Practicing the drums is something all drummers should put a lot of thought and effort in to. Let me be clear here...I am not as concerned with the AMOUNT of time that you put in to practicing the drums as I am the QUALITY of that time. I would rather you get 30 minutes of focused practice in than 3 hours of wandering, unfocused practice. Here are 3 very practical tips that will help you practice longer on those days that you have the time. And I think you'll find they're not what you think... Leave a comment below and let me know your tips for practicing the drums longer! Here's some more videos on practice for you: Practicing Drums | What Nobody Is Telling You: ruclips.net/video/9vSiv9olljI/видео.html STOP Practicing! ruclips.net/video/5q-AATSVI94/видео.html 3 Tips For More Effective Practice: ruclips.net/video/QCN6Z8THJfA/видео.html How REAL Drum Practice Sounds (1.5 Hours of suck): ruclips.net/video/XKaST7sII-E/видео.html
Total agree! Practice should also leave enough energy, concentration and enthousiasm for the real thing: band/orchestra repetitions, concerts and music creation.
Thanks! Life has been so busy. Stepping back mentally and figuring it out is a great idea. My lesson every two weeks is my oasis. Need to bring more progress to my teacher. My practice time is limited. Much appreciated!
Hey, I recently discovered your videos and I'm impressed. They are brief and very informative. I'm in medical school so I don't have the time to watch a 45min tutorial on something where the person is treating me like i've never touched a drum kit before. You get down to brass tacks.
sounds like something I asked a couple of days ago! Thanks very much for the lesson, progress is coming along very smoothly since I've started planning out what I need to get out of my practice.
Great video. Just what I needed at the moment... Could you do a video on cymbal maintenance? Cleaning and polishing different types of finishing. Thanks.
Those are indeed valid tips. Because of you, I do not use my phone during my practice session nor do I check social media in my breaks. The only time when I use my phone is when I have to use it as a metronome for "odd" speeds (aka, a slow speeds that are not easy to find on RUclips). However, the main motivator to have two-hour practice sessions is to focus on my independence and practicing songs I like that I wish to cover soon. Those two factors keep me highly engages when I am practicing. Although some would recommend shorter practice sessions (let's say an hour a day), I opt for 90 minutes or two hours. The first hour is dedicated to actual practicing (technique, independence, speed, or new grooves/genres). After that, I "reward" myself by playing songs (which is still practicing, but not as intensive as the other topics). Currently, I follow a few courses on Drumeo. However, I am tempted to purchase one of your courses because (1) you're such a laid-back person/teacher and (2) the free material you have provided on RUclips have been insightful to me over the past year or two. I feel that would be the best way to thank you for all the effort you have put into developing this community!
It took me a while to even figure out what goals I was aiming for. After a long time of freelance practice I realized I was playing basketball without a hoop. (The STOP IT video finally clicked!!) I had to set up some sort of long term goal in order to insure that I wasn’t ultimately wasting my time. I then set multiple short goals that supported my long term goals. Great video here. Reminds us to stay focused on the goals and not the distractions. 👍🏻
Started playing in '64 and never really practiced other than imitating 'Toad' lol.. This is a timely video because I am coming back into it after a few years with nowhere to play my kit.. I have zero discipline so I find your advice quite valuable right now.. thank you Stephen
Hey Stephen great topic. I'd like to share a technique I've used since I was a kid that I have found can be applied to more than music. As a little boy I did this for drumming because I really felt school was getting in the way of drumming! Seriously! I started using my minds eye to "watch myself playing the drums" anytime I wasn't at my drums! I would "practice" fills, beats, whole songs in my head. My muscles and limbs knew what to do when I did get behind the kit. This has worked very well for me to this day for drumming, welding, metal shaping, boxing, martial arts, shooting baskets and just about anything else where form can be measured. I once heard that anything that can be measured can be optimized. So we as humans can be much more productive and accurate if we literally put our minds to it. Kind of like "think before you speak" or "look before you leap" or my favorite " if you don't know what you are doing, don't do anything!!!" Hope someone finds this useful! Peace to all. .
