*HEY Y’ALL! Hope you enjoy this video. This is one of those lessons that I believe can help out a ton of people. If you think so too, do me a solid and share it somewhere! Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or just send it to a buddy in a DM! Thanks, man* 🤓🤘🏽
Hey brother, LOVE your channel. I'm a bass player that has been goofing on the drums since I was about 20. For me I just love that feeling I get after playing for a while, like I'm floating off the throne. Must be an endorphin high or something, but it's flat out FUN, something I never quite experience playing bass or guitar. After all these years I've been looking to find exercises to make myself decent enough to sit at a kit and fool around with friends [at my age drummers have dropped out of the scene I guess from age and physical requirements of hauling siht around to gigs] because hanging in the jam room with only guitars jacking off ain't no fun...thanks so much for your clear, concise, useful lessons. Stay cool.
Been playing for 40 years and my last lessons were back then. Your video and and teaching skills are fantastic and already implementing better use of off beat notes and grooves in my playing. Now to go grab a shirt or two! Even the independence video gave a great refresher . Huge fan and will be absorbing it all. Thanks Rob!
Hey Rob ..just to let you know attained a MERIT mark for my Grade 7 Rockschool drum exam on Tuesday this week 13th December 2022... Some of that was down to your teaching I watch now and again ... Best wishes... Colin Essex UK
I'm not new to drumming , but I was never really any good. I could hold a solid beat and that was about all. Returned to drumming after fifteen years with much more insight than I had before , mainly due to watching your awesome videos . It''s great you include the newbie, or the uneducated among us. Many many thanks man , you really DO help with our struggle to get it right. Subbed you just last week , should have been years ago . Peace bro and again, many thanks ☮☮☮
Another solid video Rob. You have no idea how much you have helped me. Your delivery and style makes it seem like it is just the two of us doing a lesson. Way to go dude!
Truth here. Rob I watched all your vids and at first I looked for misinformation where I could say"Man what?" and never found anything wrong or any BS, everything you say can help anybody who needs help by taking time to listen. Pal you're the straight up real deal and I thank you.
Been playing Blues jazz and some bluegrass On guitar bass mandolin little bit of piano Over 25 years now just started Getting serious about drums that man Rob Brown is my drum guru.. That plus some drumeo and 80/20 drummers is all you need.
Great advice, Rob, and so true that ‘we drummers’ need to lock-on to the tempo through any means possible and keep it there. I was on stage 3 days ago and watched the lead guitarist/singer bouncing his foot and I knew right where I needed to be. As you’ve mentioned before, if I’m counting off the tune, it helps to first sing a few of the lyrics to myself to get the tempo right - whatever it takes! Thanks for your insights.
Since I was a kid, I’ve always thought of the timing as like the dogs that run the slalom at the dog shows. You can dance TASTEFULLY around the pins (beats), but the pins never move, and you must get every one of them. Do anything you want around a beat, just never loose sight of them. Everyone else, is counting on you keeping them.
Rob, In my younger years, I studied in Chicago with a guy named Phil Stanger. His teacher taught, (or mentored) Gene Krupa. Anyway, one of there first and most important things that he impressed on me, was that "As a drummer, your number one job is to keep time (groove)." I never forgot it, it was one of the most important and valuable things that I have learned. It's helped me become the drummer that I am now. (With the exception of all the great things I've learned from you! ) Thank you brother, keep doing what you do.
@@michaelmorgan6576 This was 70's- early 80's. He was at Frank's Drum Shop on Wabash. He was a great teacher. He prepared you and taught you everything he knew, to help you be a working drummer. He was a lot of fun too. Great guy.
I think he has a couple of exercises uploaded, other than that create your own, stuff like LF LH RF RH and then repeat, permute and chop rhythmically. Do it slowly, as cleanly as possible, change up the rhythm (slow, then triplet and then double it, to name one of a million examples). I also like to take exercises and syncopate them randomly, just anything that seems like it might come in handy on your kit. Most of all: just do it! Pick an exercise, stick with it. Sleep, do something else, try it again. You will make progress for sure.
