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As a drummer for 15 years, including drumline at a competitive level, the head of a top university drumline, "drum cantain", and years of playing set in a band,

As a drummer for 15 years, including drumline at a competitive level, the head of a top university drumline, "drum cantain", and years of playing set in a band, I've observed a few things among different people. For the people that are trying to learn, it became very noticeable, some people can naturally drum, and some people simply...just can't. The divide is quite large in fact. A natural drummer could pick something up in 5 mins, while someone who 'can't' would take weeks to pick the same thing up. Then of course any iteration of that new thing, the natural would almost immediately get it, and again....the other would take the same amount of time. It's really like how the brain is wired. (I'm not a neuroscientists) Among people outside of the drumming world, you can notice people tapping all the time. At a concert of just to music playing. Some people I can tell right away, they would make a good drummer if they actually did it. They can stay in time to what they are listening too and it comes naturally. Others...well...rhythm just isn't going to happen for them. Put 10 people in a room with music playing to a steady beat, say 128 bpm. Now ask them all to clap to that beat. 99% of the time it will rush. Try it out. If there is someone who is "natural" at it, that person, or several of them, will separate from the group, and you get the flam, or out of sync, clapping sound. As for "smarter"... I don't know about that. I would say that many drummers I have known would easily be consider the best musicians in the band. Whether it be a rock band, jazz, or marching band.

micromarty 11y ago
As someone with a similar level of experience, you are dead on.
icoder 11y ago
Interesting. Given that divide, I've a hard time placing myself. I'm not a talented drummer, but to simply say I 'just can't' is something else. I've had lessons from 8-16, and played in a band until 21. I was able to pick up all the exercises, usually a bit easier than my classmates (perhaps I practiced more, although the 10 mins a day average was already a tough battle), but they were always better and more natural at picking up the rhythm of, and playing along with a music tape (CD later on ;). Now, a bit older, I can pick up the beat of most songs, even without drums, but I always fail to get that pa-pa-pa-pam in the Friends theme. I think if would write that one down, to see the rhythm on paper, I easily could, but au natural, non. I always thought I was untalented but 'learned' my way through it for as long as it could take me (helped by the fact that I am, in many areas, a fast learner). But that doesn't seem to match either of the sides of the divide you describe. Sidenote: I can by no means sing (even talk) and drum (or play guitar) at the same time, Not. At. All. I think that has something to do with wiring as well.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
ssharp 11y ago
You are substantially more accomplished than I am, but I do have one observation to add to this. I think there are four elements to making a drummer: 1) Being able to keep time 2) Limb independence 3) Speed 4) Taste For me, #2 was clearly the hardest. I found that it took lots of practice in order to achieve relatively decent independence. And even after all that practice, I find many other drummers are much better than me in that regard. I can't say it's ever held me back in terms of confidence because I play the types of music I want to play and can still say I'm better than many other drummers. I started out on snare drum and later moved on to the set and even though I had a strong foundation in rhythm, stick control, etc. it was still a lot of practice. I'd be very curious to know what you think some people can pick up in five minutes. I've always been curious about how long it takes others to develop that muscle independence. You can also hide some technical proficiency by playing tastefully. This works well in many genres of music, but certain genres require substantial amounts of technical ability.
- Cshelton 11y ago
  I was more thinking along the lines of the mental side of drumming. Although, limb independence is all mental I guess... Talking about picking up in 5 minutes, I meant more for rudimentary drumming. i.e. playing rudiments, or a certain combination of notes, different tempos, going from eight-notes, to triplets, to sixteenth-notes back to a triplet on beat 4, all in a measure. Stuff like that. It applies to the set and limb independence as well. I never really thing about limb independence anymore. At a certain point, if you can "think it", you can play it. Thinking it means something different to a lot of people, but literally count out the notes, however you do it (1 e and a), and make sure you say the number of the downbeat on the downbeat. You'll get to the point where you see a rhythm, and without having practice what your arms and legs are doing, you can just play it on set. Now it takes a bit of practice to get to that level, as it involves an understanding of music, reading, comprehension, etc. Of course there are uncommon time signatures and stuff you may run into that are weird, but you would be playing some very uncommon music haha. I played with Steve Smith (of Journey) and he was thrown off by an ensemble we were doing, took him a few hours to get it, even with his experience. It was just something he had not see before. Now stuff like that crazy blast metal or whatever it's called now is different...getting your feet to play sixteenth notes on the double bass at 200 bpm is (stupid) just muscle building...
sliverstorm 11y ago
Now ask them all to clap to that beat. That reminds me of another razor, wherein many people can't clap blues/swing... was it that most people clap on 1 & 3 while for blues/swing it's 2 & 4?
- agumonkey 11y ago
  Clapping upbeat is hard but it's the mental equivalent of limb independance, so good.
agumonkey 11y ago
For every people bad with time, please keep learning. This was one of the most amazing thing I could learn. It's "hard" because beautiful music (be it drums or piano or whatever) is quite abstract, full of interconnected subtleties invisible for the newcomer, but time turns blindness into sight.

