Drum Related

A lot of drummers I teach say they try and use “tab” from the internet and ask if I recommend it. (For those of you who don’t know, “tab” is a new form of writing music that is supposed to be quick and easy to read and write.)
However – and this isn’t just my opinion on this – tab isn’t really a good way to go. Some people say it stifles the creativity of a drummer, some say it has a negative effect on the “listening” side of learning the instrument. But I just say “If it’s free it’s most likely free for a reason…… it’s not worth anything! 99.9% of the time tabs are wrong! Fair enough they might be kinda right sometimes, but if one tiny little bit is wrong and you follow it religiously ‘cos you don’t know any better then the whole thing is gonna sound nasty!

So my advice is this:

Forget tab….. work on your listening and mimicking skills and become a better drummer. Make mistakes, but make your own! Don’t copy someone else’s

A while back I gave you a bunch of counting exercises to work your way through. I’m guessing it’s now been enough time that you’ve completely forgotten about them and you’re a little out of practice! So I thought I’d give you some more to try!

Remember.. count the same bar over and over until you’ve got it. Then put it to a click, then speed it up, THEN try to count through the whole lot!
1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e    a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e   a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e    a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e    a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e    a 4 e    a

1 e    a 2 e    a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e    a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e    a

1 e + a 2 e    a 3 e    a 4 e + a

1 e    a 2 e    a 3 e    a 4 e    a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a    e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a    e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a    e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

   e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a    e + a    e + a

   e + a    e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

   e + a    e + a    e + a    e + a

Ok, let’s take three types of notes, ¼’s, 8ths and 16ths.

Right stick = Floor tom
Left stick = Snare (I’d flick the snares off as they can get quite annoying!)
Right foot = Bass drum

What you’re gonna do is the following:

A) Right = 16th’s   Left = 8th’s   Foot = ¼’s

B) Right = ¼’s   Left = 16th’s     Foot = 8th’s  

C) Right = 8th’s  Left = ¼’s   Foot = 16th’s

D) Right = ¼’s   Left = 8th’s   Foot = 16th’s

E) Right = 16th’s   Left = ¼’s   Foot = 8th’s

F) Right = 8th’s  Left = 16th’s   Foot = ¼’s

Each time I’d recommend starting with the 16ths as you may well start too fast otherwise. Once you have the 16ths with a good strong count bring in the 8ths, then the ¼’s.
Once you have the hang of a certain one get it as fast as you can….. ACURATELY!!

Then if you find it easy try keeping one thing a constant (e.g. Figure A… Foot = ¼’s) and play a bar of
Right = 16ths, Left = 8ths then swap over so that the Right = 8ths and the Left = 16ths. But swap in an instant without affecting the foot. Then continue along these lines. It’s actually quite tricky!

Then if you find THAT easy try swapping all 3 on a rotation basis…. smart arse!

This week I’ve been focusing on coordination with the guys who I teach, and they hate me for it! All except Ric who, like me, is a bit odd and likes that kinda thing! Personally I LOVE the challenge of some tough coordination exercises, but for most people there’s nothing more annoying (except maybe for old people suddenly stopping in front of you in the high street!)

Coordination, as you may well know, is all done in the mind. It has NOTHING to do with your limbs! The amount of times I’ve heard people shouting at their extremities for not doing their job properly is unreal! To be able to coordinate you simply have to be able to think CLEARLY about what it is you wish to do. You should think first and play later. In fact, when I was at college I never really touched the kit much except in lessons. But I’d practice in my mind on the way to and from the college. While sitting on the tube or bus I’d go through the actions in my head, visualising the movements I wanted to make. I didn’t even have to touch a kit to be able to play them. Then, if I did get on a kit, I was able to play them right away as I’d sorted them out in my head.

The key to coordination is finding the constant/s. If every limb was playing something that was ever changing all the time it’d be impossible for any human to play as the mind simply can’t process that quickly. However, if you find the constant/s things get easier. What you should do is GET the constant and once you’ve got the hang of it and no longer have to focus all of your attention on it you should FORGET about it (but keep playing it obviously!). So Get it and FORGET about it. Your mind is then free to focus on the variable/s. Depending on how hard tricky the constants and variables the mind can usually focus on between one and two at a time.

You may remember a while back I wrote my top 3 fundamentals, Coordination, Control and Knowledge. Well if you work on some coordination exercises your playing will automatically improve as you’re training your mind to process faster and more accurately. Doing this also helps with general intellectual skills such as concentration and multi tasking.

Tomorrow I’ll give you some simple exercises to try. Just make sure you THINK first, play later.  

My mind must really be stuck on counting at the moment ‘cos I really can’t think of anything else… How sad is that?!?

Today I’m gonna talk briefly about counting when playing odd time signatures. For those of you who don’t know what an odd time signature is, don’t worry!

When counting in a  “something/4” bar I always say you should count up to the number using 8ths. So a bar of 5/4 would be counted “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 +”. If you need to count the 16ths then use “e” and “a” like normal. But if you’re counting a bar of “something/8” then you should count straight up to that number. So a bar of 5/8 would be counted “1 2 3 4 5”. If you need to count the 16ths you should use “+”. Now that’s where a lot of people get confused!! But if you think about it, it makes sense. Whatever the time signature, you start with just the numbers. Then the next step down is the “+’s” then if needs be the next step down would be the “e’s” and the “a’s”.

This is why it’s sooo important to be really confident with your count. So many people struggle so much ‘cos they’re not really sure where in the bar they’re trying to play something so they end up spending hours guessing at it! If they had learnt to count really well then they’d simply apply the count to what they were playing and Voi La, it’s done in a tenth of the time!

