Composing progressive drum ideas can seem daunting.
A lot of progressive drummers, myself included, are often challenged to learn and play incredibly complex drum parts that have sometimes been written by other musicians. Acle, the guitarist in TesseracT composes a lot of the grooves when he’s laying down guitar demos, then it’s my job to learn them.
This is both a blessing and a curse as it sometimes presents ideas that aren’t currently within my comfort zone – and that can be a challenge to overcome.
If this situation sounds familiar, a great way to frame it is as a challenge to make these new patterns a part of your default abilities. This is how I tackle these challenges every time, and with each new song, I learn something new.
Regarding specifically composing your own progressive ideas, there are a few things that have worked for me and I share them in detail within my Progressive Drumming Masterclass.
One of the best things I ever learned is to use a computer at the start of the process to help with the initial composition. In this short lesson, I’ll take you through my approach:
If I compose a beat using Cubase and Toontrack Superior Drummer (software and drum samples) – I can tweak it until I enjoy the sound of it, and then learn it at my own pace by using the MIDI as a visual aid.
This speeds up the learning process a HUGE amount.
It’s a super-fast way of writing and learning beats and fills that, yesterday, were utterly unplayable.
Within my Masterclass, I cover this approach to composition, and more, in detail.
I also detail a foolproof method to compose new ideas as a method of practice within the very first module.
I’d love to speak to you in more detail about this if you’re open to learning and are considering joining my Masterclass.
Please check out the information by hitting the button below, and book a call with me at your convenience:
My other resources you may find helpful
Progressive Drumming Masterclass - Additional lessons & Advanced Concepts
TESSERACT - Nocturne Course
11 lessons, 86 guided videos, 80 loop exercises
3/2 Polyrhythm Course
Five lessons, 28 instructional videos, 34 loop exercise videos