micromarty 11y ago

As someone with a similar level of experience, you are dead on.

icoder 11y ago

Interesting. Given that divide, I've a hard time placing myself. I'm not a talented drummer, but to simply say I 'just can't' is something else. I've had lessons from 8-16, and played in a band until 21. I was able to pick up all the exercises, usually a bit easier than my classmates (perhaps I practiced more, although the 10 mins a day average was already a tough battle), but they were always better and more natural at picking up the rhythm of, and playing along with a music tape (CD later on ;). Now, a bit older, I can pick up the beat of most songs, even without drums, but I always fail to get that pa-pa-pa-pam in the Friends theme. I think if would write that one down, to see the rhythm on paper, I easily could, but au natural, non. I always thought I was untalented but 'learned' my way through it for as long as it could take me (helped by the fact that I am, in many areas, a fast learner). But that doesn't seem to match either of the sides of the divide you describe. Sidenote: I can by no means sing (even talk) and drum (or play guitar) at the same time, Not. At. All. I think that has something to do with wiring as well.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

ssharp 11y ago

You are substantially more accomplished than I am, but I do have one observation to add to this. I think there are four elements to making a drummer: 1) Being able to keep time 2) Limb independence 3) Speed 4) Taste For me, #2 was clearly the hardest. I found that it took lots of practice in order to achieve relatively decent independence. And even after all that practice, I find many other drummers are much better than me in that regard. I can't say it's ever held me back in terms of confidence because I play the types of music I want to play and can still say I'm better than many other drummers. I started out on snare drum and later moved on to the set and even though I had a strong foundation in rhythm, stick control, etc. it was still a lot of practice. I'd be very curious to know what you think some people can pick up in five minutes. I've always been curious about how long it takes others to develop that muscle independence. You can also hide some technical proficiency by playing tastefully. This works well in many genres of music, but certain genres require substantial amounts of technical ability.

Cshelton 11y ago
I was more thinking along the lines of the mental side of drumming. Although, limb independence is all mental I guess... Talking about picking up in 5 minutes, I meant more for rudimentary drumming. i.e. playing rudiments, or a certain combination of notes, different tempos, going from eight-notes, to triplets, to sixteenth-notes back to a triplet on beat 4, all in a measure. Stuff like that. It applies to the set and limb independence as well. I never really thing about limb independence anymore. At a certain point, if you can "think it", you can play it. Thinking it means something different to a lot of people, but literally count out the notes, however you do it (1 e and a), and make sure you say the number of the downbeat on the downbeat. You'll get to the point where you see a rhythm, and without having practice what your arms and legs are doing, you can just play it on set. Now it takes a bit of practice to get to that level, as it involves an understanding of music, reading, comprehension, etc. Of course there are uncommon time signatures and stuff you may run into that are weird, but you would be playing some very uncommon music haha. I played with Steve Smith (of Journey) and he was thrown off by an ensemble we were doing, took him a few hours to get it, even with his experience. It was just something he had not see before. Now stuff like that crazy blast metal or whatever it's called now is different...getting your feet to play sixteenth notes on the double bass at 200 bpm is (stupid) just muscle building...

sliverstorm 11y ago

Now ask them all to clap to that beat. That reminds me of another razor, wherein many people can't clap blues/swing... was it that most people clap on 1 & 3 while for blues/swing it's 2 & 4?

agumonkey 11y ago
Clapping upbeat is hard but it's the mental equivalent of limb independance, so good.

agumonkey 11y ago

For every people bad with time, please keep learning. This was one of the most amazing thing I could learn. It's "hard" because beautiful music (be it drums or piano or whatever) is quite abstract, full of interconnected subtleties invisible for the newcomer, but time turns blindness into sight.