Do you need to practice EVERY day to get better/faster?

T-1000

Senior Member
I'm not asking this as a lazy guy who can't be bothered to do the work, I'm asking this as I genuinely don't have enough time to practice everyday what with working long hours, doing overtime, needing to learn to improve my sight-reading and needing to learn a foreign language (part of the job) on top of that - there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to practice drums every day. I need to periodize my activities.

So if I can only practice, say, every other day for 20 minutes - will I ever improve? I'm mainly working on hand technique (finger technique) and speed at the moment. If it is possible, what is the most efficient way to do it? Go in speed bursts of 20 seconds or just do long periods at a slow steady speed?
 
Daily repetition is the best method, but life is what it is. You can still make progress working in short chunks every other day, just expect that progress to take longer than if you were doing more work. Also, 20 minutes isn't much, at all. See if you can up it to even 40 minutes, and you'll see a big difference, I reckon.

BTW, can I ask why sight-reading is more important than your technique?
 
I'm 42 and decided (again) I want to learn the drums. No sooner did I get everything ready to go, and start really getting into it, I get promoted at work along with a ton of new responsibility. I'm also having to study for and pass an industry certification course this year, which is super tough. Kids, work, studying, etc etc. I can find very little time to practice. Probably 15-20 min a day on average.

Luckily I work from a home office so I am able to sneak away for a few minutes here and there for micro practice sessions. I also have a practice pad next to my desk. When I'm on phone or conference calls I can get in 5-10 min of rudiment work. Drives my guys crazy. tatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatata in the background. :) In just a couple of months though I've seen excellent improvement, by my own standards.

In my mind, drumming is something I do to relax. It's not a high priority in the big picture of my life. I am going to practice as often as I can, and however long it takes to learn is how long it takes. I don't have any other choice.

Good luck
 
I am new on the forum, but have been playing since 2nd grade. I am 32 now.

I don't know why at your age (obviously not in school) why you would focus on site reading. I had to learn to read shape notes for school and grades, that was it. I learn covers by listening, not by buying sheet music.

I learned guitar by ear, same with bass, etc...

Are you taking a class or something? If not, forget about it it. IMHO, it doesn't make you a better drummer. Playing fast and playing fast AND CLEAN, are different animals.

I learned that in drum corps. IF speed if your goal, start by working on the basics and focus on the technique. 8 on a hand, hut huts, diga diga rolls, etc.... basic fundimentals. if you can apply proper technique slowly, then speed will come with more time.

If you are playing jazz, the syncopation book, long notes on the bass short on the hand with a simple ride and 2/4 on the hi-hat...start slowly and once you have it speed will come.

In other words, good speed is a product of learned proper technique.
 
I've been playing for around 6 months with the availability that you have. You can definitely make progress but it's obviously slow. What I try to do with my micro sessions is approach the kit and work on one thing I've been working on (literally think of a measure or "phrase"). I play it until I get it down, or I notice progress has been made, usually 5-10 minutes of working at it. I also try to play something everytime I walk by the kit, even if it's just a few measures. I have weekly lessons and can barely keep up with what I'm given, many times it will overlap a couple weeks before I get it sounding solid. I do find that short attention focused practice is more beneficial to me than the occasional Saturday where I force myself to put in a solid hour. Also, air-drum everything you're working on at your desk ;)
 
I am new on the forum, but have been playing since 2nd grade. I am 32 now.

I don't know why at your age (obviously not in school) why you would focus on site reading. I had to learn to read shape notes for school and grades, that was it. I learn covers by listening, not by buying sheet music.

I learned guitar by ear, same with bass, etc...

Are you taking a class or something? If not, forget about it it. IMHO, it doesn't make you a better drummer. Playing fast and playing fast AND CLEAN, are different animals.

I learned that in drum corps. IF speed if your goal, start by working on the basics and focus on the technique. 8 on a hand, hut huts, diga diga rolls, etc.... basic fundimentals. if you can apply proper technique slowly, then speed will come with more time.

If you are playing jazz, the syncopation book, long notes on the bass short on the hand with a simple ride and 2/4 on the hi-hat...start slowly and once you have it speed will come.

In other words, good speed is a product of learned proper technique.

In Marching Band I learned the quickest way to get better at something is to play it dirty next to center snare, if hes a good center snare he'll start complaining to you and make you fix it.
 
