I know this topic has probably been beat to hell however I have been out of the drumming world for 2 years and I decided To Join the College Line. I was fairly decent in highschool (drumCapt) however I remember I was sloppy sometimes and I want to start clean. I want to have stick control to the teeth before I do anything else. Any Ideas on what I can do?

You want to start clean? Start slow. Get everything defined down to the nail, get your taps low and beefy, and your diddles clean and connected. Take the time now to learn everything, and don't rush anything at all until it's under your hands. Also use a metronome, rinse, and repeat. Do that, and you'll be fine. Happy drumming!

I am sort of in your position, I've been out of drumlins type work for a bit and I just recently picked up the pad again. I'm very sloppy to say the least.

As far as practice goes, I tend to practice on a pillow using 5B's. Pillows give no bounce at all, so you do that enough, you'll build chops like it's nobody's business. Chops doesn't mean cleanliness, but having the ability to play what is written is key.

In my experience you need to be very careful about pillows. If you don't watch what your doing you can go from having and using a fulcrum to having a hinge. Slow and steady is always best. EndinEnvisionary is right. If you use the pad you will learn to use rebound to your advantage without depending upon it. Pay close attention to your playing area and do things as slow to possible. Vic firth has something called Master Click and their website and I would check that out and use that. It ramps up speed for twenty minutes then ramps down for ten minutes. Spending that much time playing the same thing really helps with mastery. But the answer, in my opinion, to your question is in your post. STICK CONTROL. That is the best book ever. Use it as much as possible in as many ways as possible. That will give you chops, control, everything you need.

Go to a Drum Corps audition whether you would actually march it or not. During that weekend they will mind f*** you and make you a better player. Trust me.

Stone's Stick Control at all height variations.

Snare Science is an excellent source for excersizes also check out there Youtube channel and is free. Jeff Queen has several videos that are extremely helpful. Youtube is a plentiful resource too, with the likes of Grid University, Vic Firth lesson series and Hybrid rudiment series. As well as this site.

I've noticed the greatest and most rapid increases in my abilities as a musician when I practice regularly, deliberately and efficiently.

As a college music major, I've got to get in 2 hours a day, and that's the very bare minimum. However 2 hours a day can take you a long way or nowhere at all and it all depends on how you practice. What I've done this semester is write down some specific goals I have for my playing behind a drum set. It looks a little like this:

Bailey BD Exercises:
Lesson 2 at q=132 (5 and 6 at q=120)
Lesson 3 at q=132

Art of Bop:
#1 at q=230
#2 at q=230
#1 at q=180 w/ BD on melody
#1 at 230, gray only w/ brushes

Recording:
Groove Essentials 79 and 34
1 from Fullen Play-Along

Etc...

And then I have a notebook which after a typical practice session looks like this:

Dec. 3
-----------
Warm Up

BD:
Lesson 2 - q=100
Bop:
Brushes at q=160

etc...

My success has absolutely soared since I began practicing this way. Getting in daily to work on my exact goals and marking my progress and watching myself grow has revolutionized my practicing and my playing.

An example for yours could look like this:

8's:
At 9" q=200
At 3" q=200

Accent Tap:
9" accents/3" taps q=160
6" accents/3" taps q=160

etc...

And then record your progress in a notebook with the date. It's absolutely magic.

Begin by seeing what you can do, start at a comfortable tempo and kick it up by ten until you first notice the slightest struggle. From there set a realistic goal. Again, a realistic goal. Rinse and repeat until you have a nice goal list. Set a target time to have those goals accomplished. Mine is the end of winter break, for instance.

Then just work consistently and before you know it, success.

For chops I use a folded hand towel on top of my pad or leg. It has no bounce like a pillow but, its half the size. You may want to isolate hands and do independence exercises, which some can be found on SnareScience. Remember to have fun!

Hey! What's all this sending members to other web sites for music and practice material and information??!!

DLO has one of the best library's on the net!! They come here for anwsers so let's keep them here!

I understand we may not have every anwser and every solo or warm ups, but if someone here will or even have the exact anwser for you. There is over 10 yeas of knowledge here. Take the time to look it up, there are things in the archive that can not be found anywhere but here.

DLO has all you need!!