@@minhuang8848 I think I just broke my barrier last night, one from an old exercise I was trying not real long ago. Was doing some pink floyd stuff last night where I was using it as a good excuse to throw triplets and hitting the kick when my hand is up and not down on the hats/rides....
Great video and great that you used livepbm. Started playing at the age of thirty. I try to keep within a range of 2 bpm around the tempo while playing. I always find it hard not to follow the singer when they sing around the time. Do you have any advice? Greetings from the Netherlands
This is the best out there! Also, try something else with the kit.. Your voice. Speak or sing something along, at first it's kinda odd, but quickly becomes a deeper pocket 😀
Hey Rob! I was wondering if you would like to do a video about drummers hitting a plateau. For example, how to deal with it and mostly, how do you know if a drummer that is feeling like he is not getting better is actually hitting a plateau or if he is just not patient enough! I think it would be awsome :D
I'm diggin the 5A rebound for smaller/quieter gigs and the forwards for louder shows. I tried the fg classic 5A, but I don't like the tip nearly as much. Those Firegrain acorns sound and feel great on the cymbals in my opinion.
At the risk of sounding douchebaggy, I'm never really counting, no. The only reason is that once you get used to feeling the pulse and you're always aware of the grid, you can really play whatever you want over the 1/4, whether straight time, odd time or note grouping, and never lose sight of the 1. That kind of thing just develops over time. But there's certainly nuthin' wrong with counting to yourself.
One scary problem I have occasionally, is gradually speeding up through the whole song. You are still playing 'in time' but everything is slowly speeding up. Quite often you don't even realise until you listen back to the live recording of the song. I find using LiveBPM really helps but do you have any other tips to prevent that?!
This is my problem as well! Just got live bpm. Hoping it will help when I play. But it's crazy how easily I speed up without knowing it until I'm in too deep and past the point of no return!
i find that when you listen to a metronome sound thats comfortable for you (high pitch, mid, low etc.) and you practice enough with it especially with slower tempos like 50-70 bpm. When i play live i can hear the metronome like kind of a catchy song, so as you're hearing the song you're also hearing metronome
Call me stupid, but I didn’t understand the “grid” you spoke of. Is that some fancy metronome/ears screen you can get to use live or is it something deeper that I just don’t comprehend?
Ross Gillis I think he means like the subdivision grid. An example being when you keep time, you can think of counting in a certain subdivision. So instead of just thinking of the quarter note pulse (1, 2, 3, 4) you can think of 16th notes (1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a) so that way when you play something that syncopated, like a fill, you play it with that grid in mind so that it’s played better in time. That’s what I understood from that at least
What is an “acceptable” variance if the target is 105 bpm? With a metronome click, I’m plus and minus 1-2 bpm over 30 consecutive minutes (103-107 w target being 105). Without a metronome, I’m plus and minus 6-10 bpm over 30 minutes (horrible I know). How much can a drummer waiver around the intended target and still be considered “acceptable?” Thank You! ✋🤠🤚
@@somenbwithabadhistoryteach5872 Really doesn't matter that much anyway. You want to be tight in smaller intervals, but if you go for an entire song or longer, pushing and pulling rarely hurts - what's more important is that you go there gradually. Which, really, you could go from 105 to 125 over 30 minutes and it would be lulling people so into trance, they might only notice if they actively think about fast it started out. Imperfections also kind of are what makes drumming cool, almost nobody plays entirely straight single strokes or triplets and nobody really wants to - it sounds bad and robotic after all. However jumping from 103-107 as OP mentioned and do so within a blink of an eye, people will notice you chopping up the grid and it might get sloppy, so try to keep the change as smooth as possible. Rob's performance is rock solid, if you have ten times as much variance you're probably still pretty good in your seat. Everything is acceptable when you're grooving, by the way, don't worry too much about that extra decimal. Practice is everything.
