plateauing: time for drum instructor?

[ymmit]

Hi all.

I get the feeling I'm plateauing. I'm began drumming in nov. since that time I've left yamaha after 1 month and have been jamming with my friends for fun.

Problem is I find some of the stuff I play rather bland. I've listened closely to lots of music, read drum tabs online and practiced them, but I feel like there's some skill I'm not learning to take me to the next level.

objective here is to jam with my band; we play mostly contemporary stuff, maroon 5, oasis, lots of coldplay, the verve etc.

time to get an instructor? what will he be able to teach me (skills wise), and would he be flexible to help me improve in my direction?

and of course, the obvious question: any instructors to recommend?

Thanks.

 

[soft]

hi ymmit

why not make a recording of your playing and let us have a feel of your status? maybe you are already very very good? hee..hee..hee...

 

[dhalif]

what james said.. is true.. maybe you could post up on OM and let us hear.. or this thread even.. at some point of time yeah sure u need an instructor.. turbochicken's giving lessons..

 

[turbochicken]

wah...thanks for the recco man, dhalif.

 

[ymmit]

okok, already got some recording. will post up shortly in this thread..

 

[bklk]

ymmit.... sometimes you got to lay off a bit.. dont touch drums for a few days ...take a break.... it definatly helps a lot..... drum instructor...?? yah.its called.internet and decipline. good luck!

 

[ymmit]

Hi all.

recording of basic beats here. I don't know if you can tell "skill level" from playing basic beats:
http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2W6W1EY65EZFS0ZXO6ORG46NTG

here's another from our early jamming session. rather unpolished and I got a few beats wrong:
http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2JPUWJK5VACRZ1AYMS3IZAGWA4

I'll post up more after our jamming session this friday. but for the moment, that's about it.

What do you think?

 

[lepids]

okie, for ur first recording(basic beats), the tempo is abit off.. slightly.

i wished u could do more things to show ur creativity. maybe u can try again?
work on ur rudiments and fill-ins.

from what i can hear in both recordings, u seemed to have a fixed style of playing. it's always bom da bom bom da. not saying that this is wrong. but u can explore different ways of playing..

the recording was not bad. u did the sound engineering? nice snare sound. i like!

 

[soft]

OMG! sounds like a drum machine!!! i mean the sound is too way too good compared to the guitar and vocals.

playing wise, practise more, i think the idea is that just that need to get your hands and legs to do what you want them to do.

 

[ymmit]

i'm using eDrums, that's why snare sound so nice.

drum audio is going directly into my mac, whereas mic recording of guitar, vocals etc are fed into the eDrum module's AUX in. that's why drums sound so clear, and teh rest muted cos' my mic not that great. heh..

i find my fills really boring. i've learnt a couple more interesting ones from listening to music, and working those into my play. I kinda wish they could have a whole book of fills and I can just pick and play 'em

One of the problems I have when playing with my band is they want a fill that really breaks up the beat just before we hit the chorus or bridge. Problem is I keep reverting back to fills that are "in time" with the beat. hmm does that make sense?

so what do you think is best way for me to progress from this stage?

 

[lepids]

mind to share what kit u are using?


if u can spend time practising new fills, working on ur rudiments and experimenting around the drums, that would be good. if u need new beats or anything, i think www.mxtabs.net has alot of drum tabs.
if u have practised with ur metronome, stopping at any count and reverting back shouldn't be a problem.

keep on practising.

u know flams? bass-snare-tom fills? try that!

 

[ymmit]

nope, i donno flams. what are they?

 

[lepids]

ehs.. lol, i try and post a sound clip later.

 

[lepids]

http://s36.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=349791B0AGW9528TZ2SSZ19K4X

u will hear 2 strokes in one count. i'm playing right-hand flam. technically, u have one hand positioned lower than the other(in this case, right hand because it's a right hand flam) then right hand goes down to the snare before ur left hand(the left hand goes down after ur right hand).

lol, i hope my explanation helps. pm me.