Help me refind my training passion

[Ginko]

Lesson season is over, and my training routine is falling apart. I am supposed to drum for an hour a day, but it rarely get's there anymore. I've been drumming for a bit less than a year.

My current daily schedule is: 1 hour of jogging, 30 minutes of reading, 1 hour of drumming.

You might say that this is nothing to speak of, but I can only listen to my body, and I can't get myself to accept such a pack of things lying ahead of me when I return from school each day.
I've had the schedule work for about half a year, so it's not something I'm too lazy to get started on, it's something I just can't handle. It fell apart, and it was never truly consistent.

I was wondering if you guys knew some tricks to get drumming more attractive for me. Can I get away with any jamming if I have to keep it to the 60 minutes a day? Can drumming compensate for jogging one or more days a week? Should I split up the 60 minutes somehow?
Any tips for making this more fun?

Anything else about my lifestyle I can change to make this more bearable? Would a better diet help a lot?

I don't want to make this post too complex, I'm asking for help after all, but it could be a mental problem too. I never view training as something I can ever finish. I don't really feel any improvements. Any training-mentality tips?

I play on an electric set by the way. I was hearing some stuff on how you can use a real kit in a flat with the right noise protection. Care to elaborate?

Thanks in advance
Ginko

Ps: If this is a double post, sorry. But I expected that something went wrong when my thread hadn't been uploaded after 2 days.
EDIT: I see that the old thread got taken down due to links. I thought they were harmless in nature, but I guess they were copyright infringing at some meta-legal level. They were links to songs on YouTube.

[Fredr]

Get a guitar player to jam with you man, trust me that will mix things up!

[Andreeew]

play along to songs from your mp3 player or as fred said get some people to play with. GOodluck!

[late8]

Here's my 2 cents:

1). Make it fun. You sound dedicated and that's half the battle. I try and play to cds and see how close I can come to the orginial drummer's passion.

2). Practice with friends. Like the above post, find a friend with a guitar, or bass player who needs a drummer.

3). Practice when you feel like it. Don't force yourself to do something you don't want to do. For me, that's important.

4). Start your stick control slow (60 bpm) and build up speed as you get smooth. I find it too discouraging if I bite off too much than I can chew.

5.) Tune into DrumChat more often and you'll see you are NOT alone in frustration of keeping motivated. My motivation has been up and down for the past 20+ years of trying to become a better drummer. I"ll be 50 next year and my time on earth is ticking so that's my greatest motivation.

I hope you stick around.

late8

[gonefishin]

Welcome to the board .

I agree with Fred.........jamming with others will help you improve faster than practicing alone

I agree with Andreeew..........playing along to different styles of music is also very helpful

I agree with L8..........if you dont make it fun , youre gonna get bored fast .

If your living in an apartment you can use practice pads over the heads of your accoustic drums so they arent loud and this way your neighbors wont call the police on you . If Im not mistaken , I think the cost is about $50 USD to cover your set .

[LagerHead]

Ginko, it sounds to me like you're turning practice into work. Don't think of it that way. In addition to the above comments about practicing with others, etc., try to find a way to make the practice something you look forward to, rather than something that you must do each day.

Also, it's OK to take a break. People get burned out on all kinds of stuff, no matter how much they enjoy it. So take a break for a day or two, or a week. Maybe even buy a couple of books on styles or techniques with which you are not currently familiar in order to keep things interesting.

[drummer]

A lot of good suggestions. I'll add; focus in on only one thing. I've found this helps me. So instead of thinking of it like practicing an hour a day, find a beat or fill that you've fallen in love with and commit yourself to learning it, perfecting it... and expanding on it. This sets up a creative process that's really fun.

[Owens]

I recommend jamming out with any guitar or bass player whenever you get the chance, even if their musical style is different. It's a good thing to try and listen to different styles.

You might want to try some stuff that really challenges you. What music do you like? If you’re into metal you might want to try some Slipknot stuff, I'd recommend "Psychosocial", Duality, or "Before I Forget" first.

By the way don't make practice like work for yourself. It is supposed to be fun, so play when you feel like it.

[yohin]

Last year I was getting discouraged also. Every song on my ipod was either too hard or too easy for me to play, and I didn't know any guitar players that I could jam with. To top it off my kit sounded terrible, and at that point I knew nothing about drums except what I had learned from my teacher (which was a lot about how to play them, not much about the drums themselves though).

So I got online, did some research, and realized that I had really cheap cymbals and really cheap single ply heads. I got a full set of new heads, bought myself a new crash, and BAM! it ignited a passion for drumming that I had not felt since the day I started. It was because my kit had sounded better than it ever had. I started making huge progress in terms of skill.

