Rock Band to learn drums? :)

hunta · #1 07-21-2008, 09:07 AM

I tried to get some drum advice in here before and the thread got locked before I could respond to anyone, so please behave!

So I've been wanting to learn drums, and have been leaning towards an electronic kit as someplace to get started. Now I just got a Wii yesterday.. Even though it's been out a year I still had to camped out at circuit city to get one of the things (surprisingly, it was kind of fun hanging out with the people in line!).

Has anyone tried to "learn drums" by playing Rock Band? I've never played the game, but it seems like it would be a great way to get over some of those basic coordination issues along with some instant feedback on how you're doing. I know the Rock Band kit is pretty basic and has no hi-hat pedal, but am I crazy thinking this might work? $170 or whatever for Rock Band is a lot cheaper than buying an electronic kit. Chances are once I actually get past the basics of playing drums I'll want to get a real kit anyway (I know how I work lol).

Any thoughts? Have I gone over the top of geekness?

roberthelpus · #2 07-21-2008, 09:39 AM

Practice pad and Stone's Stick Control.

The whole deal would cost under $40-50.

Edited to add: Don't forget these

hunta · #3 07-21-2008, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberthelpus

Practice pad and Stone's Stick Control.

The whole deal would cost under $40-50.

Probably also a good idea, but wouldn't deal with coordination issues which is always the first thing to frustrate me when I sit down at a real kit (and thus prevents me from learning anything)... A big part of this is I want to have some amount of fun while I'm getting the basics down too, because I've had "learning drums" as a long term goal for who knows how long, and I'd like to actually get myself to do it at some point!

markblasco · #4 07-21-2008, 09:51 AM

Yes, Rock Band will teach you some of the rhythms and muscle control to get the hang of playing the drums. If you are able to work your way up to Expert on Rock Band, you could sit behind a drum kit and make a basic beat. It wouldn't necessarily be pretty sounding, since there is a lot of technique involved that you don't learn playing the game, but you do get some basics.

Rock Band 2 is going to come with a drum training program built into it, specifically designed to help teach people how to play the drums.

roberthelpus · #5 07-21-2008, 09:54 AM

Why do people who can't play one drum always want to 20 of them? You gotta learn to walk before you learn to run, ya know.

ErebusBass · #6 07-21-2008, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberthelpus

Why do people who can't play one drum always want to 20 of them? You gotta learn to walk before you learn to run, ya know.

I agree. Get a snare drum, and practice banging out rhythms on it. When you're good at that then think about getting a drum kit. And forget the v-kit, those are expensive and never sound like real drums anyway. A decent starter kit can be had for a couple hundred.

hunta · #7 07-21-2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markblasco

Yes, Rock Band will teach you some of the rhythms and muscle control to get the hang of playing the drums. If you are able to work your way up to Expert on Rock Band, you could sit behind a drum kit and make a basic beat. It wouldn't necessarily be pretty sounding, since there is a lot of technique involved that you don't learn playing the game, but you do get some basics.

Rock Band 2 is going to come with a drum training program built into it, specifically designed to help teach people how to play the drums.

I'm not too worried about it sounding great at first. The way I usually approach learning anything new is to identify what kind of "hump" I need to get over for things to start coming together and to get to the point where I can just teach myself. For me on drums, it's coordination. I've done enough solfege rhythm tapping in music theory classes to know that I could learn snare drum patterns if I practiced. Being slightly ADD prone, I know that coordinating multiple simultaneous tasks is my weak suit (playing bass and singing for example). I feel like I could spend months working on proper snare technique and I'd still be completely lost with my hand/foot coordination.

I generally avoid sitting at a kit these days just because it's utterly embarrassing. I've been playing bass for like 15 years, and it seems like most non-drummers I meet can at least kind of hack it on a kit. My ultimate goal is to actually play drums well, but I need to get over that hump before I can!

I've seen the Rock Band 2 kit and it does look like it would be more applicable to a real drum kit than the original game. I also heard that kit is going to cost like $300 in addition to the game though

Getting to the point where I might as well start looking at real vdrums by then.

SBassman · #8 07-21-2008, 10:27 AM

If you happen to play the game, yeah, you are getting some coordination together that will help with drumming. But, if you want to learn drumming, you shouldn't be thinking about investing in game equipment. Move straight to the real thing, with some drums and lessons.

markblasco · #9 07-21-2008, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunta

I'm not too worried about it sounding great at first. The way I usually approach learning anything new is to identify what kind of "hump" I need to get over for things to start coming together and to get to the point where I can just teach myself. For me on drums, it's coordination. I've done enough solfege rhythm tapping in music theory classes to know that I could learn snare drum patterns if I practiced. Being slightly ADD prone, I know that coordinating multiple simultaneous tasks is my weak suit (playing bass and singing for example). I feel like I could spend months working on proper snare technique and I'd still be completely lost with my hand/foot coordination.

I generally avoid sitting at a kit these days just because it's utterly embarrassing. I've been playing bass for like 15 years, and it seems like most non-drummers I meet can at least kind of hack it on a kit. My ultimate goal is to actually play drums well, but I need to get over that hump before I can!

I've seen the Rock Band 2 kit and it does look like it would be more applicable to a real drum kit than the original game. I also heard that kit is going to cost like $300 in addition to the game though

Getting to the point where I might as well start looking at real vdrums by then.

No, the fancy Alesis drum kit that works with rock band 2 will cost about $300, but the game itself with the mic, guitar, and standard drum kit should cost around $180 or so. If you want to find a bargain, wait until Rock Band 2 is released, and then scour Craigs List for the people selling their Rock Band 1 instruments. They will work with #2, but you should be able to get them pretty cheap.