patrick farley Visualization is such a powerful tool. I’m glad you use it that way...most think it’s a waste of time. But it’s not. It’s extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Just as you say, goals ! I am a working man, not a musician itself (I’d love to though) so my practice time is limited. What I have done is, I bought a method and the goal is to master one exercise at at time before even trying to me over to the next one. As per your other video - this fill sucks - I’m trying to apply Dynamics & groove to it
I just watched this video after a band practice where our goal as a band is to get 8 new songs down in 10 days. Nothing too complicated but i am still relatively new to the drums so some fills are pretty tough. So i guess thats my personal goal as well . You're videos really are great man!
Great tips, but my biggest issue is the physicality. After an hour of practicing i’m totally exhausted and drowning in my own sweat. How can i improve that?
Hey Stephen do you have a video on long term goal setting? I mean saying "I want to be a good jazz drummer" is too vague and "I want to be better at flams" is too specific. In addition I'm having a hard time finding some kind of progression. I don't know where I am in my learning because I feel like I'm all over the place. I'm practicing books like stick control for pad time, then doing grooves, then working on covers, then working on independence, then working on foot speed, then working on left foot, etc. I guess I'm some where in intermediate but I really wish I had something like a flow chart I could put together for progression...I guess so I knew what to plan out for goals, or what's next rather than youtube lesson roulette.
Other than the things you mentioned, for me personally, if I dont feel like practicing something that I need to practice, it helps to set rewards so it gets easier. That way I can start practicing something not so interesting knowing that i will do something more fun afterwards. Hope it helps. Cheers :)
Facilities is one of my personal issues. I get 2 sessions a week where I can practice for 2 hours. It helps me set individual practice goals, but it doesn't give me all the time I need to achieve the grand goals in the time I planned them, so have to be more realistic about that until availability changes.
I do put my phone on plane mode to practice it really helps keep those distractors away. I think setting goals for individual practice time is difficult for me :(
I can practice for hours the only problem I have is the occasional little girl looking in at me and saying Daddy can you please please please play another beat lol when I practice a drum fill I really practice a drum fill LOL!
@@StephenTaylorDrums oh kids our amazing shes 9 and learning the drums the right way not like I did so sometimes I actually asked her how something is played because I never learned rudiments or how to read music lol I'll say in about a year maybe two she'll be better than me lol
I really really really wish that sleeping, partying, and recreation were the only activities keeping me away from the drums and not the 12 hour work days
This comment has absolutely nothing to do with this video but you should do a run down of all your drum equipment and how you tune your drums like lets say I were to make this video I'm trying to describe I would maybe explain the tension I put on my tom tom batter heads and the tension I put on my resignation head same goes for all drums then I'd go on to what skins I use and if I stretch them and then cymbals and if you do anything to change the sounf of your cymbals and the sizes of my cymbals and then I'd go onto mics for the drums over heads and close mics. This I think would be a very cool video cause I think a lot of people would like to know what you use on your drums and how you make them sound so good.
Hey Stephen, what Drum throne do you use for tose long practice sessions? Im 6.4" and my back starts hurting after the first hour or two. Greetings from Paraguay!
Try Stick Control. George Lawrence Stone www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwiPz7P4z5XdAhXN-KQKHdu3CtcQFjAAegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbateriaipercussiovalls.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F08%2Fstick-control-for-snare-george-l-stone.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0dt1Y1GJXBxmimsHf3MqWD
Lots of videos and tutorials on you tube how to use this on a drum kit. Every hit can be done on same surface like snare, cymbal, tom , bass but ...you also can place each hit on another surface or have some more systems/prescriptions going on or add a hi hat foot, clave foot, etc. etc. You can add dynamics, use other sticks, brushes or sounds, etc. Millions of possibilities. At 40 bpm it sounds different than at 280 bpm. Do 1 pattern with hands and same time another with your feet. You can stay on 1 page but also can combine patterns of different pages. You can gradually shuffle more or less the patterns.
