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Fighting laziness above certain tempos

Started by Matthew Warwick, April 16, 2014, 11:58 PM

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Matthew Warwick

As I practice lately I've noticed that up to around 120 bpm (with a basic 8th note rock groove), I'm able to stay on the center of the beat fairly easily for extended periods of time. However, even going 5-10 bpm above that, I can't seem to make it feel natural to play on the center of the beat. I can do it, but it takes a lot of focus and I don't feel very relaxed. If I play relaxed, I tend to veer towards the back of the beat. I know I don't have to be right on the center of the beat down to the millisecond because I've played along to songs in this same range and when I heard a recording, it sounded like I was on the beat well enough to sound good. However, it's very noticeable with a metronome. If this is happening only at 130, I'm gonna be dragging like crazy in the higher tempos. I actually feel kinda pathetic for running into dragging problems at such a relatively low tempo.

When I do put enough effort in, I can keep on the center of the beat for the most part, but I feel quite a bit of fatigue in my right arm after just a couple of minutes at most. I want to be able to do this for like 8-10 minutes straight with no breaks, and my progress has been quite slow.

Is it a matter of just pushing through (i.e. "fake it 'til ya make it") until it feels natural for me to not start dragging/getting fatigued?

Bart Elliott

I'm going to suggest, based on your fatigue in the right arm, that you are approaching your faster tempos with a part of the body that can't move as quickly as you want ... the arm.

In case you don't already know this, when playing with our hands there are three parts to the "machine", that is arm, wrist and fingers. Arm is going to give you power, but compared to fingers, it lacks the speed. Fingers give you the speed with less power than the arm. Wrists are the go between; faster than arms and more powerful than fingers.

So, I would work on incorporating more wrist as you increase tempos, and continue to add fingers as you increase even further.

All three, arms/wrist/fingers work together to accomplish the task. We just use varied amounts of each depending on the power, volume and speed need to achieve.

I'm going to HIGHLY suggest that you commit to working with Bill Bachman at  http://www.drumworkout.com]www.DrumWorkout.com . I think this would be a GREAT benefit to you, and really help you address what you are talking about. If that's not of interest to you, then you should really get with a qualified teacher to help you work through this.

Bill is known and highly respected as one of the leading instructors in the areas of proper hand techniques. Check out his website, commit to a month of workout sessions with Bill, and I bet you will see a huge difference. You'll be playing better AND feeling better ... all at the same time. It's a win/win.

Matthew Warwick

Hmmm....sounds interesting. I'm fairly broke right now but I'm in the clear with helping my dad pay off excess college tuition funds for this semester, so I'll have to find a time to do this. I've been using a combination of arm and wrist with a LITTLE bit of fingers when doing those speeds. I'm able to use just wrists with those speeds, but I get absolutely no power unless I put my arm into it (in which case I just get fatigued within 1-2 minutes like I said). Would these lessons help me get more power out of using my wrists and fingers?
Until I have time to do this, I'll try incorporating more of my wrists and fingers. Thanks for the suggestion!

Bart Elliott

Quote from: Matthew Warwick on April 17, 2014, 05:48 PM
Would these lessons help me get more power out of using my wrists and fingers?
Until I have time to do this, I'll try incorporating more of my wrists and fingers. Thanks for the suggestion!

If you check out Bill's website, and watch some of the introductory videos he has there for free, you'll get the idea.

... and I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think it would help.  ;D

Bill is a member here at the Drummer Cafe, so hopefully he will chime in soon.

Bill Bachman

Hey, thanks for the endorsement Bart (the check's in the mail).

Matthew, it's definitely a matter of technique. You're forcing your body to do something the hard way and you body's letting you know that it doesn't like it. What you're experiencing is very common and I specialize in helping people get out of their own way in order to play more relaxed, more musically, fast etc. In addition to the site I also teach lessons over Skype. I have no doubt that you'll see a pretty huge difference pretty quickly if you want to invest a bit to study up and get on the right track.

Good luck to you!

Matthew Warwick

Quote from: Bill Bachman on April 17, 2014, 10:09 PM
I have no doubt that you'll see a pretty huge difference pretty quickly if you want to invest a bit to study up and get on the right track.

Good luck to you!

I definitely am considering it, thanks! I think my technique is fine for slow to mid speeds, and it seems to be the most natural feel for me that keeps the best time, but again, it chokes up at above 120-125 bpm. I have about 4 weeks of school left and a somewhat scattered summer schedule (for some alliteration) after that, so I'll have to see when I can do this. Until then, I'll try to pull together resources as much as I can and try to learn to relax more at the tempos troubling me.