beginner advice (just started this weekend)

Hi,

well after much talking I finally went out and bought the pearl rhythm traveller to learn to play the drums. Got it this weekend and set it up myself. It's a bit all over the place at the moment but I'll improve it as I go along.

At the moment what I am doing is playing along to a few excersises I got from Drums from Dummies and put them into Guitar Pro to play at various temps. It's just 8ths on the hi-hat and various bass and snare combinations.

Now a few questions.

1. I have a cheap stool and it's height is not very adjustable. My knees are slightly facing the floor (thighs just off parallel) When I play the bass drum for 20 mins the tops of my quads are sore from holding my foot off the bass pedal . Am I playing the bass pedal correctly? Foot down and then straight off so the beater doesnt stay on the drum head and hold it there. (ie in mid air!!) (BTW I am playing heel up)

2. I've read about a double stroke on the bass pedal, but for the life of me I cant play it. It doesnt bother me at the moment as I've only started but even the theory doesnt seem to make sense. "play first stroke heel up and then second stroke slide foot forward and come down on heel". There is no way my foot will slide on the pedal,. Anyways not to worried about that for the moment.

I've been playing guitar for a few year and my picking hand (right) is much more natural when playing the basic stroke on the snare. This is natural enough , I guess ??

Any suggestions to keep my practise time valuable

Diarmuid

Ah, another guitarist turned drummer. I think you are doing everything right. You pretty much want your legs parallel to the floor or close to it. Pain is normal cause your muscles are weak, it'll take some time and tons of practice.

Check out the "I suck at double bass" topic posted by WorshipMetallica at this forum. Fafnir has some terrific advice and even a little video about double strokes on the kick.

Is your right hand your dominant hand normally? That might explain why it's stronger. I played guitar right handed for 10 years (I'm a lefty) before I took up drums and my right hand was still way weaker than my left. I think you are using different muscles when playing the drums. If you get a copy of George Stone's Stick Control it'll help with balancing the strength in your hands.

Start practicing with a metronome early and get familiar with rudiments (check out www.thedrumclub.com). Above all else, HAVE FUN!

You don't have to hold your foot completely off of the pedal between beats.

There are two basic bass drum techniques: heel up and heel down. With heel up, you rest the ball of your foot on the pedal board between beats and the beater stays in contact with the head - you use your thigh muscles more. Think stomping on a bug. With heel down, you rest your heel at the base of the pedal board and the beater does not stay in contact with the head between beats - you use your calf muscles more. Think pushing the gas pedal in your car.

In general, heel up is prefered by rock players (powerful, muffled sound) and heel down is prefered by jazz players (sensitive, resonant sound).

Make sense?

I wouldn't bother trying to suspend the beater off the head after each bass drum hit. That's going to really mess you up when you start playing more intricate bass drum figures.

Good advice above. I'm both heel up and heel down, depending on what i'm trying to do. Usually heel up if its a louder or faster application, and heel down and letting the beater off when I hit if I'm going for softer hits or accents - jazzy, slow stuff, etc.

Do yourself a favor:

1) take all of the toms off of your kit...only for a month or a few months. Stick with hi-hat, bass, and snare only (maybe ride cymbal). You will have less stuff to think about and distract you from what you really need to do - get good rhythm, time, and feel

2) rudiments suck, but learn the main 7. After a while, they don't suck anymore, and you'll thank yourself a million times over for getting them to be second nature.

3) Have fun and enjoy.

Exactly. After two years rudiments are just starting to unsuck.

Thanks for the info. I dont think I'll be taking the tom off the drum set at the moment. They make a very handy place to put the Drums for Dummies book so I can read it as I play :-)

As for the rudiments I think I must be doing the double stroke roll incorrectly as I picked it up very easily. I'm going to have to get someone to listen to it as I play to see what/if I'm doing something wrong.

I guess from playing the guitar my rhythm and feel arent too bad .(thanks Mr Hetfield :-)

D

It takes alot of practice and experimenting to really learn the double stroke so that you can easily apply it to fills for example. Btw, the foot doesn't really slide on the pedal when doing a double stroke but it rather "pivots".

Good luck!

I just picked up a Rhythm Traveler on Friday (same thing here - guitarist turned, or actually turnING drummer I guess) and I didn't even bother setting any of the toms up.

Although using one as a bookholder seems like a good idea so I might just have to throw one on there...