Games: How Do You Improve Your Drumming Skills?

Improving your drumming skills can be fun if you turn practice into a game.

In most types of music, the drums are the instrument that holds everything together. The drummer of a band is often known as the backbone. Drummers who play in marching bands must be exactly precise because the other instruments are following their lead. They often practice outside on fields, sweating through various exercises and drills. But improving your drumming skills can be as easy and fun as sitting down with a friend and playing a Simon Says style game.

Things You'll Need

• Drumsticks
• Pillow (or practice pad)

Instructions

1. Perform taps on the pillow. Taps are single hits of the drumstick so the pattern should be: left, right, left, right, left, right. Play this as fast you want.

2. Give the sticks to your friend and have them do the same thing.

3. Change the beat up a bit by performing taps with accents. Taps with accents involve playing one tap harder than the rest in a set. The pattern for these can be grouped in fours or, if you really want to challenge your friend, threes or fives. The pattern for accented taps with fours will be LEFT right left right LEFT right left right LEFT right left right (the capitalized words are accented).

4. Give the sticks to your friend and have them match your pattern. Keep going back and forth until one of you can no longer match the beat. Then start over.

Tips & Warnings

• It is important to hold the stick correctly. When you hold the stick, pick it up like you are shaking hands with it. Your thumb should be resting on the shaft of the stick pointing in the direction of the stick's point and your pointer finger should be straight out and resting on the stick as well. Once you are holding it in this position, rotate your wrist 90 degrees so the back of your hand is now flat and facing up.

References

• Learn How to Hold Drumsticks