[drummergyrl1390]

thank you guys for being supportive and uplifting.... it really does help.... I know that I will keep pressing on and I realize the problem is not me. Also, thank you for sharing you stories.. I love hearing of other people's stories and the rough times that they went though yet came out of.. it really helps. Thanks guys.

[weatherman]

givemethebeat: Thanks for the tip on The New Breed.! Just ordered a copy for myself!

[SirBlastsAlot]

I would have to agree and say that criticism has its place for young drummers. When I was around 14 just picking up the sticks, I'd have to admit I thought I was the s***, and would post myself on the internet, only to realize that I, in fact, sucked and I got it from about 7 differant people. I deserved that, young drummers posting themselves online deserve what they get because they put themselves in the firing line for criticism from the entire internet drumming community. As for constructive criticism, I loved nothing more than getting tips and hints from drummers better and more musicaly diverse then I was...
I think, criticism and getting hints from clearly more advanced drummers helped me more than self-learning would of ever.
As for being a self-taught drummer, criticism is one of the most vital things to a drummers future as for developing into more of a musician rather than someone beating on drums rhythm-lessly....

So, go ahead and criticise, but don't be negative, nothing is more heartbreaking than hearing "you suck" or "im so much better than you are" Why not say "Hey, I've noticed so and so, and this is how I do it, it works for me, why don't you try it?" or "Hey, why not try it this way and see if you can't get it to work."

	Ahead Drumsticks Shop for Ahead Drumsticks at Musician's Friend

[Jazz&ReggaeRock]

Originally Posted by skinslapper

Encouragment vs discouragement. Everyone at this site has a right to feel welcome and not judged, especially in circumstances when they don't ask for it.

Just because you're on an internet forum and the other person can't physically deck you for being rude, doesn't mean it's acceptable.

Voice your opinions, give advice, but don't be negative.

Tha is VERY well said, and the sad thing I see on the internet nowadays, and it is not just the young people either, the older adults are ALSO guilty of it, is people have forgotten how to be polite, at least on the web to a large extent!

I am so often shocked and dismayed by the cruel, heartless things people will say to one another, just because they are sitting behind a computer screen and can get away with it.
Trying to learn ANYTHING new is very discouraging sometimes, and I think drums, while such a fun instrument to learn, is one of the most challenging of all instruments, because you do not just have ONE instrument to focus on, you have SEVERAL.
Also.. drums are unlike any other instrument, because it is not about the melody like it is with most instruments, it is about the rhythm. And that is such a different animal in itself!

You meet SO many people who can play the guitar, the piano, etc, but to try and find other drummers to learn from too, that is also sometimes a real problem.
Alot of drum studios only have ONE drum set in them, so you always have to switch back and forth between you and teacher, if you are learning in a drum studio.
Lots of the drum teachers must be in band to support themselves, and not just be a drum teacher alone.
I have had my head literally handed to me on one drum site, just because I asked a question and did not have much experience on the drums.
Can you say disheartening... Oh, unbelieavably so.. It was so discouraging, even though I love my drums, I just wanted to take them and get rid of the entire set of drums after reading this post.
Tell me, if you would be disheartened after reading this post, to the new drummers?

This is what one accomplished drummer told me, when I said I was pretty new to drumming:

Either you got it or you don't.
No teacher can teach you HOW to play. They can just show you. It's up to yourself to learn how to play.
BTW, learning to play the drums from a book is a joke. You already need to know how to play in order to get anything from a book(aside from learning how to read of course). You can play notes, but can you play music?

To say to ANY musician, you can play notes but can you play music, is so insulting I think! It is like saying to a cook, or someone trying to learn to cook, for example, well, you can pour ingredients into a bowl, but can you make edible food????


LOL. I mean honestly, I think that guy was just looking for someone to put down that day.. Maybe he had just done his taxes and owed the govt a ton of $$ but what a Killjoy!

