penningtron wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 10:02 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:55 am Sounds like just a really fast single stroke roll, no?

Could very well be, but the placement of it has me wondering if it leads (or at least starts in) with the left hand. Which is something I'd like to improve as well.

When I've played it, that's what I did. It's REALLY difficult to have speed and volume with double-strokes at that tempo.

You might want to buy the Ginger Baker drumming DVD... He goes over a lot of rudiments and he bases the instruction off double stroke rolls.

In the last couple weeks I've cranked my intentional practice up to the max, which is to say 20 or 30 minutes every few days. It's amazing what difference such a minimal effort can offer. I've been running a grab bag of single-then-double stroke and paradiddle rudiments with the gradual tempo increases.

I've found going back to the rock song parts I play in the band that what folks have said on here is true. They just want to be single stroke rolls. But all that nerdery just helps the single stroke be clearer, faster, more consistent. I'm trying to leave that sophomoric place where the main beat is intentional, tempo/feel focused and then when a busier part or a fill comes in you clench up like you're taking a shit and rush or fall behind the tempo only to come out of it and lock back in again on the beat.

losthighway wrote: I'm trying to leave that sophomoric place where the main beat is intentional, tempo/feel focused and then when a busier part or a fill comes in you clench up like you're taking a shit and rush or fall behind the tempo only to come out of it and lock back in again on the beat.

This is where practicing to a click or metronome can help. I try to tell people who aren't too familiar to playing to a click that it may be easier to play around or with the click. Make the click (and maybe just one or two hits in a 4/4 click) hit a part of your pattern where you're NOT playing. Treat it not like some schoolmarm that's gonna slap your hand when you rush, but as your percussion playing buddy that you need to work with to get to the other side of the song.

Bump. Everyone keeping up with their drills?

Lately I've been watching ridiculous blast beat drummers, which make me want more left hand speed and control. I had to adjust my grip a bit, and I certainly feel muscles working that weren't being used before. Perversely I think my right hand is getting faster with these exercises too, which is cool except I'm really trying to even them out, damnit.

Other areas of improvement this year: 6 stroke rolls come pretty naturally now, playing to a click or sequencer parts (a lot of which is just hearing it better. Earbuds with isolation cans on top work a lot better than an amp across the room, turns out..)

I'm recording some songs in a few weeks, so I'm back on the drums, trying to get my skills in order.

Other than singles/doubles/triplets, I'm trying to get up to where I can do a smooth drumroll. Like Jimmy Chamberlain at the very beginning of 'Cherub Rock'.

Also, I'm confused about 6/8 time. This is in the Stick Control book. Can anyone recommend any instructional videos that show how to understand/play in 6/8?

zircona1 wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2023 8:29 am Also, I'm confused about 6/8 time. This is in the Stick Control book. Can anyone recommend any instructional videos that show how to understand/play in 6/8?

If you're used to dugga dugga'ing your way out of things then 6/8 (triplet) feel is gonna seem funny for a while. Right left right Left right left Right left right, etc. Then try it in beat form. Don't try to be spontaneous at first, really map out where the fills start and end and get confident with that. If you eventually wanna hit Jeff Porcaro-level mastery you can start adding dotted 8th notes (dun.. du-nun.. du-nun.. du-nun, etc)

Rudiments are super useful for building brute speed and stamina, both of which can be really useful in all kinds of music. If you're practicing w/ dynamics too (which I don't do, should do, and wish I'd done more of way back when), then you're one step closer to the fast/quiet/clean 'i'm good at jazz' trifecta.

Simple polyrhythmic rudiments like practicing 2 over 3 feels and switching back and forth between the 2 hand and the 3 hand are (imo) extremely practically useful, and you can pick up a LOT of that stuff from some of the afro-cuban rhythms for drumset style books that are out there. You don't need to actually be playing a samba to find a use for 3-over-2 accents on the bell of your ride or whatever. That shit's just cool and useful.

Having some basic rudiment tricks for bailing yourself out of jams is useful - if you can only end fills with your right hand on the one, you can bone yourself whenever you get too rowdy. It's good to be able to hit the one with your non-dominant hand!

But generally, practicing is great and it's really hard to just casually sit down and play in the way you can just kind of noodle on the guitar in between emails. I've always wanted to get double pedals and a kick pad under my desk at home so I could just paradiddle for hours on end while I was nominally working, but I've never gotten around to it (and consequently cannot play double kick).

The Bonham fill sounds like single stroke sextuplets around the kit (snare, snare, tom 1, tom 2?), played really evenly without stressing the downbeat, especially the first one, while splashing the hihat on the quarters at the beginning on 1 and 2 (possibly starting the fill on the open hihat on 1 with the right hand too).