@@minhuang8848 trust me, I know that imperfections can improve drum parts, mine are full of them. Then they just chock it down to breaking it into an odd time signature, so I guess it works fine. If I can't finish one or two rudiments in one meter, I have found a way to break it while sounding smooth. I don't know the technical term and I don't care, it sounds nice and I like doing it.
Most assuredly the thing I struggle with most is keeping time with my stage band. I feel like I’m on the beat but they seem to fight me. It is probably my fault, but have you guys ever experienced this kind of thing?
Musicians who practice alone without a click develope bad habits and bring them to the group. This is what band practice if for, to work as a unit. Don't be afraid to mention inconsistencies to anyone in the band, that's how y'all improve.
I'm not a musician so I have no idea what subdivisions are nor a Grid lol Hahaahaha I just play the drums by feel and ear lol I love your videos tho they are awesome and you are awesome thank u for showing us and teaching us what u know God bless you
Rob Brown Man you just take a whole issue like timing or gospel or even jazz drumming and manage to give exactly what’s needed in 10 minutes. This is just crazy
*HEY Y’ALL! Hope you enjoy this video. This is one of those lessons that I believe can help out a ton of people. If you think so too, do me a solid and share it somewhere! Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or just send it to a buddy in a DM! Thanks, man* 🤓🤘🏽
love you and love your drums they sound dope let me get them
Hey brother, LOVE your channel. I'm a bass player that has been goofing on the drums since I was about 20. For me I just love that feeling I get after playing for a while, like I'm floating off the throne. Must be an endorphin high or something, but it's flat out FUN, something I never quite experience playing bass or guitar. After all these years I've been looking to find exercises to make myself decent enough to sit at a kit and fool around with friends [at my age drummers have dropped out of the scene I guess from age and physical requirements of hauling siht around to gigs] because hanging in the jam room with only guitars jacking off ain't no fun...thanks so much for your clear, concise, useful lessons. Stay cool.
Love how you give such great simple instruction that works Rob... like always !
Been playing for 40 years and my last lessons were back then. Your video and and teaching skills are fantastic and already implementing better use of off beat notes and grooves in my playing. Now to go grab a shirt or two! Even the independence video gave a great refresher . Huge fan and will be absorbing it all. Thanks Rob!
Rob, I'm insanely jealous that your one handed fills sound way more cool than my two handed ones.
I thought that too Paul. Excellent.
AND ON THE NINTH DAY GOD SPOKE AND HE SAID “LET THERE BE TIMING”
...and thankfully he gave us dudes like Rob to break it down for everyone 👍🏻
This dudes channel is so underrated it’s stupid, like if u think he needs to team up with drumeo 🙏🏻
I've been a traditional grip, jazz/rock loving player over 5 decades. Rob is real. You can't fool me, and you don't. Fine player! Cheers!
Hey Rob ..just to let you know attained a MERIT mark for my Grade 7 Rockschool drum exam on Tuesday this week 13th December 2022...
Some of that was down to your teaching I watch now and again ...
Best wishes...
Colin
Essex
UK
That’s cool man. Congrats 👊🏽
I'm not new to drumming , but I was never really any good. I could hold a solid beat and that was about all. Returned to drumming after fifteen years with much more insight than I had before , mainly due to watching your awesome videos . It''s great you include the newbie, or the uneducated among us. Many many thanks man , you really DO help with our struggle to get it right. Subbed you just last week , should have been years ago . Peace bro and again, many thanks ☮☮☮
The lead hand demonstration is super legit 👍🏾
'Turn on your grid' ... best advice ever, Rob!
Master of the click
Another solid video Rob. You have no idea how much you have helped me. Your delivery and style makes it seem like it is just the two of us doing a lesson. Way to go dude!
