Progress and Audio Stuff?

[Owens]

I have been learning a bunch of songs that I have on my iPod. I have everything set up in my bedroom. I think I have learned a pretty good range of songs and I sometimes jam with a few friends, two guitarists and a bassist. They are not in order of when I learned them but here are some of the songs to give you an idea of where I'm at:
Learned Completely
Metallica-"Enter Sandman"
Metallica-"Sad But True"
Metallica-"The Unforgiven"
Slayer-"Bloodline"
Slipknot-"Psychosocial"
White Zombie-"Thunderkiss 65'"
Guns N' Roses-"Sweet Child O' Mine"
ACDC-"Highway To Hell"
ZZ Top-"Gimme All Your Lovin"
Big & Rich-"Save A Horse"
Hank Williams Jr.-"Kaw-Liga"

Almost Down
Metallica-"Creeping Death"
Metallica-"Seek and Destroy"
Slipknot-"People=Sh*t" Very Hard, But I'm Determined
Europe-"Final Countdown"
Anyways I was wondering if that is good, bad, or awesome for my "level." I have been drumming around 3 months now I think. I'm mostly into Heavy Metal and Classic Rock. I do like some Country but I only like to drum to the stuff that has drum tracks that are fun to drum to, will extend my range, and will give me good experience. It would be great if anyone could recommend some songs to me.

More importantly though, I want to set myself up better and set my friends up good as well. Right now, I have the iPod hooked up to a 2-way splitter. The first plug runs to my stereo and I keep it at a volume lower than my drums. The second plug runs to a headset I wear so I can hear the music better as I play, but with the volume kept so I can hear my drums and the music on my iPod. I was hoping someone could recommend some stuff based on what I want to get:
1.One Nice headset for myself (no more than $40, unless it has more than one headset in a pack)
2.One Splitter with at least 5 female outputs
3.One Male/Male Cord that is at least 8 ft long
4.Two Male/Female Cords that are at least 8 ft long


Another thing I'm wanting is some hearing protection for playing without music from my iPod. Right now I have stuff made for firearm shooting, some ear plugs and a gunmuffler headset. I don't like to "pass around" things that you stick in your ears, it's kind of nasty. Anybody have any recommendations on ear protection products that won't muffle most of the sounds out and can be "passed around."

[itchie]

good work bro

[l_e_i_g_h]

Owen,

There are certainly lots of drumless audio out there that would suit the three styles your willing to play along with. Some are stand alone CDs...and some are included with instructional books.

I wish you...fun...on your drumming journey! =o)

- Leigh

[Quadcam79]

not to sound rude but if you're playing Slayer and Slipknot stuff and you've been playing drums for 3 months, you're probably playing it wrong. That stuff is not easy by any means and with only that short amount of time under your belt you really cant have your chops up to that level.

anyway, expand your horizons, dont be limited to certain genres and listen to the songs, I mean really listen to whats going on, siome things that seem really simple aren't what they seem
check out some funk
- George Clinton (atomic dog, we got the funk)
- Wild Cherry (play that funky music)

80's - theres so many
- Duran Duran,
- The police (copelands playing will really give you challenges)
- The Cure
- Phil Collins
- Sheila E
- Van Halen
- Jeff Porcaro from Toto especially the song Roseanna, you could spend months just learning the roseanna shuffle (Jeff has become one of my favorite drummers, man that guy could groove, )
- Randy Castillo (played for ozzy in the 80's)
- Queensyryche , scott rockenfield on Operation Mindcrime
- Slayer, Dave Lombardo, freakin amazing

Check out Frank Zappa tunes (Chad Wackerman, phenomenal drummer)
Led Zeppeplin, Jon Bonham is a legend.
Deep Purple ,Ian Paice doesnt get a lot of attention but he's an incredible drummer
Rush, Neil Peart of course
Iron maiden - Nicko McBrain
Anthrax- Charlie Benante

check out Bernard Purdie, wow, just wow, he makes it look so simple.
Kenny Arnoff-another amazing drummer, he's played with tons of bands

listen to lots of different styles, try some latin. The Mombo is a really difficult rhythm when it's played correctly.

Jazz- theres too many great jazz drummers to list

middle eastern rhythms- Stewart Copelands influences came from growing up in the Middle East, a lot of people think his style is afro-cuban reggae but it's actually Middle Eastern with Reggae and Jazz influences

Karsilama- 9/8 time , very popular with belly dancers
Beledi - another belly dance rhythm

African Rhythms- there are so many, just do a google search for african drum rhythms, especially west Africa, polyrhythms galore

afro-cuban rhythms:
Abakua
Aconcon
Bembe Shango - sounds like the rhythm for the song "low rider"
Comparsa- Afro-Cuban rhythm played at Carnival
Merengue
Samba
Clave
Bossa Nova

[aaronbeckort]

for your hearing protection, westone has nice ear plugs. they really cut down the sound while keeping your drums sounding better than before. they are only like 10 bucks too