Drum Lessons and Tips

[William Murderface]

I have inherited an Alesis Nitro Mesh electronic drum kit. This set: https://www.alesisdrums.com/electronic-drum-kits/nitro-mesh-kit

Now, I know nothing about drumming. God knows that despite years of working at them I still struggle with the guitar and bass and now I'm going to try my hand at drumming as well. I know there are a million videos on Youtube that may or may not be worth anything, and I bought a drum book on the discount rack at the locak Barnes and Noble, The Drummers Bible by Justin Scott to be specific, but does anyone know anything about drumming? Any tips to offer or know any onyone on Youtube or a website that isn't a complete waste of time?

I'll never be a John Bonham or Neal Peart or Buddy Rich, but I've played around with this drum kit a little bit and it seems like it will be a lot of fun. The neat thing is the electronic control system has a bunch of different tools and tones and beats to play with, but before I get into that I want to get the fundamentals under control.

Thanks.

 

[vercingotisrix]

Oh hey, I was in your situation a couple of months ago.

If you have a couple of guys/gals to play with that will be the biggest learning experience, but barring that: Drumeo wasn't half bad. Have a look at their free videos, there’s two that are aimed at getting you started in ten minutes.

Get an understanding of basic drum notation: this is just an example. Once you understand that you can easily get started using something like Ultimate Guitar to pick out a couple good songs and learn them while changing speed and using a backing track. Thunderstruck by AC/DC is a great confidence building song and it’s fun to play.

If you don’t like notation, Drumeo does have tutorials for songs, and I’ve found others on YouTube have the same (paying for just a month of YT premium will serve you here).

Finally a link dump. I’m not going to archive (don’t know how or if it’s needed), apologies:
10 beginner beats
10 day starter course
22 common beats

And once you hit that awkward stage where you know the basics and can improvise a bit but all your fills sound like shit: here

I also like watching Emma from Love to learn drums just for fun. Compilation vid of her TikTok tutorials for beginners here

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

just join the white stripes, the woman doesnt know jackshit about drumming and they managed to make seven nation army.

 

[Gian-Luca Caluga]

You are going to break the transducers in the pads. This is inevitable, not potential: at some point, every pad will get harder and harder to trigger until it stops transmitting at all. It's not the end of the world, but if you don't own a soldering iron, get one. I have a DM10 Studio that I've repaired a bunch of times, I hate the fucking thing but it's good for teaching others on.

First thing you need to do is get your posture set up. Do you have any mates who drum, or tutors nearby? It's worth setting up a couple of lessons with a pro just so they can help you to sit at the kit properly. Biomechanically, drums are a fucker; you need a lot more core strength than you might think, depending on what styles you want to play. I used to sit with the snare really low so I could hit it harder—one fucked wrist later and I don't do that any more.

Also, rudiments. They're boring and can fuck off and you're not going to get laid by showing anyone a paradiddle, but they're vital if you want to do more than a bunch of Green Day songs.

Also 2, get a decent pedal. Try a few different ones to see what your ankles like best. Decent pedals are cheap compared to even ten years ago, Thomann are doing a direct drive double pedal for less than £140 shipped, these days. You don't need expensive, flashy hardware but you do need hardware that works for you.

 

[William Murderface]

@Gian-Luca Caluga @vercingotisrix thanks for the advice guys! It's a good starting point for sure. I really do appreciate it.

 

[oldTireWater]

I suck a drumming and don't practice very hard, but I've enjoyed working through "The Breakbeat Bible" by Mike Adamo. It's rhythmically challenging, and the exercises are more rewarding than a lot of straightforward ones.

​

 

[Sneedmason]

Oh hey, I was in your situation a couple of months ago.

As many people in this world.

0:26

 

[Idiotron]

Learn this, then build from there:

 

[winterfag]

Step 1) bang the drum
Step 2) bang your mum

 

[Gian-Luca Caluga]

@Gian-Luca Caluga @vercingotisrix thanks for the advice guys! It's a good starting point for sure. I really do appreciate it.

