When I started the drums I did not know where to start. I had an idea of

lost ? to learn the battery

kind of music that I wanted to play, I bought my drums, but I really did not know what to do other than a “poum-poum-chak” on my drums.

After a year of more or less successful debut, here are the 5 tips that I wanted to have from the beginning, and have radically improved my game since

1. Take classes

It sounds obvious, but many are beginners (like me) who at first want to save money. It is true that after buying our dear battery, it is difficult to go out (15-20 € per lesson). But the advantages of taking drumming lessons with a teacher are so huge, that on all forums, all the drummers I know told me the same thing: “Magalie, take classes! ”

With a teacher,

• We quickly learn the basics we would take months to learn alone.
• We learn straight away good habits , while it’s so complicated to get rid of bad habits.
• We have someone to correct us , we discover all the palettes of the battery and different styles .

2. Learn rhythmic theory

Tablatures, it’s good, to play by ear is good too. But knowing how to read a drum score opens up new horizons! It allows to see a structure of rhythm, to draw in the immensity of the partitions available on the net. It also allows you to record your own songs when playing in a group.

The rhythmic music theory is a bit like English for drummers, with that t veryone comes almost to understand

3. Register

If there is a council that pays, that’s it! When you practice, you have to register

It’s so hard to have a perspective on what we’re playing. And when registering we notice right away if we are regular , if the accents fall in the right place, what are the parts of the pieces that hang and need to rework.Sometimes when registering we notice that parts pass better we did not think so, while others are really not top while we thought to master this part!

And to register . It’s quite  easy (yes, even with an acoustic!)

4. Playing with a metronome

The metronome is the best friend of the drummerand his most faithful companion. And that’s the advice for me the hardest thing to follow! It’s so forbidding. But soon I saw tremendous progress in my regularity . And the day I managed to play on the ‘click’ (so we do not hear it anymore!), Frankly, it’s pretty awesome as feeling. But it must be a habit, like to wear shoes in the morning.

And finally, it’s really cool to be able to say: this song I can play at 90, 100, 120, 130 beats per minute without problem.

5. Take a good posture

That also the old people of the old insist a lot! It is in the long term , after 10-15-20 years of practice that one pays the errors of posture , with a stuck back, a beautiful scoliosis, tendinitis on the wrists.

And a good posture can play better . Take good habits to sit in front of the drums, hold chopsticks, these are “good practices” that no drummer ever regrets!

There is nothing to do with holding chopsticks : a flexible hold allows you to play faster and longer . How do you think the pros can send 180 bpm for 2 hours in concert?

10 pieces to start on the drums

Like many beginner drummers I wondered what songs I could play from the beginning, knowing only the basic “rock” rhythm.

I believed that with only a month of practice, I would have to work a lot of my theoryand continue, again and again, until I reached a level sufficient to start playing pieces in full. Well, I was wrong !

In fact we can play well known songs with a basic rhythm, and this from the second hour of practice! I do not claim to reach the level of pro drummers in just a few hours, but to play on a piece, keep pace, and have fun

So, over the course of time, I gathered a list of 10 well-known titles that I like and which are all based more or less on the basic rock rhythm.

But first, a little reminder of this basic rhythm:

Mark the eighths to the charley, beat 1 and 3 on the bass drum, beat 2 and 4 on the snare drum. Small subtlety: the second bass drum right after the 3rd beat (which can be left at the beginning). Once this groove goes well to the metronome (90-100 bpm), it’s good we can move to pieces!

The 10 songs that I advise to start the battery

When I say play the pieces, I specify, play “to his sauce” over the pieces. Do not make the same mistake as me to try from the second hour of practice to reproduce identically the game of the drummer of the song!

It may distract you from playing because you may be frustrated at not being able to play “exactly the same”, and you will not find any pleasure in it. While music is above all a good sound and pleasure above all !