[LagerHead]

I totally agree with the idea of learning the rudiments and getting a drum teacher. There are sites out there with many of the rudiments on them. I too am a novice, but since I have started working on rudiments and taking formal lessons, in a year I have improved more than the rest of my time playing combined. The Vic Firth link posted previously is a great one.

Definitely get some tabs or sheet music and learn to play the songs correctly. I have found that the way I THOUGHT a song was played was actually more difficult than the way it is actually played. 911tabs.com has a pretty decent selection of user-submitted tabs. Most of them I have found to be pretty accurate, but I would suggest listening to the songs a time or two while scanning along with the music. You'll catch a missing ghost note every now and then.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your journey. I'm sure we will all buy your first CD. ;-P

Schlagzeuger!!!

[don11817]

Hey man RELAX! LOL...

No, I'm kidding.. BUT--here's an idea: loosen your grip on the drumsticks. Let your wrists do more of the work-especially on the hi-hat and around the toms/snare. Think of fluid motion in your arms- do less of the actual striking of the drums with your arms and more with your wrists (a kind of snapping motion) and only hold the sticks firmly enough to keep them from flying away--not a death grip. This will give your arms a break and should help to lessen the tension on your upper body--relaxing you-- and will improve your ability to play dynamically.

So many drummers are thinking harder about the beat than technique, and use their arms to move the sticks, that they actually keep themselves from advancing beyond the speed and mobility of their arms. Your wrists are Infinitely faster and more flexible--Mike Mangini, world record holder for fastest drum roll can attest to that.

And stay away from soda/coffee/caffeine before you play so you don't start out with a racing heart--it makes it easier to relax--not to mention lowers your risk of heart attack while playing LOL... Avoid spontaneous combustion-"We've lost anothah drummah"

	Attack Drumheads Shop for Attack drum heads at Musician's Friend

[Damo]

911tabs.com has a pretty decent selection of user-submitted tabs. Most of them I have found to be pretty accurate,

Unfortunately I have found that most of them have significant errors in them because they are either:
a) Transcribed by kids who havent had the playing experience to know what theyre hearing
b) Trasncribed by kids who havent had experience transcribing proper musical notation.

[mikelthedrummer]

My own view is that a drum teacher can teach you the way of thinking when practising at home.Also can help you improve your technic.The rest are based on you and your work at home!

[VMDrummer]

finds bands you like to listen to and find tabs for their songs online. the tabs wont always be 100% correct, but when you play them they will sounds pretty close. Just keep playing them until you get them down and move to something a bit harder.

Thats what ive been doing and eventually i hope to play Bullet For My Valentine, A7X, and hopefully Slipknot someday