beginner needs some advise/tips on practice at home

gutisg

New member
hi all,
i would like to know what do drummers in general use to practise on at home for those that don't have one.
i'm a beginner and would love to practise at home but can't afford one atm..
eg. practice pads etc.

peace
 
my drummer used to be stupid dat he practice at hm and beating the pail and table, cabinet, all the stupid stuff tat can be found. dun follow his way, he is wrong! buy the electronic pad or sumting? check out at penisular, selling at low prices.
 
hey man,
do u have a padded arm chair at home?
the arm rest need to be padded. use that as practice pads. i did that for two yrs playing to songs.
u can use ur mouse pad to do ur strokes and rudiments and all that. first learn how to groove though. make sure u get the feel of the music u want to play, thats most important.
 
Phone books, stools, tables anything. Just hit on anything man lol. I used to practise on wooden stools actually.

But of course like blurred said, padded stuff are better. Less noise and your mother won't start yelling "Oei! Diam lah!" everytime you practise lol. Or get a practise pad? It's only $30 or so.
 
Rudiments on a practice pad... bass drum pad also can...

Some people think that rudiments are useless in "real" drumming but in REAL drumming, rudiments are so important. It's like the ABCs of drumming... soon when you play, you won't even have to think the stickings of rudiments... you just use them to aid your playing (and prevent backaches)... 8)
 
Funkifized said:
Some people think that rudiments are useless in "real" drumming but in REAL drumming, rudiments are so important. It's like the ABCs of drumming... soon when you play, you won't even have to think the stickings of rudiments... you just use them to aid your playing (and prevent backaches)... 8)

Brilliantly said.

Anyway, to the threadstarter, are you saying you can't afford to buy a practice pad? I find that hard to believe.

Anyway, to practise, all you need is a pair of sticks, a practice pad, and a metronome. The three essentials to becoming a great drummer.
 
Anyway, to the threadstarter, are you saying you can't afford to buy a practice pad? I find that hard to believe.

Anyway, to practise, all you need is a pair of sticks, a practice pad, and a metronome. The three essentials to becoming a great drummer.[/quote]

haha don't worry gutisg!! make sure u at least have a pair of sticks.. u do have one don't u... if not..u better at least sell away your bed to get a pair. with the extra cash u can get a practice pad too!!

but since u don't have that budget right now.. ensure u have a nice pair of sticks. Nice meaning it's feels comfortable when u hold and grip it. comfortable meaning not too long. not to thick in diameter or width wadever. or not too short.. not too light. no too heavy. no too smelly yea?

u can just practice on your soft pillow which will help u develop your finger techniques very well. or alternatives like the sofa...not too bouncy kind of surface ya?

u can go to www.metronomeonline.com for your metronome work.
and www.vicfirth.com for more educational stuff. go go go!!

~drummar buah~
 
I wouldn't encourage him to practise on a pillow. He's just starting out. And it is very common for new drummers to gain the wrong control of the sticks by playing something totally void of any rebound.
 
oh yah that's true.. forgotten about that.. well then..play on something mroe bouncy like a mouse pad then....then that's settled!! all free of charge! aha
 
ermm okie this can go on forever, but i feel he needs the pillow as well.
imagine ur hands as relaxed and possible.
1.play ur strokes on a pillow but remember stay RELAX!!! only go as fast as u can when relaxed dun ever tense up.
2.okie after a minute or two u'll feel the burn thats ur muscles getting tired. go for another minute. STOP!
3. stretch ur wrist
4. move to a pad and practice for another 2mins. this will allow u to control the bounce. RELAX!!! dun tense up only go as fast as u can while relaxed.
5. remember to breath. long deep breathes this is important.
6. drinks alot of water. this will help ur muslces and tendons stay loose. this is esp impt before a gig. drink as much water as u can before the gig, if u start drinking like an hour before no use bro.

7.repeat this process over and over. get a mirror and put it in front of u if u can, u will be able to observe ur crappy left hand. try and immitate the less crappy right hand.
8. COUNT OUT LOUDD!!!!!! this is really really impt as it will help u orientate urself at all times when playing a song.
9. record ur strokes if u can with something. it realy helps to hear urself, why do u think studio drummers sound so good.
10. RELAX!!!!!! dun tense up.
11. get a teacher
12. get laid
 
... then get laid again.

