Let’s talk a little about practice. After all, the most important thing in our business is high-quality performance. As we know, this cannot be achieved without systematic practice. Whenever you intend to improve your skills, start with small, easily achievable steps, but do them steadily and continuously, and they will lead you to lasting success. When you set yourself small, achievable goals, gradually making them more difficult and increasing their number, you will find them easy to accomplish, thereby strengthening your belief that you can easily improve.
Don’t forget about such an important thing as discipline. I recommend that you write down your lessons, limiting yourself in time, which will force you to approach your lessons with greater concentration and allow you to cherish every minute. You know, there are those who sit at their instrument for 4 hours a day and achieve less than those who practice for 15 minutes. It’s just that one spends time at the instrument, while the other practices.
First, decide what exactly you are going to do. I will give an example of my practice when I started playing the drums. This does not mean that you have to follow this exact plan. You can come up with your own plan that includes everything you need to do. I am giving my plan only as an example.
So, I worked on my hands separately for 30 minutes, then trained my legs for the same amount of time. During the second hour, I worked on coordination, playing exercises and analyzing styles. I devoted the third hour to analyzing pieces and playing them with recordings or backing tracks. The fourth hour I spent coming up with and orchestrating parts for songs by the bands I played in. That’s the general schedule. Now for the details.
Hands
- Exercises for the hands (16 strokes with each hand 10 times, 12 strokes with each hand 10 times, 8 strokes 10 times, 4 strokes 10 times, 2 strokes 10 times, 1 stroke and then in reverse, i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16).
- Exercises for the fingers (12 with each hand, 8, 4, 2, 1, etc.).
- Moller technique (triplets 1 per hand 10 times, 2 10 times, 3, 4; quartos 1 per hand 10 times, 2, 3, and 4). The tempo was also specific. For example, on Monday it was 80 beats per minute, on Tuesday 81, on Wednesday 82, and so I continued to increase the tempo by 1 unit every day. Sometimes I jumped by 5 units, sometimes by 10, but I found it more comfortable to jump by 1, because that way I didn’t notice the difference in tempo at all, and over the course of a week I increased by 7 units.
Legs
- Ladder exercise for the right and then the left foot, i.e. I played 4 quarter notes, 4 eighth notes, 4 triplets, 4 sixteenth notes, and then in reverse.
- I did the same with my left foot.
- I practiced sliding and heel-toe techniques, playing an ostinato beat with my hands and adding first 1 and 2 sixteenth notes of each beat on the bass drum, then 2 and 3, then 3 and 4, and then 4 and 1. Then 3 beats and 4 beats.
Coordination
I will not provide a complete list of the exercises I did, as the whole concept is described in my first book, Open Your Hands, Unleash Your Potential. I will only describe the meaning. I played an ostinato with my hands, and with my foot I made a full circle of all possible groupings of quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. At the same time, I played the hi-hat with my left hand. I did the same thing, but with my right hand. Then I played an ostinato with my leading hand and foot, and with my hand on the snare drum I made a circle of groupings, but continued to play 2 and 4 beats. I did the same with the hi-hat or ride, playing an ostinato with my foot and hand on the snare. Then I did the same with odd note groupings. Then I orchestrated and played it all. In addition, I analyzed various funk and Latin American patterns, which were already ready-made musical examples of using all the possibilities of coordination.
Analysis of works
I recorded many different songs that I needed for development or for working in a cover band. I first listened to and memorized the piece, trying to avoid writing it down on paper (don’t be ashamed, this comes with age; at first, I recommend using cheat sheets in the form of musical notation). Then I played some parts, and then played along with the recording. For a long time, I recorded songs just by listening to them, but then I found it very interesting to come up with certain interpretations, which forced me not only to listen, but also to play and improvise.
Composing parts
Until a certain point, I didn’t worry about this at all, but then I started to take composing parts very seriously. So that I wouldn’t have to redo anything. I play formal music, and I always pay attention to many nuances. For example, the tempo of the song, the pattern itself, whether there are swung sixteenths or not, the timing, etc. Ultimately, a drum part is like a separate piece of music that also needs to be orchestrated and arranged, while still being part of the music and not sticking out among all the other instruments. I learned this and practiced a lot.
Discipline
The most important thing in practice is to know exactly what you are going to do today. God forbid you sit down at the drums, scratch your head, and think, “What should I practice? What am I not good at?” Tomorrow the situation will be the same. Whatever you do, you must know exactly what you are practicing today.
My advice: make your schedule in the evening so that you can start right away in the morning. By making a to-do list in the evening, you start your day smoothly. You know exactly what you are going to do and in what order, and you have already gathered all the necessary materials. Record yourself and listen. Remember or write down your mistakes and start working on them immediately. Learn to hear yourself right at the moment of training, not just on the recording. That is concentration.
And one last tip as a bonus:
Write down what you have already done. Create a daily planner where you will list your tasks for the day, and then mark with a plus sign what you have done. Try to complete everything you have planned within the planned time frame. Don’t forget to mark your achievements and successes.
