Day 44

Hello,

So, today I restarted my private classes with a instructor... And it was awesome.

We focused on the Single Stroke Four applied to fills, and he gave a ton of good ideas to practice it on the kit. At the end, we also got to mix the Single Stroke Four with the Single Stroke Roll and with the Single Stroke Five, everything in fills... Really cool stuff.

My leg didn't hurt at all today... I'm at almost 100% already. Gotta play some more drums now! :D

Also, next week my other band is coming back too, with weekly rehearsals, so I'll be busy with drumming 3 days of the week: Two two hours rehearsals, and one one hour private lessons with a instructor. The rest is on my on :)
The sky is the limit!

Bye.

Days 42 and 43

Hello,

Another two day combo. But it's for a good reason: got officially back to rehearsing with my band! My doctor said the word, and as soon as I got free from surgery-recovery-mode I got back to the drums.

So, day 42 was:

Got really tired, my knee ached a little during the rehearsal (I made some pauses, obviously), but everything went OK. Now I just need some time to shake the dust off :)

Day 43 was:

Decided to get a day off the pad, and kept my training today only on my e-kit... Got some grooves going, and some fills, everything on 8th note triplets (it's a Drumeo course).

Glad to be back to the drums, man... :D

Bye.

Day 41

Hello,

Today I've started some grooving on the e-kit... Still a short time, because my leg can't take too much yet.

I'm getting the hang of the correct grip on the sticks too... Been seeing some more DVDs on techniques and how to hold the stick and whatnot.

Tomorrow I'll be rehearsing with my band again... I'm still slow and everything hurts... But I'm suro I'll be having fun, so screw it. I just have to remind me to not push it too much and I'll be safe.

Bye now.

Day 40

Hello.

So, Yesterday I drank. A lot =)

Today I've managed to practice one hour, and that's was all.
I've started to watch a Moeller Method DVD on Drumeo too. Good stuff. Taught me that I hold the sticks wrong... 10 years playing drums and I hold the sticks wrong... No wonder I suck at it.

Anyway... Today's stuff:

Again with the Doubles... Holding the stick properly also helped a little... But I'll have to practice a lot more to get it properly..

Oh well, bye.

Days 38 and 39

Hello,

One week day, and one good day.

Just some doubles.. Got too tired and decided to take a day off... This week was tough.

Got home earlier today, and spent the Friday night at home with the missus... So I got to spent some more time on the practice pad and the e-kit too.
Did a lot of Doubles exercises, and started to use the 4 Diddles as a groove pattern, but without accents. Tomorrow I'll add the accents and see what I got.

That's that. Bye.

Day 37

Hello.

Doubles day.

Started alright. Tomorrow I'll speed it all up and see what comes out of it.

Bye.

Day 36

Hello there,

Different day today... I went and disobey my doctor again. This time I did a 2 hours rehearsal session with one of my bands.

My leg gave me hell... And I was rusty and sloppy and screwed up all over the place. But I had fun.
I was kinda needing it... Needing to remind myself why I'm doing this: To have fun, to be a good drummer for myself.

I'll be going back to my local drum classes with my instructor next Tuesday too. Looking forward to it.

Bye.

Day 35

Hi.

I'm going nowhere. This sucks.

Days 33 and 34

Hello,

So I was on the road again... And I'm posting two days worth of practice.

I've reached the 20' Workout goal for this week... But I end it up really tired. And my doubles are getting sloppy too (It's in 32nd Notes at 92bpm, but still...).

Today I took the 20' Workout back to crappy-land. My doubles went to hell... The bpm is fine in the beginning, but i eventually get tired and everything goes south... Guess I'll be working on this tomorrow: Doubles. Next week will be focused on the Double Stroke Roll as well, so I guess I'll be fixing that anyway.

Bye now.

Day 32

Hello,

It's Fryday, and I'm feeling tired as hell. This week was tough. So, I'll be brief today.

Nothing new... Felt tired on the Workout exercise, but that could be to the fact that I'm was tired when I began the damn thing...
The Single Stroke Roll got a little sloppy in the beginning on the left hand. but then I managed to fix that. I also moved 2 bpm up in this, so I guess it's alright.
I've started a Diddle exercise too, to prepare for a couple of exercises my private instructor gave me before the surgery (that I didn't started yet...). It was easy enough to start.
The rest was the same as yesterday, just a little faster.

Tomorrow I'll be on the road again... I'll try to do the exercises in the morning... IF I wake up early. And that's rare for a Saturday. Anyway, my pad is going with me again.

