Beginning drummers tends to buy alot of drum equipment and accessories at the start of their drumming journey. The investment can be expensive and unneccessary.
Here’s what I think are the most essential and basic must-have for any beginning drummer.
1) a good straight pair of drumsticks
2) a quiet rubber practice pad
3) a rudiments guide book
4) music stand (optional)
5) metronome
6) determination.
That’s it! The most basic and important fundamentals lies in your rudiments, practice your rudiments well and you will improve faster when you move on to the drumkit. I will post some sheet music as I go along to help you out.
Tinnitus is a constant ringing sound in your ears that refuses to go away, it can be a result of an ear infection or prolong exposure to loud noise.
Presently, there is no effective cure for tinnitus, and many sufferers of tinnitus have to bear with the phantom ringing sound in their ears the entire day.
Kids especially, love listening to their Ipods or MP3 players with the music crank up real loud, they have no idea the damage they are causing to their ears. Music is cool, loud music is not.
Lower the volume of your music player and give your ears some rest.
Drummers are also susceptible to loud sounds during practice or performance, so wear proper ear protection like ear plugs.
I advise my students to wear ear plugs or play at a moderate sound level to safeguard their hearing, it is important because once you develop tinnitus, it is irreversible.
I recommend Hearos ear protection, I have tried it and I use it during my lessons or performance.
Note: Ear plugs are readily available in music stores, ear plugs are inexpensive and definitely worth the investment, check your local music stores today.
For tinnitius sufferers, you can visit this website to get some comfort for your tinnitius, it is a FREE white noise generator that can help mask the irritating noises caused by tinnitus. It has been an effective tool that generates white, pink and brown noise, it has a volume control as well as a recently added oscillating feature that varies the sound volume.
Here’s a simple exercise that I do to warm up my fingers, you can do them anytime to improve the strength of your fingers or to warm up before playing .
First position:
First, open your palms.
then close your palms into a clenched fist
Second position:
Join the tip of your thumb with the tip of your forefinger,
close your palms with the remainder three fingers into a fist.
Two simple actions only, now follow this co-ordination.
L = Left Hand
R = Right Hand
LRLR LRLR LRLR LRLR X 5 times
RLRL RLRL RLRL RLRL X 5 times
RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL X 5 times
LLRR LLRR LLRR LLRR X 5 times
RLRR LRLL RLRR LRLL X 5 times
Do this above exercise for three sets, first without the drumsticks, then with the drumsticks.
Believe that you can do it – You can learn anything as long as you believe that you can, it may take you some time, it make get a little frustrating at times, but enjoy the journey of getting there and you will be glad you did.
Take it as a personal challenge – Be your own enemy, challenge yourself to make it happen and see the results for yourself.
Break the rhythm into smaller bite sized pieces - split the rhythm into its smaller segment and practice segment by segment.
Start slow – give your brains some time to get used to the rhythm by practicing slowly, speed will come once you get the rhythm muscles working.
Be consistent – consistent playing is more important than speed when you are learning a new rhythm.
Do not give up - need I say more?
Pace yourself with a metronome - use a metronome to help you in getting a constant tempo during the learning session.
Take a break – reward yourself for taking the time to learn the rhythm, rest and relax for awhile before resuming.
Give yourself a pat in the back - you deserve it!
Try, try, try again – You will get it eventually! Enjoy the process!
I cannot emphasize enough of the basic role of the drummer, which is to keep time and provide the rhythm base for the music.
A drummer who cannot keep time properly, cannot grow technically in skill. The basics of simple “1n 2n 3n 4n” is so important that most beginning drummer neglect it.
I know it is cool to play the drums, but if the music doesn’t sound right because the rhythm is off, then that’s not cool, isn’t it?
It is not difficult to play in time, you just need a simple device known as the metronome to help you, don’t underestimate the simple click beat produced by this device. It is a basis for all rhythms.
Here’s a free metronome software you can download and install.
