There are many drumming tips that I can offer. AS an ex professional drummer (ok so I was a pro lounge act drummer, but I still made my sole living doing it so I qualify), I learned a lot from various musicians. So some of the drumming tips I am about to offer, may not be specific to drummers. In fact, it could be any working musician working in close proximity to others.
Drumming Tip 1)
Do not allow others to share your bath water. This is simply wrong; on many of our tours around the country, money was tight, and we'd rent a house for the whole band, and sometimes on bath night, we would all use the same water, originally as an act of commeradery, but latterly, to save money on heat bills. Bits of pubic hair floating past your eyes as your wash you 80s perm are not the best start to "storming it, at Spennymoor". Nor is a kindly fellow musician's urine an ideal solution for dirt removal.
Drumming Tip 2)
Pack spares of everything, from spare beaters for the kick drum, to snare tuning rods for your snare. Even better have a spare snare and kick pedal next to you when on stage. Old people being deprived of their bingo are not the happiest when the drummer has to replace a broken snare skin. My favorite quote for this was mid snare tune-up, and with the drum mike on full. An old boy looked up from his paper amidst the packed (ha ha ) venue and simply said, "MUST you do that now?" Wonderful, a free tip for audience members, don't go to a gig expecting a quiet read and a chat. Stay home, or find a library.
Drumming Tip 3)
If you must wear shorts on stage, wear underwear. The Stewart Copeland school of short wearing is often mistaken as exhibitionism, and also the bags may flop out at any point. Yes, that has happened to me. The ladies loved it obviously.
Drumming Tip 4)
LIKE your bandmates! Its simple, and pretty obvious, but if you going up and down any given country, in a crappy van, you have to get on. An example of this was when the guitarist in our band used to ask the keyboard player the time. The keyboard player would tell him, but for a fee. Paying 20p for each time you want to know the time on a long journey can be an expensive business. But then, the guitarist had a codeine problem, as well as a slight fondness for methadone, so maybe it was Karma after all.
Drumming Tips 5)
Get a metronome and get used to playing the songs at a set speed each night - there is nothing worse than the drummer enjoying himself so much that he speeds up, or conversely, slows all the songs as he had a bit of a late one the previous night. Rehearse with the band using the metronome, write down the tempo's of each song, and even use the metronome to count yourself in on gig night, it really does work wonders. Plus, the metronome doesn't lie - but don't tell the singer!
Thats my tips for you, hope you liked them and maybe even found some of them useful.
Thanks for listening.
Sean Redfearn, is an ex professional drummer, he shares more insights on his blog - http://learnhowtoplaydrums.blogspot.com/ If this article has been of interest to you, then please visit Sean's Blog, it costs nothing to visit and you won't be sold to.
Sean Redfearn
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