Anyone play drums to get better at guitar?

Anxiety Serum

Anxiety Serum

Well-known member
So I don't know anything about drums. I mean I didn't even know what a high hat was (vs. other cymbals) or that you normally hit the snare on the back beat ect. until recently. Wondering if I should take a drum lesson or two just to learn the basics. My buddy got me set up with a nice drum kit in my DAW and I realized how little I knew about drums.

Thoughts?
 
I played the banjo enough to realize, I'd rather play the guitar ..

:dunno:

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RaceU4her said:
im no drummer but i play drums now on most all my clips now, id say check out Drumeo on youtube, they are the best for drums.


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I play guitar and drums. 51 years drumming. Started when I was 10. I'd say take a few lessons. Ask to learn some basic BEATS and GROOVES. Learn and PRACTICE WITH A METRONOME..I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! Keeping solid time is CRITICAL...if you're not keeping time no matter what beats and grooves you are playing, then don't bother. No one wants to hear a drummer that has no "pocket". NO ONE! When you're recording into your DAW, you can sound like crap or you can keep solid time depending on your efforts. Learn some beats, study with a metronome and then if you find you really enjoy it, LEARN THE RUDIMENTS...that will expand your drumming exponentially. I'm an old metalhead but I can plays other types of music, too. The bottom line is that drums are FUN!
 
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I started playing drums because I could tell Mike Portnoy was doing crazy shit and I wanted to do crazy shit, too.

There’s so much stuff on the internet these days, unless you’re running into some physical issues that you think you need a 2nd set of eyes on, I wouldn’t even bother with in-person lessons. Drums are much more ‘see it, do it’ than guitar is. The Drumeo stuff is great. JohnnyGtar above is spot on. Rudiments can’t be understated, they’re like modes for drums, you can learn a couple and have the blueprints for the majority of grooves, beats and fills you’ve heard your entire life.

I enjoy playing drums more than I do guitar, they’re a fucking blast. And my guitar playing absolutely got considerably better once I understood drums better, tighter and just having a better grasp on playing on/before/after the beat and the relationship of rhythm and movement in a song. And when writing with drummers after, it’s so much faster to say “Play an 8th note closed hi hat pattern for the verse then bash them wide open with quarter notes for the pre-chorus” instead of “You know that cymbal that makes that pst pst pst sound? Do that like….um…1,2,3,4, I think 4x…but hang on….yeah, 4x twice, no, not that cymbal, try another one…” :ROFLMAO:
 
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PRO TIP: I say this as someone who earned their living as a full time drummer for 15 years. John Lee Hooker (yep, the John Lee Hooker) was a good friend and he liked my drumming. When he first heard me play, his comment to me was "Man, you got the boogie! I like the way you play!". If you're a guitar player who learns drums and plays a drumkit which is next to the side of the amps and speaker cabinets, you'll realize how hard it can be to hear what's being played clearly. You might even run into the "that's what drummers say when they can't play well" bullshit comment. If the guitar player (or anyone else in the band) tells you that the problem is your dynamics and that you need to play quieter they are quite often FULL OF IT. I play drums and guitar and I speak from experience. Why would anyone want to play music if they can't clearly hear what the other musicians are playing? No, I'm not butthurt and no, I'm not exaggerating. I do get pissed off about those situations.
 
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RevDrucifer said:
And when writing with drummers after, it’s so much faster to say “Play an 8th note closed hi hat pattern for the verse then bash them wide open with quarter notes for the pre-chorus” instead of “You know that cymbal that makes that pst pst pst sound? Do that like….um…1,2,3,4, I think 4x…but hang on….yeah, 4x twice, no, not that cymbal, try another one…” :ROFLMAO:
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SO true, bro!
 
RevDrucifer said:
And when writing with drummers after, it’s so much faster to say “Play an 8th note closed hi hat pattern for the verse then bash them wide open with quarter notes for the pre-chorus” instead of “You know that cymbal that makes that pst pst pst sound? Do that like….um…1,2,3,4, I think 4x…but hang on….yeah, 4x twice, no, not that cymbal, try another one…” :ROFLMAO:
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Yeah, I realized I didn't know squat when I had no clue what drum beats to even start with in that DAW pack. 8th note closed hi hat? Shit better learn something about drums.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
PRO TIP: I say this as someone who earned their living as a full time drummer for 15 years. John Lee Hooker (yep, the John Lee Hooker) was a good friend and he liked my drumming. When he first heard me play, his comment to me was "Man, you got the boogie! I like the way you play!". If you're a guitar player who learns drums and plays a drumkit which is next to the side of the amps and speaker cabinets, you'll realize how hard it can be to hear what's being played clearly. You might even run into the "that's what drummers say when they can't play well" bullshit comment. If the guitar player (or anyone else in the band) tells you that the problem is your dynamics and that you need to play quieter they are quite often FULL OF IT. I play drums and guitar and I speak from experience. Why would anyone want to play music if they can't clearly hear what the other musicians are playing? No, I'm not butthurt and no, I'm not exaggerating. I do get pissed off about those situations.
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With that said, do you like in ears or no?
 
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