Question for fellow drummers

[NHL7890]

Hey all,

I just picked up the sticks not to long ago, and so far so good. But, I was wondering, can any fellow drummers out there recommend an easy rock song to learn, play, etc? I'd appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

-NHL

[NHL7890]

Yes, I do know no song is 100% easy to learn and/or play, what I meant is some of the easier songs out there that a beginner can learn in due time.

[Jonathan Chance]

Well, with a straight 4/4 and occasional extra bass drum beats on 3 and 3.5 you should be able to play most of the first two Van Halen LPs.

Alternately 'Walk This Way' isn't all that hard.

Just stay away from Rush for a while. Listen, yes. Admire, yes. Emulate? Don't depress yourself.

[Ringo]

A lot of old Rolling Stones material is not very hard, "Hony Tonk Woman" and "Brown Sugar" come to mind as well as the easiest tune to play ever, "Satisfaction." ZZTop's "Legs" is fun and simple enough.

[Ringo]

And you don't necessarily start with him, but as you progress, an absolutely great guy to steal some rock chops from would be John Bonham.

[stockton]

Ringo, I'll match your Bonham and up the ante with Keith Moon. Just unbelievable stuff.

SPEAKING of Ringo, I used to love to play along with "Come Together" by the Beatles.

Not too difficult, but really flashy drum stuff on different heads. Cheap Trick had a lot of solid, fun percussion. Check out "I Want You to Want Me" and "Surrender."

[Morgainelf]

Some of the first stuff I learned was by the Breeders. The drums are pretty easy to hear. I'm primarily a vocalist, and have a hard time focusing on anything but the melody. You should hear me play bass!

[bibliophage]

GQ is for questions with factual answers. Since this is about music, I'll move this thread over to Cafe Society.

[sleestak]

Well, IANAD, I just pretend I am between playing guitar and bass.

Pick a band you like and listen to the song and see if you can count along with the drums. Focus on the highhat, the snare and the kick. If you can count along with the song and figure out what is going on the next thing is to try and play along with it. Some bands that are pretty easy to play are the Ramones, Poison(ACK...ACK), AC-DC and the Rolling Stones.

Also, practice with a metronome. Do this all the time. Trust me on this because it will make life way easier.

At the same time listen to more complex stuff like Rush, Fates Warning and the Steve Morse Band. Try to count along. These bands change time signitures alot and just by counting along you can get a really good feel for time.

If you do not know what I mean by counting along let me know and I'll give you a short lesson.

My timing sucked untill I worked on the stuff listed above.

Slee

[NHL7890]

Well, I have an idea, but any wisdom you could share wouldn't hurt Sleestak. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[drollman]

Something easy? Try some CCR, especially "Down On The Corner." It's not flashy, is at a nice tempo and the drums can be easily heard in the mix.

Another one, but this is more of an exercise for drummers:
Tap your left foot and at slow tempo,
when your comfortable with this, tap your right foot twice as fast as your left foot and continue both...
when your comfortable with this, tap your "snare/beat" hand (my left) twice as fast as your right foot, (Don't stop any of these--all are going in time originally set by the left foot)
Then tap your "high hat" hand (my right) twice as fast as your "snare/beat" hand.
Basically you are building on the beat. (It may look at little silly, but it is a good tempo exersise and a fun thing to try at a party.)

Drollman--over 200 posts with a spelling mistake!

[mack]

I think Ringo's suggestions, as well as the CCR stuff are good.

I started out with old Elton John, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, ZZ Top, Rick Derringer, Aerosmith, that sort of stuff. At the same time I was playing in the Jazz band in HS and studying privately, so that helped me learn a lot, quickly.

Once you have the basics going, don't be afraid to tackle the songs that inspire you that might seem to be beyond your ability. Also, the sooner you start playing with others the better.

[Ringo]

Just as to playing in general, play to your strengths. You can probably put out a lot of good tune even if you can't quite get to the Carl Palmer level. I saw a bunch of collaborations melt down early because they set their sights somewhere where they didn't need to be.

Maybe you can get to the Palmer level, eventually.

But, in the mean time, don't make public appearances doing stuff you can barely handle. Show up ready to play the stuff you can play the shit out of.

[Ringo]

I know, the grammar mavens will soon descend upon me. So, show up ready to play the stuff you can play the shit out of, pal.

[Dieter]

Perhaps anything by the Ramones or the Cars. It's pretty straight forward stuff.

[musicguy]

Personally, the Beatles were where I started. Lots of straight ahead beats with some interesting fills. A little later, I progressed to Led Zeppelin. This music provided a great library of rock drum fills, not to mention giving the right foot a very good workout. I would also recommend (at the risk of getting shot) some slow top-40 ballads. Keeping your tempo consistent when they are slow can be quite a challenge.

I would recommend that no matter which music you choose, focus mostly on trying to make it feel good. You will gradually develop a vocabulary of beats and fills, but it is most important that they groove.

And as a slight hijack, you might also want to consider getting a drum machine that you can play along with. It will help you dial in your inner sense of time and is a little more interesting to listen to than a metronome.

Good luck to you!