How to MESS UP the Right Way on the Drums…

A recent survey response I received from one of you guys blew my mind… But it made me realize something interesting.

A few weeks ago I emailed out to you a survey asking you questions about what your struggles and goals are on the drums. Someone’s response read like this:

SURVEY QUESTION: If you could accomplish anything in your drumming in 2021, what would it be? (Your biggest drumming dream!)

RESPONSE: Play live

SURVEY QUESTION: What is your biggest fear that you worry about all the time as you’re learning drums?

RESPONSE: Playing live

Wait a second… you mean the biggest, most exciting, ultimate dream… is also the greatest fear? For a minute I thought this was crazy. Then I looked back at my own life.

In middle school my biggest dream was to play drums in a rock band. I got to high school and had the opportunity to literally play drums in a rock band… and I was terrified. Thankfully I faced my fears and did it. But I can honestly say that my biggest drumming dream was also my biggest fear at the time.

There are a whole bunch of possible reasons why you might be nervous playing in front of people, but I bet the majority of us can relate to one point: We’re afraid of messing up.

So how do you get over this fear? How do you get to a place where you can just sit back, relax, and play music in front of an audience without worrying about mistakes? Well, this comes naturally with experience. But there are some shortcuts you can take to get there more quickly. I’ll share two of these with you.

First shortcut: Song Learning University, the only online course out there about how to learn any song by ear in 60 minutes - then confidently perform it the same day! This resource has helped so many drummers save time, overcome fear, and become the confident, authoritative drummer they’re made to be. In this course we cover the big, game-changing topics that totally transform the way you learn songs, practice them, and perform them with a band.

• Learn a repeatable system for listening to and memorizing songs that you can use for every song that comes your way.
• Learn the key listening techniques for picking out kick drum pattern and mastering grooves & fills without consulting drum tabs or sheet music online.
• Learn how to predict song form for fast learning & memorization, so that you can actually chart a song in under 15 minutes. 
• Understand the logic and the "why" behind drum parts so that you can always create the perfect groove or fill on the fly - without reaching into a mental "library!"
• Know specifically what to practice so that you’re prepared to confidently nail the song in LESS time and with less stress and worry about whether or not you’ll play it well on the gig.
• Understand the key strategies to lead the band, play confidently, and sound like a true pro…even in the heat of the moment playing songs you haven’t played before.
• Be able to DITCH the mental “fill library” or “groove library” and free yourself up to create unique parts that fit on the fly. On top of that, you’ll learn how to smoothly and flawlessly execute these fills and nail transitions in a song confidently. No more locking up and fearing transitions!

If you want to take a giant leap toward pro-drumming-status, start right here. You’ll save time, train your ear, become more musical and confident in yourself, and be able to lead a band and inspire other musicians around you. Check the course out right here, and don’t delay. It’s not too late to set some 2021 resolutions to reach pro status in your drumming.

Now if you’re not quite ready for that, I get it. But I don’t want you sitting around still wishing you were a more confident, musical drummer. So here’s my second shortcut.

Second shortcut: Follow these next 3 tips, and check out the additional free resource below!

Tip #1: Have a “musical safety net” always ready to catch you. What is this ‘musical safety net’ you speak of? - It’s called LISTENING. Imagine you’re playing along with a band, and you totally mess up a fill. You can do two things: #1 - Let it train-wreck and fall apart, so you throw down your sticks and give up on drumming. Or #2 - Listen to your surroundings and sync yourself back up with the band. I prefer #2. The trick is, you have to be listening. You have to be aware of your surroundings so that your ear steers you back on course when your hands and feet go off the tracks. 

Extra tidbit: Other people will not remember your mistakes as well as you do.99% of the time, a mistake isn’t so bad that it becomes the stuff of legends that musicians in your town talk about for decades. That’s never happened to me, and I’ve never heard of any other musicians’ mistakes living on in infamy like that. When you mess up, keep going. I know this is easy to say and harder to do, but the next tip will give you a concrete action step for doing so.

Tip #2: Practice messing up! Sounds dumb, but here’s the deal. Mistakes and failures WILL happen. So if there’s no avoiding them, we need to prepare accordingly. A huge difference between an average drummer and an experienced pro drummer is that the pro drummer has learned how to push through mistakes and hide them pretty well. Every drummer makes mistakes, but the great ones know how to recover and deal with failures. How can you practice messing up?Try this exercise:

Pick a simple groove that you play well, and pick a slow-moderate tempo that’s comfortable. Start grooving on your kit with your metronome, looping the groove over and over. After a minute or so of this, start throwing in simple fills every 4 or 8 bars. Start adding simple variations into the groove. In other words, start improvising. What’s cool is that mistakes are going to be happening left and right. Your right foot will hit the kick when you didn’t mean to, and your right hand will abruptly stop keeping time for a moment. Things will happen. But don’t let yourself stop playing altogether, and make sure that you always jump back into the groove in sync with the metronome. If at all possible, never stop keeping time with your right hand or right foot. When you can keep something like that going no matter what, you’ll have an extra layer of “glue” to help you stay on track and recover from a mistake.

Tip #3: Play along to records, and challenge yourself to play all the way through a new song you’ve never heard before. Let’s say your favorite band just released a new record. Pull it up on Spotify, and just start playing along. You have no idea what’s coming next because you’ve never heard the song before. You’re having to listen intently as a result, and you’re having to really zero in on the dynamics of the track so that you can make sure you’re playing something reasonably close to what you ought to be playing. I used to do this in high school. It actually wasn’t super difficult to play along to my favorite band’s new album, because I knew the band stylistically already. I had an idea what to expect, so I really just felt like I was jamming with friends. Ideally, try this with a fairly predictable genre of music that's easy to jam along to. Don't try it with Bohemian Rhapsody if you happened to have never heard Bohemian Rhapsody. :) 

Extra tidbit: Doing this will also prepare you for the dreaded “band-calls-a-tune-the-drummer’s-never-heard-before” moment. This has happened to me so many times on gigs, where the lead singer just says “follow me” and we’re off! Rather than letting the stage be the first time this happens, practicing doing this in your practice room. Sounds pretty logical, right?

Ok one last thing to leave you with: If you haven’t downloaded my free e-guide,“5 Steps to Learning Any Song in Under an Hour,” do it now! This is a unique, 5-step method that teaches you any song by ear in 60 minutes. This is the core first step to being a solid, musical drummer. Get started today!

That’s all for today! Become the musical, fearless drummer you’re called to be.

Stay Non Glamorous, and God Bless,

Stephen

Time to shake off that fear of messing up and not living up to your goals and expectations. Become in 2021 the confident, musical drummer you've always wanted to be - playing songs musically and leading a band like a pro. All the info is right here!