Many drummers begin a gig or a
practice session by grabbing their sticks, their favorite beverage, sitting down
at the kit, and letting 'err rip. They struggle through the first five or six
songs, then - as their muscles become acclimated to the drumming process - they
begin to play better.
Well, maybe the Saturday night gig at
the American Legion isn't the place where you're going to be "discovered" by
that hot band or promoter, but if you take that attitude into a "serious" gig
with "important" people watching, they'll be gone by the time the fifth song
rolls around. And you can bet they'll be thinking, "Not bad. Not great, either."
Being prepared is what it's all about
for me. That's one of the themes of this website (in case you haven't noticed!).
So, in order to help you be more prepared, I'm going to begin our monthly series
of lessons by giving you some reasons for regularly warming up before each gig
and practice session. I'll also give you some warm-up exercises I use.
I read an interview with Buddy Rich in
a recent Modern Drummer; he was explaining to the interviewer how he never
practiced. I cringe when I see stuff like that, because it gives impressionable
young drummers the notion that, "Hey, Buddy Rich doesn't practice, so why should
I?" Well, when you get as good as Buddy Rich, then you can do without
practicing, too!
Same thing with warming up: some
drummers claim not to need to, like Richie Hayward of Little Feat. However, for
every drummer you read about who eschews warming up, I can show you fifty who
embrace it. Why? Because it helps them be a better drummer. Isn't that why we're
here?
Warming up loosens up the muscles and
joints and prepares them for the rather strenuous job ahead. Just as you would
never go jogging without stretching your muscles, you should never drum without
first warming up!
Don't risk injury or embarrassment!
Make it part of your routine.
Following is a series of warm-up
exercises and routines for the drummer. Follow these in order. Some of them also
make good practice routines on their own!
(I just received an interesting email
from a drummer named Marco who says he does his warm-ups upside down - hitting
up against a surface rather than down, and he doesn't lay on his back to do it!
Sounds highly beneficial to the upper arm muscles....)
Stretching
Begin by doing some basic
muscle-stretching routines. Rotate both arms in arcs over your head. This will
loosen up the shoulder muscles. Do this until you feel comfortable with the
motion. Then, reverse the direction.
Next, clasp both hands together and
try to reach over your head, moving the hands as far back as you can. Keep the
arms straight. This loosens up the muscles of the chest.
Another good chest muscle loosener is
to clasp both hands behind your back and lift them towards your head. Keep the
arms straight. This also gets some important back muscles.
Next, hold both arms at your sides.
Turn both arms inwards, with the thumbs going towards your back, so that your
hands are facing out. Now keeping the hands facing out, lift the arms up away
from your body keeping them straight, so that your upper body makes a cross. You
should feel stretching in the bicep. As you continue to do this, slowly move the
arms further behind you.
When you're done with these, shake out
your arms. You're ready to begin using your sticks!
Stick Routines
These are most effective is you do
them in order. As always, begin slowly, working up to your fastest possible
speed, hold for about a thirty seconds, then slow down. Make sure the speeding
up and slowing down is smooth. (You might want to use a practice pad, so
your band mates won't have to listen to you!)
This little exercise is great for
limbering up the forearm muscles. It's also a great practice exercise for
developing arm and hand strength and speed! The idea is simple: play quarter
notes only with the right hand. When using this as a warm-up, don't push your
muscles past too hard: keep it comfortable.
When using this as a muscle-builder,
hold the fast speed until your muscles burn, playing through the pain. You can
add this to your practice routine: you'll see improvement within a week (if you
do it every day!).
When you have finished with the right
hand, move to the left hand:
Work this one through the burn.
Remember to start slow, then go as fast as you can.
When you have finished with the left,
go back to the right. Do three reps of this (the second and third rep can be
just at your fastest speed, not speeding up and slowing down), then move on to
the next warm-up.
Yep, it's our old friend the
Paradiddle again! The object of this one is to maintain a consistent tempo
through the various speeds. Again, start slow, then speed up; first leading with
the right, then with the left:
Do three reps.
This is a flam variant that I use to
get going. It helps the muscles work through those little, fast, intricate
doublets and triplets. Work at a fast, steady speed, pause for a minute, then
repeat (don't do the slow-fast-slow thing with this one). Three reps.
The Double-Stroke Roll. Start this one
slow and work up to speed, hold, then slow down. Pause for a minute, then
repeat. Three reps.
This warm-up is intended to help with
dynamics. Watch the accents! I intentionally threw in some tricky sticking: this
will help you with doubles and triples while working on dynamics. Work through
it as you did the previous warm-ups.
If you play a double bass pedal, you
might want to consider doing these with your legs as well! It might look a
little goofy sitting as a table with your legs bouncing up and down, but
drummers shouldn't be afraid of looking a little goofy now and then!
As always, feel free to develop your
own warm-ups. The object is to prepare the muscles for work. Make this valuable
practice part of your routine. And, if you have any cool warm-ups you want to
share with others, drop me a line!
TT = Tom Tom
SD = Snare Drum
FT = Floor Tom
BD = Bass Drum or Kick Drum
CC = Crash Cymbal
RC = Ride Cymbal
HH = High Hat
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