That's it. Bye.

Day 31

Hello,

Slow day today... Only had 30 minutes to practice.

I kept the BPM of the 20' Workout in 90 for today, so I could work on my resistance... I'm getting really really tired after this workout. But, tomorrow I'll be doing it at 91bpm anyway. I'm getting the speed fine though.
Same thing with the Single Stroke Roll exercises. I start them fine, and then, as my left arm gets tired, I'm getting sloppy. Only daily practice will fix that, so I'll be keeping this two exercises as my minimum daily practice. Only half a hour a day... Totally doable.

That's it then, bye.

Day 30

Hello,

One month complete. Only one day missed. To me, that's a great thing... And I could see a lot of improvement already.

Today's practice (now with the date!)

A lot of Single Stroke Roll love. I think this week is going to be awesome because of this focus on one rudiment only, since all the exercises will be focusing on the SSR. Will be a lot easier to see the improvement, as I'll have only one thing to evaluate in the end of the week.

Go go go.

Bye.

Day 29

Hello,

Today was a busy day... So I ended up getting behind on my blog posting schedule...

First, reviewing the goals:

I underestimated the Single Stroke Roll exercises... So that was a long shot from the start.
The "3's, 5's and 7's" almost got there... I could do the whole thing at 150bpm, but it sounded sloppy, so I concluded that it was a goal not reached.
The rest was pretty easy, even with a weird week like this one...

The next goals:

This week, I decided to focus on one rudiment only, and get it fast and clean: The Single Stroke Roll. But I couldn't forget the 20' Workout... So there's 2 goals for this week.

Today's practice was:

I did pretty much what was necessary to finish the weekly goals.
The Single Stroke Roll got solid, and my left hand is getting a lot better... Sometimes, it seems better than my right hand... Weird.

This next week goals will be a heavy treatment for my singles, so I expect a lot of improvement for next week.

Bye.

Days 27 and 28

Hi there,

So, I was away from my home town the last few days, and I didn't updated this thing because of that.

I managed to exercise 2 of this last 3 days... So, in the last month, I practiced every single day, but one. I think that's pretty good, considering I've always been the lazy type.

So, the practices were:

May, 3rd

May, 4th

The second day I practiced on the road, in my hotel room at night... So I had to keep the volume down. So I just decided to review the day before and that's that.

Also, I let the goals to the next day... But I ended up getting home waaay too late, so I just gave up practicing and went to bed.

I'll be doing the goals review/set thing on the next post then.

Bye.

On the road

Hi there.

I'm on a trip today, and I brought my practice pad. So, I'll post everything about my practice tomorrow when I get home.

Bye.

Day 26

Hi there,

So, it's late, and I'm tired... But I'm back at home again, so I did manage to practice a little more this time...

...but it was kinda crappy. Took me 1 hour today.
I got waaay back to 70bpm with the Single Stroke Roll, because my left hand wasn't in the mood today. So I'll be going up from there. And my 120bpm goal is now far far away for a while longer.
My left hand stupidity also affected the "3's, 5's and 7's" today... And the Push-pull Doubles was terrible too.

Today was one of those days... I hope I can get my sh*t together tomorrow.

Meh. Bye.

Day 25

Hello.

So, today I was on the road, and took my practice pad with me.

On the road

I've manage to take 30 minutes to my practice... Not much, but at least I tried, I guess.

The Single Stroke Roll was crap. I'm taking it down tomorrow... Down to the bpm I can do it cleanly, so I work my way up from the beginning.

That's that.

Day 24

Hello,

After yesterday's drumming extravaganza, I decided to get easy today, and rest for a bit. So I just practiced for 30 minutes and called it a day...

...which gave me time to do just 2 exercises.

Not much changed on them... 20' Workout is solid, and the Single Stroke Roll it's not. Lacking control, specially with left hand lead.

Tomorrow I'll be doing my exercises early, as I'm going to travel after lunch... Hopefully, I'll post my practices before... Anyway, my pad is going with me on the trip.
I've managed to keep doing this for over a month (I started the daily practice a few days before I started this blog), so i'm not stopping now.

Bye.

Day 23

Hello there,

Today I recorded a video, for joining a monthly collaboration project on Drumeo. It's the second time I participate... It's really cool and fun.

