I've been grinding rudiments the past weeks, and I gotta say I feel enormous benefits, very quick progress in my drumming. That being said - I played for 15 years without ever dealing with technique or theory and I was still okay. So no, you don't need rudiments to become a decent drummer, you're great! I still think they're a very structured and powerful framework to familiarize yourself with various rhythmic concepts (especially flams & drags) and good exercise at any skill level. Thanks for your perspective!
Great point!! I agree with all of that. I don’t think you can practice rudiments and get WORSE - I just don’t agree with the people who consider them absolutely necessary to become a legit drummer. There was definitely a time when I dug in to my rudiments and experienced the benefits as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts🙏🏼
I agree. The most overhyped "must" in music. I was just reading some article on a drum website saying "rudiments are for drummers what chords and arpeggios are for pianists" as "building blocks"... as a drummer and pianist I thought this was the most absurd statement... I can assure you that you actually _use_ chords and arpeggios in pieces of music for piano. Can't say the same for rudiments (perhaps some .1% of recorded professional music has some complex sticking pattern a rudiment helped with). Imo, the focus on rudiments can cause learning drummers to lose interest. I remember being stuck with the books with all the patterns and a little drum pad with two sticks. Tap. Tap. Tap-Tap. Literally the Number 1 most boring thing I have ever done. It made learning drums significantly more boring compared to learning other instruments that actually make musical notes when you practice... But years later, I still play drums quite often, for a while it was my main instrument and I played in a band. Know what actually got me better at drums way more than the rudiments books? Playing songs. That's it. Aspiring drummers should get a cheap kit as soon as possible, learn the basic 4/4 rock beats (boom-tih-gah-tih) (boom-boom-gah-tih) (boom-tih-gah-boom) and just start playing to recorded songs they like. It will act naturally as a metronome and actually be fun, and consequently much more time will be spent practicing and improving. Learning drums does not have to be boring.
While I kind of agree that you don’t need to “learn” every rudiment and hybrid rudiment out of every book, you absolutely, without question need to PRACTICE your core rudiments as much as possible.
Great point! I would agree except for the “as much as possible” part. Because that could technically take up ALL of your practice time - not leaving any time for grooves, feel, learning songs, etc. Singles, doubles, paradiddle variations, and flam variations definitely show up regularly in my practice sessions. What do you consider the “core” rudiments?
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I've been grinding rudiments the past weeks, and I gotta say I feel enormous benefits, very quick progress in my drumming.
That being said - I played for 15 years without ever dealing with technique or theory and I was still okay.
So no, you don't need rudiments to become a decent drummer, you're great! I still think they're a very structured and powerful framework to familiarize yourself with various rhythmic concepts (especially flams & drags) and good exercise at any skill level.
Thanks for your perspective!
Great point!! I agree with all of that. I don’t think you can practice rudiments and get WORSE - I just don’t agree with the people who consider them absolutely necessary to become a legit drummer.
There was definitely a time when I dug in to my rudiments and experienced the benefits as well!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts🙏🏼
I agree. The most overhyped "must" in music. I was just reading some article on a drum website saying "rudiments are for drummers what chords and arpeggios are for pianists" as "building blocks"... as a drummer and pianist I thought this was the most absurd statement... I can assure you that you actually _use_ chords and arpeggios in pieces of music for piano. Can't say the same for rudiments (perhaps some .1% of recorded professional music has some complex sticking pattern a rudiment helped with).
Imo, the focus on rudiments can cause learning drummers to lose interest. I remember being stuck with the books with all the patterns and a little drum pad with two sticks. Tap. Tap. Tap-Tap. Literally the Number 1 most boring thing I have ever done. It made learning drums significantly more boring compared to learning other instruments that actually make musical notes when you practice... But years later, I still play drums quite often, for a while it was my main instrument and I played in a band. Know what actually got me better at drums way more than the rudiments books? Playing songs. That's it. Aspiring drummers should get a cheap kit as soon as possible, learn the basic 4/4 rock beats (boom-tih-gah-tih) (boom-boom-gah-tih) (boom-tih-gah-boom) and just start playing to recorded songs they like. It will act naturally as a metronome and actually be fun, and consequently much more time will be spent practicing and improving. Learning drums does not have to be boring.
While I kind of agree that you don’t need to “learn” every rudiment and hybrid rudiment out of every book, you absolutely, without question need to PRACTICE your core rudiments as much as possible.
Great point! I would agree except for the “as much as possible” part. Because that could technically take up ALL of your practice time - not leaving any time for grooves, feel, learning songs, etc.
Singles, doubles, paradiddle variations, and flam variations definitely show up regularly in my practice sessions.
What do you consider the “core” rudiments?