Not being able to practice for months - any experience?

I'm joining the Army (going into CAMUS aka Corp of Army Music aka the guys who march around infront of Buckingham with big hats and play in tattoos aka i-get-to-play-drums-on-a-regular-salary-with-a-pension-woo-go-me), and my phase 1 begins in October.

Phase 1 consists of 3 1/2 months of pure military training, and while I genuinely do love crawling through mud in the rain in camouflage, I love playing drums more. I probably won't be able to get any practice done although I'm going to try and sneak in a practice pad and a little practice kick pad to try and keep my chops up if I get any spare time. After the phase 1 I'll go to Kneller Hall which is basically a music college, and I'll be able to practice a lot more.

My question is, have any of you had to go through extremely long periods of time without practicing, and if so, what kind of damage has it done to your chops and groove? Was it easy to get them back or did you find yourself seriously setback afterwards?

Thanks a lot!

i will say congrats your are much smarter than me, i was in the army (not as a musician), couldn't practice for 3 1/2 months for basic, then i went right to a school, for another 2 months, so a total of 5 1/2 months with NO PRACTICE what so ever, and i will say much to my surprise, it only took me a few weeks to get my groove back, dont get me wrong it was a few weeks of constant playing but never the less a lot quicker than i thought.

My wife and I moved into an apartment around 6 months or so back from the house we lived in. As a result, my band switched rehearsal space to our bassist's home. Since I didn't feel like lugging my drums around every week, and I couldn't really play them in the apartment, I started leaving my drums at his place.

Because of clashing work schedules and lack of motivation, we didn't rehearse for nearly two months. And during this time, I might as well say I wasn't a drummer. I didn't even watch any youtube videos. I just wasn't interested in drums anymore.

Then one day out of the blue, the band decided we should get together and start practicing to record an EP, and it was like a switch was flipped. I was watching videos, messing with my practice pad, I even moved my drums back to the apartment for a few weeks and attempted to work quietly on a few things.

But I suppose that's all useless info... Sorry. During the two months I lost a lot. The muscle memory faded, and coordination slopped. Rudiments I could do as second nature, I now had to slow down and really focus on to learn again.

I try to get a really good work out on my practice pad every two or three days to retain my ability. I just wish I could get into the habit of doing it more, so I could better develope.

Just bring drum sticks and practice rudiments on your lap. And also air drumming and tapping your feet on the ground can be of some help.

My wife and I just had our first baby 2 months ago. Around that same time our guitar player was out of town for a month for some college course. So we didn't have our normal band practice. With the newborn I can't play my drums in the house right now so I don't play much.

It's been tough. I'm sloppy.

Thanks for sharing the experiences guys. It'll be tough; I'm going to try and see if I can get away with a practice pad and a kick pad, and take sticks to drum on my legs. As long as I can keep my basic chops and rudiments and whatnot up so I don't lose too much speed and endurance, I can relearn any grooves and kit stuff I get rusty on.

The most important part, I've found, is keeping the mental game up, i.e., counting complex rhythms and even drumming them with your hands and feet without sticks or pads. I read an article in Modern Drummer about some drummers, such as Chris Adler from Lamb of God, who swear by doing coordination exercises while sitting on a bus or at the dinner table. You can actually accomplish a lot from not even playing on the actual kit. I did an internship in LA during college for 3 months, and had no access to any drums. I did have a pad, but I honestly wasn't too motivated to play it, but I did drum on the steering wheel in the car with my bare hands, and imagined various moves around the kit, and as a result, I flew back to Boston one weekend to play a recital for a friend, and my playing didn't suffer at all. I was very much mentally still in the game.

Basically, if you still give playing the drums thought, you will be fine. You may have to practice a bit to get your chops back up, but a couple of hours or a few solid practice sessions should get you right back on track.

Hope this helped!

It did help actually, I'll try and look more into exercises I can do. As far as chops are concerned, although I don't swear by it, I know some drummers emphasise practicing single and double strokes most of all as they make up the basis of drumming; so even if I don't get a chance to practice rudiments, I'll do singles and doubles whenever I can. I'll probably be so tired from the military side of things that I won't want to spend hours doing hybrid rudiments on a bad anyway lol.

Talismanis said:

Thanks for sharing the experiences guys. It'll be tough; I'm going to try and see if I can get away with a practice pad and a kick pad, and take sticks to drum on my legs. As long as I can keep my basic chops and rudiments and whatnot up so I don't lose too much speed and endurance, I can relearn any grooves and kit stuff I get rusty on.

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Even if you can't take the pads / sticks....just keep working the rudiments with your hands.........congrats on your new gig..........I spent 22 years in the Army and there were several deployments where I couldn't take my drums (all of them)!

Good luck with your training and get back on a kit as soon as possible

longgun said:

Even if you can't take the pads / sticks....just keep working the rudiments with your hands.........congrats on your new gig..........I spent 22 years in the Army and there were several deployments where I couldn't take my drums (all of them)!

Good luck with your training and get back on a kit as soon as possible

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Thanks! I start on October 8th so I have little while still, but I'm at the stage where I've finished school but haven't gone to uni (or in my case the army) yet, so I literally have NO responsibilities, I intend to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime thing lol.

I should hope I get to take some form of drum with me though, as it'll be my job haha.

It's an interesting thing . . . this happens inevitably to every drummer, I think.

I actually find that it's better to stop completely if there's no way to practice regularly. If I try to cram it in when I really can't make it happen, I just get really frustrated at how terrible it feels.

Honestly, I'd completely shelve the drums during your basic training. You'll be ready to hit it hard when you start up again. You'll need some ambition to get through a short phase when your playing will be terrible. For me, it's usually about 40 hours of practice before I really get things grooving again, if I haven't played for several months.

I remember an interview with Stewart Copeland, who quit drumming for several years to pursue filmmaking. He said that it's not just the practice that makes a drummer interesting, it's the life experiences, too. Everything that happens to you will have an impact on your phrasing . . . for better or for worse!

Good luck!

-sheldon

Well, I'm going up to Kneller Hall for 5 days soon anyway, so I'll ask other people there how they've coped with it and ask some of the officers if I can get away with my plan. It's easier being a drummer, if I can't sneak a pad in I can take some sticks and pillow drum or just use my hands if I have to.
At least I'm not a bloody trumpet player.