Practicing advanced Drumming Techniques

Series Summary

The drum is probably the oldest musical instrument known to man; yet over thousands of years, its basic design has not changed much. Drums were perhaps first created from the primal idea of mimicking the human heartbeat, yet today percussion music has developed into a technical, complex arrangement of beats and grooves. Different sized drums and cymbals are grouped in drum kits, where a drummer can play a variety of sounds to suit any given song.

Modern drummers, including the likes of Stewart Copeland, Billy Cobham, Neal Peart, Dave Weckl, and Jimmy Chamberlain, have helped develop the next generation of drum styles, inspiring new beat and rhythm patterns, new combinations of sound upon sound. The modern approach to drumming, then, is to try and master the fundamentals of beat and time signature, and then to create fresh, innovative patterns and fills for each song.

In this free advanced drumming video series, learn tips and techniques to improve your drum playing ability tenfold. Our expert will demonstrate single and double stroke techniques, how to play quads, how to do flams and paradiddles, how to play eighth note triplets, crossovers, how to increase your speed between drums, how to play odd time signatures—and more important drum tips.

Video Transcript

"Welcome to Expert Village and I am Steve Blank, drummer and the Cruisers here to talk to you about some advanced drum exercises. This introduction will help you get the most out of this series of lessons. Unless you are very advanced, it would be best you watch the series from beginning to end in order and then choose a lesson to study in more detail. I have focused on advanced exercises which combine aspects of more basic exercises so that we work on both balance and flexibility at the same time. I also cover some solo work in time signatures. Balance refers to the four limbs working independently and together. We work and strengthen limbs so that they perform equally. Flexibility is the ability to move around the drums to get from one drummer cymbal to another as quickly and accurately as possible. With these two things, we have coordination and with practice we can develop all the speed, power and endurance we need. The advanced drummers brain is wired to drum that is why drumming seems easy. If something is difficult to do, it simply means that the brain is not yet wired to do it. If we practice something that is very hard to do, other things that are less difficult instantly seem easier than before. Working on these advanced exercises will free our mind to experiment and explore by increasing the connections in our brain. Choose an exercise and practice everyday for a while and watch your brain change from the inside to out. "