Hey guys, i really like what pb said about having somebody holding you accountable for your own learning. There is no quick and easy way to learn how to be a good drummer. Anything worth doing takes time to learn how to do it right. Drums are a perfect example of that.
When I first started playing, I was doing the same thing that Kryshah was talking about
: banging around with a few beats instead of working on my rudiments. I would work on them for a few minutes, and then get bored. I always thought to myself, "why am I just working on this one little thing when I have a whole kit to play with" and then off I went. Then one day, I decided to try something out that one of my friends suggested I do...
I tricked myself into practicing rudiments. How? Very easily. I removed everything from my coffee table and put a practice pad and a pair of sticks right in the middle of it. Nothing else was allowed on that table. They sat there for a couple of days because I thought it was a stupid idea. Then I noticed that I started picking up the sticks and playing on the pad when I heard a good song on the tv. Then I was playing the music from the commercials. Then I was playing everything that I heard (drove my roommate insane by this time, but I figured his sanity and my playing ability were a good tradeoff
) all the time. I would turn on the radio and play for hours to whatever came on. It did'nt matter. If I did'nt like the beat to the song, I would change it and experiment. Just me and my practice pad. No kit. No distractions. I was playing a lot of the rudiments without even knowing it. Then I pulled out the book and looked at what the rudiments really where, and I was able to bust most of them out. I had gotten over the hurdle of learning that first one by unknowingly learning about 10 of them. That gave me the determination to learn the rest.
That is how I learned them. Nothing spectacular. It did'nt happen over night (I actually did that for about 2 months). You will find that you will pick up the sticks and practice a LOT more if they are sitting right in front of you all the time. Try it. It might work for you. It might not. Just give it a valiant effort and don't let the "this is stupid" thoughts override your creativity.
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