{"id":1088,"date":"2015-04-22T09:57:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T16:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/blog\/?p=1088"},"modified":"2023-06-30T14:51:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T21:51:57","slug":"5-tips-to-practice-drums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/5-tips-to-practice-drums\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Practice Drums (6 Practical Tips)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How To Build a Drumming Practice Routine - Drumeo\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z9oHjAV77SI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, I want to share with you my five tips for practicing the drums and cutting through the information overload:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Before you start reading<\/strong>: If you prefer a structured approach where a teacher will show you exactly how to build a practice routine and improve as a beginner drummer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/new-drummers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this video course<\/a> was created for you. It\u2019s called\u00a0<em>New Drummers Start Here<\/em>, and it\u2019s only $7 \u2013 less than your last Uber ride!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h3>Here&#8217;s the best drum practice routine:<\/h3><nav><ol><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#1-write-down-a-plan\">Write down your plan<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#2-set-specific-goals\">Set specific goals<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#3-track-your-progress\">Track your progress<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#3-work-on-technical-skills-but-also-musicality\">Work on technical skills (but also musicality)<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#4-publicly-commit-to-something-hard-to-do\">Publicly commit to something hard to do<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#5-get-feedback-from-a-pro-teacher\">Get feedback from a pro teacher<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#6-practice-drums-every-day\">Practice drums every day<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-write-down-a-plan\">1. Write down a plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Always go into a practice routine with a plan. I&#8217;ve known this for years, but it was reinforced recently when I attended one of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bennygreb.de\/mastersession\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Benny Greb\u2019s Master Sessions.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think Benny is an amazing drummer, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/benny-greb-practice-vs-performing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that didn\u2019t just come to him without hard practice<\/a>. I actually think he\u2019s just damn good at practicing and being super efficient with his time, which turned him into an incredible drummer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OP3o84bMduE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So before you sit down at your drums, plan out exactly what you are going to do. If you want to just play around for a bit, then at least plan to do that (not what you\u2019re going to do, but the fact that you\u2019re just going to experiment for a while).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The point of this isn\u2019t to make your practice routine ultra rigid &#8211; and you can still be spontaneous if you\u2019re feeling inspired &#8211; but you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/how-to-practice-drums-podcast-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">need to be more intentional<\/a> with what you want to accomplish with your time behind the kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-set-specific-goals\">2. Set specific goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve set your goals and made a commitment to them, it\u2019s time to establish a daily practice routine. This is the most important step for habitual drummers, because we can\u2019t make progress until we take the time to actually get behind the kit and work on new things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by ranking your five goals, with the most difficult first. This will help you determine how to break up your practice time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep in mind, your goals need to correspond to the amount of practice time you have available in each day. If you only have ten minutes to spend at the kit, your timeline for accomplishing your goals should reflect this. You need to set yourself up for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-track-your-progress\">3. Track your progress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is an example of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/drum-practice-routine\/\">practice routine<\/a> for a drummer who has one hour available each day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"174\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161303\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-9.58.39-AM-3rd-copy.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43447\" title=\"How To Build A Drumming Practice Routine 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161303\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-9.58.39-AM-3rd-copy.png 625w, https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161303\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-9.58.39-AM-3rd-copy-300x84.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice how the list starts with the most challenging goals, and the time is split up based on difficulty. Take a moment to list out your goals using this approach. Grab a journal, start a new note on your phone or tablet, or whatever works best for you. List the most difficult things first, and split up your available practice time using the same approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"175\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161355\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-10.02.34-AM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2014 08 28 at 10.02.34 AM\" class=\"wp-image-43449\" title=\"How To Build A Drumming Practice Routine 2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161355\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-10.02.34-AM.png 625w, https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/28161355\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-28-at-10.02.34-AM-300x84.