How do you get better? Practice the right things.
In My Opinion, most drummers should stop most of what they're practicing and work on just 3 core skills.
I produced the 80/20 Roadmap to teach you what those are, and how to practice them.
Preview the video below.
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“Your method is very practical and efficient, which is what I’ve been needing to achieve in my practice. There are a lot of approaches in here that I’ve experimented with in the past, like recording yourself playing drum covers and breaking down vocab chunks and building them up slowly, but this series has finally motivated me to truly make those things habitual.”
How to (Really) Practice Smart
It's not about cutting corners. It's about working on the Right Things instead of the Easy Things.
What have I learned from coaching students through the 80/20 Program? Almost every drummer would get better faster by throwing out everything they're practicing and focusing only only three things.
1) Playing Cleanly. I call it the "personal drum troupe" but it just means when your hand and your foot are supposed to hit together, they do, and when you're trying to hit a rimshot, you don't hit the rim.
2) Playing In Time. Almost every aspiring drummer rushes and drags the beat in the same places. Which means if you work on those "repeat offenders", you'll save time, in more ways than one!
3) Having Options. There's no doubt which question people ask me most often: "how to I play solos without repeating myself of hiccuping?"
“There’s so much Hollywood-like educational material out there, but hardly any of it is dealing with the essence of “how to study” rather than only “what”.”
80/20 Your Drumming
The 80/20 Law says a few things you're doing are responsible for most of the results. That's good news for drummers. That means a few skills will make you better faster than any others. What are they? I'll save you the suspense - they're the three skills I listed above.
what does the 80/20 roadap Introduction include?
How to assess each of the 3 factors that are holding you back: Playing Cleanly, Playing in Time, and Having Options.
Concepts and exercises for Playing Cleanly - the Personal Drum Troupe. How to make sure you sound as clean as you think.
Introduction to timekeeping - how timekeeping is holding you back, and two simple practice tools you can start using today.
Basic Improvisation and the New Rudiments - you already know how to play singles and paradiddles. New Rudiments incorporate the whole kit, and come from real world vocabulary your favorite players are really playing. I'll show you the few rudiments to practice that will make you a better improviser in a hurry - the 80/20.
Here's What Other Drummers Are Saying About The 80/20 Drummer
“I found myself saying ‘awesome’ out loud when you were talking about the reductive approach to practicing.”
Full Video from Alejandro
Full Video from Tim