If you are a drummer, you need to remember that before you start playing, you should first do warm up exercises. Generally, warm up exercises for playing the drums will involve drum rudiments or chops. However, if you really want your body to be prepared when playing the drums, you also need to prepare yourself physically.
You have to keep in mind that drumming can be very strenuous on the body. By warming up first, you will be able to play for hours while keeping your body relaxed. If you don’t warm up your body before you start playing the drums, you will not last long in playing the drums as the body will tense up and show signs of fatigue.
So, here are some of the warm up exercises that you need to do before you start playing the drums. By doing these warm up exercises, you will eventually be ready to do long hours of drumming.
The first thing that you need to do is do breathing warm ups. This is an important part of drum playing as it will keep your body relaxed. Take slow, deep breaths and make sure that you fill the lungs with air. Then, you have to slowly exhale through your mouth. Repeat this exercise 5 times and it will not really matter if you are standing up or sitting down when doing breathing exercises.
You also have to do head warm ups. This will relax your neck muscles. To begin, you have to be in a standing position and tilt your head downwards. Make sure that your chin touches your chest. Then, tilt your head upwards as far as it can go. Do this 10 times. Then, you need to turn your head side to side and repeat this 10 times as well.
Warming up your torso is also important in drum playing. To do this, get your hands in front of you and interlock your fingers with both hands keeping them near the chest. With your elbows pointing outward, raise your arms until they are level to the ground. In this position, gently twist the torso from left to right. Repeat this 10 times.
You also have to warm up your fingers. To warm up your fingers, place them on a flat surface and spread your fingers apart. Begin stretching as if you are reaching for something. Whenever you are stretching, count up to 5 seconds and then relax. Repeat the process 5 times.
Also, you need to warm up your legs. In a standing position with the feet together, raise your right leg up as high as it goes. Try to get your knees to touch your chest and bring it back down. Do the same with the other leg. Repeat this exercise 10 times on each leg.
After warming up, you can start the drum playing warm up, which is basically doing the rudiments. Once you are comfortable and relaxed, you can start playing the drums. You will see that warming up before playing the drums will be able to get you to play the drums longer and also let you play the drums at a very relaxed way.
If you are planning to learn how to play the drums, you will need to choose your very first drum kit. This can be a very daunting prospect as you may be imagining having a fully featured kit with different kinds of drums and cymbals just like a professional drummer would have. You need to remember that your first drum kit shouldn’t be like this.
For beginners, your drum kit should be a lot more modest. So, what are the basic kits that you need to have?
Usually, the basic drum kit will consist of a standard 4 piece set up. This kit will have a large 22 inch bass drum, a 14 inch snare drum, 2 tom-toms, a crash cymbal, and a hi-hat. These are the pieces that you need in order for you to start playing drums. With these kits, you will be able to start learning how to play the drums.
Although most bands today will have a more elaborate setup for their drum kit compared to the basic setup, you will find that you really won’t need such an elaborate and expensive drum setup when you are learning how to play the drums. As you start improving your drumming skills, this is the time where you will start buying more drum kit pieces.
Your best option when choosing your first drum kit is to keep it simple. You have to keep in mind that even if you purchase the most expensive and the most elaborate drum kit, you can’t expect to play the drums right away like how the professionals do. It takes years of experience and many professional drummers learned how to play the drums the hard way and most of them also started out learning how to play the drums using the basic drum kit.
You will also ask about the brand of the drumming equipment you should purchase. You may be thinking about Pearl, Ludwig, Pacific, or Mapex to name a few. However, as a beginner drummer, you should keep it cheap and simple. It is highly recommended that you purchase a kit where each of the drum kit components is made by the same manufacturer.
You may encounter incompatibility problems when you have a drum kit where each piece is made by a different manufacturer or company. If you can, you should buy a cheap and simple set that is made by an unknown manufacturer. This is a great drum kit for you to practice on.
Once you improve your skills and you think that you are really ready, you can just upgrade to a better drum setup and purchase additional components in your drum kit.
These are the things that you need to remember when you are choosing your first drum kit. Always remember to keep it as simple as possible. Never purchase an elaborate setup as your first drum kit. Go for the standard setup and you will be able to start practicing and improving your drumming skills. Later on, you can upgrade to a better drum setup and you can also add more components in your kit.