I often talk to a lot of young drummers who are looking for a “fast track” way to reach a professional level of performance ability. Although there are lots of really good instructional materials available to help achieve that goal, you still must make a committment to some quality practice time. Our DSA member/friend
“Carthage” (Don) has written several wise comments about the need to practice. He has recommended several good instructional books that he has listed in the DSA library. Don also commented on the importance of using a metronome to help develop your perception of meter.
Let’s talk about a few of the things that practice can include.
• Playing exercises in instruction books and videos.
• Playing along with recordings.
• Practicing sight reading.
• Practicing rudiments and rhythm patterns.
• Practicing stick control and feet control.
• Practicing new and original patterns you want to master.
• Practice holding tempos and various time signatures steady with a metronome.
Now if you practice something you are doing
“wrong” and simply keep playing it “wrong” over and over……well, you may be wasting your time. I would suggest breaking problem patterns or styles into
smaller elements. Practice those elements until you can nail them. Ultimately, you can then begin to combine the elements and smooth out the rough spots. "Learn to walk before you try to run".
Quality practice will improve the
quality of your drumming abilities. Just playing around on the drums can be fun and we all like to do that, but it doesn’t achieve the improvement you aspire for without practicing the things you want to learn to do better.
So if there is any real "fast track" .....it is spending a lot of serious time practicing.