Also, I practice on the pad too. Here's today practice log:

I froze the bpm on the Single Stroke Roll. I think I'll take it slower... And probably won't be reaching one of my goals this week again... But I'm not feeling the control I need for the rudiment. So, until I'm not satisfied with it, I'll be doing the exercise on 97bpm or less.
The "3's, 5's and 7's" is doing great, with one exception: accents on the AND of the 3's... I can do the rest of the exercises at 150bpm with control and definition, except the one damn accent on the AND of every quarter note that eventually takes me off for a loop... This is pissing me off. I'm focusing on the 3's a lot because of that, and I'll be intensifying this focus even more.
The 20' workout is solid. I think I got the movements nailed already... But the muscles still need the slow increase (1bpm of increase a day, to be exact), because in the end of the workout, everything in my arms burns... Better than gym I guess, right? No pain, no gain. :)

That's that. Until tomorrow.

Day 22

Hello.

Here's today exercises:

I tried to jam a little to a Drumeo playalong, but I've ended up using my right leg, and it started to hurt a little... So I've stopped for the day.
I'm thinking on recording a video for this playalong, and see what comes of it... But it will have to be a one take thing... My leg can't take more than one of those for now...

The rest of the exercises are going good... The Single Stroke Roll is the one that's giving me some pain though... Literally. In the end of the exercises my left arm is always burning.

See ya.

Day 21

Hello! Today is goals day!

Goals revision day #1. Yay.

So, here's my goals from last week:

I've managed to accomplish 6 out of 8 goals... And the ones I didn't managed to get were waaaay too optimistic. I admit I jumped the gun in them... So I'll be ignoring one, and lowering the other for the next week. Also, I put too many objectives for a week. I'll be trying a smaller number now, to see if I get all of them done this time.
Also, this thing made me realize I needed to better my Single Stroke Roll... The most basic of the rudiments, and I completely neglected it. Time to fix that.

Next week goals:

Only 5 of them, and I've tried to be a little more realistic this time. Let's see what comes out of it.

There was also some practice today:

It took me 3 hours today. I'm happy that I could use this much time on my practice today.
Nothing to complain about on today's practice: I could actually see progress and improvement in almost everything. I'm completing 21 days of pad practice on techniques and rudiments, and in a 15 minutes play around on my e-kit I already saw a lot of improvement in the techniques, creativity and timing/note spacing. I'm really excited now... Can't wait until I'm able to play at full force again.

I'll continue my focus on the Single Stroke Roll tomorrow... I'm getting faster with more control at it. This is important because, as I said above, is the most basic rudiment of all.

That's that. Bye.

Day 20

Hi there,

Today was a slow one. Repeated the same exercises as yesterday, but with more control and at a higher tempo. Took me one hour and some change.

Singles are progressing... Tomorrow I'll keeping focusing on that, and in wrapping up this week's goals.

Bye.

Day 19

Hi.

Today was one of those days... A friggin' bad day. And that reflected on my practice as well.

One of those days that you feel like you shouldn't have get out of bed

My practice for today:

Small right? But pay attention to the Average duration of each exercise. With the exception of the 20' workout, NOTHING was getting right today, and I kept looping the same things over and over... Horrible. I struggled for 1h15m today, until I gave up for the day.
With all this crappy day, I decided that I'll be going back to basics, and I'm going to get some speed on the Single Stroke Roll before getting the "3's, 5',s and 7's" and the "Single Stroke Four" at a higher tempos... That means I'll be "giving up" 2 of my goals for this week. That's Ok I guess, because I must have more control on my singles. Speed alone means nothing without control. And, as said by John Blackwell on his lesson on Drumeo: "Whatever you play, whatever you hit, you wanna MEAN to hit it", and I just wasn't feeling it in my Singles anymore... Whenever I'm going quicker, I'm getting sloppier... So I'm going to fix that.
I fixed the starting of the Single Stroke Roll exercises in 90bpm after going over and over on them with a variety of tempos... 90 bpm seemed to be that limit between control and chaos. That's the line I'll be stretching in the next days.

Now, I'll be going to bed... Tomorrow will be better than today, I'm sure of it. Bye.

Day 18

Hello.

So, another busy day. Again.
I was having a lot of family gatherings this days, because my brother-in-law was in town for the easter holidays... Since that doesn't happen very often, we used every excuse we had to hang out with him... It was good times, but that also means: less practice for me.

But, since he went back home today, I guess my routine now tends to go back to normal. So, hopefully, the daily practice lists will be bigger.

