I received this email from Drumeo on Saturday and thought it was worth remembering.
I do not have a regular routine for practicing drums. There have been several times when I've gone to either a RP (formerly RPM) session in Cedar Rapids or a 515 Mass at Saint Thomas More without holding a drumstick in my hand since either a RP session in Cedar Rapids or a 515 Mass at Saint Thomas More.
I disagree with the first line in the quoted email below, which says, "Learning the drums is easier when you're a kid. On the contrary, I think it would be more true for me to write, "Playing the drums is easier when you're a kid and there is a difference. When I read the word learning, I think about opening a book and
picking a page and reading the notes on the page and then translating
those notes into a pattern in my brain which then sends messages to my
hands and feet. When I read the word playing drums, I recall how I used to go down to my drums in 3904 Studios (the house I grew up in)
and play drums whenever I happened to be home alone. It was never a
conscious choice to go play as I wanted to play drums. I think about situations when
I would get home from high school at 3:15 and would have to be back to
high school for swim team practice by 4:00 so I would go downstairs, set
a timer for 15 minutes, pick up some sticks and start making sounds
come out of my drums. I wanted to spend those 15 minutes not doing
homework, not watching TV, not listening to music on my stereo, or
writing.
It's true that if I happened to figure out how to translate what I heard in my brain into sounds from my drums, then, okay, sure, I learned how to do something. More often than not, though, I would just play. I used to use a cassette tapes to document some of my drum sessions. I wish I had the forethought to keep a log with a line entry each and every time I played drums, but I didn't. My general impression from listening to some of those cassette tapes from the late 1980s into the early 1990s is that I tended to find a pattern I liked and play the hell out of it. I can tell when I had probably just heard some new pattern in a song I liked or on the radio or when I had just been listening to Metallica because I would play a pattern that is familiar to my ears all these years later.
I wish I had a strong history of practicing my drums and had the self-discipline to do so but I don't. I've tried to instill a regular routine of going to the den, picking up the sticks and practice pad but because my time is limited, I often find other "important" tasks to complete, such as counting how many times I have played drums at a Saint Thomas More Mass. I did that the other day, counting up my worship aid booklets - I keep one for each Mass. From 2013 --> 2022, I have 107, which means I'm very close to averaging playing drums at a Mass once a month. If I play 13 more Masses between now and 12-31-2022, I will have 120 worship aid booklets, which is 120 Masses / 10 years = 12. The reality, though, is that I only have 10 worship aid booklets from the years 2013 - 2015, which either means I have worship aid booklets stashed somewhere "where I won't forget that I put them there" or I didn't play a lot of drums at Saint Thomas More during those years (which could also be true).
My point in mentioning all of this is I need to practice more but I doubt I will actually practice more. It's a hamster wheel. In the meantime, read what Drumeo believes about practicing drums below.
Learning the drums is easier when you’re a kid.
And not because your brain is a “sponge.” It’s easier simply because you have somebody else schedule your lessons and make sure you show up on time. All you have to do is PLAY and practice.
As an adult, juggling multiple schedules (work, family, health), it’s harder to be consistent with playing the drums.
And consistency is the key to learning this instrument (or anything).
Now imagine your busy schedule could actually help you become a more consistent drummer 😮… stay with me here.
Creativity comes from constraints.
Everybody’s busy.
Seriously, everyone. There’s an old saying: “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
Translation: No matter how much or how little you have to do, you barely have enough time.
So the key is to become more efficient. And there’s one trick you can do to instantly become more efficient in your drum practice.
Fail to plan, plan to fail.
Legendary drummer & artist, Benny Greb, learned this the hard way.
As a college student, he started recording his practice sessions. Listening back to the tape he humbly realized how much time he squandered bursting into random fills, tuning and repositioning his gear, and noodling until he found something to practice.
That method worked for him as a kid with unlimited time – but when he found himself under time constraints he realized he’d have to do better.
So Benny decided he would plan his routine BEFORE he sat down to practice.
It sounds so obvious, but very few of us do it – and it was a powerful shift on Benny’s journey to becoming one of the world’s greatest drummers.
The art of scheduling.
Every Sunday, I plan my workouts for the week.
I take a quick look ahead and immediately write off any days that it’s not gonna happen – why put that extra pressure on yourself?
When I see which days are available, I write down what I’m going to work on. And you can do the same with drumming:
That’s just one example ^.
You can come up with any plan that works for you and your goals – but I’ll say from experience that it helps if you have a go-to practice resource that fits YOUR schedule.
Drum Lessons For Busy Adults
I’m biased…
But Drumeo was basically built to be drum lessons for busy adults.
You don’t have to commute to lessons (or have that defeated “falling behind” feeling when you miss a lesson).
Just plan your week of practice and choose the lessons you’re going to work on. If you’re not sure what to work on, you can follow the step-by-step Drumeo Method (it tells you exactly what to practice at every stage of your drumming) OR upload a video of yourself and get a personalized recommendation.
That way you can focus on exercises that will actually help you improve.
You can check it out here:
You’ll even get a free practice pad & sticks with your lessons because we’re celebrating International Drum Month (🥳).
However you approach it, I hope this technique helps you plan better practice sessions and make consistent improvements behind the kit.
To Your Drumming Success,
- Jared Falk
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