Not everything is easy to learn, and even people who have been doing things well for a long time, had some rough roads to hoe at first.
I even read once that when Charles Yeager, the famous pilot who broke the sound barrier, when he first starting flying, he would often get airsick!
Can you imagine if he had a flight instructor who told him, well, you either got it or you do not, and if you are getting sick up in the air, you obviously do not have what it takes to be a pilot!
I hate people who like to discourage others just cuz it makes them feel better about themselves.
There is enough negativity in the world. I think if you are truly interested in doing something, you should be encouraged to do it.
OP, I am glad you brought this thread up. I agree, there was a lot more variety of music when I was growing up, and no such thing as drum machines either. But it is a craft, and we should all do what is needed to help pass it along.

[Jazz&ReggaeRock]

Originally Posted by DannyMeazell

I agree with Skin. There was another forum where a couple people questioned everything I said. I am a professional seasoned drummer. When I gave these people a way to verify what I had told them they were not interested. They were more interested in belittling me instead of the truth. No one has a right to do that. They even went a step farther and contacted all my endorsement companies I had worked hard, some for years, to get and told them if they didn’t not drop me, they were going to knock their products in the drum forums. This is way below the belt and not right! It did cost me some good endorsements publicly but not privately, and the big boys with stones told them to kiss their corporate butts!
One day soon I will meet this person in person in a court of law, because I am going to sue!
Sorry if I got a little left field, but I think all young drummers should not only be encouraged, but us veteran drummers should do all we can to help them. I had some of the finest help in the world starting at 3. God bless young or inexperienced drummers! The best advice I can give you is Practice, Practice, Practice. After 50 years I still do, and believe me, it shows! What is worse if you don't practice, it really shows!

One other bit of advice I have for young drummers is one thing that helped me is very boring but it pays great dividends. Practice your rudiments, triplets, doublets, and technical skills, starting out very slowly, but concentrate on becoming very accurate and building speed gradually over time. It is some of the most important developmental skills you can learn. This is basic stuff I use every single day now, without even thinking about it. Don't you other guys agree? I know Paul Liam and I discussed that recently with a drummer friend in Greece.

And last but not least>>>>David, God bless you for being a positive role model!!! My boss, bandleader and best friend, Johnny Nitzinger is a positive role model for many kids holding lessons and summer clinics in Guitar, Bass, and songwriting for young people and acquiring scholarships for those that cannot afford them. A legend and clean for 10 years after a life of addiction he is making a difference. A cancer, stroke and pneumonia survivor, he was personally chosen to be the headliner 3 weeks ago at the 25th Anniversary of The Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs Ca.
We can all make a difference with some positive reinforcement. The difference in building and tearing down is how you handle the building blocks. The difference between positive and negative is like the saying goes, Lead, Follow, or get the hell out of the way! There is no difference in constructive criticism and criticism. It is still criticism. It is positive influence that makes the difference. It is caring and nurturing that makes the biggest difference.
Sorry I didn’t mean to write a book!
Danny

I may have this printed out in a large banner at Kinkos.....

They were more interested in belittling me instead of the truth. No one has a right to do that.
LOL.. my thoughts exactly... No one has a right to make degrading statements to people on the internet. Exrpessing your thoughts is one thing, but making them feel like dirt is another ballgame entirely. AND this site is supposed to be flame-free, is it not?


That is why I signed up here. I have seen some chatrooms & forums be like a free-for-all, not my idea of fun.

That was another post well said Danny. I do not like to get into the flaming wars either. I do NOT like conflict, but I will NOT take guff on the internet, simply cuz i have to pay alot of money to get online.
But.. i do think people forget internet etiquette when then sit down at their puters!
Enough said on that... yeah.. that practive thing is so important.
I want to know something... I am a pretty new drummer too, when you are tyring to learn a song, do you necessarily have to be sitting at your drum kit to figure it out?
Like if you are driving in your car, and happen to have a pair of stickw with you.. lol. i know you probably think that is silly, but i do that alot, have a single stick with me, and if im sitting in traffic, tap out a beat to a song i like. My car has lots of neat padded surfaces on it, that make some good beats.
Anyway, how do you learn a song by ear? Some of the beats are complicated, but what gets me is trying to decipher the drum beat from all the other sounds the barnd is making.. because.. that drum beat is a little muffled by the other sounds the band is making.
I am sorry, i posted this same question to the OP here, but I can practice a paradiddle or roll enough til I finally get it, but learning the songs I want to play are now posing a challenge to me. Is there some tip you could pass on to the new drummers here to make that easier.. My drum teacher says just keep listening to it over & over til you are sick to death of it! LOL
Are there some good basic rock n roll songs.. or maybe a nice techno beat I cud easily get the hang of.
I agree with the OP here, I love techno pop.. like the Thompson Twins or PEt ShopShop Boys. I think hearing their music made me want to become a drummer!
Also, Billy Idols drummer is great!

