A Wanna-be Drummer that needs help

[triforceknight]

Hey, i thought this would be the best place to post this, if not i apologize.

I need help learning to play the drums and i thought i would get the best advice here so let me give you some background to help.

I started playing rock band about 4 months after it came out when i finally found a rock band 1 full band set in a store. I started on guitar probably like everyone else. After a few months i went to drums because none of my friends could get the hang of it and we wanted to enter come competitions. Took me a while, but eventually i got the hand of using my foot and arms at the same time and within a few months i was playing Hard/Expert.

I realized how much i loved playing RB drums and i had already tried to learn guitar (my fingers wont bend and i didnt have the patience because i was so young and stupid). I began studying how to play the drums, what pieces of a kit made what sound and how they charted in rock band (hihat and high tom were yellow, ride and med tom were blue, ect) and i started dissecting songs i heard on the radio and charting them in my head.

When the cymbals came out for Rock Band 2 i bought them and the rock band 2 band kit for the drums and when i played Drums, i would try and use the cymbals in the right place by simply learning the patterns and sound of the song.

Now, so many years later, i have an electronic drum set, an Alesis DM 7 but i am having some problems. The main thing is that i can't seem to play any songs on my real set unless i have the visual aid of a rock band chart (pro drums made this even easier for me to do). Even if i know the song by heart and its really simple, like Tom Pettys "Running down a Dream" i just cant seem to keep the beat and keep up.

Another problem i think i have is that my drum sticks seem to long and i want them to be about the size of two of my hand widths as apposed to three, if this makes any seance.

Can anyone help me get past these problems? anyone have any ideas what i can do? Any advice would be welcome. Thank you in advance.

[_mg3b_]

Practice more, stop using visual aids, count in your head.

As for the sticks, there are these things called saws...

[PeterDK]

Practice more, stop using visual aids, count in your head.

As for the sticks, there are these things called saws...

Just my words :-)

[_mg3b_]

Also, I would suggest learning on a real kit, though I realise that this isn't really an option for some people. A real kit, however, would probably help with the sticks as well since they 'fit' more comfortably that way.

[polishdog90]

Playing to pre-recorded music and then moving on a metronome can really help for holding a steady tempo/beat