Want to learn drums

[Andrew07]

I have an elementary knowledge of drums. Basic 1234 beats

I know music theory,timing, etc

I can play basic beats (from songs until about 1969 haha)

My goal is to program out drums using a MIDI keyboard and my computer mouse

I live in an apartment, so I dont have an acoustic kit to play with, and dont have any drummer buddies who have the time to sit down with me while I pencil out some MIDI drums. Im trying to learn faster beats that you find in modern pop/rock/metal songs. Any sources(books or websites) you guys could recommend checking into that would help me out? Thanks!!

[brandondrury]

dont have any drummer buddies

A key to my happiness has always been the bond I have with the drummers I record. I'm not sure if it's "opposites attract" or "idiots think alike". Either way, but stooping to a drummer's level you can develop a bound that normal people aren't capable of. It's kind of like having a pet dog.

Good luck on this one. I decided that programming sucked recently. I haven't bought my e-drum kit yet, but my current engineering load has been so high that I haven't had time to program my own crap anyway.

Brandon

[Andrew07]

This dude online has proven to me that kick ass drums can be had thru MIDI...all the songs here were done using DFH and Steven Slate samples, programmed with a mouse in Cubase

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=720702

i think a case of guinness a few packs of camels and i should be able to lure some drummer over

[lumpy]

Andrew 07>i think a case of guinness a few packs of camels and i should be able to lure some drummer over

Where do you live?

Brandon's pet dog,
Lump

[ferguson66]

Originally Posted by Andrew07

Im trying to learn faster beats that you find in modern pop/rock/metal songs. Any sources(books or websites) you guys could recommend checking into that would help me out? Thanks!!

Check out Drum Lessons, All Free Online Learning Tools for Drummers - OnlineDrummer.com. Nate has a TON of beats that he has charted and each one has an audio file so you can hear how it is supposed to sound. I get some great ideas for new beats there all the time.

[brandondrury]

I actually think that metal drum programming would be easier because almost all of that shit is on a grid these days anyway. Metal drumming isn't so much about groove, it's more about power and hitting a bunch of shit really fast.

It's the usual thing I find. The simple 3-chord pop/rock bands spend tons and tons of time perfecting their performances so that they are super tight. The prog-type bands make up something really complicated and play so fast that they can get away with being a little loose and ignore the pushing, pulling, groove, and all the little crap the pop band ignored.

So whether you spend you entire day debating how much forward to push a snare drum ahead or simply add more tom hits, it doesn't matter.

Just jump in and see where you end up.

Brandon

[Andrew07]

im in Davis, california

check out his songs at the bottom. i think "burn the ballroom" is a pretty cool song. ya, i wouldnt call his drums the BEST. but from a home recording standpoint doing it all with a mouse i think it's pretty awesome

while commuting today i think i may have figured out an OK system for trying to learn drums. i know about musical timing. i have fingers. and i have a mouth. using my right hand to count out each quarter note along with a beat, i used a combination of making sounds for the different drums using my mouth and left index finger. So when writing songs I can "hear" a drum beat in my head and can produce it with my hands and mouth. and i THINK i'll be able to tab it out manually with a mouse....if super time consuming. i'll keep at it and will most likely post up some crap demos.

also, where do you guys get drum tabs? looks like mxtabs is closed, and when going thru 911tabs.com i get a bazillion popups that are super annoying

[brandondrury]

while commuting today i think i may have figured out an OK system for trying to learn drums.

Oh, so you really haven't programmed any drums yet? I thought it would be weird/hard actually getting the ideas. For the most part, this can be done extremely quickly. Fills take a little longer, but not much.

The problem isn't getting all the "hits" right. The problem is getting them to sound natural. That is a VERY time consuming process. I hate it. Things like going through and moving the snare drum ahead in the choruses to make the song feel faster takes TONS of time to get right. Tom fills don't always sound right because of the velocities of the drums. Things like this drive me crazy.

Brandon

[kiteboarder]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Oh, so you really haven't programmed any drums yet? I thought it would be weird/hard actually getting the ideas. For the most part, this can be done extremely quickly. Fills take a little longer, but not much.

The problem isn't getting all the "hits" right. The problem is getting them to sound natural. That is a VERY time consuming process. I hate it. Things like going through and moving the snare drum ahead in the choruses to make the song feel faster takes TONS of time to get right. Tom fills don't always sound right because of the velocities of the drums. Things like this drive me crazy.

Brandon

Hey Brandon - Supreme Ovelrord Commander. Whereabouts are you anyway? I'll play drums on some of your tracks!

[brandondrury]

I get offered this all the time. My producing gigs have been fewer and further between as I'm mostly engineering bands. When I do program drums, it's usually just me screwing around. However, I'll keep you in mind in the future.

Brandon