My Thoughts on Tuning your Drums. (Part 2)

Just a little recap on what I covered in the last article:

•    Drum Anatomy
•    Equipment needed
•    Drum Head Selection.

In this part we will be looking at preparing your drums to be tuned, and drum key technique.

Once you have your new drum heads just re tuning your kit it’s a good idea to get the hoops and heads of and just start from scratch. There is a way of removing the heads so you don’t warp or damage the drum. This can occur when there is too much pressure placed on a particular side of the drum, which can pull and distort the wood out of place. Below is a diagram of the correct technique for releasing the pressure created by the tight drum head.

The idea is that you work in opposites around the drum using your drum key (pictured below) to slowly loosen the head at each point. (turning to the left)

My Thoughts on Tuning your Drums. (Part 1)

Hello all, this will be the first issue in a multi-part blog about the ever-elusive subject of Drum Head Tuning.

I think there are two types of people that hit drums. The First been the person that plays drums, they are normally good at what they can do but lack the fundamental knowledge of differing techniques, and are missing a basic structural knowledge of music overall and a drummers relationship within a band. The other being a “Drummer”. This person not only has spent years honing different skill sets and abilities within his/her trade. But has also taken the time to understand music as a whole and how to play to compliment the piece of music being performed. Be it with different techniques like using brushes, or just being sensitive to the piece of music by not over playing or being too loud.

Ive never understood why some “drummers” shy away from this very important aspect of drumming. A nice sounding kit not only sounds great to people listening to you but you will find you will actually want to play and practice more. You will also find yourself being more creative around the kit. I find it has that affect on me anyway. Tuning is also a very good pass time. Hours just seem to fritter away.

Good morning to you all on this cold and snowy day

 

Just wanted to share a few little things with you. A mini update on things going on if you will.

First thing id like to share with you is how amazed I was with a Snow Patrol gig I went to at the weekend. It was based at the LG arena in Birmingham, England. Which is a fairly major venue within the UK.

The Band was awesome. Ive never really been a Snow Patrol fan as such, I can get on with a few of there bigger tunes. But I have to say what a great band they are to watch live. I was knocked off my feet with how good and rounded there live sound is, and was very impressed with the way he got the crowd to participate in the gig. They now have a new fan.

But it’s the support act that caught my attention. “Everything Everything” are an electro sounding band with a very unique feel and sound. I especially liked the lead singers voice. Its very original. I went out and downloaded there album “man alive” Ive had a few listens to it. And really like it. I will say though I think the base line is a tad over done. But I think they have a very Indy sound with a hint of the 80’s electro influence mixed in. Very tight sounding, And a nice refreshing change to what’s out there at the moment.

Link to there site: http://www.myspace.com/everythingeverythinguk

I would also like to take this time to share another band I have recently discovered “EVAROSE”. They are an all girl unsigned band with a very nice rock sound (love the drum beats).They have 2 singles up on itunes which at the moment are on SALE Not really much I can say here other than to ask you to check them out and let me know what you think.

Link to there site: http://www.facebook.com/evaroseband

And lastly im planning on getting another drum cover up this weekend so please keep and eye out and let me know your thoughts.

Hello all.

Seems like absolutely ages since my last blog. With the new year having just passed I would like to talk about the importance of setting yourself goals and finding a way to plot them and keep a track of the journey along the way. Im not just talking about personal goals as these come and go (I have also set myself a few of these this year. 1 being to lose some weight:-S) I am of course talking about setting yourself goals to improve as a musician.

I am a firm advocate of trying to learn as much as you can. As im sure you are all aware that you will never be able to learn all there is to know about your chosen instrument. And while it’s a good idea to learn the basics in lots of different styles. Its simply not possible to become amazing at everything there is out there. It’s also good to get an idea in your mind about the type of music you wish to try and master and become innovator in.

I had a sit down the other week and began looking into witch parts of my playing I would attempt to improve upon throughout this year. My main goal will be hand speed. I would love to be able to play comfortably at and around 230bpm, So this will be my main goal for improvement throughout this year.

I have also chosen sub goals to be played with around my main aim. The first of these will be to improve my double bass drum playing. Not only in speed but in technique, I already have a book that I brought a few years ago that I never got around to working though. This will be a aim of mine throughout this year.

Another sub goal of mine will be with my drum covers. I want to release at least 1 cover a month. Also putting out a proper mini series, which I have determined will be biased around the American Pie series of Films.

I have others but I won’t bore you with all of these right now. As some are personal and work related goals I wish to achieve throughout the year.

Right now I want to take a look at recording your progress and re defining goals as the year roles by.

The best way to do this is start a training log, or diary.  Begin by setting aside a certain amount of time to practice each day or every couple of days.

Plan what your going to practice. I can’t stress this enough. How many times have you picked up your instrument with the goal of practicing just to mess about playing what ever. Have a goal to achieve that day.

Above all write notes and record your progress. So you have a log of how far you have come since you started. Take notes and highlight important parts for quick reference in the future.

I keep my logs on my iPad so I always have them handy and accessible in what ever situation I find myself in.  It might be a bit of music knowledge you have taken down so you can recall it in a second. A rhythm or pattern you liked the sound of. Or just something you have invented. I don’t know about you but I often come up with a great sounding beat only to forget it the next week. This prevents that from happening.

Hope this little article helps.