The need for speed

k3ng

Silver Member
I'm curious.

I've come to realise that there is a natural 'need for speed' in drumming especially with new and younger drummers. Somehow, there is this natural tendency to play fast, to go quickly sometimes beyond their own limits causing mistakes and what not to crop up.

I discovered that throughout my almost 3 years of teaching, the one piece of advice I cannot repeat more is to play slowly. I can't count how many times I've reminded my students to play slower and more consistently rather than play incredibly fast for 3 measures.

Where does this natural 'need for speed' come from? How many of you 'suffered' from the same thing when you guys started out?

I can't explain it. It just happens. Thoughts anyone?
 
It's just a need to push the boundaries and find the limits. You can't grow unless you do that. I don't think you should discourage it, I think you should encourage it. You don't start training for a marathon by going for a walk.

I've been playing for just over 2 and a half years. After about a year I found myself playing harder and harder without really meaning too. I was simply pummeling the drums. Now I'm easing back but I have that headroom so if I need to pick up the volume and aggression I can because I've got the strength and stamina to do it.
 
It's a maturity thing. When one just starts out, especially if they're young, it feels good to go fast, to blow your wad as it were. Only with years spent playing does one realize that it's not the destination, it's the journey. If everyone started out like that right out of the gates....well it's just not human nature. Once in a while you hear the rare drummer who has that innate sense of maturity at the beginning of his/her time spent playing. Just my opinion.
 
i think it just depends on the style of music the drummer listens too.
like if they listened to nothing but heavy metal with super fast drum beats and that makes them want to play the drums then they are gonna try and do what they like and not start off slow and proper...i was the same way but just the opposite i listened to slower and softer stuff but now have grown to play faster and faster its all with time and what you like to listen to and play along too.
 
It's a maturity thing. When one just starts out, especially if they're young, it feels good to go fast, to blow your wad as it were. Only with years spent playing does one realize that it's not the destination, it's the journey. If everyone started out like that right out of the gates....well it's just not human nature. Once in a while you hear the rare drummer who has that innate sense of maturity at the beginning of his/her time spent playing. Just my opinion.

Yeah that definitely applies to me. Personally, I find it much more fun to play at high speed which is why I do it an awful lot, I've only recently started getting into mid-slow tempo playing after a few years of playing.
 
It's just a need to push the boundaries and find the limits. You can't grow unless you do that. I don't think you should discourage it, I think you should encourage it. You don't start training for a marathon by going for a walk.

I've been playing for just over 2 and a half years. After about a year I found myself playing harder and harder without really meaning too. I was simply pummeling the drums. Now I'm easing back but I have that headroom so if I need to pick up the volume and aggression I can because I've got the strength and stamina to do it.

He makes a good point. when starting out i never really tried to play very fast or loud, as so many beginners do, and now i actually find that in louder situations i never get as much stick height as i need (without moeller of course) and my speed around the set is quite poor to be honest.
 
Playing drums is fun because it is loud and physical. Nobody practicing their flute arpeggios all day gets to experience this. The guy working out his oboe cadenza for his orchestra concert doesn't know what it's like to play until your throat is dry, you're dripping sweat, your arms and legs are tight, your ears are ringing, your heart is racing, your hands have giant blisters, and there are giant woodchips, piles of sawdust, and broken sticks laying everywhere. That's part of the reason I love drumming so much. They are a blast to play because you're taking out all of your day's stress out on them, and you're pumping beta endorphines into your brain the same as if you do any other sport or exercise activity. Naturally, we want to play really really fast.

(No need to emphasize all the "musicality is first," "drums aren't a sport," "use better technique and play really wimpy," stuff that's commonly debated here. I know all that and know it all very well and agree with most of it 100%, but that's not my point here.)

The point is, as drummers we are used to a certain amount of physical resistance. When we get to the point to where we can play something easily and no longer feel that resistance, it sometimes does not feel comfortable to us. So, we have to make a conscious effort to play what we hear, even when we no longer feel the same muscular tension we felt when we first learned whatever it is we are playing.
 
The point is, as drummers we are used to a certain amount of physical resistance. When we get to the point to where we can play something easily and no longer feel that resistance, it sometimes does not feel comfortable to us. So, we have to make a conscious effort to play what we hear, even when we no longer feel the same muscular tension we felt when we first learned whatever it is we are playing.

I totally agree with this, not just regarding speed, but how hard drummers play. I'v been bulking up a bit lately, and it means to feel like i'm really letting rip on the drums i have to hit that much harder. It can be fun to play at your physical limits, as it causes the endorphins that physical actvity create.

Obviously, on a deeper level there is another part of the brain which gets fun and satisfaction from a good groove and dynamics, but maybe this is stimulted more when we can play reasonably well... and this is why beginners are more likely to hit harder and play faster? just a thought...
 
I've asked my students why they want to go fast so badly. The majority of them think that the faster you go, the better you must be. In the beginner's mind, this makes total sense.

I think that it's just a perception by beginners of what is the next step toward getting better. When you don't know the inner workings of famous drummers' vocabularies, the speed is the part that is most impressive, stands out the most, and seems the most easily attained. As we grow in our craft, we find other parts (coordinations, phrases, and whatnot) that appeal to us that we work on towards that goal of getting better.

Everyone has a perception of what a good drummer does, and we all try to find ways to get to the next step of our perceived level of excellence. Once we "get there", though, we find that we can improve our skills in another way and we start the process over again, moving in a new direction. Thank goodness there's not just one path!

I think that most beginning drummers see speed as that first path...
 
