Back to Basic Beats

Have you ever found yourself struggling with something considered “basic” by Percussionists in the band community? Did you find yourself frustrated because you know that you’ve done harder things? If it was in public did you start to have a change of skin tone that made you look more like a strawberry than anything else? Acceptable! These are issues and side effects that happen almost everyday in the community that we are all apart of. No drummer is perfect, and we all certainly have our special “What in tarnation?” moments! But have you ever taken the time to consider how it’s because you’re playing to hard of music?

To some this may seem like an odd idea. You may be asking yourself “Don’t I have to be good at the basics to be able to do the hard music?” and too that I say of course! You have to have a strong base to make sure you can build up the musical pyramid. But take a second to think about what you really know outside of 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 time signatures. Try triplets in 6/8 at 72bpm. Or look up some rudiments and do them at various tempos. You may find that you are a little weaker in some areas than you thought you were.

But the lesson to learn overall, is don’t just hang out with the hard music. Some of the best drummers start with their rudiments everyday, and they do each of them in runs of various tempos. So for the high school or college drummer who is on the warpath to do some Hybrid Rudiments at 120bpm and above. Take a chill pill and make sure you have everything up to balance at your foundations. You’ll find playing the harder music way easier!

Happy Marching! 🙂