I'm not asking this as a lazy guy who can't be bothered to do the work, I'm asking this as I genuinely don't have enough time to practice everyday what with working long hours, doing overtime, needing to learn to improve my sight-reading and needing to learn a foreign language (part of the job) on top of that - there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to practice drums every day. I need to periodize my activities.

So if I can only practice, say, every other day for 20 minutes - will I ever improve? I'm mainly working on hand technique (finger technique) and speed at the moment. If it is possible, what is the most efficient way to do it? Go in speed bursts of 20 seconds or just do long periods at a slow steady speed?

Life happens. You have to prioritize the other important things in your life too. But picking up the sticks for a few minutes each day is better than not picking them up at all. I have found that when I take a longer break of a few days between playing, sometimes my playing is better. The idea is to have fun while you're doing it. If it becomes a daily chore, chances are you'll slowly stop participating in the act of playing.

Of course, as others will say here, your mileage may vary, though.
 
I'm not asking this as a lazy guy who can't be bothered to do the work, I'm asking this as I genuinely don't have enough time to practice everyday what with working long hours, doing overtime, needing to learn to improve my sight-reading and needing to learn a foreign language (part of the job) on top of that - there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to practice drums every day. I need to periodize my activities.

So if I can only practice, say, every other day for 20 minutes - will I ever improve? I'm mainly working on hand technique (finger technique) and speed at the moment. If it is possible, what is the most efficient way to do it? Go in speed bursts of 20 seconds or just do long periods at a slow steady speed?

There was a thread about improving top speed recently. What I got out of it is that long periods (5 minutes or more) near your top speed, daily, give the best results (assuming your technique is solid). Improving your technique is a separate matter.

Every day is a must. 10 minutes per day is better than 20 minutes every other day. 10 minutes of focused practice daily is probably better than 5 hours one day per week. The challenge for most adults is organizing their practice routine into useful chunks, so you don't waste time searching for the next activity, and you know when you are done for the day. Also, it is far easier to add time to a regular practice schedule ("today I'll practice for 25 minutes, because such-and-such appointment cancelled"), and too easy to skip and every-other-day activity ("I can make it up tomorrow").

I highly recommend charting out a song in order to learn it (as opposed to just listening), and transcribing licks, fills, and solos in order to understand them.

Why are you working on sight-reading? It is becoming less important as technology permits the distribution of recordings easily. What are your long-term goals, besides increasing your speed and technique? Are you playing regularly with a group?
 
Depends on what you practice and what you're trying to work on, if you want endurance and you only practice paradiddles at 120 BPM for 5 minutes you aren't doing crap to help yourself.
 
Yes, you do need to practice every day. You have to be strict on yourself though. Make sure and practice the right things. Get 'Stick Control' by George Lawrence Stone, pad, sticks, metronome, and a comfortable chair. Also, it's not always the speed that's best, but rather having control of the speed. You'll get it.
 
it doesn't get rid of the "two steps forwards / one step backwards" symptom but it sure helps if you can practice every day.

I also find that just carrying the sticks around makes them become more a part of you - familiarity to the hand maybe? ;-)
 
perfect practice makes perfect.
20 mins of good well planned practice will beat an hour of messing around.
Dont practice stuff you already know, really push yourself and you will see results.
 
I also find that just carrying the sticks around makes them become more a part of you - familiarity to the hand maybe? ;-)

That's what Jim Chapin did. He was afraid if he didn't constantly practice he'd lose his chops. A great way to go if you have the wherewithall

I'm in a similar situation as I just started back in to full time work. There were also some years when I was a single Dad with a baby girl where practicing meant pulling out the pad when she was asleep.

I try to do things like have sticks and brushes in the car and then practice when I'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic or even at stop lights. Of course I live in L.A. so it's pretty common. You can also do 'warm ups' by stretching when you have a minute or two.

As one poster said, working on one or a few things might be the way to go.

I'd like unlimited practice time for everything I'd like to work on but I can't. So you have to prioritize and try to get good at a few things.

Effective practice trumps 'jamming'. Nothing wrong with the latter. You just have to figure what it is you really want to do and then do the best with what you've got. Consistent daily 'something' should show improvement.

Back to the practice room. :)

My .02

jim
 
I'm not asking this as a lazy guy who can't be bothered to do the work, I'm asking this as I genuinely don't have enough time to practice everyday what with working long hours, doing overtime, needing to learn to improve my sight-reading and needing to learn a foreign language (part of the job) on top of that - there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to practice drums every day. I need to periodize my activities.

