Thursday, May 28, 2009

Learn The Drums -- How Hard Is It ?

“How Easy Is It REALLY To Learn The Drums?”

Have you ever seen some of the really great drummers? If you have, they make it seem so easy and effortless. Then you sit down to play and you can’t get your kick drum separated from your snare drum and syncopation is more like a disease than a form or musical expression. Okay, so how easy is it REALLY to learn the drums? Well, this article is going to give you the honest truth. But don’t worry…there IS help ahead.

There are basically two aspects to learning to play the drums. The one is endurance and the other is coordination. Let’s start with the endurance part first because believe it or not, that’s the easiest one to master.

Unless you’re playing in some laid back jazz band where all you’re doing is running the brushes back and forth along your snare, playing drums, especially in a hard rock band, can be brutal. In most venues, the drums are not amplified, which means you really have to be able to pound the heck out of them for long periods of time. When you’re first starting out, this isn’t easy to pull off. Try it sometime. The good news is, this is easily come by from lots of practice. The more you play, the longer you’ll be able to play, not to mention that those calluses will finally form, making playing a lot easier on your hands.

But what about the coordination? Think about it. At any given time, your could be using your right foot on the kick drum, your left foot on the high hat, your right hand on the ride cymbal and your left hand on the snare drum…all playing different beats in some kind of wild syncopation. If you think that’s easy for somebody just starting out, sit down and try it sometime. You know that drum break between the verse and chorus of “Revolution” by The Beatles? That’s not a snare roll. That’s actually Ringo alternating between kick and snare in a roll pattern. Not easy to do.

Coordination also comes with practice, just like anything else. Some people are more naturally coordinated than others.

However, having said that, it doesn’t mean that you can’t become a competent drummer. Just because you can’t play like a Buddy Rich or a Carl Palmer, doesn’t mean that you can’t get enjoyment out of your instrument. At the very least check out the site below and see what he’s offering.

Here it is.


Learn To Play Drums

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