No really. I still believe he should stay off the pillow till he gets his techniques right. I know drumming requires a certain level of physical dexterity and strength, but that comes in later, and that's mostly applicable to drumset drummers. Come on, this guy doesn't even have a practice pad to practise on! :lol:

The pillow method originates from Dennis Chambers, who uses a pillow and 2 phonebooks sandwiched by his elbows, his theory being that it conditions the specific muscles so its easy to play on loosely tuned drums and to move around the drumset with ease.

Both of which, I believe, are things new drummers don't have to worry about, yet.

Stick to the pad. Work your chops there, work your grooves there, work your rudiments, anything. And most importantly, have fun and get laid, as blurred mentioned.
 
Blurred, ur number 12 cannot ah. What if he is a minor or the opp gender! This thread will be closed man!

I think the most important thing about practising is discipline. Our friends here have offered a lot of suggestion, but unless u pick up the sticks and start hitting something, u will not improve. But when u start, endure and persevere. The results will be rewarding if u practise correctly with discipline. Best of all, get a teacher to guide u along.

Good luck and Drum on!
 
yea i really have to agree with wired man..
i saw the exercise thing u said which dennis chambers said.. but anyway u are already going too far with the dennis chambers exercise.
i think firstly a drummer gotta get to know his sticks before he knows how to apply it to his instrument. practicing on the pillow may cause him to tense up and in turn using a wrong and unnecesary wrist movement or technique that may hurt his wrist or muscles and may affect his drumming in the long run.
with the bounce of a lets say mouse pad. he will learn to control his bounce first. then he controls his finger technique and learn finger technique then he can furthur enhance it by playing on the pillow.
 
well yah i guess there are several ways to do it lah i'm just letting him know the way that worked for me. number 12 might help u but it works differently for everyone hahaha.
okie anyway, i actually mentioned that he shld play on a pillow to warm him up build muscles then to stretch to loosen himself up more, then on to a pad if i'm not wrong. the pads to help u gain control of the stick really. once u feel that u have enough strength u can work solely on a pad. that took abt 2yrs for me to get it nice and clean, but it may be shorter for some people. the main thing like u said is to stay loose which i stress in the 1 to 12's. okie maybe not 12 cause u need to be quite hard for that.
ermm yah well without typing the thing out again. but hey feel freee to do and to find out wat works for u.
i think everyones right in terms that it worked for him.

have fun!
 
wat's get laid?? can explain to me??

anyway i feel that technique beats strength..sure u need a certain amount of stamina. but wat for drain all of it when u could have developed the technique to help u overcome the over use of your stamina.
paiseh arr i keep arguing
anyway arr.. a drummer oso needs to get used to the bounce. cuz on the drum kit. ultimately there will be usage of finger techniques and bouncing too..
 
blurred said:
well yah i guess there are several ways to do it lah i'm just letting him know the way that worked for me. number 12 might help u but it works differently for everyone hahaha.
okie anyway, i actually mentioned that he shld play on a pillow to warm him up build muscles then to stretch to loosen himself up more, then on to a pad if i'm not wrong. the pads to help u gain control of the stick really. once u feel that u have enough strength u can work solely on a pad. that took abt 2yrs for me to get it nice and clean, but it may be shorter for some people. the main thing like u said is to stay loose which i stress in the 1 to 12's. okie maybe not 12 cause u need to be quite hard for that.
ermm yah well without typing the thing out again. but hey feel freee to do and to find out wat works for u.
i think everyones right in terms that it worked for him.

have fun!

I think that's true in its own rightful ways. Infact, that's similar to what I do during my practice runs. A nice chopfest on pillows would get me started. But understand that the threadstarter is a total beginner, and practicing on pillows can only be detrimental for him at such an early stage.

Of course, if your techniques are more or less in place, then yes, get started on working your chops up, on the pillows AND on the pad, while periodically executing Step 12. It works, because at the end of the day, you get dexterity, strength, control, speed, and you get laid! So after feeling the sense of accomplishment, execute Step 12 until satisfactory. Then work on your techniques.
 
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