So the bottom line is - change things up. Switch around your kit, maybe buy a new cymbal, find more songs to play to or find a guitarist to jam with. It will help for sure.

[xweasel]

For me, one thing that incourages me to practise is listening to many muzikz .

I hear a beat or a fill or an intro to a song I really like, and I try and play it. No matter if it's a Jojo Mayer or Dave Weckl tune, if I hear a shuffle or whatever that I like, I try and play it.

And as other people said, don't practise when you don't feel like it. It just makes it frustrating and unenjoyable (for me anyway).

[concrete Building]

What got me hooked is that I started playing on a pad, then doing rolls and figuring out rudiments. You might want to try that and IMPRESS your drum teacher, if possible.

[Ginko]

Thanks a bunch.

I'm not sure how to keep drumming from being work, as I can't really just pick up a song from a few listens.
I mean, I could just play along to a random song with a completely different beat at the same tempo, but it would just make me feel inferior and pathetic. I guess mostly it's because I try to keep myself around the beats and ideas that my teacher taught me. Should I let myself lose a bit more? I just want the 60 minutes to be productive enough to make it worth it.

About the jamming with other guy, yeah, I'm signing myself in for some band play next public session, even though I hate to be the backbone of the band while at such an early stage of skill.

I think my e-kit is part of the problem. Banging on plastic just doesn't feel good. But what choice do I have? Practice pads feel just as bad.
When you mention using pads on an acoustic, does that mean the cymbals are gonna be left unchanged? Aren't they too noisy?


Generally about the passion and listening to music; I could listen to some slick drumming and vision myself some time in the future banging along in a rush of joy, but, yes, in the future. Banging away on a plastic kit just doesn't feel good. I Can't keep my self-esteem up while doing that :P I feel like a child.

I was once offered to buy an acoustic kit and have it in somebody's garage. I turned the offer down, because I wanted to be able to practice as a spur of the moment. Maybe that was a bad idea?

[pastor_bob]

Ginko, just remember that as a drummer, your job is to tap out a beat wherever you are, on any surface that you can - a table, the dash of a car, your chest, your legs, whatever. Just think of the e-kit as just another place where you're tapping out a beat. Another thing to remember is to find a way to have fun. When you practice, make sure you end with some time to just enjoy playing - not to anything, just playing beats on the kit - it's creative time!

Like Late8 said, we all get a little bored, or experience a little burn out some times, especially in a learning phase, so don't worry too much about it because we can all vouch for the fact that it won't last. Sometimes I get frustrated with something I'm trying to do (the darn drums won't let me do it right ), so I just put down the sticks and either come back later the same day, or even the next day. It's amazing how different the next time can go, because I am not forcing it.

Hang in there Ginko!

[Owens]

Sometimes I get frustrated with something I'm trying to do (the darn drums won't let me do it right ), so I just put down the sticks and either come back later the same day, or even the next day. It's amazing how different the next time can go, because I am not forcing it.

Hang in there Ginko!

I don't get very many chances to play/practice. When someone other than me is in the house, I'm not able to. That's how it's been since I got my drums, so when I have time I always jump to it. I'm a very determined type of person though, so I won't give up on something I want to learn untill I got it down. I can't remember ever getting frustrated about anything when I've been practicing or playing, just mad at idiots that waste everybody's time by tabbing songs wrong.

[l_e_i_g_h]

How about taking a video or audio recording yourself...and sharing for other users to comment on?

Sometimes...you sound better than you think.

- Leigh

Thanks a bunch.

I'm not sure how to keep drumming from being work, as I can't really just pick up a song from a few listens.
I mean, I could just play along to a random song with a completely different beat at the same tempo, but it would just make me feel inferior and pathetic. I guess mostly it's because I try to keep myself around the beats and ideas that my teacher taught me. Should I let myself lose a bit more? I just want the 60 minutes to be productive enough to make it worth it.

About the jamming with other guy, yeah, I'm signing myself in for some band play next public session, even though I hate to be the backbone of the band while at such an early stage of skill.

I think my e-kit is part of the problem. Banging on plastic just doesn't feel good. But what choice do I have? Practice pads feel just as bad.
When you mention using pads on an acoustic, does that mean the cymbals are gonna be left unchanged? Aren't they too noisy?


Generally about the passion and listening to music; I could listen to some slick drumming and vision myself some time in the future banging along in a rush of joy, but, yes, in the future. Banging away on a plastic kit just doesn't feel good. I Can't keep my self-esteem up while doing that :P I feel like a child.

