playin fast around the kit

[milo91]

hi guys

i no its not not all about going fast around the kit but i obviously want to be able to do it well

i just dont seem to be able to do it.

wat do u guys do to help yourselves with this?

what exercises do u guys recommend

 

cheers!

[Jeff Graw]

There's two ways to go here, powering it out with lightning fast single stroke rolls (via something like Moeller or finger control technique), or you can learn some rudiments. Rudiments will probably give you more bang for your buck, and the techniques for fast singles can be very slow and frustrating to learn.

 

If you want to go the rudiment route, here's my advice: Start playing groups of paradiddles on the snare as a fill. After that's familiar start moving the right hand down the toms. Then try alternating the left hand between the leftmost tom and the snare at the same time as moving the right hand. Continue mixing it up, and after you feel like you've reached a good level you can start on some triplet rudiments (six stroke rolls, double paradiddles, paradiddle diddles, etc.), and again slowly start moving them around the kit.

 

Also don't forget to stay loose -- it's the key to playing fast. When you're tense you need to work against your tension to move anything, which severely limits speed and can lead to pain or even medical complications down the road.

 

Good luck!

[1001gear]

Hands separately, IOW left only, right only, if you have any more hands, then etc.

Do one quarter per drum starting at around 60 bpm. Go clockwise, counter clockwise and patterns of your own including random. Make sure you run both hand through the drill.

Don't be afraid to lift and make nice smooth arcs - even on adjacent drums. Make sure you give each drum and accurate hit. This is all about muscle memory and the most accurate and efficient way around drums. Stay slow and be patient.

[HBdrummer]

You mean...Like this??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgaD54YcXpA&feature=related

[milo91]

call me stupid but wat is IOW?

 

thanks for that aswell

[1001gear]

It stands for In Other Words.

Here you might need this.

http://www.netlingo.com/

[Wellhungarian]

I may be wrong, but in the picture of your drums it looks like you're tom toms are quite a bit higher than your snare. To play quickly, you'll need to be able to reach your drums comfortably without reaching and without tension in the shoulders and back, so that the forearms, wrists and fingers(which are the main areas used to play quickly, unless you use the Moeller technique) are free. Also, the strokes you use will be smaller (stick height wise)as you move faster. Here's a simple exercise played on the snare drum(master and then move it around the kit) while playing 4 on the floor and 2 and 4 on the HH with the left foot is 2 measures of quarter notes into 1 measure of eighth notes into 1 measure of sixteenth notes over and over. Use a metronome and find a comfortable tempo and as you master each tempo increase the tempo 5-10 bpm. This exercise also helps train your ear to hear these subdivisions of time.

 

Notice Jeff Graw's picture of his drums and how his toms and cymbals are positioned. Everything looks like it's very easy to reach compared to yours. Doesn't it look like you could play faster on his kit?

[Thomas G]

I'd suggest either practicing the fill you want very slow (half time or slower) and just repeat it. Then, VERY gradually, bring the tempo up. it's all about working that muscle memory.

 

another thing I would suggest would to be practing just using the right hand to play sixteenth notes across the drums in a specific pattern. After that, do the same thing with the left hand. That should help a bit bringing thhe two hands together for the 32nd note pattern.

[lsits]

The key to playing fast is playing slow.

[Thomas G]

 

The key to playing fast is playing slow.

 

 

I couldn't have said it better.

[milo91]

thanks guys for that help

yeah i do see how his kit would be alot easier.

 

that picture of mine was taken a while ago so it has changed but not as much as his kit but thanks again

 

cheers

[Jeff Graw]

Yeah, a good setup can help quite a bit.

 

Keep in mind that with a bass drum based mounting system for the toms your placement is going to be limited -- you probably aren't going to be able to get the toms and snare flush with each other (like in my pic) unless you raise the snare to an extreme level.

[Drumma49]

In all honesty, its like doing anything else... it takes a lot of practice. The best way to get moving around your kit is to work out, and start slow. Working out requires you to practice the 26 basic rudiments as often as possible, and lift weights to work out your arms and shoulders. Also, start moving around your kit slowly so that you can gradually build up your speed while maintaining evenness of your strokes.

[MCWIEBKE]

id do paradiddles around the kit and just get used to moving fast around the kit. accuracy is more important than speed and whats the point of speed if you cant hit the drums you want when you want. i do more single strokes myself but the paradiddles will help with stick control.

[MCWIEBKE]

also more isnt always better. sometimes using less has a bigger effect.

[milo91]

ok

this is to jeff graw, with your toms do u have yourself a seperate stand for your toms n hve that stand next to ur bass drum?

 

cheers for the help

[Jeff Graw]

 

ok this is to jeff graw, with your toms do u have yourself a seperate stand for your toms n hve that stand next to ur bass drum? cheers for the help

 

 

I guess a picture is worth a thousand words:

 

EDIT: Ummm, how do attachments work?

[drumtechdad]

I guess a picture is worth a thousand words: EDIT: Ummm, how do attachments work?

 

Jeff, the easiest way to post a pic is upload it to Photobucket or some other hosting service, then just put the URL ("direct link") between right in the post.

[Merlin Coryell]

Photobucket is the shiznite. Dont use flickr, its retarded.

[Jeff Graw]

Ok, uploaded to photobucket.

 

[GCL]

Check out the books by Joe Cusatis to build up speed around the kit.

 

 

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?item=1454336&cart=340942035921920720&cm_re=289.1.4-_-Results+Item-_-Image+Thumbnail

[MOakley]

I found Ray Luzier's video had some great excercises that were simple and cleaned up a few of minor little mechanical issues that I had.

[twosticks]

agreed