Truth here. Rob I watched all your vids and at first I looked for misinformation where I could say"Man what?" and never found anything wrong or any BS, everything you say can help anybody who needs help by taking time to listen. Pal you're the straight up real deal and I thank you.
Dropping the left stick and following the metronome with your right hand is pure genius for catching any timing errors ... love it!
Been playing Blues jazz and some bluegrass On guitar bass mandolin little bit of piano Over 25 years now just started Getting serious about drums that man Rob Brown is my drum guru.. That plus some drumeo and 80/20 drummers is all you need.
The last part of left hand not really hitting the drums is so cool !
Great advice, Rob, and so true that ‘we drummers’ need to lock-on to the tempo through any means possible and keep it there. I was on stage 3 days ago and watched the lead guitarist/singer bouncing his foot and I knew right where I needed to be. As you’ve mentioned before, if I’m counting off the tune, it helps to first sing a few of the lyrics to myself to get the tempo right - whatever it takes! Thanks for your insights.
Hello Rob, thanks for your tipps!
you manage to explain to me how i should feel about timing. You wizard
Best drum instructor on RUclips. Period. Dude, your videos are crazy helpful. I improve every time I practice and employ your tips.
Luv you Rob Brown....you're an awesome educator!!!
Great tips Rob!! Love your videos!!
Since I was a kid, I’ve always thought of the timing as like the dogs that run the slalom at the dog shows. You can dance TASTEFULLY around the pins (beats), but the pins never move, and you must get every one of them. Do anything you want around a beat, just never loose sight of them. Everyone else, is counting on you keeping them.
Discovered LiveBPM a few years back, absolutely love it!
Rob, In my younger years, I studied in Chicago with a guy named Phil Stanger. His teacher taught, (or mentored) Gene Krupa. Anyway, one of there first and most important things that he impressed on me, was that "As a drummer, your number one job is to keep time (groove)."
I never forgot it, it was one of the most important and valuable things that I have learned. It's helped me become the drummer that I am now. (With the exception of all the great things I've learned from you! )
Thank you brother, keep doing what you do.
You mention Phil Stanger drum teacher in Chicago!
(29 E Jackson blv).
How lucky 🍀 we are to come across with such a great drum teachers.
@@michaelmorgan6576 This was 70's- early 80's. He was at Frank's Drum Shop on Wabash. He was a great teacher. He prepared you and taught you everything he knew, to help you be a working drummer. He was a lot of fun too. Great guy.
Love it!
Very helpful. Can you do a video on foot hand independence ? That's my deepest struggle
Same here.
I think he has a couple of exercises uploaded, other than that create your own, stuff like LF LH RF RH and then repeat, permute and chop rhythmically. Do it slowly, as cleanly as possible, change up the rhythm (slow, then triplet and then double it, to name one of a million examples).
I also like to take exercises and syncopate them randomly, just anything that seems like it might come in handy on your kit. Most of all: just do it! Pick an exercise, stick with it. Sleep, do something else, try it again. You will make progress for sure.
@@minhuang8848 I think I just broke my barrier last night, one from an old exercise I was trying not real long ago. Was doing some pink floyd stuff last night where I was using it as a good excuse to throw triplets and hitting the kick when my hand is up and not down on the hats/rides....
@@greenheadband Neat, now keep it going for six months or so and do more exercises. You won't believe yourself when you're done
Great points all around!
Consistent tiiming is definitely 1 of my greatest weakness.
Great video and great that you used livepbm. Started playing at the age of thirty. I try to keep within a range of 2 bpm around the tempo while playing. I always find it hard not to follow the singer when they sing around the time. Do you have any advice? Greetings from the Netherlands
Great tips and they do indeed work. Thanks for taking the time.
Wow, that was solid as a rock. Impressive.
You're amazing, man! Thanks for your videos !
Thank you for this Rob! Very very helpful!
