back into the fray!

[Ethel_The_Frog]

Avast! It's been a while, how's everyone doing?

I've had a pretty eventful year, so now I'm deciding it's time to get back on track with what I do best; hitting stuff in a musical manner. In fact, I've decided this is such a good idea, I'm going to start giving informal drum lessons in order to expand my musical contacts. And make some money at the same time. Gosh.

Anyway...

Living in halls for a year without a kit has somewhat dampened my technique. I'm living in a house now and I blagged myself a cheap-o kit to practice on, but I've lost a lot of muscle over the last year, which means I need to build it up again. In terms of what I can do, I can still do a lot of moeller and fast doubles, most of it's still there tbh, it's just my singles which are somewhat lacking. On top of that, I need to refresh my creativity in terms of sticking and various things like that.

Soooooo...
Does anyone have any wicked exercises they can give me to get my single strokes back / see any major improvement in in a short amount of time? I'm ideally going to start advertising lessons in 2 weeks time. I already have a rough syllabus as to what I need to teach, I'm just going through some of my old books and finding stuff a lot more difficult than when I used to play it.

lotsa love, and cheers for the help.

[Pearl MCX Man]

Welcome back and all the luck in the world to your teaching drums.

[pastor_bob]

Good to see you back ETF, and I'm glad to hear things are going well! As to your single strokes, are you talking about evenness of your strokes, or are you talking purely about speed?

[Ethel_The_Frog]

Cheers guys. Erm, it's not to do with the evenness, it's mainly speed and power that I'm lacking; I used to be able to play very quickly and very powerfully, but I need to train my arms up again (my playing is still mainly in my wrists). I've blagged myself a guinea pig for teaching tomorrow, so I'll give them my first lesson and let you know how it goes.

[backtodrum]

Welcome back!

[late8]

Hey ethel! Your example of what can happen to up and coming drummers who transition from living at home during high school (playing in the garage or bedroom) to college life (dorms and halls) is priceless! Thanks for the insight! There are and will be many members on DrumChat who are at the age to make such a transition and life with or without a drum kit will likely be in their scenerio.

It's interesting that you noted a lack of or an absense of muscle memory as you sat back on to your throne. I feel the same way when I haven't ridden my stationary bike for a while. It takes a least a couple of good work outs to feel the same groove again.

Good luck on the teaching prospects and don't be a stranger for too long again! Welcome back!

[bongobro]

Hey, mate! Good to see ya back in the fray!

That's one of the occupational hazards of bein' unable to play the kit, but there's no problem with that. It may take a short time to pick up where you left off, but taking some time to review what you've learned will knock off a good deal of that rust.

Not to mention teaching your students! That's one thing that's helped keep my teacher's chops sharp. He doesn't play gigs as much as he did a number of years ago, but working with his students keeps him active and his playing still sounds as good as it ever has!

Stay in touch, man!

[ratmycue]

Slap yourself silly [ remember even hits with both hands] for not keeping a pair of sticks and a practise pad handy while you were away from the kit. That should give your arms a good work out.

[late8]

Slap yourself silly [ remember even hits with both hands] for not keeping a pair of sticks and a practise pad handy while you were away from the kit. That should give your arms a good work out.

He's back...........................!

[gonefishin]

Good to see ya back Ethel.......practice, practice, practice is the best way to get back into shape.....wont take too long at all.

( good to see the rat back too )

[Ethel_The_Frog]

:D

Cheers guys! I did have pads living in halls, but it wasn't the same without a kit. I spent the year getting amazing on bass, now got myself an acoustic and I'm doing a lot of singer/songwriting stuff. Versatile enough to be in a one man band? Oh yeah. There were lots of, erm, distractions in halls, but the call of the drums was way too much for me to give up on. eheheh.

My first lesson went REALLY well. I had a plan, and my student had never played drums properly before - I had him playing single rolls and paradiddles within 15 minutes, grooving within half an hour and I managed to teach him the basics of Californication. So, he was jamming on the kit and I was leading him with the bass, it worked really well. I'm pleased, for someone who has never properly played drums to have them grooving as proficiently as that in an hour was impressive. It reminds me of how I started playing; I learnt to groove before I learnt anything technical, and it always let me stand out. So that's how I'm doing it. I'm going to teach my students basic songs and grooves before I try and do anything too technical with them (Not to neglect rudiments or techniques for playing, but simply to get them interested in their instrument without turning them off by excessive amounts of technical stuff).

anyway, life is sweet, i'm beginning to groove well on the kit again, it's just getting back into a routine. huzzah! i'm going to go hunt down my friend soon and ask him about what i'm doing in his band. awesome all round.

[pastor_bob]

Sounds like your student is lucky to have you as a teacher ETF!! Congrats on giving your first lesson!