter notes; everything in between is up to you to address) is by offsetting patterns/rudiments/groupings.

For instance, if you wanna hear how even your doubles are, try: RLLR RLLR as 8th- or 16th notes, or RLL RRL LRR LLR as triplets. You will IMMEDIATELY be able to tell how clean they are, whereas playing RRLL RRLL may not tell you how weak or uneven the 2nd strokes are.

Anyway, happy drumming!

Good advice LimpyLoo and really well done freestroke video too!

I just wanted to add that when working towards hand to hand evenness, be sure to select sticks that are the same pitch, otherwise you may drive yourself crazy!

I usually don't bother with pitch matching when getting sticks for rock etc playing, I just check for straightness by rolling them on a glass countertop and watching the tip: if the tip is bobbing up and down it's warped but if the tip stays a constant distance from the glass it is straight. (more or less) I usually just grab ALL the pairs they have of the model I'm interested in buying and then roll them all to get the straightest ones.

I'll also do a quick weight matching by feel if I notice there is a significant difference from stick to stick. For general rock playing I prefer RegalTip 5b hickory nylon tip but depending on the tree and probably which part of the trunk the stick was made from the weight can vary greatly! So I grab each stick and do a few quick strokes in the air to judge the heft and then make piles of heavy and light or three piles (heavy, medium and light) if there is a wide enough range. For me I prefer the medium heavy ones because the heaviest are a little too heavy and the lightest ones are WAY too light.

But if I'm buying a 'special' pair for symphonic/rudimental/recording work I'll 'pitch match' all the straight ones until I have the closest matching pair. In general I use Vic Firth SD2 Bolero sticks for this kind of work. To pitch match, after I've found all the straight ones in the batch (and I'm even more picky about straightness than with the 'rock' sticks) I'll lightly tap each stick on the glass counter and listen to the pitch. The difference in wood density will cause a pitch difference. Fine the pair the matches closest in pitch and buy them. Then guard them with your life! Meaning don't let some slack jaw dude hangin' out in your band room use it on cow bell!