So, today's exercises were:

Took me 50 minutes to complete... It was all the time I could squeeze out of today.
I did the 20' Workout along with the recorded show on Drumeo today. It was cool, but there's a lot of talk (explaining the exercise) and they misfire the transitions sometimes too... So I'll repeat the workout in this tempo tomorrow, so I can pay more attention to what I'm doing, and try to smoothly pass from one exercise to another, so I can get the note values and transitions correctly. But I managed to easily do the exercise along with them, so I'm really happy about it. And, also, that meant: another week goal completed.
The dynamics on the "De-Stupifying" series are getting better... Quieter ghost notes, louder/controlled accents. Still room for improvements on some of them though. I've started a Groove application (without the kick) too, to see how it sounds... It was fun.
I've also started the 8th "Push-Pull" exercise... It seems easy. That's another goal for this week that's now completed.

It was a short practice, but it was productive. I'm excited to see what I can get done for tomorrow. Bye.

Day 17

Hello.

Today was a full work-day, and I had to do my taxes as well... So, I just pulled off a 45 min. practice session and called it a day. Meh.

Oh happy day... NOT.

At least tomorrow I'll have some more free time to practice... hopefully.

Today's exercise:

Took me about 45min. to finish everything.
Tomorrow I'll be doing the 20' Workout along with the recorded lesson on Drumeo, because I finally got to try it at 80bpm. If I succeed, I'll be going to intermediate level on this particular exercise, which I find very very cool.
I've also beat another one of my goals with the Push-Pull technique in 16th notes doubles at 100bpm... I'll try to get to 120bpm until Sunday though.
As for the "3's, 5's and 7's": 180bpm is going to be tough... I'm not getting the accents solid. Without the accents is going OK though... I'll focus on the accents on the next session.
The speed accel. on the Singles 16th notes was just for fun... There's a course on Drumeo on the Single Stroke Roll that has a lesson on Speed and Control... I'm thinking on trying that to see if I get an extra speed. So I'll be using this "Speed Accel." exercise as a control for it... To see the improvements.

That's it. Bye.

Day 16

Hello.

So... As I foretold, today I had almost no time to practice...
But I still managed to squeeze 1 hour of pad practice today. =)

Go go go.

Today's practice:

As I said above, took me 1h today.
20' Workout is solid. I'm really happy about it and pretty confident that I'll beat the 80bpm goal easily.
The dynamics on the "De-Stupifying Left Hand" is improving... The ghost notes are really quiet, but as the tempo goes up, so does the volume in them... Have to fix that.
The Single Stroke Four Variation Challenge today was a pain in the ass... Took me a few minutes to understand the damn thing all over again... I ended up having to slow down to 90bpm to get it going, and then going up to 100bpm to do the 2 minutes of the exercise... Have to practice some more reading/writing of music notation, I guess... Anyway, in the next session I'll try to start the next lesson on the course.
The 16th note doubles with the Push-Pull technique is another exercise/goal that is going to be easy to beat... I'm in 95bpm and the mark is 100bpm... The movement on this higher tempo is getting a little sloppy, but I'm confident that I can clean it up and play it at 100bpm until Sunday with no problems.

That's that for today. Bye.

Day 15

Hello there.

So, it was another holiday today. So I got to practice a little more than usual.

Day of Tiradentes.

Here's today practice then:

As I said, very busy practice day. 2 hours, to be exact (not counting watching videos on Drumeo this time).

20' Workout got a lot better, even with a higher tempo. I'll try 78bpm tomorrow.
I've tried the "3's, 5's and 7's" with a really higher tempo: 150bpm... It got sloppy... But I've jumped 30bpm from the last time, so that was kinda expected. If I don't get it better the next session, I'll slow it down a little.
Dynamics on the "De-Stupifying Left Hand" series got a little better, but there's room for improvement. And I added another new exercise, marking one of my goals complete.
The "Single Stroke Four - Introduction" is finished... I'll do it once more, and then I'll go to next lesson in the course, for speed and control. Speeding this rudiment to 150bpm until next Sunday is going to be the most difficult to complete of my goals... Maybe I put it too higher. But I'll evaluate this only on Sunday.

That's it. Tomorrow is a busy work day, with a couple family events to go too... Maybe I'll have only 30min or so to practice... Let's see what i can do about that.

Bye.

Day 14

Hello.

Sunday is over, and this time, I'll start a new tradition: Setting goals for the week every Sunday.
That's another of Stephen Taylor's practice tips, this time on a lesson he gave on Drumeo called (ahem... wait for it...) "Stephen Taylor's practice tips".

