Today I‘d like to share with you a collection of the top 10 most important insights I have had over 25 years of drumming.
It only took me 1000 shows, 100 records and teaching hundreds of students to figure out these lessons… I’m kind of a fast learner as you can tell 🙂
1- Your sound is you. It’s not the drums, not the heads, not the tuning, not the room, not the sound engineer. You. How you hold the sticks, how you hit the drums, your concept of sound.
2- Speed is always a side effect of control. So focus on control, and you’ll get speed.
3- Focus on the ‘how’, not on the ‘what’. If the how is not right, then the what is irrelevant, no matter how cool or impressive it seems to be.
4- Make sure you play music, not just the drums.
5- The only thing that counts is that you make people feel something. And you can do that with a million notes… or with 3 notes… it’s up to you. But, unless people are moved by what you play, it’s meaningless.
6- Record yourself. Live, at rehearsal, in the studio, while practicing. That’s the only true feedback, because it’s a picture of how you REALLY sound. Even better, record yourself with a D.A.W. and see where your hits are, how consistent they are, how accurate they are on the beat.
7- Your drumming is made of 3 parts. Physical: your technique. Logical: your style and concept. And Emotional: the feelings you transmit. You need to work on all of these, separately, and then make music combining all of them, simultaneously.
8- Can you express all you feel and have to say, with what you are able to play? Unless the answer is yes, you need to go practice more.
9- Picture in your mind the kind of drummer you want to be. You won’t become anything you haven’t first seen in your mind. What do you want to create? Why? How significant is it for you?
10- Wanna make it happen? Easy: be around the people that are already doing what you want to do. Be in the places where are already happening the things you want to make happen. That’s the simple yet powerful formula to ANY success.
I’ve created a one page PDF that you can print and post in your practice room, to get some inspiration anytime you need it.
Here it is:
Each idea is covered in the Blog‘s articles, lessons and free resources.
Also, feel free to check out ‘Altitude Drumming’, a comprehensive drum course that covers each of these topics, and many more, in a dozen advanced drum books (free download excerpts available in each dedicated page):
‘Altitude Drumming – Become A Musician Who Plays The Drums’
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