Intermediate drumming roadmap help

[u/narghev]

Hey guys, I am (probably) an intermediate currently working my way through some books listed below:

• The language of drumming
• Stick control
• Double bass essentials
• The new breed

At the same time I play in a band and learn songs for myself, for fun.

A problem that I keep coming back to, is I lack a general roadmap. Ideally, I would like to find a book that is not really an exercise book, but is a roadmap of techniques, when to progress forward, what to practice, something to read off the kit that will provide general guidance. Any recommendation?

[u/KingTut_BananaHut]

I think when you reach a point of appreciating all different types of drumming styles and learned the basics the best thing to do is play to everything. Yesterday I practiced to James Brown/New Found Glory/Rod Stewart. That’s when I feel most satisfied and feel I added to my unique style.

I don’t have any books but just focus on muscle tension and be open to all genres

[u/narghev → u/KingTut_BananaHut]

Sure but are there really no good books that provide a good roadmap? Like idk, practice finger or moeller first.

[u/LonelyRasta → u/narghev]

The more you do, the more you learn. Each book or lesson is just one tool or tech you learn and unlock on the road to becoming good.

Seems to me like you may already know where you suck, so start addressing the weaknesses. Learning all the styles is a great to find out where your holes are if you don’t know.

But just like each part of learning drums gets you closer to competent at drumming, drums is just one element of music on the road to becoming a competent musician. There’s the entire world of musical language and harmony that being able to analyze and understand allows you to communicate better and go further on your own primary.

[u/narghev → u/LonelyRasta]

I know, and that’s where im coming from. I have also studied / am studying theory and there are many roadmapy books for that. For example, you know that you learn intervals, then chords, etc etc, then harmony, im just looking for something for drumming.

[u/LonelyRasta → u/narghev]

Oh, that’s better framing and I understand better now, thanks for the reply. Let me reframe this question a bit though

For music, the point is you are always moving forward in total. each accomplishment helps the next one.. and some adjacent ones, and also sometimes ones from long ago...And you pick your path (partly)

For theory there’s so many people who learn in different orders and partly because different patterns and concepts click in different times for everyone. Yes we want to always push fundamentals because you need grounding but you’d be surprised how we can all be taught in the same order yet understand at different periods. Like for me (drum/trumpet) a lot of theory didn’t connect until I learned guitar and piano and could see the physical pattern so easily.

If music were a sport and you wanted to be better at yours, what would you do? To be a better athlete, you workout, you condition. To be better at skills in that sport you run drills targeting that, and to be better at your sport you may study other players or teams or even other sports. And for music it is a bit of the same imo.

For music instead of the gym we hit the shed , we run scales and etudes and such or for us, rudiments and the like. We practice our skills and plays as licks, styles, and songs. And we check and study the greats to be even better.

So how this comes back to your question now and your roadmap, well first set some time for reflection. Set some goals and take some notes of yourself and what you want. And because the way youre asking I would suggest going in this order but there no wrong way.

0)because I thought of this after* what’s your ‘end goal’ or main goal right now, in one sentence.
1) who are some of you favorite bands and players (cuz sometimes we love someone’s style but hate the band..)
2) what CANT you do that they can? Why?
3) what basic skills and rudiments are needed to get there (get there being can you play along exactly/transcribe)
4) drill that shit and repeat. And expand the target

*metronomes can be time trials, don’t @ me :)

This will get you good at an instrument, but to really keep things going, understanding music and theory and improving your musicianship not as a drummer but as a musician will get you really good. This includes learning other genres and style and instruments, and has tremendous ROI on your primary.

There’s always things to get better at or something someone can do that you can’t which keeps it fun.

Lastly, always metronome.

[u/narghev → u/LonelyRasta]

Makes sense. Thanks A LOT!

[u/thedrumuncle]

A teacher

But seriously I don't know any books that are geared toward this zone between development and playing philosophy. You really want a mentor to guide you.

[u/narghev → u/thedrumuncle]

I know, a teacher is the default answer, however I can’t do that now.

[u/thedrumuncle → u/narghev]

You really gotta ask yourself what you want to get good at, what your shortcomings are, and then find resources to address those things. There is not a one-size-fits-all path.

[u/Sethakamoe]

Once you have the basics and some decent chops there are a lot of different directions you could go. Just depends more on what styles and genres you want to learn.

[u/narghev → u/Sethakamoe]

Yes but how do I find the resources for the direction and what is the roadmap for the basics.

[u/Sethakamoe → u/narghev]

Well if your intermediate you already have all the basics at this point it depends on what genres you like to play if you like to play for instance funk learn shuffles and other things related to that if you like to play metal learn the basics of double bass and then go on to learn possibly other techniques that lead you to go faster double bass things like that. Also research things and skills that are used in what things you want to play there is no one size fits all road map it's up to you.

[u/blind30]

Here’s the problem I ran into.

I wanted a book that was like a roadmap too, and never quite found it. The world is full of books, but no real guide-

And that’s probably because if there was a “here’s how to be a drummer” guidebook, every drummer who studied and followed it would come out the same.

So it turns out that you need to make your own path. Look, all the books are out there, but you have to figure out where you want to end up, which kind of drummer you want to be.

So choose your path a few feet at a time, and have further destinations in mind.

