Hi everyone,
Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: The syncopated drum beats written down in your book (#1-5).
How to practice it most effectively: These beats sounded really good in your lesson! Practice playing them at different speeds, from very slow to very fast, but don’t play them faster than you are able to play them accurately. Focus on making all the rhythms sound steady, especially at the slower speeds!
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: The 16th-note beats and drum fills from your book, especially the new beat (#4).
How to practice it most effectively: Practice counting it out loud before you try to play it. Pay close attention to the sticking (rights and lefts) and which hand is playing together with each of the bass drum notes. Then try counting the rhythm of the bass drum while playing 16th notes with your sticks on the hi-hat and snare drum. Once you can do this confidently, then try playing the beat.
Alexy
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The intro and verse beat from “When I Come Around” by Green Day.
How to practice it most effectively: Take it slow and focus on playing everything in time. Don’t slow down in the middle of the beat. If you can’t play the whole beat at the same speed, then try the whole thing slower. Be able to play the beat confidently at a slow speed before trying to speed it up. Also, review the fills from last week.
Nate M.
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The bridge beat from “Spirit of Radio” by Rush.
How to practice it most effectively: Listen to how this beat fits in with the song. Practice playing it on your own first and then with the recording. Count the beat in your head while you’re playing it because there are some tricky timing issues with this beat. If you can play it while counting the beat in your head, then you know you won’t get the timing wrong.
Emily
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The fills and transitions on the second page of “In Bloom.”
How to practice it most effectively: Counting the rhythms out loud before you try to play them will help. Try to do small sections at first (a bar or two) and then try a larger section (4 bars). Once you start to feel comfortable with the fills then try reading the second page from top to bottom.