Re: Question about practing
Hey Matthew, Welcome to Drum Chat!!
I agree very much with Frank, and you seem to have nailed it on the head yourself in your explanation. Playing with other musicians will help you to improve your skills much faster than playing on your own. Why? Because you learn to play the songs in the way that a band plays them....in other words, you learn the dynamics of playing with other musicians. That's the key to playing effectively. Knowing where the other musicians are going within the song and adapting to that. Especially when you can lock in with a bass player and be in the same groove.
I play in two bands, and lately I have been attending two practices a week, and I'm generally playing out at least two times a week in addition to that. Since like most people I have a full time day job, that means I really don't have much time to practice on my own. When I do, it's generally to learn a more difficult song, or to work on something a little more technically advanced than I need to in most songs. Maybe a special intro, or a more intricate fill. If there's a cd or MP3 available for what I need to learn though, I can usually nail it by listening to it 5-6 times and then playing it with the band.
The more time you can spend playing with other musicians, the more second nature a lot of things will become. I can improvise to most anything, and that's done most often while practicing with one of the bands, since that's when I really have the time to experiment.
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