Hey Stephen, good lesson. Singles are indeed important, I do similar things. And 99% of my practise is silent, often even without sticks, and my drumming has definitely improved fine over the past couple of years. You can get good without constant access to a kit.

Excellent practice tip. Thank you

SO helpful!! Thank you!

I never sat behind a drum kit, always wanted one, almost bought an electronic one earlier this year (a regular one won't be possible for me at all) but then I figured I should maybe first see about learning some basics before shelling out some big $. Just got a practice pad with stand and sticks this week and your videos have already been of tremendous help, thank you so much for this series! I've only been at it for a couple of days and already can see improvements. If that continues I might just have to get that real set for myself for xmas. Really appreciate your clear explanations with no 'bling' and fake promises, just down to earth lessons on what to concentrate on in the beginning. Thank you!

I'm literally just starting to learn, I have an electric kit but it isn't even set up and I live in an apartment so currently my practice set up is just basically air-drumming with my sticks in my room in the middle of the night. trying to get my drum kit set up soon so I can have something to actually hit but until then I'm just trying to learn everything that I can so I have the ideas down and can put them into practice sooner and hopefully with a good understanding going straight into it. love your videos :)

That thing about applying more pressure with the ring finger closer to the palm is a good tip since I get tennis elbow from putting to much pressure with the index finger. I never even thought about the other finger specifically. This will probably save me a lot of pain

good stuff. My quiet practice setup is a lightweight 12" snare, an old 'New Era', which was Premier's basic range for schools. A thin shell, African mahogany, no re-rings. I have a mesh head on it, and a bumper on the rim. Makes for a very quiet drum with a fairly realistic feel. The mesh head makes a distinctive sound when you slice, which is handy. I have a kick pedal onto a rubber practice pad, and a hi-hat on a regular stand but with small cymbals. My big challenge is the hi-hat. I currently have cheap 8" splash cymbals, with a cympad under the bottom cymbal, and with thin neoprene between the cymbals. Still a bit loud from the stick strike. Considering low-volume cymbals, but the stick impact is the issue. Any tips on a quiet hi-hat would be great.

Stephen, thanks for an excellent KZfaq series! I’m a 75-year-old guy who was a reasonably competent drummer when I worked professionally 45-50 years ago. I played primarily rock covers and some originals with one band that I worked with, along with what we called in the New England area ”GB” (“General Business”); i.e., wedding receptions, small clubs, etc. But I got married, had a family, in other words “life happened”. But I miss playing terribly, especially in a band with competent musicians. So I’m trying to get a practice routine & my atrophied chops back together. We live in a small condo, so a drum set is out of the question. I’ve considered an electronic drum practice kit, but I’m still working on convincing my wife given the expense. I have an Outlander practice pad, which a salesguy at Columbus Percussion in Ohio talked me into. That’s what I’ve been using while I’ve been working some of your suggested exercises. I am thinking about an Alesis Nitro Mesh Electronic Drum Set. But it’ll have to fit in our walk-in closet where I’ve been doing my pad practice…; - )

Excellent Sifu! With you and Drumeo in my daily video studies my drumming has gone in just the last few months since Venus entered Leo from feeling like an imposter where the little voice that says I have no business presuming to take the drummer's throne to getting so relaxed in holding the beats I was able to sing one of our covers last night, Man Who Sold The World, while keeping the beat. I can only access my kit at most twice per week with the current setup, but that's all it takes with basic things like this every day. I also practice moving my feet without pedals which works the muscles from having weekly sense of which ones do the most work on them. Then the sticking practice gets my hands so well tuned that I can pay more attention to foot patterns, where my left leg is really starting to get solid on the Jazz time offbeats, or just keeping time with left foot. My sense of musicality and how to build drum parts was already well trained when I was playing and studying bass as a teen and in my 20's, when I also started playing hand drums like dumbek, djembe, conga, bongo. Thus to add correct practice rituals adds super juice to my progress. Imposter sense is gone as of last night's band practice. These ideas really work!

