Drummers who skip the basics to learn flashy fills end up sounding messy. Foundations are slow for a reason.

STILLNESS

WHAT THIS MEANS

Flashy parts sit on top of timing, and timing is built by hours of things that sound like nothing. Skip that and the fill arrives slightly out of place every time, which an audience hears as sloppy even if they could not name the problem. The basics are slow because they are being installed in your body rather than your memory.

Spend the first ten minutes of each session on the least interesting thing you do. Metronome, single strokes, scales, footwork, free throws. Keep it dull and keep it short so that you actually do it. Within a month the impressive parts start landing where they belong.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which fundamental did you skip past too quickly?

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