No problem pal. What sort of styles are you going to learn? I'm very much hyperfocused on blasting and grindcore; if that's your thing I can probably point you in the right direction in terms of exercises etc.

 

[William Murderface]

No problem pal. What sort of styles are you going to learn? I'm very much hyperfocused on blasting and grindcore; if that's your thing I can probably point you in the right direction in terms of exercises etc.

I'm probably going to stick in the Classic Rock or Trop Rock area. I'm never going to be a Keith Moon or Ginger Baker or Ringo Starr but if I can get halfway decent maybe I can get into a cover band and play locally.

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

 

[William Murderface]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kyWcuQW-tII
https://youtube.com/watch?v=et9hU7QMDYU

I got that second video yesterday and tried it out a little. It's harder than it looks just because I'm not used to doing four things at once (counting, hitting the hi-hat, hitting the snare, hitting the bass) and doing it while being uncoordinated. I'm sure in time it gets easier (remember learning to drive stick and having to use the clutch, brake, and accelerator all at once, plus steering, using mirrors, and keeping your head on a swivel?) but it was harder than I thought it would be.

 

[William Murderface]

After two weeks of trying this project, I have a much better appreciation for what drummers do and how they do it. I'm so uncoordinated that it's not even funny. Getting both legs (because I have the bass drum pedal and the high-hat pedal) and both arms doing four different things at the same time is incredibly difficult, more difficult that I thought it would be.

 

[vercingotisrix]

But do you feel like you’re getting better at it? It’s hard, but repetition and endurance goes a long way when learning coordination stuff.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

Buy some silver sticks because they make you drum faster and more accurately. 7As with wood, not nylon tips for the mesh drums (I've found that nylon tips feel like they "stick" to the heads).

 

[William Murderface]

But do you feel like you’re getting better at it? It’s hard, but repetition and endurance goes a long way when learning coordination stuff.

Ever so slowly, but yes.

 

[William Murderface]

Buy some silver sticks because they make you drum faster and more accurately. 7As with wood, not nylon tips for the mesh drums (I've found that nylon tips feel like they "stick" to the heads).

I've been using 7A sticks with wood acorn tips.

 

[kcbbq]

If anyone notices the bump to this thread: anyone have any tips on how to count bars while playing? Every other instrument I play (mediocrely, mostly, but I'm mainly doing this just for myself for fun) I don't have this issue, whether from memory or sheet music. But put me behind my drums and tell me to play x number of bars and after one I have no clue how many bars I've played. No problem keeping count inside any bar.

Move over to my classical guitar and I know exactly where I am. Electric guitar, mandolin, flute, whatever, ive never been lost this way.

Am I just using up all three remaining braincells on lingering limb independence issues on my left leg? (Hooray partially open high hat...)

It's not exactly getting in the way of practicing. I'm having a lot of fun, just feel retarded.

 

[William Murderface]

If anyone notices the bump to this thread: anyone have any tips on how to count bars while playing? Every other instrument I play (mediocrely, mostly, but I'm mainly doing this just for myself for fun) I don't have this issue, whether from memory or sheet music. But put me behind my drums and tell me to play x number of bars and after one I have no clue how many bars I've played. No problem keeping count inside any bar.

Move over to my classical guitar and I know exactly where I am. Electric guitar, mandolin, flute, whatever, ive never been lost this way.

Am I just using up all three remaining braincells on lingering limb independence issues on my left leg? (Hooray partially open high hat...)

It's not exactly getting in the way of practicing. I'm having a lot of fun, just feel retarded.

It's incredibly frustrating to me still to try an coordinate all four limbs AND count and try to figure out more than 1-2-3-4. Even something like 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &with the Hi-Hat on every eighth note and the snare on 1 and the bass on 3, like the simplest beat in the world according to the Youtube people, is still out of reach. I don't want to give it up, but there must be something ingrained that I just don't possess.

It's like learning guitar all over again. It kills me that I have put in years to playing guitar, just for myself, and can kind of play a no-frills song, but some 19 year old junkie can pick up a six-string and just shred despite only taking two lessons when he was like 12.