Hi, i practice for long periods of time so that’s not my issue. But i have a question: what is the benefit of practicing only one thing for hours? I’d be so bored. I use the pomodoro method so 25 min tops. So i’d love you to tell us why and how you do it ;)
Morgane Gautier I usually divide my practice up in to a couple of areas. 30-45 min each. But, there are times when I isolate only one item for long periods of time to really get it down. Generally my practice time consists of two to three big picture items.
WRITE DOWN THE GOALS, and then add time slots and divide time for each goal. Ex: 1hour double bass speed practice. Otherwise you might try to skip it if your bot feeling it
If you're filming yourself to post to social media in your PRACTICE time, then yes, it is. If you're simply pressing record to review yourself or using it as a tool in some way, then for me, no, it's not. For me it comes down to intent...that usually drives how much of a distraction it is for me...if that makes sense
Practicing the drums is something all drummers should put a lot of thought and effort in to. Let me be clear here...I am not as concerned with the AMOUNT of time that you put in to practicing the drums as I am the QUALITY of that time. I would rather you get 30 minutes of focused practice in than 3 hours of wandering, unfocused practice.
Here are 3 very practical tips that will help you practice longer on those days that you have the time. And I think you'll find they're not what you think...
Leave a comment below and let me know your tips for practicing the drums longer!
Here's some more videos on practice for you:
Practicing Drums | What Nobody Is Telling You:
ruclips.net/video/9vSiv9olljI/видео.html
STOP Practicing!
ruclips.net/video/5q-AATSVI94/видео.html
3 Tips For More Effective Practice:
ruclips.net/video/QCN6Z8THJfA/видео.html
How REAL Drum Practice Sounds (1.5 Hours of suck):
ruclips.net/video/XKaST7sII-E/видео.html
Total agree! Practice should also leave enough energy, concentration and enthousiasm for the real thing: band/orchestra repetitions, concerts and music creation.
Thanks! Life has been so busy. Stepping back mentally and figuring it out is a great idea. My lesson every two weeks is my oasis. Need to bring more progress to my teacher. My practice time is limited. Much appreciated!
Hey, I recently discovered your videos and I'm impressed. They are brief and very informative. I'm in medical school so I don't have the time to watch a 45min tutorial on something where the person is treating me like i've never touched a drum kit before. You get down to brass tacks.
Great tips
65 Drums thanks 🙏🏻
What a very insightful but short video. Thanks Stephen so much
Nick Ferrence You bet Nick...glad it helped
sounds like something I asked a couple of days ago! Thanks very much for the lesson, progress is coming along very smoothly since I've started planning out what I need to get out of my practice.
Harry Quantrill I get this question quite a bit Harry...seems like we all struggle with the same things lol
Your lessons are awesome and totally underrated dude!
I just wish more people get to see this, keep the good work!
Alex Parra Thanks so much Alex!
Great video. Just what I needed at the moment... Could you do a video on cymbal maintenance? Cleaning and polishing different types of finishing. Thanks.
Those are indeed valid tips. Because of you, I do not use my phone during my practice session nor do I check social media in my breaks. The only time when I use my phone is when I have to use it as a metronome for "odd" speeds (aka, a slow speeds that are not easy to find on RUclips). However, the main motivator to have two-hour practice sessions is to focus on my independence and practicing songs I like that I wish to cover soon. Those two factors keep me highly engages when I am practicing. Although some would recommend shorter practice sessions (let's say an hour a day), I opt for 90 minutes or two hours. The first hour is dedicated to actual practicing (technique, independence, speed, or new grooves/genres). After that, I "reward" myself by playing songs (which is still practicing, but not as intensive as the other topics).
