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Archive for category Practice

Why You Will Never Be A Good Drummer Unless You Cheat At The Lottery

Feb 25

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice, Random | 4 Comments

Win. Source: <a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/dplanet/'>dplanet</a>

Win. Source: dplanet

Cheaters always win

You’ve played the lottery before. If not, then you know what it is. But do you know how cheating at it can help your drumming? Obviously, you can use the money you win to buy new gear, build your own studio, quit your job and spend all your time drumming. But this article has nothing to do with money. It’s about practising. Stay with me on this, it will all make sense soon.

What practising is

Let’s say you want to show off a new fill at band practise or at your next gig. You have to practise that fill first before you can do it. You need to completely ingraine that fill, not just in your mind but in your central nervous system. This is what people mean when they say that something is stored in your “muscle memory“.

When you get to this stage you can play the fill on automatic pilot, you can play it without having to concentrate, you can play it while thinking about something else entirely and, most importantly, you can Read the rest of this entry »

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What To Do When You Lose Motivation To Drum

Feb 23

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice, Random | 2 Comments

Life is over. Source itsjustminna

Life is over. Source itsjustminna

You begin to doubt yourself

Maybe everyone was right. Maybe you’re wasting your time. Maybe you’re no good at anything. You wonder if you’ll ever be able to play like your heroes.

Does this sound familiar? I’ve felt like this a lot with my drumming and it’s not a good place to be.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to get your motivation back.

Here are 6 of the best things that will get you back into the drumming groove again.

To start with, the most important thing is:

Don’t panic

It’s totally normal for your motivation to rise and fall. Just realise that it’s a temporary phase and that you will get through it. Try your best at this time to… Read the rest of this entry »

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The Progress Plateau - This Is Why You Keep Giving Up

Jan 25

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 2 Comments

Plateau - Ayers Rock. Photo Credit: Palentour;

Ayers Rock Plateau. Photo Credit: Palentour

You’re on top of the world

You’ve just learned something new, you’re ecstatic, you’re on a roll, you’re making great progress, you’re psyched to be practising every day. You couldn’t be happier.

Then all of a sudden you stop getting better and you stay at the same level for a long time and then you actually start to get worse. Sound familiar? What happened? Want went wrong?

Congratulations! You just Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Use The Explicit Part Of Your Mind To Become A Better Drummer

Jan 20

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Make Body Work, Practice | No Comments

Explicit content. Photo credit: <a href=''></a>

Explicit content. Photo credit: FLY2005

Sadly, there’s no swearing, sex or violence in this article

It’s all about understanding your psychology, hacking into different parts of your brain and using it to your advantage to become a better drummer.

Basically, your memory is split into 2 sections and each section stores different types of information.

Explicit memory

In this sense, the word explicit means to make something clear or visible. The explicit part of your brain is used for Read the rest of this entry »

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The 4 Stages You MUST Pass Through To Become The Drummer You Dream Of

Jan 11

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 10 Comments

Climb The Ladder. Photo credit: Sara. Nel

Climb Up. Photo credit: Sara. Nel

The view’s better at the top

…but how do you get there? How do you learn to do something? How do you learn to do anything? These are big questions. When you know the answers, you will truly be unstoppable.

Knowing how to play stuff on the drums is cool but learning new things consistently over a long period of time is what will set you apart from the other drummers that you know.

Before we look at the 4 stages, lets quickly cover some definitions that we’ll be using:

  • Conscious: You are aware of something.
  • Unconscious: You are unaware of something.
  • Competence: You are good at something
  • Incompetence: You are bad at something.

So, how you do learn anything? You MUST pass through these 4 stages:

Stage 1 - Unconscious Incompetence

Put it this way: You suck at drumming and you don’t even know it. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know how to get better because you don’t even realise that you can get better.

Drummers at this stage are Read the rest of this entry »

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What I Am Doing To Kick My Most Disgusting Habit

Jan 5

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 7 Comments

Saying NO to bad habits. Photo credit: <a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoggarazzi/3273421472/'>Hoggheff</a>

Kicking bad habits. Photo credit: Hoggheff

No it’s not drugs, cigarettes or nose-picking

Its far worse. I’m writing this as my first social experiment and as an extension on one of the points I talked about in How To Practise Every Day - 13 Useful Tips. In that article I recommend that you should practise first thing in the morning. This is really easy for me because I don’t have to be at work until the afternoon. I can be up at 9, 10 or 11 and still get at least an hour of practise in before I have to go anywhere. But most people tell me something like this: “Alex, I don’t have time to practise before I go to work/college/school.”

