A lesson in bodybuilding from a drummer.

[tkav1980]

I live near Atlantic City NJ. we get alot of celebs, and musicions etc around here. the kid im about to show you was playing a concert over at the Tropicana and stopped by the village that the restaurant i manage is in. I recognized him and just had to talk to him. What this kid can do with a set of drums is like what einstein could do wiht numbers and imagination. Yes he is a "genetic freak" when it comes to playing drums. But dont let that natural ability fool you. While talking the one thing he kept going back to was Practice, hours and hours of practice. When the question came up of developing his technique and independence(having 4 limbs do 4 different things in 4 different times at once), i knew he was going to say practice, but i beat him to the punch and asked practice what? He said " the basics, Just rudiments." rudiments are what everything else is built on in drumming, they get your hands working right, and they teach you various simple stick patterns that you dont think about but use all the time.

Then he said something i thought was brilliant. he asks " you look like you workout, do you workout?". i said yes. then he says " could i get big just benching?" I told him well you would get a little bigger in your chest shoulders and tri's but if you want to be big, i mean really big, you have to eat ALOT, and in my opinion work the big 3 wiht heavy weights, bench( or some variation of) deadlifts, and squats. then the conversation turned towards lifting. he asked what about bi's and shoulders etc. and i told him they need to be worked but those 3 lifts are kind of like the bread and butter of size. they involve such large portions of the body they help wiht everything, and (stealing a line form dante) you wont see a guy deadlifting 600lbs for reps complaining about small traps.

He responded to that statement by saying you wont run into a drummer complaining about speed that practices his rudiments for 4 hours a day. He said like food and those 3 lifts to you, rudiments are to me. probably the best drummer in the world practices the most basic thing the most. i thought this was amazing coming from a teenager. the lesson i took out of it was be the best at the basics and everything else will fall into place. this isnt anything revolutionary or new but to me it was a cool reminder not to overcomplicate things. and i wanted to brag about meeting Dylan Elise...lol.

ill shut up now and show you the kind of freakish talent im talking about...give the video a few min to get going and youl see what i mean about freak.
YouTube - Amazing Drum Solo

 

[Pekkerwood]

TKav:

Glad to see you back. There are several studies that focus on what it takes to be an "expert" and a common thread was 10,000 hours of practice in some very disparate fields.

 

[galioth13]

ok at first.... i was watching the video and was like.... eeeeeeehh hes ok...... but damn... that dude is insane

 

[B~RAD]

Dam good drummer! and very wise too, it seems

 

[prime]

16 yo has some chops!

 

[Ivan]

practice, practice, practice

I remember when I met Jason Kidd at the hotel he was at. I talked with him for about 5 min. This is when he was going to Cal. I asked him how he had such "handles" and he told me practice, practice, practice, AND he used to take the ball with him when he went walking or other random chores, he told me he was with his basketball so much that soon it became an "extension" of himself, or a part of him.

That kid can really play -- but when it comes to drummers I have my favorites: John Bonham and yes, Tommy Lee. <-- say what you will about Tommy but he is A TALENT on the drums, he is wickedly good.

 

[HeavyHands]

Definitely a great player. Mixes in alot of the flashiness that a Thomas Lang type player might throw in... Really cool. I'm a free-lance drummer myself (that is, when I'm not working/studying, I get hired for different jazz gigs, theaters, all sorts of different things around the area). I can certainly appreciate where he is coming from in terms of the practicing and rudiments. It all stems from, and can be related back to, the rudiments. Though I must say, there is a time when a player has to go past the rudiments and into the real of the polyrhythmic, the odd meters, the metric modulations, stylistic phrasings, etc... But no matter what, you can never go wrong relying on the basics! Good stuff

 

[AWN2004]

I live near Atlantic City NJ. we get alot of celebs, and musicions etc around here. the kid im about to show you was playing a concert over at the Tropicana and stopped by the village that the restaurant i manage is in. I recognized him and just had to talk to him. What this kid can do with a set of drums is like what einstein could do wiht numbers and imagination. Yes he is a "genetic freak" when it comes to playing drums. But dont let that natural ability fool you. While talking the one thing he kept going back to was Practice, hours and hours of practice. When the question came up of developing his technique and independence(having 4 limbs do 4 different things in 4 different times at once), i knew he was going to say practice, but i beat him to the punch and asked practice what? He said " the basics, Just rudiments." rudiments are what everything else is built on in drumming, they get your hands working right, and they teach you various simple stick patterns that you dont think about but use all the time.

Then he said something i thought was brilliant. he asks " you look like you workout, do you workout?". i said yes. then he says " could i get big just benching?" I told him well you would get a little bigger in your chest shoulders and tri's but if you want to be big, i mean really big, you have to eat ALOT, and in my opinion work the big 3 wiht heavy weights, bench( or some variation of) deadlifts, and squats. then the conversation turned towards lifting. he asked what about bi's and shoulders etc. and i told him they need to be worked but those 3 lifts are kind of like the bread and butter of size. they involve such large portions of the body they help wiht everything, and (stealing a line form dante) you wont see a guy deadlifting 600lbs for reps complaining about small traps.

He responded to that statement by saying you wont run into a drummer complaining about speed that practices his rudiments for 4 hours a day. He said like food and those 3 lifts to you, rudiments are to me. probably the best drummer in the world practices the most basic thing the most. i thought this was amazing coming from a teenager. the lesson i took out of it was be the best at the basics and everything else will fall into place. this isnt anything revolutionary or new but to me it was a cool reminder not to overcomplicate things. and i wanted to brag about meeting Dylan Elise...lol.

ill shut up now and show you the kind of freakish talent im talking about...give the video a few min to get going and youl see what i mean about freak.
YouTube - Amazing Drum Solo

I never get tired of seeing that video. I can remember hating my stick control books and practicing rudiments. Practicing paradiddles until I hated my set. Good times.