Currently, I follow a few courses on Drumeo. However, I am tempted to purchase one of your courses because (1) you're such a laid-back person/teacher and (2) the free material you have provided on RUclips have been insightful to me over the past year or two. I feel that would be the best way to thank you for all the effort you have put into developing this community!
It took me a while to even figure out what goals I was aiming for. After a long time of freelance practice I realized I was playing basketball without a hoop. (The STOP IT video finally clicked!!) I had to set up some sort of long term goal in order to insure that I wasn’t ultimately wasting my time. I then set multiple short goals that supported my long term goals. Great video here. Reminds us to stay focused on the goals and not the distractions. 👍🏻
Started playing in '64 and never really practiced other than imitating 'Toad' lol.. This is a timely video because I am coming back into it after a few years with nowhere to play my kit.. I have zero discipline so I find your advice quite valuable right now.. thank you Stephen
You bet Bill...and welcome back to the fam brotha!
6:58 lol Great tips for setting goals for practicing time.
Always good Stephen, always!
meekoloco Thanks!
Hey Stephen great topic. I'd like to share a technique I've used since I was a kid that I have found can be applied to more than music. As a little boy I did this for drumming because I really felt school was getting in the way of drumming! Seriously! I started using my minds eye to "watch myself playing the drums" anytime I wasn't at my drums! I would "practice" fills, beats, whole songs in my head. My muscles and limbs knew what to do when I did get behind the kit. This has worked very well for me to this day for drumming, welding, metal shaping, boxing, martial arts, shooting baskets and just about anything else where form can be measured. I once heard that anything that can be measured can be optimized. So we as humans can be much more productive and accurate if we literally put our minds to it. Kind of like "think before you speak" or "look before you leap" or my favorite " if you don't know what you are doing, don't do anything!!!" Hope someone finds this useful! Peace to all.
.
patrick farley Visualization is such a powerful tool. I’m glad you use it that way...most think it’s a waste of time. But it’s not. It’s extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Just as you say, goals ! I am a working man, not a musician itself (I’d love to though) so my practice time is limited. What I have done is, I bought a method and the goal is to master one exercise at at time before even trying to me over to the next one. As per your other video - this fill sucks - I’m trying to apply Dynamics & groove to it
I just watched this video after a band practice where our goal as a band is to get 8 new songs down in 10 days. Nothing too complicated but i am still relatively new to the drums so some fills are pretty tough. So i guess thats my personal goal as well . You're videos really are great man!
Eric Brouse Glad you guys are setting goals! That’s awesome
@@StephenTaylorDrums it might be a stretch but we'll see how it goes ... trying to get 40 put down for january
5hrs non-stop...that's awesome
Great tips, but my biggest issue is the physicality. After an hour of practicing i’m totally exhausted and drowning in my own sweat. How can i improve that?
Hey Stephen do you have a video on long term goal setting? I mean saying "I want to be a good jazz drummer" is too vague and "I want to be better at flams" is too specific. In addition I'm having a hard time finding some kind of progression. I don't know where I am in my learning because I feel like I'm all over the place. I'm practicing books like stick control for pad time, then doing grooves, then working on covers, then working on independence, then working on foot speed, then working on left foot, etc. I guess I'm some where in intermediate but I really wish I had something like a flow chart I could put together for progression...I guess so I knew what to plan out for goals, or what's next rather than youtube lesson roulette.
Other than the things you mentioned, for me personally, if I dont feel like practicing something that I need to practice, it helps to set rewards so it gets easier. That way I can start practicing something not so interesting knowing that i will do something more fun afterwards. Hope it helps. Cheers :)
Facilities is one of my personal issues. I get 2 sessions a week where I can practice for 2 hours. It helps me set individual practice goals, but it doesn't give me all the time I need to achieve the grand goals in the time I planned them, so have to be more realistic about that until availability changes.
great topic
Thanks sir step for the advice..
You bet Carl
I do put my phone on plane mode to practice it really helps keep those distractors away. I think setting goals for individual practice time is difficult for me :(
I can practice for hours the only problem I have is the occasional little girl looking in at me and saying Daddy can you please please please play another beat lol when I practice a drum fill I really practice a drum fill LOL!
