How to Be a Better Drummer

Note that this post is aimed at people who play the drum set.

With every instrument, there comes a point where you start to wonder what's next in terms of your practicing and overall performance. At first, it's easy - you're learning the basic skills, the ability to read sheet music, play different styles, hold a steady beat, and everything else. Eventually, though, you get to a point where the path to improvement isn't so clear. You've got a solid tempo, you can read music easily, and you're wondering what to do.

Well, when it comes to drums, the best way to bring your playing up to that next level is to do something that sounds very counterproductive. If you want to be a better drummer, you should actually learn another instrument.

That's actually very misleading. The reason that I suggest you learn another instrument is mainly to fill in the big picture. A good drummer MUST understand his/her role in the band. What's more, he/she has to really understand the roles of all of the members of a band. This applies to any musician, but it's even more important for a drummer.

If you don't understand your role in the band, you just won't sound good. We've all heard drummers who do massive fills every four bars, or who play louder than the bass and guitar combined. We've all heard drummers who try to play such complex parts that it distracts from what's important - the singer, the melody, the solo, or whatever else. All of those problems, along with many more, stem from people who don't understand their role in a band. A drummer who plays way too loud or overplays the melody doesn't realize what they're doing. If they did, they probably wouldn't have the problem.

And, to an extent, you can learn these things from listening and paying attention to the music that's playing around you. It's not impossible. However, this only gets you so far. A way to take it one step further is to listen to a lot of other drummers, both good and bad, and listen to hear what makes the difference. That really helps, because you can hear what's going on from the listener's perspective, which is often very different from the drummer's perspective.

However, the truly best way to understand what separates the good drummers from the bad ones is to play on a different instrument, with other drummers. Pick up the guitar or piano or anything other than the drums, and play with other people. You'll learn very quickly what good and bad things can be done from behind the kit. You'll truly understand how annoying it is to have the drummer decide to take a huge fill during your solo, or how annoying it is when he starts rushing and refuses to lock in with the rest of the musicians. You'll understand all about what a good drummer does, and about what a bad drummer does. Your drumming will be forever improved just because you'll know why you do what you do, and you'll understand how it sounds to everybody else.