Three Suggestions for your daily musical growth...

Hi everyone.  I'm going to be writing a few tips every once in a while.  Feel free to respond with your opinions here or on my facebook page "billy ward drums". 

Now to it...  Music is a part of my life everyday.  Here's three things I do that maybe you can get into and incorporate it into your daily or weekly activity.

ONE.  Listen to music.  I go to my music service online (so far it is Tidal but I may change at some point) and float around with searches and see what I can find that I've not heard.  Sometimes it's yet another jazz record from the 60s or 70s that I once listened to, such as Jimmy Smith Trio with George Benson - highly recommended for tasty feels to copy as well as understanding when to do that fill...  Other times it's something I haven't heard - today was the Luminaires.  Pretty sweet record. 

Thinking about music and how to approach it as an author of drum parts is crucial for growing personal technique that is yours and yours only.

TWO.  Change the tuning on your snare drum, or if you have time, change the tuning on your entire kit and play play play!  You will find new technique that works with that ridiculously higher or lower pitch of your drums.  Each area has pluses as well as minuses.  Great for learning how to tune the damned things also!  In most all recording engineer's opinions,  drummers don't know how to tune their own instrument!  Figure it out!  The benefits are extremely high.  In my case today, I took a 6.5 X 15 Liberty Drums snare and cranked it as high as it would go.  This led to me playing some seriously crazy funky shit for about an hour!  Stay fluid with your tuning and approaches to the kit!

THREE.  Record yourself.  I say those two words to students more than any other.  Record yourself often and listen to it as if you are listening to a stranger, not yourself!  Imagine it is someone you have great hatred towards - look for the flaws!  Now you know what you need to work on, and THIS CAME FROM YOUR SPECIFIC NEED, NOT A BOOK OF EXERCISES.

That's it for now... PracticePracticeGetbettaGetbettaGetagigGetagig&GetsomeCASH!

:)  Billy