Great vid Rob. Always so helpful. Thanks buddy.
Thank you so very much. I'm learning a tremendous amount from your videos, and enjoying every bit of it.
Very informative vid thank you for sharing Rob Brown
Thank you
Great lesson! Not everyone has "it" for instruction....you have it! Subscribed
Nice exercises i’ll definitely check out the other two vids
You’re the man!
I’m in need of better timing!
Great video! Love the concepts.
You're the best Ron this is Zydeco Joe from San Diego I learned a lot from Old School drummer I'll buy some more second line and Zydeco Beats
This is the best out there! Also, try something else with the kit.. Your voice. Speak or sing something along, at first it's kinda odd, but quickly becomes a deeper pocket 😀
Hey Rob, what application did you use in telling the tempo while playing
Thank you man.
first and great vid man! loved it so much
Thanks
Hi Rob..! Very good as all your vidéos ! Thanks vert much !
JOËL ( from France)
France 🇫🇷 Cool stuff. Shout out from Canada 🇨🇦
1. Establish the tempo
2. Turn on your grid
3. Play on the grid
Hey Rob! I was wondering if you would like to do a video about drummers hitting a plateau. For example, how to deal with it and mostly, how do you know if a drummer that is feeling like he is not getting better is actually hitting a plateau or if he is just not patient enough! I think it would be awsome :D
Yayy, new video! Oh yeah, are those fire grain rebound 5b's? I freaking love those sticks!
5As actually, but yea. Great sticks. Promark all day 🏆
I'm diggin the 5A rebound for smaller/quieter gigs and the forwards for louder shows. I tried the fg classic 5A, but I don't like the tip nearly as much. Those Firegrain acorns sound and feel great on the cymbals in my opinion.
@@RobBeatdownBrown nice
doesn't get any better, guys. he should be internationally known!
what app did you use at the beginning where you demonstrated the fluctuation of your time keeping?
doog looked like live bpm to me.
@@tdrum21 thanks so much 🙏
@@tdrum21 It sure is, really great tool for keeping tempo when you can't just crank out the exact bpm.
Look up live bpm in Google play, for android anyway. Surely same for iPhone. I have that app
Rob, do you ever actually count to yourself internally while playing? I find that helps during fills, transitions, etc.
At the risk of sounding douchebaggy, I'm never really counting, no. The only reason is that once you get used to feeling the pulse and you're always aware of the grid, you can really play whatever you want over the 1/4, whether straight time, odd time or note grouping, and never lose sight of the 1. That kind of thing just develops over time. But there's certainly nuthin' wrong with counting to yourself.
@@RobBeatdownBrown OK that's good to know, thanks man.
Thank you for providing these resources! What is a reasonable expectation when not playing with a click track or metronome? 2-4 bpm either way? 1 bpm?
How can I train seeing the grid better? Do I count it out loud or is there other things how I can train to improve that? :)
One scary problem I have occasionally, is gradually speeding up through the whole song. You are still playing 'in time' but everything is slowly speeding up. Quite often you don't even realise until you listen back to the live recording of the song. I find using LiveBPM really helps but do you have any other tips to prevent that?!
This is my problem as well! Just got live bpm. Hoping it will help when I play. But it's crazy how easily I speed up without knowing it until I'm in too deep and past the point of no return!
i find that when you listen to a metronome sound thats comfortable for you (high pitch, mid, low etc.) and you practice enough with it especially with slower tempos like 50-70 bpm.
When i play live i can hear the metronome like kind of a catchy song, so as you're hearing the song you're also hearing metronome
Hi can someone please explain the grid, I'm struggling to understand it. Is it a physical thing or just a concept and how do you use it?
Honestly, keeping good and consistent time is far more valuable than crazy speed and fills.
Please Rob what brand and model are the studio monitors?
Call me stupid, but I didn’t understand the “grid” you spoke of. Is that some fancy metronome/ears screen you can get to use live or is it something deeper that I just don’t comprehend?
