#quiet drumming

[asmrpedia]

(American Percussion) Nice Small Percussion Instrument

[weirdodrummer]

Why it's so hard to play drums softly

If you play drums loudly all the time, it's really hard to play softly. There's this weird urge that creeps up, after playing softly for more than a minute it's just like your muscles are screaming at you - HIT HARDER! PLAY LOUD! DO IT BRO!

The logical interpretation of that is a mental willpower thing, like you just wanna play loud so badly, the yearning is too strong, soft drums aren't fun. BUT that is wrong.

What I've learned recently from practicing so. much. soft drumming, is: playing soft uses a different group of muscles. I can do a pretty hefty math rock shred session for a few hours and I'll be fine, but if I try to play soft rudimental exercises for one hour, my arms will have a lot of muscle tiredness / good "burn". Like working out.

It's taken a month to really build that muscle strength, so that now I can play softly for longer periods of time before I get tired. That's so crucial to know - playing soft isn't challenging because of willpower or stylistic intent, it's because your muscles need to be trained. Both in muscle memory and in muscle endurance.

Go forth and play softly, my friends.