Any Metal Drummers here?

[Leo Chang]

Hi Guys,

Got a question for the Metal drummers among us:

Given the intensity of Metal drumming... did you workout quite a lot (to build up the physical strength and endurance) before you were able to play the way you wanted to?

Or did you just practiced the drumming (without supplemental workouts) and gradually developed the power + endurance that way?

Reason I am asking: I am asking for my girlfriend, who really wants to do Metal drumming, but is frustrated with her progress as a beginner drummer. Her teacher told her that she is physically unable to play Metal drumming (too slow, too weak). But I see that as more of a challenge to be overcome with the proper training, and not a permanent barrier.

So for the Metal drummers reading this... what do you think?


- Leo.

[Hellbat]

I am not a drummer at all but I tell you when I listen to a Nevermore track or Lamb of God and I think to myself, geez these guys have to play a whole concert at that pace.

Really you have to be in pretty damn good shape aerobically to be able to pull that off. Luckily for her, steady practice will improve that strength and stamina. It might be worth setting up a session with a personal trainer for her to get some excercises that target the specific muscle groups used for drumming to improve her strength and endurance. In the long run it will make playing the instrument at "normal" music levels much easier for her as well.

With the right exercises and some practice she should be able to pound out the blast-beats. You just dont want her to get too strong to handle YOUR stick.

[Musician78]

Sounds like a shitty teacher to me. One of my old drummers was and still is phenominal and I know for a fact he doesn't nor has he ever worked out.

[RR666]

why would you tell somone whos paying you for lessons that they will never be able to play a cetain way, isnt that why there paying you in the first place?

[Shawn Lutz]

c'mon, do you really think drummers know how to navigate the intraweb thing-ama-bobby???

[Grandturk]

Check out a podcast called Talking Metal. They did interviews with the Richard Christy and Rob Lipnicki a few months ago - they talked about just that type of thing - how do you develop speed, stamina, etc. Check it out.

[thebigz]

I'm not sure what her teacher is thinking. Just have her keep practicing with a metronome or songs or whatever and progressively push herself to get faster. It works just like anything else, you get better as you do it more often.

I've been on plenty of ups and downs as far as my speed is concerned. When I play more, I get my chops back up, when I don't, I get slow and sloppy.

[Leo Chang]

Sounds like a shitty teacher to me. One of my old drummers was and still is phenominal and I know for a fact he doesn't nor has he ever worked out.

Exactly what I am thinking, just that I am not a drummer myself, so I don't want to go too hard on the guy...

But the moment I heard that I instantly thought it was BS. Especially because she has only been drumming for a little over a month, and only started to practice on a drumset last week.


- Leo.

[Leo Chang]

Check out a podcast called Talking Metal. They did interviews with the Richard Christy and Rob Lipnicki a few months ago - they talked about just that type of thing - how do you develop speed, stamina, etc. Check it out.

Awesome site! Thanks for the heads up, I'll get her to listen to that "episode"


- Leo.

[Endrik]

You don't need any workout to be a heavy hitting drummer. Running, bicycling etc. can be good for stamina. John Bonham did heavy work in farms which again only helped to get stamina... you know his 30 minute drum solos.
But working out in a gym you are not working on the muscle groups needed for drumming or you are not working on them the right way.

As far as hand techniques goes, there's no need to be a body builder. Tommy Lee is a skinny mofo but probably the heaviest hitter after Bonham.
The hands and the whole body should be rather loose and relaxed and all the power comes from the wrist motion. You don't really need to move the hand much at all to get a good hit. It's all in the wrist. The wrist has to be loose and flexible, and the stick should be hit so it rebounds easily back from the drum head. This is also the key to make the drums sounds good.
There's bunch of douchenozzles who beat the shit out of drums with full hand motion and don't understand why they sound so shit and not that heavy at all.

Now legs need more strength but there's also should be some looseness so they wont get cramps. And it all depends of the technique, heel up, heel down or in between. For rock and metal, heels up is the best way of course the get a punchy kick sound.

Playing the drums constantly you are gonna develop the right muscle groups and stamina anyway. So that's the most important workout.

I suggest you getting a good teacher for your girlfriend. Some disciplined, grumpy old fart would be the best. And if he hates metal the better.
Let me explain why. You see there's a big difference between a fast technical metal drummers. There's guys like Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, Gene Hoglan etc. who can play and there's bunch of hacks.

The difference is that many of those hacks (many of them are very well known in the metal world) just lack any basics of drumming. Many say that "hey look how fast he is" but when you go to a concert or see live videos then you realise how fucking shit they are. Their timing is so off it's unbelievable. They barely can keep their tempo and then try to throw in some fills and shit and they are all over the place. It's horrible because they ruin the whole fucking band. A drummer has to be the back bone of the band not ruin it with his bullshit. And there's so many of those hacks. It's the "trigger generation" as many of them can't make a descent natural kit sound good to save their lives and instead of hitting the drums they are petting them like baby's butt.

The reason why there's so many shitty sounding motherfuckers is because they never bothered to get the techniques down perfectly. They went straight to the speed-fest. No discipline at all.
Drumming needs more discipline than any other instrument.

The reason why those other dudes don't sound sloppy is that because they practiced with discipline. They made the drums sound good slowly first and then slightly increased the speed. It takes time and a lot of patience.
Sean Reinert heavily studied jazz, he got all those chops down and then he had no problems playing metal.
Gene Hoglan played to Motown tunes, to get a really tight feel and groove.
Basically any good metal drummer has practiced something else... jazz, rnb, latin, funk etc. because of the discipline and precision needed in those styles. That's where you learn what's really important, how to sound good and how to use different techniques the correct way.

So some grumpy old jazz fart can show you exactly all the mechanics behind all the techniques and he makes you nail them for your life. And then you can apply those techniques to metal or whatever you want to play.
It's crucial to start the right way at the beginning.

[Endrik]

there's TONS of great videos out there of course.

For hands JoJo Mayer's latest DVD is the best out there. He covers every technique from every angel + all the crazy Buddy Rich type one handed rolls.

For legs... maybe Thomas Lang DVD, he is one PRECISE mofo.

Once the techniques are down, then playing with metronome constantly is they key. Never going on a faster pace until at one tempo every hit sounds clear in precise without any slopiness in tempo.

[Leo Chang]

Wow, thanks Endrik for the insight / tips

So I assume you practice both guitar and drumming?


- Leo.

[Leo Chang]

With the right exercises and some practice she should be able to pound out the blast-beats. You just dont want her to get too strong to handle YOUR stick.

She might read this, so I 'll just say this...













- Leo.

[Leo Chang]

Another sort of related question:

Any good general drumming / Metal drumming forums you guys would recommend?

I found a few with a quick Google search, but it's hard for me to gauge the quality of drumming forums, not being a drummer myself.

So if you can recommend some drumming forums that you find to be good resources, that would be greatly appreciated


- Leo.

[Endrik]

Wow, thanks Endrik for the insight / tips

So I assume you practice both guitar and drumming?


- Leo.

Mostly played all kinds of percussion and whatnot but right now I've barely have time to practice even a guitar

Another sort of related question:

Any good general drumming / Metal drumming forums you guys would recommend?

- Leo.

drummerworld.com is the best place

TONS of videos, there's a good preview of different instructional DVD's, concerts etc.
Forum with tons of info from pros etc.

Not sure about specific metal drumming place... you know bass and drum forums aren't really metal oriented like guitar boards because most of the rhythm guys find metal rather boring... but there's tons of metal guys and drummers featured on the drummerwolrd too so check it out.