So if I can only practice, say, every other day for 20 minutes - will I ever improve? I'm mainly working on hand technique (finger technique) and speed at the moment. If it is possible, what is the most efficient way to do it? Go in speed bursts of 20 seconds or just do long periods at a slow steady speed?

Of course you don't need to practice every day to get better. It's completely dependent on what you want to get out of it. In music's case, how much you put in really is how much you get out.

If you practice every day, even just picking up the sticks at the end of the day before bed for fifteen minutes (and everyone can do this) and running a few basic single, double and diddle combinations you will see improvement.

If you only had 30 minutes every couple of days to practice, I would focus more on grooves and drum kit stuff rather than technical things. Technical things are great if you have the time to do them, then put them to use in your playing. It's still music we're trying to get better at, not technique. If you only have 20-30 mins every couple of days to practice, make sure you are practicing playing music. It's easier to kill two birds with one stone and get some technical work in at the kit practicing running singles and doubles around the drumkit (while getting better at fills and fluidity) than it is to practice finger control and then transfer that to the kit later. With a small amount of practice time, you want everything to be focused on getting practical, musical benefits out of it.

For instance: instead of doing finger control on a pad, practice fast sixteenth note funk grooves along to music. You get a great right hand workout and have to incorporate good finger and wrist control into it while gaining great new grooves and musical chops. Add in a bunch of ghost note chatter and you are working your left hand control and speed too! Throw in some killer bass drum combo's and get a good bass drum workout. Play the right hand on the ride cymbal and add in various left foot ostinato variations for independence and four way coordination and you've got a full crazy workout instead of just finger control which will be difficult to transfer to practical use without more time to do it in.

Nonetheless, you will get better. If you practice, you will get better whether it's five/ten/fifteen/twenty minutes every couple of days or six hours every day...if you put in work you will get better.

Edit: Working on stuff like Igoe's G.E in the funk/RnB section would be a good way to go. Sight Reading, technique, grooves, coordination and most importantly, you are playing music the whole time and improving your time.
 
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In Marching Band I learned the quickest way to get better at something is to play it dirty next to center snare, if hes a good center snare he'll start complaining to you and make you fix it.

How very true in our case kyle lol. But seriously, it depends on where you want to get. Practice whenver you can.
 
I don't know why at your age (obviously not in school) why you would focus on site reading. I had to learn to read shape notes for school and grades, that was it. I learn covers by listening, not by buying sheet music.

I learned guitar by ear, same with bass, etc...

Are you taking a class or something? If not, forget about it it. IMHO, it doesn't make you a better drummer.


Rubbish! Of course learning to sight read will make him a better drummer. How can you expect to be taken seriously as a musician if you can't read music? It opens the door to new learning resources, as well as professional responsibility such as playing with bands and session work. I appreciate that your opinion is that you don't need sight reading, but never, ever give such an opinion as advice to another musician.
 
Rubbish! Of course learning to sight read will make him a better drummer. How can you expect to be taken seriously as a musician if you can't read music? It opens the door to new learning resources, as well as professional responsibility such as playing with bands and session work. I appreciate that your opinion is that you don't need sight reading, but never, ever give such an opinion as advice to another musician.

I agree. But connecting this back to the OP's query, I was also curious why learning to sight read was more important than working on his technique. Better yet, why not find ways to work on both at the same time if you have limited time? And let's also make a distinction between reading and sight reading.

Anyway, my question is based on the observation that you need to have a strong technical facility in order to sight play well. Being able to read notes is key, but in order to get the notes out, you need to have your hands together. Sight reading requires a good proportion of our attention be directed at the page in front of us, so that less remains for paying attention to what our hands are doing.
 
I appreciate that your opinion is that you don't need sight reading, but never, ever give such an opinion as advice to another musician.

Damn son...It IS my opinion you don't need to be able to sight read to be a proficent drummer. Promise. I have recorded for groups, played last minute live shows, etc...never needed to do it unless our jazz band was at a festival...even then my instuctor didn't put much emphasis on it.

Reading music isn't necessary to playing well....Alot of people can't read the sign that says toilet, but it doesn't mean they don't know how to use one.

Please don't tell me what advice to give. It's an open forum.
 
Reading music isn't necessary to playing well....

Neither is having "proper" technique, but it's a great tool, like being able to sight read. Keep in mind that not everybody can play by ear.

To answer the OP's question, of course you'll improve! Perhaps not as fast as someone able to practice 20 minutes every day, but just keep at it and you'll get to where you want to be in no time!!

-Jonathan
 
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