So far I’ve only encountered some very basic drum fills in the songs I’ve been learning but they’ve still presented somewhat of a challenge to me as a new drummer. One of things that has posed a problem for me is figuring out which hands should hit which drums in the course of a fill. Sometimes I find it easier to use an alternating (RLRL or LRLR) technique and other times it seems easier to use sort of a hybrid technique (RRL or LLR, etc.). For instance, in a sixteenth/sixteenth/eighth fill, I’ve sometimes found it easier to hit the toms RRL as opposed to RLR. In some fills, I’ve found it useful to learn the fill multiple ways and then pick which way sounds best. It’s tempting to choose the method which makes the fill easier to play, but I’ve tried to go with the option that sounds most like the recording. So far, I’ve run into this issue in Don’t Tread On Me and in the fill that leads into the tom outro in Enter Sandman. Learning the rudiments has helped me quite a bit as they cover every conceivable hand pattern and allow you to more easily play the fills in multiple ways.
Well, I know now why Lars Ulrich (and other drummers I’m sure) wrap their fingers with tape when they play 3 hour sets. Since I’ve been getting back into my daily drum lessons, I’ve developed some bitchin’ blisters on my right hand from the wear and tear of hitting the hi-hat. The one at the base of my index finger actually burst the other day while I was playing Enter Sandman. As blood flowed down the sticks, I felt like it was a true metal (\m/) moment. At least until I went upstairs, used my pinky to dab some antibiotic ointment onto the leaking mess and put a pretty little band-aid on the thing. I’m sure a true metal drum god would have let the blood flow and perhaps smeared it on his cheeks while playing. In any case, I’m now taping my hands (at least my right one) when I play and soldiering on. Back to practicing, will post again soon.
So, my wrist/hand pain cleared up just a few days after it started (and I’ve now got a bitchin’ callous on my right hand to boot) but I’ve developed some shoulder pain over the past couple days so I think I’m going to take a couple days off from drumming. I workout a lot as well so I think the weights and the pounding on drums for hours a day was causing a problem. Hopefully, this’ll clear up as quickly as my wrist issues. Status report thus far is basically the same: Back In Black is down though I run through it a few times each time I sit down and play; Enter Sandman is complete except for the last 20 seconds or so of the tom outro; I’ve learned My Friend of Misery up through the first chorus but it’s still shaky on some parts. Once I get back to playing I’m going to add in some of the more “boring” technical stuff like rudiments and playing various beats to a metronome in addition to continuing to work on the songs. ‘Til then…
Not much to report today. I’m continuing to go over the two songs in my massive (haha) repetoire, refining Back In Black and Enter Sandman. I need to learn the tom outro part and then I’ll have Sandman totally learned…not that I won’t f*ck it up while playing it but I’ll at least know all the parts. I also decided that Holier Than Thou is probably too tough for my next project so I’m going to try My Friend Of Misery which is another one of my favorites off the Black Album and seems to have an easier (and slower) drum part. We shall see. I’m still waiting for The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums
I didn’t get to post yesterday but I’ve still be playing on a daily basis. I’m pretty psyched about my progress. I’ve been continuing to work on ”Enter Sandman” and have learned everything up through the final outro section (where things switch back to toms). I’ve also found that I’ve been entering that cool zone which I’m familiar with from practicing guitar where your body just kind of takes over and does what you’ve taught it to do instead of making you think about everything you’re doing. It seems that’s when the best performances happen. After I get Sandman down, I think I’m going to try “Holier Than Thou”. It’s one of my favorites off the Black Album
One other thing that I’ve noticed is that after about 2 hours of practice, my bass drum work starts to get sloppy. I’m using the heels up technique because 1) it seems easier for me and 2) I read that it is the preferred method for rock and metal music. Anyhow, after practicing for awhile, my shin and leg start to kind of get like jelly…it doesn’t feel fatiqued really, just sort of like I’m losing some of the precise control I had at the start of my practice session. It makes doing faster consecutive hits (like two eighths in a row) difficult to keep tight and precise. I’m assuming (and hoping) this is just a matter of practicing more and building up endurance. I’ll keep at it. ’Til next time…
Today marks the end of 1 week of drum lessons at home. In addition to having an absolute blast learning to play, I’ve accomplished the following:
- set up the Alesis DM6 Kit Performance Electronic Drumset
- learned several basic rock beats
- learned “Back In Black” by AC/DC in it’s entirety
- learned “Enter Sandman” by Metallica through the guitar solo
- generally improved my overall technique and timing
Not bad for a week’s work of at-home drum lessons I’d say. This week I’m going to try to knockout the rest of Sandman (or at least most of it) and start working on some rudiments, assuming I get The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums
Got in some good practice time today and am now pretty comfortable with “Enter Sandman” through the verse and 1st chorus. I know the 2nd verse and chorus beats as well but the little part in between where the main riff plays again has a fill in the 4th measure that for whatever reason is proving a little tricky for me. It sounds so simple on the record and I’m sure it is…just getting myself to hit the snare on 1 as opposed to the kick has me cursing. It’s that limb independence thing again I guess. I’ve also worked in the open hi-hat in the fill at the end of the “Back In Black” verses so that just leaves me the measure leading out of the interlude to nail down and I’ve got the whole song. Not bad for just a week I think. I ordered
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums
module a bit more. They give you 10 preset kits and then you can save 5 of your own kits in provided slots. I’ve found the snare is not loud enough in general on this kit so I ended up adjusting the volume of that in the module Voice menu (you can do this for all the drums and cymbals, which is pretty cool) and that improved things greatly. After tweaking all the volumes to the way I wanted them, I saved that as my kit. I also wanted to figure out how to turn the ride cymbal into a second crash because during the tom part of Enter Sandman I was breaking my back trying to get to the lefthand side one. It turned out to be incredibly simple so now I have two crashes in my saved kit.
“Back In Black” gets more and more refined the more I play it and the intro to Enter Sandman isn’t quite as raggedy. The verses and prechorus are pretty simple and I basically have them. I’m hoping to tackle the chorus next…it seems pretty complex to me but I’m sure it’s child’s play to anyone with more than a few days experience like yours truly. I really need to start buckling down on drum rudiments and other fundamentals. My flams in the AC/DC tune aren’t consistent at all and I know the other rudiments would help me as well. Soon, I promise, soon.
