Posts Tagged ‘tips’

Guitars and Pianos have chords and the drums have rudiments. What exactly is a rudiment? Why do you need to know rudiments? How the heck do you use them once you know them? These are all legitimate questions a beginner drummer might ask. I’m going to provide an overview of what drum rudiments are, how many there is and what good they are to you, and hopefully after reading this article you’ll be enticed to seek out more information about drum rudiments to improve your durm skills.

How Many

In total there are currently 40 different rudiments recognized by organizations across the world. The current list of 40 started out as 13 drum rudiments proposed by the National Association of Rudimental Drummers. They added an additional 13 rudiments and the Percussive Arts Society later again added another 14 to the list of 26 making the full 40 rudiments we recognize today.

A Rudiment at it’s most basic level is a pattern played usually on the snare drum aimed at improving stick and wrist technique as well as speed. These are most often played on a practice pad but can also be banged out on the snare drum of your kit. There are more advanced rudiments which require you to play them on your full kit and you’ll begin to recognize that these patterns are the building blocks of many drum patterns and beats in popular music today

Ideally a beginner should start with the practice pad before moving over to their full drum kit. This ensure that the technique is at the forefront when learning each pattern and speed and sound are secondary.

What’s the importance of learning Rudiments?

You can equate learning and practicing rudiments to an athlete going to the gym everyday for over all body conditioning. Weight lifting or resistance training may not be directly related to a particular athlete’s sport, but it provides additional strength, endurance and speed which can be transferred to their exact sport.

The above analogy holds true for rudiments and drummers. Learning, practicing and mastering all 40 rudiments provides you with superb stick control, wrist strength and speed. These skills when done even on a parctice pad transfer over to your drum kit when you’re ready to play. It can be easy to get tied up in the idea of “playing” the drums all the time, but if you don’t put some foundational work in once and while you can fall behind.

How to Learn the Rudiments

There are numerous free videos available on YouTube that talk about drum rudiments. Some will teach you rudiments on a practice pad, while others will be done right at a drum kit. I believe the best way to master all 40 drum rudiments correctly is to spend some money on a quality drum course that is focussed on learning rudiments such as the Drum Rudiment System from Rail Road Media.

You can usually find anything you want to know online for free, it can often times be easier to spend a few bucks for quality instruction to save time and ensure you’re learning things the right way first time out.

Do you know what the second most played and learned instrument is behind the guitar? It’s the piano and the way we learn it is drastically changing these days.

Just as how we converse and interact with others and do our banking is changing thanks to the Internet and other communication advancements these same technologies are changing how we learn as well.

Whether it’s improving our golf swing and trying to break 90 or learning to play the piano with a piano course there’s more knowledge and skills at our finger tips then ever before, but with this also comes a down side.

Now that it is so easy to gain access to a great instructor, professional lessons and videos for virtually any topic you can think of we’re faced with more choice.

It used to be if you wanted to improve your golf game then you’d take lessons and practice, practice, practice. Today you can watch some lessons online about how to chip and putt better and then move right along to a video on how to play your first chords on the piano followed by who else knows what.

Our attention span is short and getting shorter so it takes a special type of individual who can focus themselves on the task at hand to actually learn, practice and improve at something. Most of us can never get past the stage where we romanticize the idea of learning something new but when that gets old we quickly just move onto something else that we can have those same feelings about.

So while no ones arguing that shopping online, gaining a connection with old friends and family members sometimes half around the world and in some instances improving productivity in some instances isn’t great there are a slew of other side effects that our instant knowledge world has left us with.

Could it be that we’re breading a society where ADD will become the social epidemic of the next generation?.

Christmas time, as they say, is for children. If you’re anything like me, it’s always a struggle to get the best#correct gifts for them? As the eagerlyawaited day nears, the mad rush to toy shops begins. But with hundreds of  toys to choose from – Cuddly Toys, video games, vehicles, dolls, the choices are endless. So what are the most popular toys this Christmas?

Fisher-Price Elmo Live. Get to play with Elmo! He actually opens his mouth to speak and moves his arms and legs, and even dances, just like the real Sesame Street character. He can also share stories, tell jokes and sing songs with you. It is definitely a magical experience for a child to see his toy come to life.

Nintendo DS Lite. With a huge number of games to choose from, little ones would definitely find something that they will love playing. Playing games like this can also be educational for kids, with games like Nintendogs, which helps kids take care of pets, and Brain Age, which exercises the brain.It’s also available in loads of great colors such as Nintendo DS Lite Cobalt Blue.

Fur Real Friends Biscuit My Lovin Pup. The joysof having a puppy, with zero mess! Via voice recognition, this puppy will obey orders such as “Sit” and “Lie down”, shakes a paw and wag his tail just like a real puppy. Standing 21 Inches tall, with soft plush-like fur, Biscuit is a perfect playmate for any young child.

Fisher-Price Kid Tough Portable DVD Player Blue. This durable & rugged portable DVD player is perfect for kids. They can wathc their DVD’s without the fear of them breaking anything. The large, bright buttons are perfect for little hands. Pop the DVD in the player, and let your child do the rest.

Pleo Dinosaur – A UGOBE Life Form. This robo-dinosaur is one of the most intelligent electronic friends by far, and what is taught to it may affect its personality as it ‘grows’ older. The high tech artificial intelligence buit in Pleo allows him to create his own personality as you interact with him.

Fisher Price Kid Tough Waterproof Digital Camera.Let your child’s creativity expand through pictures. This rugged working camera is made to survive any child’s rough handling, and is even now waterproof. Now your child can take fun pictures while playing about in the water.

Playskool Kota My Triceratops Dinosaur. Kota is eager to join your child in an amazing creative quest. With realistic sounds and body movements like tail wagging and horn moving, Kota is a play friend your child will certainly enjoy playing with.

I hope that gives you some good ideas for kids toys this Christmas time. I know some of them cost a few dollars – but hey, the expressions on their little faces, it’s so rewarding!