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Thread: drum_chick's daily question thread......

  1. #1

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    Default drum_chick's daily question thread......

    I have two questions for today (so far, I may have more later), they may be stupid but I'm asking anyway:

    How can I develope my "learn to play something by ear" skill? Is there some special way of doing this? How can I tell what drum is what and what cymbal is what when listening to music (especially when I don't have my own set)?

    What can I do to practice my feet skills/techniques? Do I need to practice my feet or will it just come with practice?

    Thanks

  2. #2

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    well drummerchick, i can answer one of your questions. The part about the learning how to tell which drum is which, Ill give you my experience once again. When I was drumming on my knees, at first it was driving me crazy, because the bass drum sounded like the bass guitar, I didn't notice the high hat in any songs, and so on.. lol. But after awhile, I just noticed the individual drum for what they sound like, so it comes naturally from my experience.

    What the heck, ill give the second question a shot. I'm going to assume what you mean by "drumming by ear". If your wondering if you need drum tabs for every song you listen to, thats not necessary (drum tabs show what the drums do in every song). lets just put it this way: alright, say you hear a song, and every single thing the drummer is doing, you haven't learned yet (the beat and all), you probably won't be able to do it . BUT if you hear a song and the drummer is doing everything you've learned how to do already, you could probably catch on to it if you just listened to it carefully.
    and for super complex crazy songs, I guess the same things applies, "if iv learned it, then i can do it". but I havn't reach that level yet, ask me in 6 years or so

    pros please correct me if i'm wrong!

  3. #3

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    Thanks for the reply, I was beginning to think my questions were really dumb and everyone was ignoring me LMAO!

  4. #4

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    These are great questions drum chick

    #1
    The way I did it was I just listen to the music, over and over again, and start identifying the drums being played, and I would start with the easy parts, you know what the hi-hat & Ride sounds like, the snare drums and kick are all pretty obvious, these are the most important elements to a drum beat, so concentrate on these items first, listen to what the drummer is doing, and when you can clearly hear what is going on, and trust me you will, then try and play it, do not get discouraged though, it will probably be tough at first, I recommend some good old AC/DC back in black album, very basic drumming, PERFECT to learn to, pretty soon you will just start to feel it, and be jammin right along to your favorites.

    #2
    Playing by ear, wow tough question, honestly I think this just becomes natural over time, the more you get comfortable with your playing, the more you start feeling what you are playing, and the more you play, the more ideas spring into your head, and then when you start to play with a band or along to a CD your "feeling" will basically tell you what to play, sounds weird, but its true, honestly I think this will take a little time, you need to improve and grow in your playing, and all will fall into place.

    Those are my two cents, hopefully it helps.
    Last edited by Pdplayer; 03-23-2007 at 01:45 PM.

  5. #5

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    Helps very much so, appreciate it........

  6. #6

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    Great.

  7. #7

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    I'm surprised no-one has answered your question about feet technique yet. I think you do need to practice it before you get a kit, so that when you do get it your body is synced up properly to hit the bass and open a close the hi-hat (or hit double bass).

    I'd recommend getting some basic beats lessons off the net, and practice where your feet land while playing along to some simple beats.

    As for playing by ear, pretty much everyone else has answered that here. It all comes with practice. As you become more comfortable with your instrument, you begin to listen to it with more presence when you're listening to music. You isolate the drum tracks solely. Once you become proficient at playing drums, you can generally take on everything you've learnt so far.

    I should easily be able to play anything by the White Stripes, as a matter of fact, so should you =P

    HB58
    My Kit: Pearl Session Custom 7 Piece w/ Zildjian Cymbals
    My Band: Lead Redemption
    Current Favourite Band: Necrophagist
    Current Favourite Song: To Rid The Disease - Opeth
    Next purchase: Pearl 18"x16" Floor Tom, Zildjian A Custom Crash

    Rudiments?

  8. #8

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    Thanks HB58 for the reply on the feet technique, I want to do everything possible to better myself at drumming. I know I have a long way to go but I gotta start somewhere.........

  9. #9

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    the white stripes.. oh what a comical band

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