But it was fun! A sales rep then told me I should enter their “fastest drummer” contest. When I asked him when it was, he said, “THE NEXT NIGHT”! After trying to bow out, I eventually said “okay”. Since I’ve always disliked “musical competitions” I don’t know why I agreed? So, I decided I wouldn’t tell anyone (including my wife) about it - talk about being insecure!
BUT, I did win; with a score of 956 beats in 60 seconds! It wasn’t my best score up to that point, but at least I was now going to the International Fastest Drummer finals qualifications and NAMM. And I had about 2 months to practice! An important part of drum playing is relaxed breathing. A good warm-up, whether you are sitting or standing, is to take a slow, deep breath, filling the lungs with air.
Always listen to music beyond you ability as direction for future practices. Get those moves of your favorite drummer in you head before you start trying to play them out. If you listen enough you can be talking to you best friend with that new beat playing in the background of you mind. Then it will just be a matter of time until you play it out.
Before you get started, be sure to do warm-up exercises for drum set playing. Generally speaking, drum set exercises would refer to rudiments or chops but the information that is being presented to you has to do with warming up the body before any drumming.
The first step in developing a solo, an important ingredient that would need to be addressed, is the proper execution of rudiments. Are your single strokes, doubles, paradiddles, rolls, flams, and so on, played well? You will want to execute these smoothly and with precision. It will present the difference of being a beginner or professional drummer.
Take some lessons. Despite your level of experience, lessons always seem to inspire us. You will find new approaches, viewpoints, and techniques that you may have never encountered otherwise. Even the greats will often go back and study with a teacher after a long successful career. They are maintaining goals in their life and assuring continual motivation, excitement, and competitiveness
This problem can be remedied if you will make the commitment to really focus on building your bass drum skills of the next several weeks. As you practice, try to incorporate some unique pedal work into everything you play. Also, spend time daily developing your bass drum technique. Continue to do this until you are comfortable playing in all settings. Once you have reached this point you have acquired an important ability that will serve you well throughout your musical career.
Know the “name” players in the industry and their contributions to the drum world.