[Kastrien]

Just wanted to say, being 18, I find encouragement the best motivation, which I don't think would really have to do with age anyway. I wouldn't think anyone likes discouragement. If you don't like the way someone is playing, you don't have to discourage them. Maybe they enjoy playing that way. It would only be nice to encourage them to continue doing what they like because what you think is only an opinion. That brings another thought to mind, encouraging criticism. Criticism doesn't have to be positive, but making it negative can be discouraging, so one possibly put in it in a more encouraging way. Nice try, for example. Support is good. When I play shows with other bands, after their set, I tell the drummer great job or something like that. Things like how old they are, how good or bad they did, how they played, just things like that will come to mind sometimes.. but I'm definitely not going to discourage them. I'll always tell them good job now matter my opinion of how they did. Anyway, this has all probably already been said, so thanks guys.

[Jazz&ReggaeRock]

I agree with you last poster, encouragement is always the best motivation.
You would probably not believe this, but the reason I became a drummer, was that one time I was taking guitar lessons with my teacher, who was a VERY good guitarist, but also very encouraging (he even invited me to play out with his band one nite when they were at a nightclub!) was that we were going over a song, and he asked me to take a ruler and tap out the rhythm while he played guitar.
I always liked a good rhythm in a song, and he told me that I HAD good rhythm. At that point, I decided I would like to take up drums, since drums is ALL about the rhythm.
But the 2nd teacher I had after the very first one (who was QUITE encouraging even though I did not have a set of drums just yet) I NEVER ever got a word of encouragement from him.
It was so disheartening to go see him week after week, when i had tried so hard and have him not say one encouraging word. I remember too, once, when I was asking him what kind of cymbals would be good to get in the music store he taught lessons with, and his attitude was just so blaise.. like he couldn;t care less what I got and did not even offer any advice at all!
What kind of teacher does that? Then he left the music store a few months after that to tour with his band (most of my teacher were professional musicians, and not necessarily professional teachers, lol), and when his band broke up, he asked me again if I wanted to take lessons with him.
I just said, politely, thanks but no thanks. I could not see any point of taking any more lessons from some who did not seem to care about my progress. The sad part though, he would sit there and talk about how great some of his 6 or 8 year old students were during my lessons!
Arrgggh.. not exactly the ideal teaching environment I wud say.

[mattsmith]

It's interesting to see new posters on this forum that for all pracical purposes was DOA enough just 2 weeks ago that you could have watched sagebrush blow by. And it was this very issue that caused it. These were my contributions to this thread.

Critisizing Young Drummers

Critisizing Young Drummers

[mattsmith]

Originally Posted by SirBlastsAlot

... young drummers posting themselves online deserve what they get because they put themselves in the firing line for criticism from the entire internet drumming community.

You're kidding right? A pretty large segment of the Internet community doesn't remember their names thirty seconds after they say it. If you criticize without rhyme, reason or a clue, it's not criticism...it's flaming, and ridiculously ignorant flaming at that. 99% of the time if I post a video, I do so because I want to post a video...no other reason. IMO people have gotten the wrong impression about the youtube comments section, a vehicle that helps generate revenue for youtube by keeping it active. Most times trolls and flamers fly right past a video where the comments section has been disabled. There's a reason for that.

[parkerdj]

There are a lot of people in this world that take themselves WAY too seriously. You can take that to mean whatever you will.