Priorities...

[Lucius]

Okie Dokie, where are everyones priorities atm? (Apart from double strokes on the bass drum :rolleyes: )

[Lad.]

My priorities are speeding up my single strokes, because it's a crowd impresser. Other than that, double bass CONTROL ( aha! ) is a definite. Coming up with more catchy fills is also well for me, and Polyrythms are a far cry away from being accomplished, but I try. Apart from all of these other things, I would like to work on my traditional grip, because that is a crowd impresser as well. Creating a successful composed solo without much improvision would also help. There you have it, Lucius.

[timthedrummer]

getting healthy so i dont get as tired when i play!!
im gonna eat better and exercise...
that is my MAIN focus

[Lad.]

Health Nut, eh Tim?

[jonberg]

My prioritie number one is how to groove and playing with good steady time in all type of styles, this is what I practise 90% of my time right now, even the simpliest thing like a simple 4/4 groove and to make it groove, next is technique, interdependence, doublebass, and polyrhytms etc.
/ Jonberg

[woulfer]

My priorities are as follows:
#1 God
#2 Family
#3 Job
#4 Drums - In particular, single stroke speed (hands and feet) and soloing over a 5/4 foot ostinato.
.

[Lad.]

Woulfer is using too big of words in the #5 section. What the hey is an ostinato?

[woulfer]

An ostinato is a repeated musical phrase.

[timthedrummer]

good to hear jonberg.
same here God is my priority then maybe health ha
nah i aint no health nut just sick of havign no energy and too weak to carry my stuff around...

[Lucius]

Haha, I hear 'ya Tim, Im not to weak to do it but I just cant be f*****! I carry crap around all day at work so Im over doing it everywhere else! Jonberg, I guess Im trying to do the same as you atm!

[Xen-]

Drums, Gym and Tennis, which is better than running, I think... ;) I'm quitting my summer job right after I see Virgil next week to practice more, aka 8-10 hours. I need it so bad.

[iwishiwasbetter]

I mostly have been working on getting around the kit, rudiments around the kit (and on practice pad), odd times, linear phrases, bass drum endurance, blast beats and creative fill patterns. I do some ostinato's and such but I don't like them that much because it's hard to use them in a musical context. I also love playing with cd's. I only practice for 1-2 1/2 hours a day (excluding practice pad) and you guys with the whole 8 hour practice thing is ridiculous to me. If I did that I would probably sweat off my entire body weight! Yeah I sweat like Virgil...haha. Anyway I admire all of your determination but I'm going to stick with my saying (someone probably said it before me) of it isn't the quantity of practice the matters it's quality.

[Adam]

I agree with that:

It's quality that matters totally. It's important for those us that practice 6+ hours a day to BUILD UP to that. My average during the school year last year was 2-3 after school and then gigs/band practice (every night almost), and now it's my goal to build up to 8 hours by August. If you don't build up to it, then you're not as focused when you practice and you're almost wasting your time. Right now I'm averaging 4 hours solid practice, and that's NOT including band practice which is usually 1-2 hours a day. But I don't think I'll reach the 8 hours until August, maybe not even until Semptember...the important thing is though that I'm not going to University or anything so next year I'll be able to practice all I want ! :)

[Xen-]

Banging around for 8 hours is impossible for me - I'd sweat do death. Anyway, I'm always having a blast practicing rudiments with my hands and feet at the same time or interlocked (like Thomas Lang does). I do that for hours, then switch to coordination exercises when my arms and legs burn. When my brain is saturated, I work on technique some more until it burns again. Repeat until jam session in the evening. How much I practice really depends on when I get up... :o I know it's almost pure technique but I'd really like to clear some stuff that Virgil does :rolleyes: before I go study jazz and latin in Montreal in September. I totally suck at that.