So, my goals for this week:

Some of them will be easy... Some of them will not. But it is totally doable.
This weekly-goals-setting thing looks like a good strategy to give that "drive" to my practice sessions... I really liked it. Let's see how it goes this week.

Today's practice:

Among a lot of family parties and visiting today, I actually managed to practice a good 1h30 (with intervals and watching the course video on Drumeo).
The 20' workout went well... My arms got tired, but the movement are a lot less sloppy. Tomorrow I'll try it at 77bpm.
The new "De-Stupifying Left Hand" exercises need work... The dynamics are not that good, so I'm locking it at 64bpm until I fix this. That will be my focus for tomorrow.
The Push-Pull is getting solid at higher tempos... And I'm almost being able to speed it up to a really higher speed... The mechanics need a little working, but overall I'm happy with it. And I can notice the influence of this exercise on my Doubles, even when I'm not (consciously) using the technique.

Oh: And I added a new rudiment, the Single Stroke Four. It's easy actually... But very useful too... I can see a lot of applications on the drum kit... Wish I could try them. Oh well...

The Single Stroke Four rudiment. (source: Vic Firth 40 Essential Rudiments)

That's it. See ya.

Day 13

Hello! Happy Easter!

Today was a busy day again... Family parties and all. Little time left for my practices. But I've managed to "finish" one of the exercises today... I marked it complete, and I'll be reviewing it every two days (on a higher tempo, obviously).

Today's practice:

Tomorrow I'll be trying the 20' workout on a higher tempo... maybe 76bpm. Let's see what I can do.
The 3's, 5's and 7's is pretty much nailed. I've re-watched the Drumeo lesson again, just to make sure I didn't forget anything (There was a thing about stick heights/dynamics, that I'll focus on the next times I do the exercise). During the lesson's show, I tried the exercises at 150bpm and did OK. I'll try everything in this tempo the next time, and after that in 180bpm.

Now, I'll choose a new exercise to fit in this schedule... Maybe a new rudiment? :)

Good night!

Day 12

Hello.

I'm a little lazy, so here's today exercise:

Took me 1h30m to finish it.
Tomorrow, I'm planning to step up the 3's, 5's and 7's to 120bpm. If I find it easy, I'll be doing it every two days (always accelerating to a higher bpm) and consider it mastered. That will open a slot for another exercise, maybe.

The 20' workout Is getting solid, but my left arm is getting really tired near to the end of it... I'll be keeping the bpm in 75 for another session, and if it continues to be this solid, I'll be accelerating it again and see what comes out of it.

Oh yeah: I've added another exercise from the "De-Stupifying Left Hand" series. It went pretty well, but still need works on the dynamics and note spacing...

That's it. Until tomorrow.

Day 11

Hello.

Today I felt a little better, but really tired. Physiotherapy is killing me. OK, I'm exaggerating... But it really is painful, and very tiring. But I can see some results already, so I'll handle.

My Student Plan.

I'm still doing my Drumeo's Student Plan while I'm recovering... And I guess it's going pretty well so far. I'm evolving in everything and so far I'm not having any difficulties. And my left hand is improving.

Today's Exercise:

I've managed to squeeze a few Finger Control exercises today, and I also changed the order between "De-Stupifying Left Hand" and "Push-Pull Technique".
Took a little over 2 hours to do everything... 
Finger control was a real pain... The movement is sloppy, and with no control. Got to focus on that.
The 20' Workout was a lot easier than yesterday, but I still marked it as "regular" (black color), because I'm not feeling it easy or comfortable... But I'm getting there!

That's it for today. See you tomorrow.

Day 10

Hello.

Another day under the weather... This time, I stayed in bed all day, and took some pills... I started to feel better by the end of the night then. But I'm beat...

Hmm... Pills... On nom nom.

I still managed to do my exercises though. 10th day in a row... I'm actually proud of myself... This Blog thing is working... I'm pushing myself to do more than the day before. That was a really good idea after all!

Today's exercises:

My 20' Workout is officially out of the red zone. My left hand is improving, and my doubles are getting more solid every day. I'm happy, but I still see space for improvements.
I added the 3rd exercise from the De-Stupifying Left Hand series, and It was pretty easy... It's a lot similar to the 1st one, changing only the Snare.
I'll be adding the others one by one whenever I have extra time, and I'll focus more on the "De-Stupifying Left Hand" over the "Push-Pull Technique". The reason: I'm focusing on getting my left hand better... While the Push-pull really helps with that, the De-Stupifying FOCUS on that... So I think it's a better approach for now.

That's it. Bye.