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Ardent15 wrote: Exactly, and I would add that it's not about chops vs musicality, it's chops FOR THE PURPOSE OF musicality.

Chops are a means to an end. The great players know this.

Right on!

Flams and accents.

Working those hard for a while always seems to kick my singles into a new gear.

One kinda silly exercise I came up with, when I was really bored one day, was to tape a couple of pieces of tissue paper between two chairs and practice rudiments on them without ripping the paper-- I think I came up with that after watching an old Kung Fu movie! Anyways, that started me on a trip of trying to play as quiet as possible on the pad while increasing my tempos. Doing that for a couple months made me feel like I swapped out my hands for someone else's, in a good way.

Then I got tendonitis and had to take a few months off. C'est La Vie.

N

littlegrooves wrote:Flams and accents.

Working those hard for a while always seems to kick my singles into a new gear.

One kinda silly exercise I came up with, when I was really bored one day, was to tape a couple of pieces of tissue paper between two chairs and practice rudiments on them without ripping the paper-- I think I came up with that after watching an old Kung Fu movie! Anyways, that started me on a trip of trying to play as quiet as possible on the pad while increasing my tempos. Doing that for a couple months made me feel like I swapped out my hands for someone else's, in a good way.

Then I got tendonitis and had to take a few months off. C'est La Vie.

This is a result of practicing technique. Learn some songs. That will make you a better drummer. Not playing on paper. Play something melodic on your drums with rlrlrlrl etc.. on the hands continuously. Do it with dynamics and accents. This will give you more bang then playing on paper or a pad.

To me a good technique workout should be rooted in music. Good technique isn't first and foremost about speed. That's something you acquire over time. Good technique is a natural relaxed movement played with good time and getting a great sound. Playing faster than you can hear is useless anyway, but if you want to hear faster you have to work on that as well, so I recommend making that the real mental focus of your technique workout.

Running all sorts of stickings through all sorts of groupings and note values and all the possible accents is great for your mind, not just for your hands. My way of practicing technique is that I have a continually evolving set of patterns I go through. I go through them on the pad at home and then I do the same exercises at the kit with some sort of foot ostinato under it. On the kit, depending on where I put my hands this is both solo and groove exercises, then I make a note of the patterns that I had some trouble with on the kit and these are what I will repeat more on the pad and just let my mind and hands work on whenever I have nothing else to do.

My routine got a bit long, but the soulution is as simple there as it was on the guitar for me. I simply spread it over two days. This summer will be interesting though, because I will be able to do my whole routine every day with plenty of rest between the different sections for two months straight, and get to rehearse with different bands every evening. Should be a lot of fun and give some good results.

Jim Richman wrote: Learn some songs. That will make you a better drummer.

Be careful with the wisdom, I almost fell out from the profundity.

Jim Richman wrote:
Learn some songs. That will make you a better drummer.

After years of practice, I'm thinking that is truly the most musical way to improve. Told by a talented drummer like you it is even more true!
Thanks
M-

lets not forget about hitting the pad while watching tv or a movie. just use the couch, seat or pillow. if your on the puter reading HOD posts have the pad there and get to it. theres plenty of time to work on hands. theres nothing wrong with the pad folks. i often practice one hand at a time. lounging on the couch i will prop a pad up somewhere and get the trad left hand going. pretty sure every drummer does this.

So weird to see Weckl and others talking finger control. Mangini held a world record and during my lessons with him he always maintained that it's all wrist. I still play that way today (although not nearly at his level).

Jeremy Smirnoff wrote:So weird to see Weckl and others talking finger control. Mangini held a world record and during my lessons with him he always maintained that it's all wrist. I still play that way today (although not nearly at his level).

I'm a big believer in fingers, inertia, all the tricks, but I also think it's a lot easier to master those things after you've developed some wrist and forearm power. A lot of guys who've grown up with only fingers seem to lack some power in the playing ... but that's just a subjective observation.

I've figured out a trick... FOAM. it's the perfect playing surface, gives you the rebound absorption of a pillow while having a little bit of rebound.