Thank you for a great video. I practice a lot only with my hands on the knee. I have a practice pad but I have to practice really quiet when I am at home…. 😏

Hey Stephen, There are several options for me to practice. Most of the time I practice on my E-kit as it has some fantastic coaching routines included. Else I use a practice Pad in our flat, where I live with my family, but it drives my wife nuts if I do this to long or often. I also got a pad in my office where I sometimes just sit down an play 5 to 10 minutes during lunch break just for the fun. Lastly when I get to work I listen to music and try to keep time with my left foot or hand sometimes just drumming with my hands and feet, irritating the ppl on the train. There is always a possibility to work on your skills. Stay non glamorous!

I live in a second floor apartment. I have an electric drum set but no headphones yet (I still practice if it's not late). I also have a practice pad. This video helped a lot. Turns out the guitar center I went to for lessons was actually not okay with me needing a flexible schedule. This almost made me loose all motivation but I'm trying not to defeat myself these days. You are the best instructor I have found so far online. Thank you so so much for your knowledge.

actually a great lesson

Steve...thanks for the singles lesson...I practice on my electric kit with headphones so my wife doesn't throw me out of the house..thx again tt

I have a practice pad on a snare stand that I do get to practice on and a kick pad with my old kick pedal attached that I do not get to use for practice because the downstairs neighbours have gone ballistic every time I've done it. My neighbours wife works from home, so there is no time of day that nobody is there.

This is part of the reason that every time I practice a rudiment I also practice switching between practicing that rudiment and singles. It forces me to practice them even if they are boring, allows me to practice transitioning between a rudiment and the groove while melding them together in my mind so fills and complicated grooves don't feel forced or out of place. Back when I had problems with some of the later rudiments or if I practice rudiments beyond the standard 40 it allows me to focus on the basics for a sec and "catch my breath" so to speak.

I have RTOM Black Holes and quiet cymbals and it's a pretty good setup for quiet-ish practice (the RTOMs are really great). I'm in a house with three other (very understanding) people and I can practice most evenings. Unfortunately, the quiet cymbals (especially the hi-hat) are not as quiet as I'd like. Any tips on reducing the HH volume while still being able to access its dynamics (e.g. splashes)?

Hi Stephen, thank you for video, it is great! BTW, it looks to me your Mac display is in a kind of a dangerous situation?! One wrong move and it might crash to the floor. Hope I'm wrong :) (sorry previously it was display, but now macbook)

Each time I'm in a « hey, I got time, let's try to do some exercises to be back on drums this year ! » your channel is very motivating : thanx a lot for that ! Long ago, when I leave my mother's house, I'd buy an electronic drum to play in my so little apartment, but the noise was too loud for the neighbors, so I was practicing something a death metal drummer told me... « Try to play hard on a foam pillow : the less rebound the better ! ». A good way to practice precision and stamina without noise :-)

Kind of a unique question for you, when I play steady, fast, one-handed singles, I notice the stick spins around in my hand. I'm not sure if this is a problem, but it definitely feels weird. When I grab the stick more firmly, the spinning stops, but my grip is much looser. Any advice? I love all your NGD videos, and I use all your PDFs. Thank you for your work!

I'm lucky I have a kit in my house and can be as loud as I want up till 10 anyways, I use practice pad daily but for the most part I'm making noise

I read some of these guys comments and I don't know what I would do if I couldn't hit on a kit everyday, sticks are in my hand atleast 2 hours a night half fun half practice, practice is mandatory but not fun for me so I break it up, half fun half Play what I want

Hi Stephen, I've been playing drums for many years, including in a band. I'm 75 now, and prefer to play heel down. The problem is, my feet keep sliding up the bass pedals,(I have double pedals). My feet end up at the top of the pedals, with no power. How can I keep my feet at the "sweet" spot on the pedals?

I don't get the fulcrum adjustment 😢.

1 fulcrum should be with the thumb and index finger. 2 If the grip is too loose the stick may fall out. 3 how do explain the incredibly complex parts that DCI drumlins play with all dynamic levels. 4. you don't have to be relaxed all the time. In every sport like basketball or golf there is soft and hard.

can't access the link

Spark Notes: Practice singles on a pad. Jump to 6:00 for the rest.

Dude holds his stock with the ring finger?

Bro really made a 16 minute video to say "practice singles on a pad".

👍🤙✌️

Singles (answer came at 2:54)

great videos but you talk way too much at the beginnings.

6 minutes of yak yakking is a turn off. GET TO THE POINT😴