I’ve been finger drumming for around 2 years. Initially just on Melodics then started looking at Robs videos around April last year which helped me with some big break throughs
What thing / ability are you looking to improve over the next 6 months
For me its back to basics. I think I need to improve the speed of my single strokes. There’s definitely a point where my playing / timing falls off a cliff and I think being able to play single strokes faster will give me a big improvement there. So I’m struggling with speed and part of that is also controlling relaxation when playing at higher tempos
So what are you goals. Or if you’ve got tips to share to help me with mine that would be most appreciated
I’m personally working on the 3 rudiments explained in this video by Rob Brown.
I’m not really speeding it up yet, first I want it to groove and sound 100% smooth and without hiccups on a lower tempo. It’s a big challenge if you raise the bar for yourself in terms of how clean and groovy it has to sound.
I’ve exactly the same problem - staying relaxed while speeding up. So I asked a drummer-friend of mine who suggested - surprise surprise - keep practicing and use a metronome. There is one more thing he mentioned called “moving accents” which I’m looking into. This is supposed to help you combine speed and dynamics.
My goals are a little different tho. I’ve recently jammed with a guitarist and being consistent and groovy is so much harder than I’ve expected. I’m watching the time and time again course again and try to sync with my inner clock - even if someone else is trying to speed up or slow down.
I pretty much always practice either with a metronome or something that gives me a sense of time. I’ve at least got to the stage that I can recognise myself tensing up. Sometimes just recognising I’m doing it allows me to stop other times not. Hopefully more experience will help with that.
Rob - thanks for the link. Will see if I can incorporate some of that into my practice too.
For me this is a relaxing hobby… I’m just enjoying sitting down at the end of the evening, watching one of Robs course videos to remind me where I’m up to and then just tapping away, and you know what, after a while I get into the groove and feel like I’m actually playing something good. I particularly like popping one of the backing tracks on when I’ve kind of semi mastered a beat and then playing along. So for now I’ll keep on hitting the pads as often as I can, and maybe it will turn into something. I am particularly excited about exploring the new possibilities that this type of playing offers. So in that sense there is no destination in mind… its kind of like setting out in a particular direction to see what’s there.
I got into finger drumming as a means of improving my timing when playing keyboards. I noticed that I had a habit of playing slightly too early (still do though less often) and wanted to try something where I was concentrating just on time. But I’ve enjoyed doing the finger drumming for its own sake. I’ve got more of an appreciation of what real drummers do because of it.
I would like to get to a point where I could either consider performing as a finger drummer or at least finger drumming my own beats for my own compositions… For me goal setting helps me give a bit of structure to what I do. But even if I fail at my goals the journey is an enjoyable one
I am guitar player that just started finger drumming this year (january 1st to be precise; while having the flu and a fever).
My main goal is to be able to program drums without really having to program them from scratch in order to help me with my songwriting experiments. So in 6 months: be able to do some basic beats and fills.
Second goal is to be able to communicate better with the drummer of my band; try to make her understand what I have in my head.
But I must say that I enjoy drumming so much that it might became a goal of it’s own.
Had a go at doing the rudiment exercise Rob linked. Not too bad at a slow to moderate tempo. But thought I’d try counting on the beat at the same time (1, 2, 3 , 4) - that really messes with my head , trying not to accent at the same time as playing the beat - that will take some mastering
I did exactly the same thing last week! Very helpful to count. All of a sudden you feel where those hits are in relation to the underlying grid.
If you manage to get this right, it’ll will be easier to play with a metronome as well. Because then you just count together with the metronome and you can a actually put those snare hits in the right place instead of secretly rushing, dragging and then correcting.
I’ve have to slow it right down so I can get the whole 1 e & a stuff in but I can start to feel where its pulling me in to accent the snare. More practice but promising start
I’ve been playing the Rob Brown rudiments exercise a lot over the last week. One thing its really good for helping out with is dynamics. Think I’ll continue practicing that one as it really forces you to play light
In 6 months time, I’d love to have the freedom to be improvising my own beats on the fly. But for now, just having a daily practice is its own reward.
As a little side note to practicing without tension - a good question to ask yourself before every session is “What are the exact (and only) muscles I need to use to do this exercise?” It’s surprising how few you actually need, compared to how many you often tense up when playing a difficult beat (or playing fast).
Just by asking yourself that question and keeping it in mind during the practice, your neck, shoulders and arms relax a lot more.
My 6 month goal would be to play live. We don’t have a drumkit at my church, only a cajon and some random percussion. As a guitarist I’ve occasionally played the cajon, but it would be cool to try finger drumming live.
My goal is to be able to improvise a bit more. Another goal is to just get better with rhytms in general. I find it quite hard to create a very solidified goal, because I’m not sure where finger drumming is leading me. I practice daily, and I just like to get better, don’t really know where I’m going tbh
Not easy, as I am not a drummer transferring the technique to finger drumming is difficult. In 6 months time I hope to be confident enough to drum live over samples and have a clear understanding of what makes a great drum pattern.
I’ve been playing on and off for a few years as well, haven’t had much progress until recently to be honest. It’s very difficult for me to not mess up a pattern after playing it 6 times with no issue lol. Never fails, hit the groove and then oops, my brain loses the pattern.
So these classes have been a good help to get me to slow down. Ultimately I’d like to turn on my MPC one day and sound like a real drummer with all the tools to fill out a song live or just jam endlessly.
