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How to Practice Techniques so they are Useful

DsDrummer

Senior Member
Hey everyone,

So lately I've really been sitting down at the pad and have been practicing my technique, specifically Moeller (whip, tap, up,) and Gladstone (Push/Pull) to create efficiency in my playing. I'm getting much better at this by just isolating my hands and making the technique work, but I feel like as soon as I reach the kit, all of this hard work goes to waste. What's a good way to work on these techniques in a way that allows me to use them at the kit?

thanks,
Dan
 
We all know the feeling. For me, and I think most other drummers I know, when you're working on new things or techniques, you have to keep at it for a very long time until you can execute them literally without thinking about it and you're totally confident in both execution and the time you're playing these things in. Once you have fully absorbed the movement into yourself, it finally becomes something you can confidently use in your music. Until then, trying to look for places to put these new moves you're just learning will backfire.

Make sure you use a metronome or play your exercises to music or something so that they are related to time and outside influence. When I'm learning new fills or anything really, using a click really helps me understand how that new move can fit within the pulse I'm playing against.
 
We all know the feeling. For me, and I think most other drummers I know, when you're working on new things or techniques, you have to keep at it for a very long time until you can execute them literally without thinking about it and you're totally confident in both execution and the time you're playing these things in. Once you have fully absorbed the movement into yourself, it finally becomes something you can confidently use in your music. Until then, trying to look for places to put these new moves you're just learning will backfire.

Make sure you use a metronome or play your exercises to music or something so that they are related to time and outside influence. When I'm learning new fills or anything really, using a click really helps me understand how that new move can fit within the pulse I'm playing against.

Gotcha man, Hopefully this persistence will pay off. Thanks for the advice
 
Hey everyone,

So lately I've really been sitting down at the pad and have been practicing my technique, specifically Moeller (whip, tap, up,) and Gladstone (Push/Pull) to create efficiency in my playing. I'm getting much better at this by just isolating my hands and making the technique work, but I feel like as soon as I reach the kit, all of this hard work goes to waste. What's a good way to work on these techniques in a way that allows me to use them at the kit?

thanks,
Dan
Find the rudiments and stickings that most require and exercise the movements, then apply those to the drum set. Also keeping this in mind when you practice coordination and independence stuff.
 
Yeah the pad is never going to feel exactly like any element of your drum kit, but with time the techniques you've developed on the pad will surely find their way into your kit playing. I used to feel the same way as you about pad practice and was very frustrated with the huge difference in feel, but it's gotten better over the years.

Pad practice has been key in my personal technique development since I do not always have the possibility practice on the kit (gotta mention here that were it possible, I would always choose real drums over the pad). So I'd suggest you stick at it and the results will show sooner or later.
 
Why not approach the application of the technique on the drum set in the same way you approach learning it on the pad?

I.e. slow, methodical, one movement (or combination of limb motions) at a time.

I think this is the key, you have to exercise on the kit as you do on the pad. For ex. if you are playing triplets to practice the moeller movements, play those triplets on the kit, play the accents on the toms and the taps on the snare, when you are doing this pay special attention in applying the moeller correctly. The difference with the pad is that on the kit you have to move your arms to differents directions while you are playing the accents. Also applying moeller to grooves it's other thing to consider and practice, for. ex the movement you have to do to play accented eight notes on the hats playing the accent on the edge and the non-accented with the tip of stick on the body, the backbeat on the snare playing a rimshot with the accented and ghost notes with non-accented. All of this movements can be played with a moeller technique and you have to practise on the kit as well as you did on the pad. Sry for my bad english.
 
Hey everyone,

So lately I've really been sitting down at the pad and have been practicing my technique, specifically Moeller (whip, tap, up,) and Gladstone (Push/Pull) to create efficiency in my playing. I'm getting much better at this by just isolating my hands and making the technique work, but I feel like as soon as I reach the kit, all of this hard work goes to waste. What's a good way to work on these techniques in a way that allows me to use them at the kit?

thanks,
Dan

Great post - this is my whole M.O. with the technique stuff. It sounds obvious, but you have to hone in on exercises that help on the kit. I found it’s two things - what specific exercises you’re playing, and how you’re playing them.

IMO, when you hop from the pad to the kit - the work on the pad should show in a positive way, immediately. It does take a while to adjust your touch, but proper wok on the pad should allow those adjustments to be made easier and more quickly:

Why not approach the application of the technique on the drum set in the same way you approach learning it on the pad?

I.e. slow, methodical, one movement (or combination of limb motions) at a time.
 
