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Practicing On A Pillow Drum & Buddy Rich's Words 1942

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D. Slam
Admin (Pete)
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spanky

spanky

Practicing On A Pillow Drum Lesson

Dennis Chambers is also big on this.
JU N E , 1942
Buddy Rich Advises
Using a Pillow
For Practicing
By BUDDY RICH
In Conjunction with Henry Adler
Many young drummer wonder why
their technique fails to improve in pro-
portion to the amount of time they
spend on a practice pad.
The answer to this problem lies in
knowing the proper method of practic-
ing, with special emphasis on developing
a technique.
Technique. to begin with. is the ex-
clusive property of a drummer with
Strong wrists. You therefore should
practice in such a manner so as to
compel your wrists to do most of the
work in the execution of your studies.
The first step is to eliminate complete-
Iy the arm motion commonly used in
drumming. In order to do this properly.
it is best to keep an eye on your arms.
while playing to check up on any un-
called for movement from them. If you
only took the trouble to look at your
arms, you would be amazed at the
amount of sledge-hammer arm motion
you unknowingly use while practicing.
The next step is to eliminate com-
pletely the bounce. I would suggest
practicing on a pillow as the best, yet
simplest, object to answer the need of a
bounce·less pad. I would also suggest
using your own pillow, so as not to an-
tagonize any members of your family
against your playing drums.
I might add at this point that it would
be a very good idea for you to main-
tain a firm grip on your sticks with your
fingers. In this position. you will find
it more natural to play on the pillow
with your wrists.
Now that you are armed with your
bounce-proof pillow and your determi-
nation to eliminate all arm motion. try
practicing one of your rudiments. Play
the rudiment very slowly at first, and
Walch Your Arms. If you become a
little tired, stop and rest for a few sec-
onds. Never over-strain yourself. Keep
practicing slowly until your’re able to
pIay in that particular tempo with ease,
entirely without any strain. Not until
then should you attempt to increese the
speed of the rudiment. Thus, very grad-
ually are you to increase the rate of
speed in your practicing.
This method of practicing is one
which requires plenty of patience and
consistent effort on your part. If you
do practice patiently and faithfully every
day, you will be more than amply re-
warded for the extra time you have
spent in studying. Your wrists will
gradually begin to develop to such an
extent that you no longer will have to
use your arms unnaturally in order to
play. What‘s more, the newly acquired
power in your wrists will enable you to
execute your musical problems in a
manner so relaxed as to make practic-
ing, as well as playing, a new and satis-
fying pleasure.
Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey’s famous
drummer, offers regular advice to
METRONOME readers. Send him your
questions ; he’ll be glad to answer them.
http://www.cactusjack.com/music/Buddy%20Text.pdf

D. Slam

D. Slam

Great way to practice speed and the control of it.
The only thing I don't like about what this guy does
is how much stick he allows to touch the pillow
surface.

I don't care if a naked girl runs across the stage, you keep playin that beat!!

Spanky, who said the above quoted statement?

spanky

spanky

D. Slam wrote:Great way to practice speed and the control of it.
The only thing I don't like about what this guy does
is how much stick he allows to touch the pillow
surface.

I don't care if a naked girl runs across the stage, you keep playin that beat!!

Spanky, who said the above quoted statement?
Some guy on a drum forum, and I just liked it, so I thought that I would use it.

Admin (Pete)

Admin (Pete)
Admin

This concept has been around
for a long time. It is effective.

I use a bed (quilted). Each of
the grids are separate "drums".

I agree that the stick should not
be making all that contact, as in
this video (Don remarked @ it).
The dead surface has to be the
representative for the drum.

It really is the only way to get
at developing the wrists and
arms constructively, imho.

Regards,

https://bcwtj.forumotion.com

D. Slam

D. Slam

Yes, Pete, He should either sit higher or
lower the pillow. If you were to practice
in this manner with a real drum, you'd
only be using the stick tips.

spanky

spanky

I think it was Billy who told me on his old forums, about using telephone books up under your arms while practicing on pillows. This forces you to use nothing but all wrists. I also saw a video a while back, where Jack DeJohnette was talking about how he would practice on pillows, because he said it forces you to lift the stick back up. But what I have noticed since I really recently have started to use the pillow everyday, is my stick control is getting better as well as more precision, and wrist strength. I have known about this for years but was to lazy to keep it up. Now I just bang away while I am watching TV or just me and the pillow. Also what I am trying to learn is how to relax much more with as little tension in my arms as possible and to let my shoulders relax. And the pillow is letting all of this take shape. It is funny because now I can't wait to get on the pillow.

Asaph

Asaph

Been doing this since I was a kid, just because, I guess. Would practice on just about anything.

Back in the 90s I read in one of Roy Burns columns, in Modern Drummer, that the idea of practicing on pillows, using aluminum sticks, etc, etc to build up wrists was unnecessary, in his opinion. Hard to argue with a guy with wrists like his.

I still practice on the ottoman all the time ... the air, my knees, the kitchen counter, empty boxes ... and every once in a while I actually get to sit at the kit.

I'd also recommend using a down pillow, if you are going to practice on one, because foam pillows do have a certain amount of rebound you can get used to and then playing on drum heads can be a little weird and you have to readjust to that rebound action.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

Daveonskins

Daveonskins

That's a pretty hard pillow he's playing on..I used to use a feather down one..
talk about burnin forearms....yikes.. Twisted Evil

MacMan

MacMan

Here's a little twist a friend and I used to do. You guys know those heavy metal (no pun intended) "Wrist Builder" sticks? We used to use the smaller 5a size metal sticks on pillows. Practice rudiments and go for speed singles. Didn't use the phone book under the arm though.

Asaph

Asaph

I guess if you sit at a snare and practice your arms can get involved, naturally. If you sit low in a typical living room chair or couch and play on something at that height, you can just put your arms on your legs to keep them still.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

spanky

spanky

Asaph wrote:I guess if you sit at a snare and practice your arms can get involved, naturally. If you sit low in a typical living room chair or couch and play on something at that height, you can just put your arms on your legs to keep them still.
When ever I notice that my arms have laid on my legs, I get them off. Because you will not be laying them on your legs live. Well unless you want to rest them or something for a few seconds. I remember Billy telling me years back to rest your shoulders, because I had asked him something I forgot what it was. Well anyway I had a bad habit of holding my shoulders up a little when I played. And in turn it would make me tired and want to rest my arms on my legs. So that snare drum should be at the right height when playing the snare and raising your arms to do other stuff like the rack toms and other crap. What I am working on now more than I have at any other time, is to play relaxed as much as possible. And if you play relaxed you won't need to rest your arms on your legs.

Asaph

Asaph

Well, if Billy suggested to hold phone books under your arms to keep them still, I'd rather work my wrists resting my arms on my legs. Just personal preference, I suppose. I notice no difference at all when sitting at the set.

Speaking of raised shoulders, I have such a difficult time watching Neal Peart because of that. He looks so unnatural when he plays he makes me tired watching him. His shoulders are so high up.

http://drumsinhisheart.weebly.com

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