I was once offered to buy an acoustic kit and have it in somebody's garage. I turned the offer down, because I wanted to be able to practice as a spur of the moment. Maybe that was a bad idea?

[pastor_bob]

Welcome to Drum Chat Leigh! You make a very good suggestion.

[Hedon-]

Thanks a bunch.

I'm not sure how to keep drumming from being work, as I can't really just pick up a song from a few listens.
I mean, I could just play along to a random song with a completely different beat at the same tempo, but it would just make me feel inferior and pathetic. I guess mostly it's because I try to keep myself around the beats and ideas that my teacher taught me. Should I let myself lose a bit more? I just want the 60 minutes to be productive enough to make it worth it.

About the jamming with other guy, yeah, I'm signing myself in for some band play next public session, even though I hate to be the backbone of the band while at such an early stage of skill.

I think my e-kit is part of the problem. Banging on plastic just doesn't feel good. But what choice do I have? Practice pads feel just as bad.
When you mention using pads on an acoustic, does that mean the cymbals are gonna be left unchanged? Aren't they too noisy?


Generally about the passion and listening to music; I could listen to some slick drumming and vision myself some time in the future banging along in a rush of joy, but, yes, in the future. Banging away on a plastic kit just doesn't feel good. I Can't keep my self-esteem up while doing that :P I feel like a child.

I was once offered to buy an acoustic kit and have it in somebody's garage. I turned the offer down, because I wanted to be able to practice as a spur of the moment. Maybe that was a bad idea?

man u shouldnt feel bad for playing e-kit or a pad. when im on a bus listening to my music and air drumming, ok thats pretty retarded, but you'll never be a great drummer without practicing on a pad. my friend has an e-kit and he's an awesome drummer, it really doesnt matter what kit you have as the practice value is pretty much the same on every kit.
at least in my case i can tell if i only played my kit and never touched a pad i would have had about 0% of the technical skill i have now

[l_e_i_g_h]

Thanks for the welcome...looks like this Newbie label would be stamped on my forehead just for awhile. But...I'll be a Newbie in DC with my head held high! no lurking...if I can help it! hahaha

Welcome to Drum Chat Leigh! You make a very good suggestion.

[pastor_bob]

Leigh, you'll be off Newbie status before you know it. BTW, have you done the "Newbie Initiation" yet? If not, go here and follow the directions on the first post of the thread. It's fun!

http://www.drumchat.com/showthread.p...tion-1699.html

[Reverend D.]

Don't ever give up and find some friends to jam with, but still try to practice on your own when you can. If you keep at it you will eventually get to where you want to go. No worries.

[concrete Building]

I just noticed the amount of time you do drumming... 1 hour a day won't get you anywhere. 5 or 9 should do it!!! I LOVE IT!! just kidding.

[Hedon-]

I just noticed the amount of time you do drumming... 1 hour a day won't get you anywhere. 5 or 9 should do it!!! I LOVE IT!! just kidding.

lol

[46secondanthem]

I know how you feel. I cant pick up songs in just a few listens either. It takes me a while, but i take it as i want to, I might learn it verse by verse, but let me tell you, don't use tabs! They suck. Pick an easier song. Actually, pick a really really easy song. Master every bit of it and then move on. Make your songs gradually harder. It will help alot.

[Northern Redneck]

Open mic jams.
Find some players at your skill level.

I'll be honest I hate practicing by myself. I rarely do anymore. If Im not jamming or playing on stage I hardly touch my kit.

[l_e_i_g_h]

There's always the 'acoustic kit' turned electric option. In which you switch your normal heads (like pinstripes or G2s) to Mesh heads.

I'm actually in the process of switching my whole kit to mesh...but primarily for recording/triggering (and yes...I'm not keen on testing how much our neighbors can bear if I go full on acoustic)...so to give you an idea (I have one mesh head now...on the snare) the sound level (of using a one-ply mesh head) is close to a loud whisper.

most of the drum companies (Pearl, TAMA, Mapex) offer Mesh Heads.

- Leigh

I play on an electric set by the way. I was hearing some stuff on how you can use a real kit in a flat with the right noise protection. Care to elaborate?

Thanks in advance
Ginko

Ps: If this is a double post, sorry. But I expected that something went wrong when my thread hadn't been uploaded after 2 days.
EDIT: I see that the old thread got taken down due to links. I thought they were harmless in nature, but I guess they were copyright infringing at some meta-legal level. They were links to songs on YouTube.