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-work-on-technical-skills-but-also-musicality\">3. Work on technical skills (but also musicality)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I go through phases where I become obsessed with certain things. Like when I practiced finger technique non-stop for years, or sat in a room slowly practicing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/the-most-important-drum-technique\/\">Moeller technique<\/a> for days and days. I would literally not hang out with my friends so I could stay at home and practice my rudiments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know, I know, a bit boring but I am happy I did it &#8211; well, most of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One big mistake I made, and still sometimes make to this day, is that I don\u2019t balance my practice enough between technique and musicality. What point is having good technique if you have nowhere to apply it? So for me, I need to be very intentional about playing music and becoming a better musician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practicing technique won\u2019t make you a better musician. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/drum-practice-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Playing music will make you a better musician<\/a>. Technique is easy and fun to practice because it\u2019s quantifiable, but it\u2019s not the be-all-end-all with drumming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No musical director cares how fast you can play, or how good your medium full stroke roll is. So try to balance your practice between technique and musicality (if you need more help with this just email me: jared@drumeo.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-publicly-commit-to-something-hard-to-do\">4. Publicly commit to something hard to do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tell your friends, wife, brother, sister, bandmates, dry cleaner, pastor, whoever, that you&#8217;re going to do something. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/how-to-practice-drums\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ask them to hold you accountable if you want<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did this once, and I had to learn the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LfYtOzAm2NY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a Virgil Donati exercise where he plays a single paradiddle between his right hand and right foot, then a double paradiddle between his left hand and left foot).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was crazy hard, but I\u2019m glad I did it. You don\u2019t have to choose something as hard as I did, but it\u2019s really motivating to pick something and go for it. Not only is it motivating for you, but you\u2019ll be surprised that it might give someone else a kick in the butt to be more productive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-get-feedback-from-a-pro-teacher\">5. Get feedback from a pro teacher<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t just some hidden pitch for Drumeo. Obviously I think Drumeo is amazing; that\u2019s why I work my ass off every day to make the best drum lessons in the world. You can get your lesson plan from anyone who is qualified. Go get a private lesson with a local instructor, take a Skype lesson with a drummer online, or maybe you&#8217;ll sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\">Drumeo lessons<\/a> after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=85\/https:\/\/drumeoblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/beat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/20115218\/DSC_0662-1-e1553642029618.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"6-practice-drums-every-day\">6. Practice drums every day<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Of all the tips, this is the most important. Maybe that means it should be number one, but oh well &#8211; let\u2019s leave it at number five so only the hardcore drummers who read the whole article get the best tip!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re actively listening to music, tapping on your legs, or just playing on the practice pad, do something every day. Even if it\u2019s just 10 minutes each time, it\u2019s better than nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/trick-yourself-into-practicing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">There are no excuses for not practicing<\/a>. Don\u2019t get into the mindset that the &#8216;stars have to be aligned&#8217; for you to practice on the kit. Just do <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/new-drummers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>something<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been teaching online drum lessons over the past 10 years, and I\u2019ve always been adamant that I will answer my own emails. To this day, that is still the same (I\u2019m not lying, try me: jared@drumeo.com). I love connecting with my online students and helping their drumming in any way I can. I\u2019ve manually responded to tens of thousands of messages from my online students and there always seem to be common themes that come up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest theme I\u2019ve noticed is that most people don\u2019t know how to get into a drum practice routine. I\u2019m not sure why students are having problems with this, but I definitely want to find ways I can help. Part of me thinks that I&#8217;m partially responsible. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Drumeo<\/a>, we provide so much information that people might not know where to start. If you started watching Drumeo lessons today &#8211; and you watched 24 hours a day (I don&#8217;t recommend this, haha!) &#8211; it would take you more than 100 days to go through them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This massive amount of information can be deceiving because students think they have to watch it all. But that\u2019s not the reason we have so many lessons. The reason we have so many different lessons is because there are so many different drummers who all want to learn something different. We want to help everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe class=\"email-form-include-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/weeklyemail\" frameborder=\"none\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read this if you don&#8217;t know how to start building a drum practice routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4015,4029,4018],"tags":[4014,13,12],"class_list":["post-1088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beginner-lessons","category-practice-tips","category-technique","tag-beginner","tag-drum-lessons-2","tag-jared-falk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1088"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47110,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1088\/revisions\/47110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}