Always sounding bad when practicing

kevinyo4

Junior Member
I just made a post in the drum-technique section about starting to play drums again.

However this thead is not about me specifically but I am interested in your opinions.

I stopped playing for a few reasons. The biggest one was more of a psychological reason I believe.
My brother always told me: "It sounds like crap" or "you don't know how to play".
Now was i really that bad? In my mind ofcourse i would say no. Everyone likes to believe they are better than the average player, even though drumming isn't a competition.
My reasoning was always, he just doesn't like the style of my drumming. I used to play quite alot of double bass and metal grooves. While he listen to more "mainstream" music.

But what if my brother was right? Perhaps he was being a dick for telling me that it was bad, but a few days ago I realized that all this time he may have been right. I was not a bad drummer for sure, but me practicing must have sounded like crap.

Let me explain what I mean:

Let's say we are learning to play a samba and have never played it before. You wil try to do the hand patterns and then you try the feet pattern and then you put them together.
However while doing this you WILL mess up the patterns, you will play out of time. When you make a mistake you probably stop and try again, or try the particular part by itself. Eventually you get it all down, and you know how to play a samba.
However during the practicing it will sound really bad probably. And when you're done you probably will not play that same samba for 3 hours.

We will then go on and learn to play new things. practice is made for learning new things, and improving, playing the tings you already know will not ake you alot better than you already are.

So during practice we essentially are supposed to sound bad.

As much as i love drumming, it is something that i have on my mind, and it lowers my motivation to learn new things substantially.

What do you guys think about this?


Also, imagine me practicing loud blast beats and double bass, while going out of tempo and messing up all the time for an hour.
 
Well, if you could play it perfectly first time, you wouldn't need to practise, would you?
 
I think you're pretty accurate.

Of course we sound like beginners when we are learning something new. Because we are beginners...at that particular groove/lick that we are trying to play.

Like you, I'm sure most of my practice sounds like I don't know what I'm doing. I'll warm up with something I know and maybe end with something similar too just so I can feel better about myself. However, the bulk of my practice I would be embarrassed for anyone to hear. Which sucks, because I know my neighbors can hear it a little bit, although there have never been any noise complaints.

Just so you know exactly what is going on during your practice sessions, I highly recommend you record yourself. We rarely sound like what we think we do. The recording never lies. Be honest with yourself. How did it sound? Work on whatever you don't like. I started recording myself in the last 4-5 years. I can't think of one aspect of my drumming that I did not change at some point just from simply listening to myself.

In my drumming "career" I have amassed some really cool toys; cymbals, snares, nice kits, etc. But the single best thing I have spent money on is my recorder.
 
I bet there are some things that you play well. I have a neighbor that complains about my music all the time. I have other neighbors that like my music. You can't please everybody.

Sometimes it takes months for me to learn how to play my part.

I notice my audience is not nearly as critical as I am. I find it very encouraging when people put money in my tip jar.

Sometimes I make a recording and listen to playback, improve my playing.
 
It's hard to accept, but the only two reactions that matter if you're pitching material is if people suddenly go nuts over it and start babbling about how great it is or when they go quiet and get bummed because they're jealous. Everything else is likely just vacuous flattery.

Music is about emotional connection and whatever you were playing did not connect for your brother. Since he's your generation and has probably heard the bands you listen to enough to know when someone is good at it, his comments probably have some basis in fact.

Here's my big tip--let the instrument tell you what to play.
 
In my drumming "career" I have amassed some really cool toys; cymbals, snares, nice kits, etc. But the single best thing I have spent money on is my recorder.

This ^^^

A raw recording doesn't lie.

If you are playing in tempo, at the proper volumes and not rushing your fills, just laugh at your bro's comments. If not, keep working or quit.
 
If not, keep working or quit.

No! Don't quit! Keep working at it. Tell your brother he's an idiot who should support you, not bring you down. Even the greatest drummers sounded "bad" at some point in their lives. You don't hear any terrible mess-ups they might do in private. You won't get perfect over night, but if you keep practicing (or even just play for fun), you'll see positive improvement over time.
 
Yep, most of us mere mortals sound goofy when practising.

Some recommend a timing exercise where you play quarter note unison beats with all four limbs with a met and try to get each limb landing cleanly. I keep meaning to try this exercise but then I imagine what it will sound like to the neighbours ...
 
I imagine what it will sound like to the neighbours ...

This is what bothers me about practicing. I know I sound bad when I practice, but that's exactly why we're practicing. But a lot of people, including my neighbors, don't understand that. I don't let it affect my routine and practicing, but I can't help but feel like I constantly have to "perform" and play well so that my neighbors don't get upset over the loud racket.
 
