1OO1

Rhythm fundamentals with Meytal.

Fatback exercise

So I got compliments from my teacher today for the routine he gave me to exercise last time. That's the pattern I played.
Neo-Drummer - Fatback exercise by neo-drummer

Lessons learned

I had 3 drum lessons so far. Here you are some ideas which I learned.

• You are using the gravity to do the work on the drums. I.e. You do not hit the drums, but you guide the stick to fall well.
• Same with the pedals. You have your feet rested on the pedal, then when you want a kick, you push away your feet from the pedal, then let it fall back to make the sound.
• You are 'dancing' on the pedal rather than pushing it (hard).
• No big movements. You are close to the instrument, lean forward, and let the sticks flow on the drums. No need for theatrical movements. (See my former video for reference.)
• When you hit the snare you can imagine that you are dropping a rubber ball. It's a very similar feeling. (Indeed!) You give some initial speed, let it fall, let it bounce, then you catch it.
• Rim shots on the snare, but not on the toms. ;)
• Alternating hands during fills are good. If you finish on the crash cymbal, take care that you finish with the left hand. If you finish on the ride, take care that you finish with the right hand. Assuming crash cymbal is on the left, while the ride is on the right.

Drumming System first impressions

After watching the first ~3 DVDs of the Drumming System out of the 20 I can tell that Mike is chatty and thorough; Still, It's good to be reassured about basics and I already decided working more with the metronome and I'll practice the patterns he suggested too; The first ones are very basic but you can find some interesting ones quickly. What's totally awesome: play-along songs without drum tracks are included! :) I was about to prepare my own such songs but it would take too much time to be serious about it.

My favorite quote from Mike: "We hit things, and people like it. How cool is that?" ;)

Drumming System

I ordered the Drumming System DVD package at 50% off. They claim it's on sale b/c the packages are not sealed. I.e. I guess these are the returned copies of the money-back guarantee program of theirs. Fine! I don't care, especially b/c they also gave on-line access for the same material which is much more convenient! That's a great deal! Or did I just buy access rights to an expensive set of videos which also have free alternative? Well, I'll let you know.

Mike Michalkow's Drumming System DVD package

Blast from the past

Süleyman showed me some patterns which I can easily practice on my own back in January. It's funny to see that I improved so much since then so these patterns are not difficult for me anymore. Watch & learn! :)

Four drum patterns to practice

Compressors explained

I found this great, easy to understand tutorial for compressors. After reading this I understand the concept & its actual use to compress the crash cymbal by the kick drum. That's the effect I tried to explain in my previous post. I still lack the experience to properly configure the buses & the compressors in Addictive Drums so I rely on the presets; maybe once if I have some time to play around with it.

Lessons on YouTube

Check out this awesome resource of drum lessons! E.g. this one is about ghost notes:

The guide

So I thought since I'm already in the music shop I ask if they have some books for drummers. The guy showed me a thick & dusty book. I wasn't very impressed. He kept on searching and found this one:

Pocket Rhythms for drums by Dirk Brand

The book contains explanation of the musical notation and instructions on how to use the book in both English and German language. (Awesome!) Each page has a pattern for the hi-hat, snare drum, bass drum and the pedaled hi-hat which you can practice together. The funny thing is that the pages are cut into four pieces so you can combine the patterns from the different pages. Basically the book contains 40^4 = 2.56 million grooves which you can practice. Times 2 if you turn the book upside down. Since it also contained a CD the choice was obvious. You can listen to the CD to copy not just the pattern but the feeling of the music style as well. When I left the shop I had everything to do some serious drumming over the weekend.

5.12 million grooves in one book