Ross Gillis I think he means like the subdivision grid.
An example being when you keep time, you can think of counting in a certain subdivision. So instead of just thinking of the quarter note pulse (1, 2, 3, 4) you can think of 16th notes (1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a) so that way when you play something that syncopated, like a fill, you play it with that grid in mind so that it’s played better in time. That’s what I understood from that at least
Sebastian Crow: Makes sense. I’ve heard Rob use the “grid” term before but didn’t know what that term meant. Your explanation seems right on.
What is an “acceptable” variance if the target is 105 bpm?
With a metronome click, I’m plus and minus 1-2 bpm over 30 consecutive minutes (103-107 w target being 105).
Without a metronome, I’m plus and minus 6-10 bpm over 30 minutes (horrible I know).
How much can a drummer waiver around the intended target and still be considered “acceptable?”
Thank You! ✋🤠🤚
Three is acceptable.
^
@@somenbwithabadhistoryteach5872 Really doesn't matter that much anyway. You want to be tight in smaller intervals, but if you go for an entire song or longer, pushing and pulling rarely hurts - what's more important is that you go there gradually. Which, really, you could go from 105 to 125 over 30 minutes and it would be lulling people so into trance, they might only notice if they actively think about fast it started out.
Imperfections also kind of are what makes drumming cool, almost nobody plays entirely straight single strokes or triplets and nobody really wants to - it sounds bad and robotic after all.
However jumping from 103-107 as OP mentioned and do so within a blink of an eye, people will notice you chopping up the grid and it might get sloppy, so try to keep the change as smooth as possible. Rob's performance is rock solid, if you have ten times as much variance you're probably still pretty good in your seat.
Everything is acceptable when you're grooving, by the way, don't worry too much about that extra decimal. Practice is everything.
@@minhuang8848 trust me, I know that imperfections can improve drum parts, mine are full of them. Then they just chock it down to breaking it into an odd time signature, so I guess it works fine. If I can't finish one or two rudiments in one meter, I have found a way to break it while sounding smooth. I don't know the technical term and I don't care, it sounds nice and I like doing it.
It’s ok for music to breathe and flow with the energy. That said, a gradual flux of plus/minus 2-3 BPM is barely noticeable in a live performance.
This and your 3 rudiment excercise has streamlined my practice a good deal. Good stuff my man
Most assuredly the thing I struggle with most is keeping time with my stage band. I feel like I’m on the beat but they seem to fight me. It is probably my fault, but have you guys ever experienced this kind of thing?
Here is what you need to remember--it is the responsibility of EVERYONE in the band to keep time, not just you. You shouldn't have to fight them.
Musicians who practice alone without a click develope bad habits and bring them to the group. This is what band practice if for, to work as a unit. Don't be afraid to mention inconsistencies to anyone in the band, that's how y'all improve.
スゲー🎵
❤
I need a different feel to play bossa nova OK my teacher my name is dadzi I from in Haiti I am a drummer
👌🏽🔥
🍻
🍻
Where you get the live bpm
App Store
@@RobBeatdownBrown COOLIO
I should stop watching these video’s, just before I need to go to work… :)
Subdivision, Grid , huh?
Yup 💯
I'm not a musician so I have no idea what subdivisions are nor a Grid lol Hahaahaha I just play the drums by feel and ear lol I love your videos tho they are awesome and you are awesome thank u for showing us and teaching us what u know God bless you
My brain hurts
Haha how many of you could Hear the hand without stick?
Find me a better educational drum channel, I'll wait
Hey, there are some great channels out here, man........I'ma go ahead and agree with you, tho 😏heehee
Rob Brown Man you just take a whole issue like timing or gospel or even jazz drumming and manage to give exactly what’s needed in 10 minutes. This is just crazy
You got some interference noise. Have a listen.
Quite frankly, more musicians should. Lmao