...Everyone likes to believe they are better than the average player...

And yet 50% of all drummers are below average.

The only reason not to play drums is because you don't enjoy playing.

The only reason not to practise drumming is because you are perfect.

BTW - Top lurking!
 
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Practice is supposed to be about working on stuff we're struggling with or are trying to perfect.

Playing is when you will hopefully sound good.

If all you are doing is sounding good - then your are probably not practicing.
 
Argh, so many things to say.

OP: Forget about what your brother says, UNLESS it has actual merit. Prove this to yourself by recording yourself and listening. Pay attention to your timing. Some exercises are going to sound crap outside of context, and some exercise will sound pointless and 'crap' regardless.

Anon: Who cares what your neighbours think? Just play the damn unison exercise :p.

My long-suffering and incredibly tolerant neighbours have to deal with all the racket I make, high speed stuff (I'm working on a lot of speed metal and blast beats right now), independence stuff, Gary Chaffee stuff, and not to mention my 8-ish minute warmup exercise that to them will sound like a continuous 'thud thud thud' on the kick + snare. Hell, I'm sure that in my rehearsing of songs like King of Terrors, they got to the point where they probably started to know the song as well as I do by the time I was happy enough with a take to stick it on Youtube :p.

The point is that you need to practise what you believe is going to be beneficial for your playing. It doesn't matter what listeners think. Practise is practise, it's what you do to get better at stuff.
 
Most of your practice is supposed to sound bad, how else are you gonna fix your weaknesses if you don't work on them head on? However there is definitely a psychological challenge to sound good especially when there are others around, you see it happening in music schools. Walk by the practice rooms and you'll just listen to people busting chops trying to impress anyone.

My recommendation is to try and find a place where you can practice and truly be alone, view practicing as a laboratory where you get to experiment and try out new ideas no matter how bad they sound, you are working on getting your sound and that's all that matters, practice time is sacred.
 
I'd hate to hear a recording of myself practicing 7/8 time over the weekend, especially if I didn't know it was supposed to sound off. I pretty much sounded like a beginner drummer again, but hey that's practice is it not? I typically don't care how I sound during practice as long as I'm making progress towards the beat, time signature, technique I'm trying to play.

My neighbors can all hear my playing and most don't mind, some even compliment my progress say, "You've improved a lot in the last few weeks" and other encouraging words are often said.


Edit: Another vote for recording yourself, it's brutally honest, in your face, and sometimes cringe worthy to listen to but you learn so much from it.
 
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On the other hand - when you stop practicing that samba that sounded so bad and you
haven't mastered the independence etc., you won't be able to play it well ever, and you
will never use it in a musical situation. So actually you should be further practicing that
samba until it starts to sound good! And then practice it even more. Until it becomes easy
to you.

There is a simple method for you to kind of hear yourself with your brother's ears: Record
yourself while practicing and listen back! Unfortunately a recording is as brutally honest
as a mirror when you're standing naked in front of it, but sometimes it can be a positive
surprise, too. Actually you should record yourself regularly anyway! You get to know your
playing a lot better, you hear what you have to work on, and you hopefully get motivated
by hearing your progress, too!
 
Practice should often sound terrible. My practice sessions sure do. I practice what I'm poor at and I remain poor at it for quite a while, sometimes. When I get good at something, I start practicing something else I'm bad at.

I am never short of things I'm bad at to practice.
 
Also, imagine me practicing loud blast beats and double bass, while going out of tempo and messing up all the time for an hour.
There's this saying that a big problem can be solved easily if you divide it into many small
problems. You're probably trying to play things that are 2-3 levels above yours, so be sure
you start with something you're comfortable with. As for dividing the problems: Try splitting
it up into

-practicing focused double bass drumming. Or even one foot at a time. Slowly!
-working on blast beat control. Or even just hand technique, speed, accuracy and endurance.
-focusing on your tempo by practicing something you're comfortable with to a click. Start
to include some more difficult things, but not too difficult, so you a) don't lose the click and b) don't
have to put too much focus on the actual thing you're playing.

Hope that helps!
 
I sound like crap when I practice all the time.

I sound less crappy but still crappy at shows all the time.

Still love to drum!
 
Hey guys,

thanks for the reponses,
I see that many of you agree with what i said.

I decided to record my practice sessions.(using the mic on my headset i use for skype etc. sound quality is not amazing, but it is good enough to hear what i did, and where i messed up)

I will just try to play everyday as much as I can, before university starts in september.

My neighbors also never complained (except for the first day i got my drumset years ago and decided to play at 9 in the morning).

Thanks again guys, you helped me stay motivated.
 
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