If you don't have access to your drums regularly travel a lot or have neighbors with
sensitive ears you will already have a PRACTICE PAD. But practicing without a drum kit is
special! To keep your hands agile and dive deeper into EFFECTIVE METHODS that really improve
your pad technique ANIKA NILLES' PAD BOOK is JUST THE THING! Anika gives plenty of options
WHAT AND HOW to practice on a pad. Practice pads are particularly well suited because they
reduce drumming to one basic sound source. This way you follow a process of continuous
progression in terms of stickings and rudiments phrasings and rhythm concepts. Her FUNDAMENTAL
WORKOUTS deal with accents phrasings and stickings in regular and odd note values mixed
meters hand independence and polyrhythms on 280 pages. The result is a complete system with
triplets 16th notes quintuplets sextuplets and septuplets which are broken down into
individual steps starting with a very basic layout before moving to more complex rhythms. The
focus is on building up and consolidating fundamentals across all note values raising
awareness on a feel for time and rhythm and presentation of many possibilities on how you can
expand acquired skills. Anika also puts together a collection of WARM-UPS which suggest ideas
on how you create your own rhythm patterns out of the technical features in this book. The
deeper meaning underpinning Anika's ideas is always how to be MORE CREATIVE. It is about
working on your weaknesses improving your strengths developing new ideas and rhythms for
yourself or simply looking at familiar things from a different perspective. Back on the DRUM
KIT you will find that you can focus on more specific musically relevant topics such as sound
orchestration and dynamics since the hands body and mind have already internalized the
basics practiced on the pad. JUST FUNDAMENTAL!
