Had a new guy start work the other day and soon we were talking about music and he said he gave drum lessons and we talked about bands etc. A little later in the day he asked me if I could play the drums to which I replied no but thought it might be a help to my bass playing to learn a little about the drums and terminology. He said to come over anytime and he would give me a couple lessons (free) to get me familiar with drumming and thought it might help me groove a little more.

Do any of you guys feel this would help and do any of you play or fool around on the drums a little.

bcarll

I don't think it'll hurt anything.

If you start drooling though, and can't stop it, or explain it, get out fast!

Seriously, the more you know, the better, right?

-Dave

Go for it. Learning to play bass has helped my drumming a lot.

I'm starting drum lessons next week! I'm psyched but I have to admit I'm afraid it's going to take away from my bass and guitar playing time. I figure in the long run it will help my bass playing quite a bit.

in my expierance, i was told that drums and bass should act together. they both keep the band in order. but hell, thats just my two cents.

Originally posted by bcarll
...to get me familiar with drumming and thought it might help me groove a little more.
Do any of you guys feel this would help and do any of you play or fool around on the drums a little.

Good Lord...
Yes! Yes! Yes!

Just fooling around on a drum machine & learning how to program specific type of beats & feels improved my bass playing almost overnight.
And I still espouse learning how to tap out various claves & polyrhythms(tapping on the table/desk, tapping on bongos, tapping on your girlfriend's head, etc).

BTW, drums & bass CAN "act together"; they CAN also play "off"(against) each other, too.

My friend at a music store gave me a brief drum lesson, drums seem like they could be fun. The more instruments you know, the better you will become!

Here's what I learned from my lesson -
-How to properly hold your sticks
-A simple beat - bass and high hat, high hat, snare and high hat, high hat...
-How to not keep time.
-How to use grunts to tell fellow band members what you want.
-And how to insist on the band doing one of my songs.

Well, I can tell you that it's true coming from the other side.

I've played drums for 10 years, and I just picked up a bass rig earlier this week. Having played drums is most definitely helping me learn the bass - I already know how to keep time and I'm already so good at finger picking rhythms with my right hand that my band insists that I am lying to them about never having played bass before.

Now I just need to learn how to use my left hand. Drummers don't do scales. :confused:

damn straight. i play bass and drumms, and i have been in bands as both. go for it. dont just learn a little learn them well. the drumms are so much fun:D

I absolutely think it helps, if only because it allows you to communicate your ideas more clearly to the drummer.