Drum Tips and Techniques

Why Warm Up Before Drumming?

Since drumming is very physically demanding as an instrument, we all need to prepare for practicing and performing much like any athletic event. Drumming requires the use of its own unique set of muscles, tendons, and ligaments for the "act of playing". So, warming up and stretching these specific areas is wise.

Interestingly, stretching itself will not help you avoid injuries in any athletic activity. It is a part of the "warm up" process. But, by stretching properly, you are increasing blood flow, and activating the specific muscles, ligaments and tendons involved with their upcoming activity. Along with stretching, warming up can be complete by using certain playing exercises over time. Approaching drumming in this way will enable you to play more efficiently and effectively, and avoid injury. Like tennis elbow is to a tennis player, we drummers must avoid tendonitis and muscle pulls to enable us to continue practicing and performing.

As I said earlier, warming-up actually encompasses the act of stretching specific muscles and tendons (by moving them in a controlled patterns) along with the progressive working out of specific muscles and tendons. This, in turn, allows our body to be fully prepared for "full-out" playing.

There are many different warm-up routines that will work better for different drummers - and for different styles of drumming. But, by first stretching, and then moving on to low-to medium-to higher-level playing, you will activate all of your "drumming muscles" so they are able to optimally bring in blood and oxygen, as well as remove it.

If you're a death metal drummer (or in a drum corp), you will tend to use your larger muscle groups than a jazz drummer. Thus, you will need to concentrate on warming-up and stretching accordingly. If you play lighter, then you will want to concentrate more on the smaller muscle groups. But don't disregard your larger muscles and tendons either!

Regardless, the warm-ups that follow below apply to all drummers. I will admit that there are many other approaches that can work equally well (or even better), and that's okay. The main point I am trying to make is to ALWAYS stretch and warm up before you play full-out!

Warming Up Exercises for Drumming

The first thing is to try and get at least 15-30 minutes of free time before you're going to perform or rehearse. You don't need to have a separate "warm up" drum or kit either. For your hands, just make sure you have a practice surface (like a practice pad or a pillow) so you can work fingers, wrists and forearms. The great thing is that you can use a practice pad almost anywhere without aggravating people around you. For feet (because I play a double bass setup) I bring a Gibraltar bass drum practice pad when I can, or, in a pinch I use two small pieces of 1-inch thick closed-cell foam for under the balls of my feet. The foam at least allows an upward positioning of my feet, and some kind of counter-force when I press downwards (in a heel-up or heel-down position).

Anyway, I begin by "cold-stretching" my arms, wrists and fingers for about 5 minutes (using 9-12 different stretching exercises). Then I stretch my ankles and legs for about the same time (using rotation, and up and down motions).

I begin with my hands by playing on my practice pad. I play flat flams along with other exercises (note: a flat flam is a unison strike with both sticks). Always start slowly - and use your larger muscle groups first. But still play relatively light. After this, I begin doing paradiddles, and some of my own rudimental sticking exercises. Then I move on to single stroke rolls (again, slow to fast, and light to heavy). Finally, I add other rudimental sticking exercises that I also perform faster and faster, and add various accents.

Finally, I move to my feet. I begin by playing feet-only in a heel down position playing flat flams. Then I move on to rolls and some rudimental exercises. As I do this, I will eventually use a toe-up position, and go back to a heel down position (to work all of my of my calve muscle). Once again, I start with slow tempos and change my dynamics (with a metronome as a guide if possible). Then I speed things up.

Eventually, I warm-up by playing my hands and feet together (literally). In this mode, I alternate between playing fast and slow - regardless of the patterns I chose to play. Next, I stop and "warm-stretch" (same exercises as I started with). I work on my hands and feet some more. And then, I feel ready to play!

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