Ok, fair point but I know people who get up early, practise in the morning, work at least 8 hours and still practise for a few more hours at night when they come home. So what’s the real truth? Is it actually impossible to get up early in the morning? Can only Read the rest of this entry »

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Why You Should Work Your Ass Off In 2010

Jan 3

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 3 Comments

Are you awake? Photo credit: Jennie Faber

Are you awake? Photo credit: Jennie Faber

So far this year, 2 deaths are on my mind.

28 Decemeber 2009:

Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, 28, drummer for Avenged Sevenfold dies at home.

Tributes flooded in all day on Twitter for The Rev. It was amazing to see the depth of feeling for this man from so many people. Here is the 1st line of Jimmy’s obituary in the LA Times:

“He is found dead at his Huntington Beach home; there are no signs of foul play. The band, often referred to as A7X, has sold nearly 2.5 million albums.”

That’s a pretty cool opener. How many people will have that written about them? Avenged Sevenfold have been working their asses off since they formed in 1999. Even if you don’t like their music you have to respect them for putting in so many years of dedication to their band.

Even tough its so sad that Jimmy has passed away, he is still Read the rest of this entry »

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Why You Should Keep Your Practice Space Tidy

Dec 22

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 3 Comments

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyroxx/

Photo credit: rileyroxx

Does this look familiar?

This is an expansion on one of the points that I talked about it in
How To Practise Every Day - 13 Useful Tips.

Keep it clean

Question: Why should you shower every day? Because you care about yourself enough not to go out smelling really bad. You owe it to yourself and the rest of humanity to maintain good personal hygeine.

If you stopped showering it wouldn’t be long before people started noticing and then began avoiding you. They wouldn’t have a very high opinion of you. “Yeah that Alex is a nice guy. He smells a bit though…”

In the same way, your practice space is a direct extension of you, your mind and your identity as a drummer. A messy practice space broadcasts “I don’t really care about what I’m doing.”

I’m sure you’d much rather spend your time in a nice, tidy space rather than be around a huge mess. But there’s more…

Traffic Jams will slow down your progress

We’ve all been in traffic jams before. They are not nice places to be. You’re Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Practise Every Day - 13 Useful Tips

Dec 18

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 8 Comments

Photo credit: Frank Campbell
home-practise
I had no idea that practising every day was so powerful. My drum teacher always told me but I never listened. One day I just sat at my kit and tried it out.

The result? I practised every day for a month and I couldn’t believe the progress I made. I was hooked.

Here are the 13 things that I have stuck to over the years that have kept me practising every day. These are all practical tips that I’ve actually seen work. Not just with me but with my students too.

If I’ve missed anything out that has worked for you, let me know by leaving a comment.

1. Practise at the same time every day

Practising every day is all about getting into a habit. If you do it at the same time every day then it’s easier to stick to the habit. But when is the best time? For me, it’s definitely to…

2. Practise 1st thing in the morning

Right after breakfast. My progress as a drummer is one of the most important things in my life so it takes priority over all the other things I have to do. I do 1 hour in the morning and then more later in the day. But if something comes up later in the day and I can’t practise then I’ve still done that 1 hour in the morning. Don’t have enough time in the morning? Read about how to get up early enough to practise Read the rest of this entry »

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How Do You See Practice? - Interview with TRX Cymbal Endorser Dave MacLeod

Oct 21

Posted by Alexander Bethune in Practice | 3 Comments

A friend of mine recently gained something very important to him. His first cymbal endorsement. To a musician, an endorsement isn’t just a chance a for free gear. Its a sign that you’ve made it to a certain level. That someone, somewhere recognises your talents and sees that you have potential. So much so that they are willing to put their name behind you.

That man is Dave MacLeod and I sat down with him not only to find out how he did it but also to find out what I was doing wrong! Here’s what you’ll get by watching the interview: