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hey, just wanted to throw this out quickly to say sorry to the people who's posts i voted down by accident when i was browsing the forum on my phone.  I know it sounds stupid but i just feel really bad because all everyone does is help me when i need it so it isn't fair to just throw it back on them like that.  The people that i can remember include carox and smallbutdeadly.  I have inboxed both of these users with an apology. so yeah, it will not happen again.
thank you, callum

I am very passionate about keeping my set in tune and sounding good as well as keeping it clean.  I know it's hard for the working drummer to do routine cleaning and maintenance, but once a good thorough cleaning and tunig is done, it will be easy to keep your set sounding it's best and looking clean.  There are several good reasons to keep your set clean and polished.  This not only applies to custom sets but to beginner and intermediate sets as well.  Why?

1. Your hardware will last longer and will be less likely to seize up on you when setting up and tearing down

2. Your shells will be less likely to be damaged by the elements of time and nature

3. Your drums will be easier to tune (tension rods are less likely to seize) and sound better (in my opinion)

4. Your drum set as whole will last longer, even a lifetime

5.And your set looks better on stage when it's clean and polished

The Cleaning

Since I have a lacquered finish, I use :

1.  lemon oil because it's nicer for the laquered finish (Pledge furniture polish works well on wraps too, as I used to have a set with wraps),

2.  2 Chamois (one to apply polish, the second to wipe off polish),

3.  Feather Duster,

4.  Rubber gloves (to prevent sweat from hands from interfering with cleaning),

5.  Chrome polish for the lugs, tension rods, and hoops (rims),

6.  Paraffin wax for the bearing edges and tension rods,

7.  Diaper towels (one to remove chrome polish and one to "buff" the shell),

8.  A very soft, fine bristled make up brush (or like something they use to apply shaving cream at the barber shop).  I use this to remove any chrome polish, dust, or polish from corners and crevices.

9.  DrumDial (for tuning / I first tuned by ear and then measured what the head tension was prior to removing the heads).



I also use Baskey Matt Markers for easy set up after cleaning.  They attach to any drum rug (or carpet as in my case) and make set up a breeze without having to reposition or figure out how things were set up.  Each stand can be color coded with three Matt Markers for each leg of your stands.  Sure, duct tape will work just as good, but these are affixed securely and won't move or tear off from gig to gig and can be easily changed around should you reconfigure your set up.

      


1.  I remove both heads and hoops; leaving only the shell and lugs:



2.  I apply chrome polish to the hoops, tension rods, and lugs (not pictured).  At this point I also rub some parrafin wax on to the tension rods.  I have also discovered it helps keep the drums stay in tune a bit longer (or so it seems).



3.  After the polish has sit for about 5 min. or so, I "buff" off the polish from the hoops, tension rods and lugs.  I have found the "Make Up Brush" to be very useful in removing any chrome polish from the hoops, tension rods, and lugs that have "crevices" or Weird angles where the polish has got into.

4.  I apply lemon oil to the inside of the shell.  I dampen a chamois with lemon oil, then rub it in going with the grain of the wood.  This is just another one of my "Peace of Mind" things I do to help repel any moisture or rapid humidity changes.  Hey, it also makes them smell good too.  



5.  I do the same with the lemon oil on the outside of the shell.  However, unlike the inside of the shell, I polish this off in a two step process.  Obviously, I first apply the lemon oil to the shell by dampening a chamois, then rubbing it on the shell.  The two step polishing process is : first, rub it off with a clean diaper cloth (or clean, soft, corron towel), and then secondly, polish any remaining "smudges" off using the feather duster (make sure it's very soft).



6.  Next, I apply paraffin wax to the bearing edges.  I've heard (and believe) this helps creat a better "bond" and "seal" between the drum head and bearing edge.  Ok, I'll admit it.  It's another one of those "Peace of Mind" things again.  Just an extra precautionary measure I take.  BUT, I will say it does help seat and seal the drum head a little better (or so it seems).



7. Now I put the heads on and tune using the DrumDial.  A word on the DrumDial : I have tuned my drums "by ear" many, many times prior to getting a DrumDial.  After I got the DrumDial, I tuned my set "by ear".  After getting it all sounding good, I went with the DrumDial and measured the tension at each lug point, then wrote it down.  So, when I get to this step in cleaning my drums, I have a "base point" to start at with re-tuning the heads by using the DrumDial.  I usually go back after getting it all set up and "tweak" here and there.



Now that's a shiny drum (snare drum) only 6 more pieces to go (5 toms and a bass drum).  

I then move onto my pedals: Hi-Hat and Bass Pedals.

For these I use Chrome Polish (to clean surfaces and Hi-Hat Stand), rubber gloves, two soft cotton clothes (one to use to apply polish and the second to wipe it off), WD 40 (not shown / to lube joints/movable areas), and a soft bristled make-up brush.

To polish Hi-Hat Stand and wipe down surface areas of pedals, I spray/apply polish to the first cloth and wipe on stand/surface areas.  Then, using the second cloth, wipe down and remove the polish from stands and surface areas (much like the same procedure I used when polishing the shell of my drums.  I use the paintbrush at this time to remove any dust from the cracks/crevices/joints/springs/chains on my pedals.  I then use the WD 40 on the chain of my Hi-Hat Pedal and joints of my Double Bass Pedals.

Next I clean my stands and all other hardware.

Again, I use Chrome Polish, two white cotton cloths, and rubber gloves.  I use the same process I used for cleaning my Hi-Hat Stand.  Spray/apply polish to the first cloth; wiping down all parts of stand.  Then I use the second cloth to remove the polish.  Depending on how many stands you have (or size of your drum rack); you may need additional clean cotton cloths to remove polish.

Last but certainly not least, I polish my cymbals.

For this, I use Zildjian Cymbal Cleaner (almost any polish made for polishing cymbals can be used), paper towels, cotton cloths (one for each cymbal; including one for each cymbal that makes up the Hi-Hat), q-tips, two pairs of rubber gloves (one pair to wear when applying polish and the second to wear when wiping off polish / you can actually use one pair through this whole cleaning process, but I just prefer to use a different pair for the multiple elements that make up my set), and a toothbrush.

I use a stand as a base for polishing my cymbals.  I take a paper towel and apply the polish; being careful not to go over logos (if these areas need attention, I use a q-tip to go around logo).  I flip cymbal over and do the same process for the under-side.

After waiting five to ten mins. for polish to �dry�, I use a clean cotton cloth to remove polish; using a side-to-side motion that follows the �grooves� of the cymbal.  I polish small �slices� of my cymbal at a time: using a clean area of cloth on each section that still has polish on it.

After doing that, I use the clean side (or a totally new clean cloth) to do a final polish on my cymbal; wiping with the grooves and removing any polish that I might have missed.

I turn the cymbal over and remove the polish in much the same process as used above.  The toothbrush is used for hard to clean spots (that require a little more attention / and the q-tips are used to clean around logos).

I repeat the above steps with every cymbal.

Edit :  It's been brought to my attention that I should explain a little more clearly on polishing cymbals and keeping the logos intact.  Almost any polish and cleaner will remove the logos from cymbals.  Even polish or cleaners that advertise as being "logo safe" will eventually wear off the logos (even using warm soapy water to clean and polish your cymbals will eventually wear off the logos).  The safe way to keep the logos intact is by polishing "around" the logos.  As mentioned above, use a q-tip if needed.  It's more work and takes more time.  But, this the only way I can think of to keep the logos from wearing off when polishing them.

That�s what I do when I do a complete and thorough cleaning and tuning of my set.  It took me 10 hours, but it was worth it.  Yeah, it's a lot of work.  But, I'm pretty particular when it comes to my drum set.  It's a major investment and one worth the work in oreder to protect it an keep it looking and sounding good.  Besides, A clean drum set is a happy drum set.  And a happy drum set sounds great and is fum to play.

I do a thorough cleaning once every six-eight weeks.  In between that time, I just dust, remove cymbals from stands, and cover the drums after each practice/playing them.

As long as we don't lose the GOAT THREAD! 

I got tired of all the bad drummer pics, so I started making faces on purpose when ever I see a camera.

 

Missed you guys, too! Getting back into drumming again. Stopped my lessons a while back, then eventually just stopped altogether as other interests took over. But back into it again, although I feel like a beginner again (not that I was much more than a beginner before). Have joined an older musicians club that's just started in my area, we go to various venues once a month and it's basically anyone who wants to play, can. Doesn't matter how good you are, what you play, what style of music etc. We've got a couple of established bands that play a few songs, we've got people who have never played with other musicians or played in front of people etc. Have a couple of musicians coming over tomorrow afternoon so we can learn a song or two to play at the next event. So seeing as they are good musicians, trying to find a song that is complicated enough for them, but with basic drums in it lol.

In my world, nothing is more indicative of the popularity of a new tune than when, all at the same time, a number of my drum students ask to learn it. I'm always curious about the latest pop music trends and see my student's request as a potentially powerful teaching/learning opportunity. If I listen to one of these songs and am jazzed about the drumming, I work myself up into a teaching frenzy.

This happened recently with We are Young by the band, Fun. If you're not familiar with this song (which I doubt...), here is the official video.



Sidenote: I would like to give special props to Nate Ruess, singer/songwriter of Fun., who grew up in the Phoenix area. I've followed his career for about a decade now after I heard some songs from his first project, a songwriting duo called The Format. (You may remember their "hit" song, "The First Single.") One of my college friends, super-talented drummer John O'Reilly Jr., played and recorded with The Format. Check out John's website, http://www.jordrum.com/studio.php, to see/hear what I'm talking about.

Before we get to the drum lesson, here are a few things about "We are Young" that strikes and impresses me.

• The songs starts with a drum intro. That's always good!

• Unique Structure-The first 41 seconds of the song is at 117 bpm and the rest of the song is slower at 92 bpm. Not too many megahits use two tempos...

• Cool pauses and melodic passages in between sections provide clever breaks as the song builds and becomes increasingly layered.

• The "combined" verse drum groove (starting at 0:25) uses overlapping claves. The floor tom part accenting outlines the "3 side" of a 3:2 clave, while the snare part is a 3:2 son clave played in double time. These overlapping claves are clearly shown in the first 2 lines of notation below.

The Lesson

To fully comprehend the drumming in "We are Young," you have to understand that during parts of the song (some of the verse and some of the chorus), 2 drummers (or overdubbed drum parts) are playing at the same time. You can see what I'm talking about 34 seconds into this live version of the song, when the guitar player comes over and plays the floor tom part.



Here is my We Are Young video lesson and the corresponding notation.





The first two lines of the notation above show the verse pattern as played by two separate drummers.

Note: The floor tom part is most easily played by using a Moeller motion at each accent. You can use the following stroke-tap instructions: Down, Tap, Up, Down, Tap, Up, Down, Up (repeat).

It becomes a "fun" challenge to attempt to combine the verse parts into one groove. The 3rd line of notation shows the snare pattern played with the left hand only, preparing you to play such a combined groove.

Check This Out: I discovered the following drum cover on YouTube. This drummer does a great (and very passionate) job of combining parts (and making up new ones).



Added Challenge: Notice that the drummer from the YouTube drum cover adds bass drum quarter notes to the combined verse groove. Although not done on the studio version, this does create a pleasing low-end for the listener and contrasts the syncopation. Try straight 8ths on the bass drum. Quarters or 8ths as hi-hat chicks. Now create an ostinato between the hi-hat and bass drum while playing the combined verse groove.

The 4th and 5th lines show two possible ways of playing a combined verse groove. In the 4th line, the continuous stream of floor tom 8th notes is broken in favor of a 5-stroke roll on the snare starting on the "+" of 4. In the fifth line, the 5-stroke roll is sacrificed in favor of the continuous floor tom 8ths.

The basic chorus groove is presented in the 6th line.

The 7th and 8th lines offer two ways to play the layered chorus section as one drummer.

You'll Need This: Here is a link to the amazing Dan Brigstock's note-for-note transcription of the song. http://www.drumscore...weareyoung.html

Business Items

• Lou Gervey (http://www.lougervey.com), clinician/performer, is now using play-along songs from Drum Aerobics for his drum clinics.

• Here is the latest customer review for Drum Aerobics. No, I didn't pay this person to write this. Yes, I read this at least once a week to cheer myself up. http://www.amazon.co...e=&nodeID=&tag=

• Thank you to Music Dispatch for including Drum Aerobics and Daily Drum Warm-Ups in their Spring Drum Catalog Highlights.

• Please "like" the new Manhasset Drummer Stand Facebook page. http://www.facebookM...setDrummerStand

• I'm pleased to mention that more and more drum teachers and music stores are beginning to use and carry Drumset for Preschoolers.

NOTE: If you like the this blog and its content, you can show me support (both economic and moral) by considering or telling others about my products. Thanks!
 

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My goal (based on a song we're playing) is to do a 16 beat roll down 4 toms, 8th notes, at 200 bpm.

As I said in a previous thread to someone else, I can "do it," but I can't do it well (or awesome!).

Starting at about 150bpm and working up to 200 over 10-20 minutes:

0000----0000----0000------------0000------------0000------------0000------------(cont.)
----0-------0-------0000------------0000------------0000------------0000--------
------------------------0---------------0---------------0000------------0000----
------------------------------------------------------------0---------------0---

0000----------------------------0000------------
----0000----------------------------0000--------
--------0000----------------------------0000----
------------00000---------------------------00000

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0000-----0000----0000------------0000------------0000------------0000--------
----0--------0-------0000------------0000------------0000------------0000----
-------------------------0---------------0---------------00000-----------00000

----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
0000----0000----0000------------0000----
----0-------0-------00000-----------00000


The basics behind the drill that I've put together are:
a) It varies enough through the drill that it holds my interest
b )  It repeats the needed skill over and over
c) It breaks the fill up into smaller components (ie the first 4 beat roll + the transition to the next tom.  Also allows me to work on the middle and larger toms at an earlier (easier) part of the beat).

Any inpur, advice, shared anecdotes would be appreciated.

I've lately been measuring myself with a metronome to see where I stack up and this is what I found out...

I'm using this metronome
http://www.korg.com/...uct.aspx?pd=129

pretty standard I'd say...anyway.

I set the metronome to that symbol with the 4 notes(quadruplets,perhaps?) and found out that my double bass speed was at 180 bpm and maybe 190 bpm...definetely not 200 bpm though.

I then practiced with my hands and found out that my speed was at 200 bpm set at the 4 notes "mode" like above...208 bpm is the metronome's top speed but I don't think I could manage above 200 with my hands.

btw,hands and feet were all single strokes...if that makes any difference.

now what I'm wondering is this:
I see world records that go up to 1000+ bpm and I'm wondering how you measure them.

in my mind,for example, it goes like this

4/4 is 4 hits in 4 sec,so with some math 60 hits per minute,right?
8/4 is 8 hits in 4 sec,so 120 hits per min,right?
16/4 is 16 hits in 4 sec,so 240 hits
32/4 - 32 hits in 4 sec,480 hits
64/4 - 64 hits in 4 sec,960

is this correct?

let's go to the metronome again now...200 bpm at 4 notes is going to be 800 hits?
and 180 bpm at that setting again, 720 hits?
ok...I got kinda lost there,that wasn't what I had in mind lol, but anyway...

how many beats per minute are my above metronome results?
like if we put one of those drumometers on the drums, what number would it show?
I've been thinking about it for a while now lol

Hey all,

 

The bad news is we've outgrown our server. The good news is ... well, we've outgrown our server.

 

We've hit the max that our server can handle, so this week you may see some down time as we change servers to a new blazing machine.  Our current machine slows to a crawl at certain times of day when a lot of people are on. We hit 100% cpu usage and usually it knocks out the server altogether.

 

I'm looking forward to it. We're really growing, but we can't grow any more on this server.  It's crazy. Just a year ago this was our new blazing fast server. Now, we need MORE!!

 

Cool! (The extra costs aren't cool,  but hey... that's the breaks. )

I use "The Box Kit".  www.theboxkit.com.  Waiting on mine to be delivered.  Pretty solid stuff.  

 

I dont pull any funny faces! 

SBD

Hi, SBD here again! I am a bit excited because our band entered a comp, where the winners get to play with some 'famous' people on stage as part of a one day event. If you  have heard of them they are people like ollie murrs and chipmunk..anyway, we got picked to attend auditions!

Just waiting to hear when and where we have to play, so I will tell you if there is any more news!

Even if we dont get through to the last round we are really looking forward to playing .

bye ee!

SBD

I put this little thing together let me know what you think!

My kids got me this....

I think the only solution is for you to bring in a big, giant, Sharpie.  Problem solved.



Hold it up and say, "Bring it on."

An anual holiday one would be good, and then maybe a summer fun song.

Lets do another song........(?)