I've always wanted to push myself to go faster. I've been playing for 16 years (since I was about 3) and my goal is all the same now as it was then - speed. I play, have played, and always will play fast because thats how I am, thats the music I play.


Now and then I can get slow and groove more but most of the time im wailing away and playing fast. I have no idea why. Like I can keep time very well (most of my teachers are quite impressed with me) and I can be playing an AC/DC song, but when I do that, I *always* find myself going into double time, but still playing the time I was at to start (but doubled). I have no problem with this, but it's just curious.

Since I was young I knew my goal was speed. People always critized me on saying "speed isn't everything" but it is to me. My drum teacher was both impressed on how well I worked at my speed, but on the other hand dissapointed that I hardly ever play slow. I've tried to go slow, I can play slow, but I don't.

So, theres my two cents. Although that probably didn't answer anything.
 
I think that most beginning drummers see speed as that first path...

The thing that makes me wonder is why.


I think Matt makes a good point. Drums is the most physical instrument around (though sometimes looking at victor wooten on the bass makes me feel giddy).

I don't think it has anything to do with the music they listen though because I've had kids as young as 7 and they hardly listen to any music at all except what comes on the radio in the car and they try to blast as quickly as they can too.
 
The thing that makes me wonder is why.


I think Matt makes a good point. Drums is the most physical instrument around (though sometimes looking at victor wooten on the bass makes me feel giddy).

I don't think it has anything to do with the music they listen though because I've had kids as young as 7 and they hardly listen to any music at all except what comes on the radio in the car and they try to blast as quickly as they can too.

It's because speed is cool! Fast cars, fast motorcycles, fast athletes... fast anything!

I agree, technique is definitely what you should focus on, but I must admit, when I first started playing I would focus way too hard on speed. Speed is very easy to measure. You simply take a metronome and see how fast you can fly, and because this is so easy to measure people tend to focus on it.
 
I actually learned why people (not just drummers) like speed from my ACT (college exam) tutor. He was teaching me how to read fast, which is necessary to complete the test in time on this test. He said that our brains like speed. Our brains work in quick pictures and sound. So, the reason why drummers like speed is that their brains require speed.

Another example, the average time (so I've heard) for a frame to stay up on television is 7 seconds. Movie producers have found that in order to keep a person engaged is to constantly switch up frames.

Yet another example, most people love to drive cars fast. People love to watch cars drive fast. It is human to love speed.

Over the course of history, people have wanted faster cars, means of communication, etc. We have progressed from walking to driving, from letters to text messaging, from cooking things over a fire to a microwave. Humans just love speed.

I hope this makes sense.
 
I think it's a logical place to start. We want to be amazing drummers and sound like our favorite drummers. Like caddywampus said, any beginner will see a major difference between themselves and an amazing drummer is pure speed. I know I always saw it that way when I had just started playing. Not to say that speed isn't useless because it has its applications. It's just not the most important thing.
 
I've asked my students why they want to go fast so badly. The majority of them think that the faster you go, the better you must be. In the beginner's mind, this makes total sense.

Sez the man with the quickest index fingers ( ? ) on drummerworld !
 
I actually learned why people (not just drummers) like speed from my ACT (college exam) tutor. He was teaching me how to read fast, which is necessary to complete the test in time on this test. He said that our brains like speed. Our brains work in quick pictures and sound. So, the reason why drummers like speed is that their brains require speed.

Another example, the average time (so I've heard) for a frame to stay up on television is 7 seconds. Movie producers have found that in order to keep a person engaged is to constantly switch up frames.

Yet another example, most people love to drive cars fast. People love to watch cars drive fast. It is human to love speed.

Over the course of history, people have wanted faster cars, means of communication, etc. We have progressed from walking to driving, from letters to text messaging, from cooking things over a fire to a microwave. Humans just love speed.

I hope this makes sense.

There's a lot of truth there. Unfortunately what I also believe is that our craving for speed is actually unhealthy and that by just slowing things down occasionally, we can really help ourselves centre and focus. Or just for the sake of it. Last night, for instance, I got really rather drunk and went for a walk around my University campus with a friend. We just sat down in the middle of the main square at about half one in the morning taking in the moment and by just slowing things down - appreciated what was really good in life.
 
There's a lot of truth there. Unfortunately what I also believe is that our craving for speed is actually unhealthy and that by just slowing things down occasionally, we can really help ourselves centre and focus. Or just for the sake of it. Last night, for instance, I got really rather drunk and went for a walk around my University campus with a friend. We just sat down in the middle of the main square at about half one in the morning taking in the moment and by just slowing things down - appreciated what was really good in life.

By the looks of your changing avatars it's fairly clear you don't mind the old warm beer.
 
Ale is the way forward.

I've got a new avatar coming in about 3 seconds, actually...
 
Ale is the way forward.

I've got a new avatar coming in about 3 seconds, actually...

how fast did you drink the beer though?

and what's up with the bizarre avatars? interesting....

i think we all need to slow down. playing slow and practicing slow is key to becoming a better musician. i'm taking piano lessons again for the first time in 25yrs and realize i have crappy time...because i try to play too many notes and too fast and then screw up. it's better to play slow, steady, and even with good technique than try to blast something out that it sloppy. you can add speed once you perfect at slower speeds. i keep needing to tell myself this!

the bottom line is we live in a very fast world that is only getting faster and this is why everyone (young and old) like to go fast. if we lived in the woods our whole lives...this may be different.
 
I drink the beer slowly and the spirits quickly. The trick is to keep the beer just 'ticking over' until you get nicely drunk but don't drink too much too quickly. It's all about the quiet pint or six...

The avatars are just me over the last two weeks or so...
 
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