Sounds like she knows whats up ;^)
@@StephenTaylorDrums oh kids our amazing shes 9 and learning the drums the right way not like I did so sometimes I actually asked her how something is played because I never learned rudiments or how to read music lol I'll say in about a year maybe two she'll be better than me lol
If I’m going for speedy rudiment practice, there is nothingbetter than chugging a caffeine drink! Like, it really helps!
I really really really wish that sleeping, partying, and recreation were the only activities keeping me away from the drums and not the 12 hour work days
Rory Bray I completely understand this one Rory
This comment has absolutely nothing to do with this video but you should do a run down of all your drum equipment and how you tune your drums like lets say I were to make this video I'm trying to describe I would maybe explain the tension I put on my tom tom batter heads and the tension I put on my resignation head same goes for all drums then I'd go on to what skins I use and if I stretch them and then cymbals and if you do anything to change the sounf of your cymbals and the sizes of my cymbals and then I'd go onto mics for the drums over heads and close mics. This I think would be a very cool video cause I think a lot of people would like to know what you use on your drums and how you make them sound so good.
Hey Stephen, what Drum throne do you use for tose long practice sessions? Im 6.4" and my back starts hurting after the first hour or two. Greetings from Paraguay!
Can watching news in TV while practicing still distractions?
Hei Stephen what i should learn to introduct in my play some snare mearch beats? I think it will work verry well in church songs.
Try Stick Control. George Lawrence Stone www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwiPz7P4z5XdAhXN-KQKHdu3CtcQFjAAegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbateriaipercussiovalls.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F08%2Fstick-control-for-snare-george-l-stone.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0dt1Y1GJXBxmimsHf3MqWD
@@HenkJanDrums Thank you verry much sir!!!!!
Nice exercises used also used by contemporary world clas top drummers. Including rudiments.
@@HenkJanDrums Yes. This book is like gold!
Lots of videos and tutorials on you tube how to use this on a drum kit. Every hit can be done on same surface like snare, cymbal, tom , bass but ...you also can place each hit on another surface or have some more systems/prescriptions going on or add a hi hat foot, clave foot, etc. etc. You can add dynamics, use other sticks, brushes or sounds, etc. Millions of possibilities. At 40 bpm it sounds different than at 280 bpm. Do 1 pattern with hands and same time another with your feet. You can stay on 1 page but also can combine patterns of different pages. You can gradually shuffle more or less the patterns.
Hi, i practice for long periods of time so that’s not my issue. But i have a question: what is the benefit of practicing only one thing for hours? I’d be so bored. I use the pomodoro method so 25 min tops. So i’d love you to tell us why and how you do it ;)
Morgane Gautier I usually divide my practice up in to a couple of areas. 30-45 min each. But, there are times when I isolate only one item for long periods of time to really get it down. Generally my practice time consists of two to three big picture items.
WRITE DOWN THE GOALS, and then add time slots and divide time for each goal. Ex: 1hour double bass speed practice. Otherwise you might try to skip it if your bot feeling it
Camden D yes!
when i´m playing i am finished within 30 minutes, because my body just is completly destroyed after practicing. How can I improve that?
Need to work on your technique and then also being able to bring the intensity down for the sake of practice and improvement
@@StephenTaylorDrums okay thanks, I will try that
Ringo has said that he never practiced. He just played with his bands, pre Beatles and Beatles.
You mean I shouldn't practice while watch Seinfeld! Darn.
Is filming yourself a distraction? 🤔
If you're filming yourself to post to social media in your PRACTICE time, then yes, it is. If you're simply pressing record to review yourself or using it as a tool in some way, then for me, no, it's not. For me it comes down to intent...that usually drives how much of a distraction it is for me...if that makes sense
Yeah that makes sense. I’ve always had focus issues. I’m too recreational. Lol