I know the techniques for hands and feet are different, but the rudiments aren't. Why not try the same rudiments on the drum kit using various drums and limbs? Not only will this add to the challenge, it will owrk on limb independence, and you might get some cool fill ideas ( paradiddle with the right hand on a tom and left foot on theHH, while the left hand comps on the snare... stuff like that)
 
Hey everyone,

So lately I've really been sitting down at the pad and have been practicing my technique, specifically Moeller (whip, tap, up,) and Gladstone (Push/Pull) to create efficiency in my playing.

If your practice isn't paying off in your playing, then perhaps your practice methods are not as sound as you think. First, we all wish that our drums felt like pads: great rebound with a consistent response on all areas. So you'll definitely need to practice Moeller and Gladstone techniques on the kit, as well as on the pad. There will be some adjustment, because the rebound will be different (more so on the hi-hat, less so on the floor tom).

Also, where in your playing do you hope to see improvement? You need to be slowly playing the things you already play -- beats, fills, and phrases -- with the technique you wish to acquire. Sit down and analyze a lick, and ask yourself: does this sticking/pattern/whatever lend itself to Moeller whips? Not all phrases will fit neatly into Moeller or Gladstone; some techniques are specific to one piece of music.

In general, technique is not just going to "happen" -- you need lots of reps, at various speeds, over many days, on the material you wish to improve, in order for it to sink in. As you go forward, it's more efficient to force yourself to learn new material slowly and with the proper technique, instead of "bashing" through the sticking, hoping to refine it later.

Good luck!
 
Try to practice as much as you can on a snare drum, practice pads have there place. You will achieve better results by practicing on the real thing. Guitar players, horn players,so on do not use practice guitars or horns. Use a practice pad for warm ups or at night when you cant play a real drum. To many people get the idea that a practice pad is for developing technique, get disappointed when it does not transfer over to the real thing.
 
Try to practice as much as you can on a snare drum, practice pads have there place. You will achieve better results by practicing on the real thing. Guitar players, horn players,so on do not use practice guitars or horns. Use a practice pad for warm ups or at night when you cant play a real drum. To many people get the idea that a practice pad is for developing technique, get disappointed when it does not transfer over to the real thing.

It’s true, you’re not going to play a gig on a practice pad, so putting in time on a snare drum is very important. But a pad is more than just a tool for warming up or playing at night - pads are great for learning technique. The extra bounce really helps reinforce rebound and if one practices the right things on a pad, the transition to the drums should be fairly easy.

Ultimately you will have to play an actual drum to work on touch, musicality, and so on. But a pad is always a great way to start, and even refine one’s hand technique.
 
I'm going to throw one more pebble in the pond.

Another approach is to shift your learning focus to repertoire over rudiments for a little while.

That is, learn songs note for note. This way, you'll come into contact with new technical material which is already in a musical context. Once you've mastered a part in its native habitat, you can then apply it in other similar - or dissimilar - musical contexts, as the case may be.

First off, this way you're going to challenge your existing technique in a way that is immediately useful.

Second, this way you can get into the thought process of the player who originally played the part and understand why they chose to play THAT part in THAT place and so when faced with similar choices of your own, you can make their thought process part of your own. You'll see how they chose to use a particular sticking, say, because of how it flows out of what they played prior and into what follows. Then you can take that principle and apply it to your own stuff.

I find this is a really good way to pick out holes in my own playing. I might have practiced stickings and coordination challenges umpteen ways and at a variety of tempos, but it never ceases to amaze me how many times I come across a tiny hole in my own technique/control when I try to play a part someone else has come up with. That's because each of us has particular strengths, or things that we emphasize in our practice or habits formed from our experiences practicing and gigging certain repertoire. So while another player might have fallen into a habit of playing a fill a certain way and with a certain sticking and have it become old hat to them, I might never have done it just that way and trying to imitate them takes me into an entirely new place and shows me something I never thought of or never really *owned* from my practice sessions. Moreover, it can show you new ways to apply what you already own.

This is one of the strengths of the "drum cover" culture we see on Youtube, etc. I've seen a lot of my younger students grow in leaps and bounds when working to cover stuff they sort of had no business trying to cover. Yo Yo Ma used this technique early on in his development to tackle material that many would've thought far beyond a player of his age and development. But, diligently hammering away at difficult passages two notes/one movement or bar at a time, he was able to push his technical abilities to the brink on a daily basis. So, you can take a transcription of something played by a drum hero and work it out piece by piece or you can even take a simple pop tune and try to get all the subtleties out of the drum part you can. Hell, man, try playing Ringo's fills just like Ringo. Good luck with that!

Mostly, this process gets you out of the physically dominated method of practice that a lot of drummers fall into. That is, we worry about Rs and Ls and this-foot-before-that-foot, etc.. We don't always do enough listening to music and thinking about developing parts that work in a musical context from the technical foundation we've built. This way, you're going to be doing as much listening as playing. And that's where the gold is.
 
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