Practicing behind the kit

[maniac0796]

Sup Guys (and Dolls)

I'm intruiged as to what kind of practice you commit yourselves to behind the kit. I don't care about what you do on the pad, or snare drum exercises, how do you practice when you're sat infront of a kit.

Personally, I groove around for about 20 minutes, trying different ideas and stuff, and then playing along to songs for about 30 mins, 40 mins.

What about you?

[mustang sally]

About the same actually. Groove for about 20 mins. Then play songs for about another 20 mins.

Try to do this at least 5 times a week

[Berk]

I usually just play for awhile, then screw around with blast beat ideas, then i play to some music then i go on here.

[TheBandlehars]

I spend a few minutes doing some warm ups between hands on feet, which I also use to develop my feet a little bit more. Then I'll play through a few latin styles and experiment with them. Then I work on some stuff out of The Art of Bop Drumming. I'll do that until I get bored of it, which can be anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. Sometimes I'll just stop after that or I'll jam by myself or play through some stuff out of some of my other books.

[proghodet]

I usually just sit and play different patterns I think are cool to warm myself up, and then i'll play through my bands songs with a click track, to keep everything in time. Then, after playing through all that seems rusty, i'll play 16-notes on the bassdrum, quarternotes on the hi-hat \ ride, and the snare on 2 and 4. I think it's important to concentrate on where the snare hits, so it's tight with the bassdrum-hit.

(did that make any sense? My english suck; sorry!)
(please check out my band! www.myspace.com/illusionweb)

[Imperial Star]

I'll generally play a few tracks from Groove Essentials Play Along, about 20 mins. Something jazz related like work on comping or trading 4's 30mins-60. And then I'll use a stick control sticking and create lots of beats with it, about 45 mins.

Lately I've been spending more than half my practice time on pads.

[Det_Nosnip]

I'll usually warm up by shedding a bit, and then dive into whatever it is I'm focusing on ATM (usually jazz). I also like to dedicate some time for free improvisation to a click, and will take "breaks" from technical exercises by shedding some more.

Haven't played drumset in a while, though. My focus lately has pretty much exclusively been guitar, piano, and composing...and pointless arguements over the internet, of course. :p

[Panopticon]

im pretty much the same as maniac except before playing to songs i'll normally work on a bit of double bass stuff. I'm trying to get my speed and cleanliness up.

[Mirror.Circuit]

Chop/groove around for 10-20 minutes,play along to some songs,then work on double bass or patterns i'm working on.

[Ill Mitch]

Guys and dolls is a kick *** musical, for the pit at least.

I usually work out of whatever drum set book I'm on for a while, then improvise to some cool drumless tracks I have, and then I end by playing along with a song I know pretty well.

[oliv_da_skinmasher]

Well alot of the time I can't practice on my kit but when I can it's usually stuff for my band for a while then maybe working on fills grooves etc

[Plan B.]

a while ago i put in some actual practice time developing the swing ride pattern and some basic snare improvs under it to start the foundation

but for the last month or so all i do is just go on and jazz jam alone

[maniac0796]

Guys and dolls is a kick *** musical, for the pit at least.



My dad used to direct some amateur musicals around here, and my drum teacher always played the drums, so he went through all the scores and stuff with me, because he had them, and my dad had them, so I had access to them.

So I did actually learn some of the Guys and Dolls drum part.

I also acted as: one of the good Samaritans, the boxer in the opening scene, and the waiter at the restaurant abroad.

And no one can beat this one:

I was the fiddler, in fiddler on the roof!

[AndyEdwardsMusic.com]

I try to play as musically as possible. I either play along to records or I do solos which have a musical context...

[poppinfresh]

warm up with a song. play random stuff for 30 min. Play with band-most helpful.