As for people telling you to get a snare drum book and learn from that, I always think of it this way: Do you want to learn to be a drummer, or do you want to learn to play drums? If you want to be able to sit down and rock out a bit with friends, fancy snare technique is not going to teach you how to do that. If you want to be a skilled drummer, however, you will need all the technique you can get.

mutedeity · #10 07-21-2008, 11:43 PM

I pretty much stand by the advice I gave you in this thread. I also stand by that I think you should disregard comments about how it's "boring".

Honestly I don't think you are going to learn how to play drums well on Wii any more than you are going to learn to be a great tennis player by playing Wii Sports.

ynie92992 · #11 07-22-2008, 12:16 AM

I got a real trapset after I got the game. It helped, but I watched drum covers of the songs on rock band(Youtube) and related it with the games rhythms.

Arpeggiator · #12 07-22-2008, 03:11 AM

i just tought my self by banging on desks

roberthelpus · #13 07-22-2008, 07:30 AM

I play congas, bongos, Afrocuban style percussion, and do the rudiments that I feel relates to my style. When I spend the time to practice rudiments along with some other basic repetitive excercises on one drum it really shows the next time that I play my complete set-up. Three congas along with small percussion and sometimes something on a kick pedal. It builds muscle memory.

It's only boring if you don't focus. When you do focus it opens up a whole world of subtleties - the stuff that sets you apart from the rest of the punters.

A kit drummer that I know turned me on to the practice pad. He was in drum line in high school and spent his formative years "pad hacking" with his fellow drum liners for hours on end. You could hear it in his playing. Although it doesn't directly transfer to what I do, I found it useful for the times that I had to be quiet and not bother anybody.

There's more than one way to skin a cat besides choking it to death on butter.

markblasco · #14 07-22-2008, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mutedeity

Honestly I don't think you are going to learn how to play drums well on Wii any more than you are going to learn to be a great tennis player by playing Wii Sports.

I disagree with this statement. Being a drummer and owning Rock Band, I think it will teach you the basic limb coordination to be comfortable sitting behind a drum kit and playing some beats. You will learn how to use each hand and your right foot independently, and will learn basic drum beats. When you play a standard beat of eighth notes on the hi hat, 1 and 3 on the kick, and 2 and 4 on the snare, you are using the same basic motions in Rock Band as you are on the drum kit. The technique is different, so you aren't going to sound great on the drum kit right away, but the basic coordination between limbs is there, and that is one of the harder things to get down when first learning the drums.

You will find that most drummers who sit down to play rock band are able to start right at the harder difficulty levels, because the motions and patterns they have been practicing for years match up to what you have to do in the game. The game was designed this way on purpose.

If you want to lean basic coordination between limbs and the patterns for some basic beats, you can learn that playing Rock Band. If you want to learn to be a great drummer, you will need to spend a good amount of time practicing on a real drum kit, taking lessons, and working on technique.

caligatia · #15 07-23-2008, 01:32 AM

Playing drums in Rock Band is really fun, even though I suck terribly at it. (I can't dance, either. Getting my hands and feet to work together is really hard.) One thing you should be aware of is that the drum setup is pretty flimsy. A lot of people have complained about this. Hopefully the kit in RB2 will be sturdier. If you want something that's going to last you a while, hit your local newspaper or Craigslist and see if you can find a real drum kit cheap. Otherwise you may feel your $170 was wasted, if your fake kit breaks.

I owe RB hugely, by the way, for three reasons:

One, it made me want to play bass again after a long period of avoiding my current bass. I stopped trying to learn how to play because the neck is too big, and I never got around to getting a new bass. RB has motivated me to sell the thing and get myself something I like.

Two, I'm using the game to learn to sing. It lets you know if you're on pitch or not, and it's great practice. I had to work really hard to overcome my fear of singing in front of someone (even though it was only my husband), and now I'm having a blast.

Three, my husband -- who's always wanted to learn to play real guitar -- has been inspired by his hours of playing fake guitar. He's going to borrow an acoustic from his dad, and if he's still enjoying himself in October we'll get him an electric model for his birthday. He's also been singing a lot, and he sounds really good.

So Rock Band has really brought music into my house in a way that nothing else has. It's wonderful for that.

(But the drum kit is still flimsy. *grin*)

Vic Winters · #16 07-23-2008, 02:09 AM

I've personally never played Rock Band, but from what I've heard the drum rhythm for NIN "The Hand That Feeds" isn't correct.

**Pacman** · #17 07-23-2008, 05:36 AM

This isn't even bass related....moved to Miscellaneous.

hunta · #18 07-23-2008, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markblasco

If you want to lean basic coordination between limbs and the patterns for some basic beats, you can learn that playing Rock Band. If you want to learn to be a great drummer, you will need to spend a good amount of time practicing on a real drum kit, taking lessons, and working on technique.

Thank you! This is essentially the exact thing I wanted to know. I know there are many ways to learn an instrument, and some people learn with a snare pad and some learn by banging on desks and some learn on orchestral percussion. I need to find a way that will work for me, and if Rock Band will help with coordination then awesome! I can always master snare technique and get down to the details later.

As an aside, I always have tried to "design" my own practice routines for bass according to exactly what I need to work on, and it makes a difference. You can go through a method book or study with a teacher and spend weeks/months to learn a specific technique that would have taken you hours/days if you focused your practicing. Different people learn differently! Maybe you think using a video game to learn is childish or a joke or even lazy, but sometimes unconventional techniques are the best techniques.

btw, I've been using DDR to teach my girlfriend basic rhythm concepts and counting. I copied out a decent amount of study material for her in the past (she's been trying to learn guitar) and it's hard to motivate her. DDR motivates her to learn at least something about it! Maybe eventually it will motivate her to study things she wouldn't have done before..