+ Learn to craft more compelling beats and warped, broken rhythms with Son Lux’s Ian Chang. His innovative course is out now on Soundfly.
As a pro drummer myself, I know how crucial it is to have a unique style and sound. It’s what sets us apart from other drummers out on the circuit and helps us stand out in a crowd. However, developing an individual style can be challenging, especially when you’re just starting out playing with bands.
That said, there are a surprising number of ways you can make your drumming more individual. In this post, I’ll share some tips and techniques that you can use to develop both your sound and your playing style.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
1. Understand Your Drumming Style
To develop your own style, you first need to work to understand both your strengths and weaknesses as a drummer. There are many incredible modern drummers who are complete chameleons and seem to be phenomenal at pretty much everything. But these drummers are top-tier. Most drummers have their strengths and weaknesses.
- What kind of music do you enjoy playing?
- What kind of rhythms and grooves do you feel most comfortable with?
- What sort of drummers do you wish to play like?
I’d personally consider myself a strong groove player, and I like to play in the pocket. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to play chops from time to time — it’s just not my specialty. But I love to focus on my tightness and precision. One way I really like to improve this is by listening back to my recordings and observing my playing.
Let’s look at all the ways you can develop your sound, and how you can practice individuality in your drumming.
+ Read more on Flypaper: “A Compendium of History’s Most Famous Hip-Hop Rhythms.”
2. Develop Your Individual Sound
Identifying Your Influences
To identify your influences, think about the drummers who have inspired you and made an impact on your playing. Who did you enjoy listening to most when you first started out on the kit? Who has inspired you the most?
I love to take elements from many of my favorite drummers. For example, Gavin Harrison’s effortless precision on the drums, Eloy Casagrande’s power, and the way Kaz Rodriguez can displace beats and make accents and ghost notes sound so good.
When listening to your favorite drummers, you should take note of the techniques and patterns that you like and try to incorporate them into your own playing style. Sit down at the kit and simply try to introduce a particular pattern, fill, or technique into a familiar groove.
Try to take what you like and make it your own by adding your own personal touch. Through repetition of practice, you’ll start to naturally employ these concepts in your playing.
Expand Your Musical Horizons
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different techniques, styles, or unfamiliar sounds. There are gems in every genre. Try playing different rhythms and grooves, and incorporate different elements into your playing. This will help you develop your own unique style that is different from others.
For example, Sarah Thawer loves to adopt Indian rhythms as well as incorporate Asian percussive elements to her drumming, and with great effect. Take a look at the video below:
Mastering Complex Drumming Techniques
It can be easy to watch a drummer like Matt Gartska and think you’ll never be able to play anything that complex. Well, he has a freakish drumming ability, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to replicate his beats.
Oftentimes, complex phrases and fills just need to be broken down to a more basic level. When learning something difficult, look at the notation bar by bar, and replay sections over and over again to build valuable muscle memory. Sure it might take a long time, but most of the time it’ll eventually click.
Some techniques that you can master to develop your individual sound include playing with dynamics, using more ghost notes, experimenting with different time signatures, and incorporating more rudiments across the whole kit. (Not just on the snare or practice pad!)
Linear drumming is another more advanced drumming concept that can give you the tools to expand your drumming repertoire. As a concept, it involves not playing with any limbs simultaneously. Linear drumming can improve your creativity, adaptability, improvisation skills, and limb independence on the drums.
+ Read more on Flypaper: “Kiefer on How to Sound More Like Yourself (Video).”
Modifying Your Drum Set
Modifying your drum set is a really easy and underrated way to develop your individual sound. Many of the best drummers have a distinctive snare drum tone for example, or they are well-known for their unique choice of cymbals and the way they play them.
Try experimenting with adding or removing drum set pieces, experimenting with different drum heads, and tuning your drums differently from how you usually would.
Recently, I’m enjoying adding more types of cymbals to my setup, because I’ll have a greater range of sonic textures to choose from. I particularly like the short and sharp sounds of splash cymbals for intricate drum fills.
When modifying your setup, don’t be afraid to try new things and step outside of your comfort zone, like using Sensory Percussion for example. You never know what kind of sound you might create.
+ Learn more on Soundfly: Craft more compelling beats with warped and off-kilter rhythms with a new online course by Ian Chang (of Son Lux).
3. Practice Individuality in Drumming
Improvisation
One way to develop your own style is through improvisation. Improvising allows you to experiment with different rhythms, tempos, and patterns. It’s a great way to experiment and find your own voice as a drummer.
Set aside some time during your practice routine to simply flow and improvise. You can practice improvising on your own by setting a metronome and playing whatever comes to mind for a set amount of time. Don’t worry about making mistakes, just let yourself play freely and see where it takes you.
You can also try playing along to a song and adding your own fills and variations.
Learning From Top Drummers
If you want to take your drumming to the next level, you’ll want to learn from the best. A top drum teacher or coach can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and create a personalized practice plan to help you improve.
Many of the world’s top drummers including Anika Niles and Matt Greiner offer one-to-one private tuition either in person or online. Expanding your individuality on the drums is definitely something a drummer of this caliber will be able to help you with.
There are also some fantastic online drumming courses, including Soundfly’s own premium course with The Pocket Queen who is a fantastic groove drummer. In this course, you’ll get the complete lowdown on how you can push yourself creatively and enhance your sounds. And of course, our most recent course with Ian Chang, Son Lux drummer and electronic producer.
Record Yourself Practicing
A crucial element of developing as a drummer is consistent practice. By practicing regularly, you’ll be able to refine your technique and develop your own unique style. It’s good practice to set aside a specific time each day to practice, even if it’s just for 25 minutes.
When you have more time to practice, I’d recommend recording yourself so you can listen back and analyze your playing. Pay attention to the rhythms you play, the fills you use, and the way you approach different grooves. Take note of what you like and what you don’t like about your playing, so you can continue to work on them.
You can use a whole drum mic setup (I put some excellent budget options together here) or a great tool like the Yamaha EAD10 which can capture a great sound of a full drum set with a single mic and trigger interface.
+ Read more on Flypaper: “Math and Music: Making Complex Meters Simple.”
Overall, developing an individual sound as a drummer takes a fair amount of time and practice. But by identifying your influences, mastering different drumming techniques, and modifying your drum set, you can create a sound that is unique to you and sets you apart from other drummers.
When it comes to showcasing your unique style, I’d recommend collaborating with other musicians. Whether this is playing gigs at a bar, a jam night, or even just performing with friends at a rehearsal space, you’ll get to try out the new patterns and stylistic developments you’ve been working hard on!
You can also try to produce some video content online, like drum covers. It can seem daunting putting yourself out there online for the world to see, but it’s a really great way to improve. I hope this article has helped you make your drumming individual, or at least want to achieve it!
Keep on Grooving…
Continue your learning with hundreds of lessons on songwriting, mixing, recording and production, composing, beat making, and more on Soundfly, with artist-led courses by Kimbra, Com Truise, Jlin, Kiefer, RJD2, and our new The Pocket Queen: Moving at Your Own Tempo.