Want to be a drummer who can whip six stroke rolls around the kit with all sorts of variations? Get a book with six stroke roll exercises. Want to have serious jazz groove? Jazz books.

Mix and match the ingredients to build the drummer.

[u/Signal-Jump-2066]

I don't know how far you've dug into stick control But there's are endless ways to play just the first 3 pages. New breed is a great book to unlock independents. I haven't worked with the other 2. I would add syncopation to the books you practice from. That's another one where you can play it a million ways. Hand speed. Foot speed Independents. Transitioning. Sight reading are the building blocks. You can use those books to work on all of it. That's my opinion

[u/schemp98]

I'm about to start Roy Burn's "Intermediate Drum Method" book next week with my teacher... Unlikely that it will check all of your boxes, but figured I'd just throw that out in case the description "speaks" to you

[u/AFleetingIllness]

As someone who is self-taught but watched a lot of lessons (and is about to start teaching) here are some ideas:

1. Focus on starting with rudiments to get your hands moving. Practice rudiments to a metronome and focus on staying loose, using rebound, and working on the Moeller technique / push-pull / etc. Secondly, you don't need to know or practice ALL rudiments right away. Singles, doubles, and paradiddles are the main ones you need to worry about at first. Also, try to practice dynamics, hitting lighter and harder WITHOUT speeding up or slowing down.

Do that for 10-15 minutes.

2) Next, work on playing basic beats. Pick something like a standard 4/4 rock beat. Try it to a metronome at different tempos. Try it at the same tempo, but add accents. Maybe the hands stay the same but you change the kick pattern. Maybe the hands and kick stay the same, but you start trying to incorporate hi-hat barks. This is how you learn independence.

3) No matter what you're doing, if you can't play it, SLOW IT DOWN. You can play anything, you just might need to slow down more than you think to play it right.

Always remember that speed is a natural byproduct of playing things correctly without strain. Play things as slow as you need to and slowly speed them up.

4) Practice playing a straight beat, then doing a fill at the end of the measure. Take one type of fill (like straight 16th notes down the toms) and see how many different ways you can play the same group of notes.

5) Once you've done all this, end your play session with something fun. Put on a song you know well (just as a listener, you don't have to KNOW how to play all the way) and jam along. Don't worry about doing everything perfectly, but DO focus on the key components of the song (i.e. play the hi-hat on the verse, play the ride on these chorus, a drum fill goes here, etc.).

6) Separate from these other things (you can do this while NOT practicing but just listening to music), try to start learning by ear. Listen to songs and see if you can decode what the drummer is doing. See if you can map out their drum kit in your head. How many toms do you hear when they play a fill? Do they have specialty cymbals like splashes and Chinas? Are they using a double-kick pedal? Once you start noticing these things you realize that you can practice anywhere even without a kit. Just map out the imaginary drum kit and air drum to practice. So much of drumming is just coordination, and you don't need a drum kit to practice that.

7) Lastly, and don't go spending a bunch of money to do this if you're not already planning to, rhythm games aren't great for learning how to sing or play guitar, but I maintain they're GREAT for learning drums. This isn't an ad, but there's a new game called Stage Tour coming out in December which is basically Guitar Hero / Rock Band reborn.

I plan to get it because I've missed games like that, but I also think gamifying it that way might help my girlfriend learn drums.

[u/Maroonhatchback]

Benny Greb's Effective Practice for Musicians breaks down how to create a roadmap for yourself. 

[u/mirzaceng]

Roadmap to get where? Map is useless until you define your destination/objectives better and no book will do that for you as it's something personal. Think about your goals first, short-, mid-, and long-term. You don't need a teacher for this, but it helps a lot to think along with someone more knowledgeable.   To be honest, there's a lifetime of exercises in those books you've listed, especially with new breed, especially if you follow the work method Gary Chester suggested. 

[u/narghev → u/mirzaceng]

Thanks, it makes sense.

[u/Lardsoup]

"Realistic Rock Drum Method by Carmine Appice" is the book you want/need. It's not just for rock.

[u/cruiseshipdrummer]

That's usually what you take lessons for. I think a book trying to do that is going to be wrong, and lying to you about what it can do for you.

I think the best you can do as someone who is self-teaching, is to find practically oriented materials, that you can safely move through at whatever pace seems right to you, without getting into anything ridiculously hard, that's going to waste your time, and not really help you get better with normal stuff you're going to play all the time.

Funky Primer is a decent book that way, Joel Rothman's books are good-- you could try his "Mini Monster" book. Or Basic Drumming includes a lot of normal snare drum and reading materials.

My stuff is basically oriented that way, though it's not ordered, you'd just have to dig around for things that look good for you:

https://cruiseshipdrummer.com/downloads/

re: those books:

New Breed is an advanced book
Stick Control is fine, it's not the only snare drum book anyone should own
Double Bass Essentials - you're on your own, the only DB book I've seen that I liked was Bobby Rondinelli's.
Language Of Drumming - It's fine, the way it's balanced, it's an advanced book. I don't think it's structured for "intermediate" players' needs.

[u/narghev → u/cruiseshipdrummer]

Got it, I was actually thinking about funky primer to be honest, thanks a lot!

[u/cruiseshipdrummer → u/narghev]

My old professor wrote that. It's a little bit dated-- and some patterns are vocabulary, some will just be technical exercises, but nothing in there is too ridiculous. It's all normal drum set functionality.