Ok, so the other day I gave you a little exercise to get you working on your count a bit. HOPEFULLY you tried it, as it would have warmed you up a little for this one.

Like before, I recommend a starting tempo of 75bpm.

1 e +   2 e +   3 e +   4 e +  

1 e +   2 e +   3 e +   4 e

1 e +   2 e +   3 e      4 e

1 e +   2 e      3 e      4 e 

1 e      2 e      3 e      4 e

1 e      2 e      3 e      4 e +

1 e      2 e      3 e         e +

1 e      2 e      3 e +      e +

1 e      2 e         e +      e +

1 e      2 e +      e +      e +

1 e         e +      e +      e +

1 e +      e +      e +      e +

   e +      e +      e +      e +
Again, try each bar individually, then try the whole lot, then up the tempo, then I’ll give you some more!

I know I’ve banged on about the importance of the count, and I stand by that. But I’ll now tell you something which you should want to hear.

You only need to count to get something right in the 1st place. Once you’ve got it right enough times that you’re happy with it you can feel free to speed it up and drop the count as trying to play and count real fast will only slow you down in making progress.

But remember, you MUST count when trying to do anything to new, even if it’s just to MAKE SURE it’s correct before you go ahead and get it faster.

So there you go guys who are moaning about counting (which is basically everyone!)…. You don’t have to count ALL the time, just when learning something new.

I’ve recently been doing quite a bit of teacher training, and one of the things I’ve been stressing the importance of is one’s count. I’ve stressed it before, but I’m gonna stress it again and this time give you guys an exercise to try out to see how good you really are. I’m gonna start you with a pretty simple one, then I’ll challenge you a bit!
See, it’s important to be able to count your ¼’s 8ths and 16ths ordinarily. But it’s also important to be able be selective, but still accurate with you count. By selective I mean counting a broken, none consistent count, one that may not include any of the numbers in the bar. This is surprisingly difficult to achieve, and if you break concentration for a split second you can go really wrong and find it VERY hard to get back in time.

When doing this exercise you MUST do it to a click (If you haven’t got a click then type in “free metronome” to a google search and take your pick!). Simply count what is written, but making sure it’s still I the CORRECT place in the bar. A tempo I recommend is 70bpm. Once you get good, speed it up!

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e +

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4    + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e +    4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3    + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e +    3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2    + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e +    2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1    + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e    a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a    e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e    a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e + a    e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a 2 e    a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e + a    e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

1 e    a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

   e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

Do each bar individually at first to make sure it’s right. Then once mastered try the whole lot straight the way through.
Once you’ve done this I have many more, much more tricky than this!

Now, any of my students out there would tell you just how much I bang on about the importance of counting! I’m even thinking of getting a tattoo on my forehead saying “COUNT” (and hope they spell it right!).

Any drummer out there who doesn’t count and frequently finds themselves getting silly things wrong, listen up!

The count is the measurement for your bar….. It’s like a builder or carpenter going to work without a tape measure or ruler. Without it it’s just guess work! Fair crack you might have a good couple of guesses, but if you’ve got a sure fire way of getting it right each and every time why not use it?!?!

Now I’ve told you previously about how to count your bar in a few different ways. But for those of you who haven’t read that one, I’ll say it again:
¼ notes =  1      2     3     4

8th notes =  1 +   2  +  3  +  4  +

16th notes =  1e+a2e+a3e+a4e+a

(I’m leaving out triplets and sextuplets for now)

So if you want to get something right WITHIN a bar you must use one, or a mixture of these counts. However, if you wanna just get a group of bars counted, for example when playing a track you have an 8bar section, you need to count the NUMBER OF THE BAR ONLY! So you’d count 1………..2………..3……….4 etc…. up to 8bars. You needn’t count WITHIN the bar, especially if you’re just playing the same rhythm over and over again. So think about the bigger picture. If you’ve gotta count up to 32bars, DON’T count within each bar, simply count the number of the bar you’re on when you start it. But now let’s say you have a specific fill on the 8th bar that needs to be counted, well…… COUNT IT!! So it might be “8 + 2 +a3e+ 4e+a”. But you only need to count within that particular bar then just go back to counting the number of the bars on the bigger scale.

I see so many people making mistakes in this way, so I hope that makes sense to you and has helped you in some way.

Hello, this is Ian (one of Chris’ teachers) I’m filling in for Chris while he is off filming his new DVD.

Do you ever get that frustrating feeling that, no matter how much you practice something, you just don’t seem to be getting any better at it? Sometimes it even seems that you are getting worse! Maybe you just can’t seem to beat your “hits in a minute” record no matter how many times you try? Or maybe that right foot just doesn’t want to play any faster even though you keep working on it every day?

The most important thing is DON’T GIVE UP!! It’s too easy to say “I’ll never be able to do this” and then just stop trying. It is actually normal to go through these periods where you seem stuck at the same place for a while, but remember – you need to go through this before you do get better.

I’m reading a really interesting book at the moment (thanks Jamie!) about the Break-Out Principle which explains how it often helps if you have a break from something that you are struggling with. Practice something completely different for a while and try to switch off from what you were doing before. In the meantime, the brain continues to work on anything that you were finding difficult and it usually sorts the problem out for you. Clever, huh?

Most importantly, don’t forget the golden rule (courtesy of Chris Senior)…….

Don’t Give Up The Fight………..Failure Is Not An Option!!