Hi there people sometimes in your playing career you need to undertake some serious duration, workout type of practice. This stuff is meant to make you better, stronger and more relaxed than you can be by just undertaking normal practice activities.

Years ago I used to do these style of exercises in addition to the other practice I used to do to ensure that my stamina was up and that I could play a entire gig or rehearsal and at least try to be in good shape at the end as well as the start. Because lets face it in some ways drumming is a very physical activity to be involved in. So her we go.

The concept is very simple, set up or only use a snare drum, bass drum and hihat with foot. This way you have no other temptation to start noodling around the kit and losing focus. The plan will be to play your rudiments, mainly single stroke rolls, doubles and parradiddles but as you improve use any pattern or rudiment you think needs work. A metronome is essential for this exercise as it will provide a measuring stick for your eventual improvement. So all you need is yourself, sticks, snare, bass and hihat.

Now start the metronome at a comfy pace perhaps slower than what you would normally play, I will suggest say 80BPM to begin with and you can adjust this to your needs once you have given it a go and know more about were you sit speed wise. Now start your playing and do 1/16th notes and rotate your way through the rudiments four or eight bars each for four mins without stopping, give yourself one min rest and increase the tempo by 10BPM and continue on from there doing the same thing. This will take you one hour of solid practice to go from 80BPM to 160BPM which will give you a workout like you have never had before.

Once you have done this pattern for a while you can adjust the way you do it, either by changing the start and finishing tempo or by the amount of time spent at each speed. I used to start at 100BPM and play for nine mins and go up to 200BPM in increases of 20BPM, it still took an hour to do but it made me stay at the one tempo for more time and hence increasing my stamina and endurance for the style of playing I was doing. You can adjust any part of this pattern but don’t stray to far from the concept of simple endurance practice that’s focusing on the idea of improving your execution.

Good luck

C Ya
Dean