Simple, play on the snare, then imagine playing with your sticks vertical instead of horizontal
Especially if your going for top bass, you need wicked hands
ok i have drumline tryouts in like 2 weeks! i heard the warm-ups for this year and im afraid all the work i put in hasn't been good enough. but im going to try anyway cause i really want to make it. what is some advice for the last couple of weeks before tryouts? anything special to work on? oh and i wont made making bass even though i would rather make snare. how do you practice bass without a bass drum? thanx!!!!
Simple, play on the snare, then imagine playing with your sticks vertical instead of horizontal
Especially if your going for top bass, you need wicked hands
Practice sextuplets with various stickings: rlrlrl; rlrlrr lrlrll; rlrrlr lrllrl; rllrrl rllrrl
These can really do a lot to tighten up your timing while strengthening your wrists as well. I used these as exercises with high school and DCI drumlines I had been associated with.
well as simple as it sounds, the best advice that i can offer is to practice with a met on an actual drum. If you want to play bass then you really want to get in and practice with the actual bass drum you are going to play your audition on. Same for snare. Kevlar is totally different then a practice pad so you need to get in there. Plus any practice time you spend without a metronome, i've found, actually makes my playing get worse as far a timing goes. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and find a metronome with subdivisions and use them. Alternatively, place the met only on beats 1 and 3 of each measure, then only on beat 1 then only on beat 1 of every other measure and so on. doing it that way really helps your timing. That brings me to my other BIG point of advice. Make sure that you mark time and do it all the time. My instructors take off our auditions when you don't mark time. Plus it will help when you start learning to march so then your feet already can it the beats. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you make the line. When i used these tips that my brother gave me when i tried out, i got one of 2 tenor spots from some returning vets and i was the youngest one that tried out. Good luck and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try to memorize the warm-ups or audition piece(if it has been handed out) if not, just make sure you play cleanly and confidently.IF you want snare make sure you define accents and taps,watch stick heights, make your left hand as strong as your right and have nice open diddles. play confidently and the spot should be yours, make sure you practice on the actual drum before the audition, that way your hands will be used to the feel by the time you play the audition piece.
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