7 Church Drumming MISTAKES That Will RUIN Your Playing

Church Drumming MISTAKES That KILL Your Progress (I did them all 😭)

My dad was a pastor so when I started drumming, I was drumming in church almost immediately. These are some of the top drumming mistakes I see church drummers make on a regular basis.

Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!
___________________________________________________________

Cymbals: Zildjian

Drums: Whatever I feel like

Sticks: Vic Firth 5A

Heads: Aquarian

In Ears: Alclair In Ear Monitors

Lauten Microphones

Earthworks Microphones

[killerpo]

Playing timid is something I struggle with and it can tank the whole set. Imposter syndrome is something I struggle with, and I can have all the confidence in the world, but a slight mess up throws me off

[chrisggoodwin]

I learned a lot of these the hard way as well. I started drumming in church. I was one of three bass players and was volun-told to be the drummer. I could sort of play a basic 4/4 groove. The rest, I learned on the fly. There were a lot of rough Sundays... Fast forward 25 years and I've been able to bring along the next generation of bass players and drummers, but not without a bunch of bumps along the way

[robpearson]

I have experienced every one of these examples! Never forget first wedding gig, started on Moondance, guitar players leans over and says "Ease up on that ride cymbal"

[worldsheaviestjamband]

These are some of the best recorded examples I’ve heard of mistakes all musicians make. Awesome video. 😊

[jedidrummerjake]

I've been using my electric drum set in church choir and it's helped a lot. I use a metronome with earbuds and the choir follows me. ❤

[georgeguest]

Been following you for years brother. Your "wrong playing" examples always crack me up! Cheers man!

[ben_curry]

Awesome video! I'm playing for our church's youth group tomorrow and this is helpful! I like how you had a gold floor tom when you were talking and a green one when you played. ;) Keep it up Stephen. 🤘

[dfwjazz]

0:53 - Mistake #1
3:53 - Mistake #2
5:53 - Mistake #3
9:14 - Mistake #4
11:24 - Mistake #5
14:12 - Mistake #6
15:43 - Mistake #7
16:53 - Mistake #8

[_ed]

Its funny seeing stephen really concentrated trying to play it wrong 😂

[perryfisher]

Playing one volume, dynamics... I've played drums in churches for ~40 years. I learned dynamics and volume control a long time ago. In my opinion putting church drummers in a 'cage' (drum enclosure) is ruining them. Especially playing in a worship service I like to hear the room. Depending on how the service is moving the same song may need more this time than the last time.

[lukasthielmann]

The overplaying thing is huuuge and immediately makes your difficult to work with. Especially when fills distract for the normal snare pattern. As a guitarist/songwriter/singer, fills getting in the way of the melody and groove is super frustrating. If you're in a fill while there is a vocal you're probably overplaying (this goes for guitar noodles too).

Start by playing soft/controlled/simple and let the rest of the band/producer ask you for more (which is encouraging), rather than have to tell you to reign it in (which feels deflating)

[a.nobodys.nobody]

Hey did you ever demonstrate the drum part the right way? Would have been helpful!

[joshuasimpson]

40 years playing . And im learning to do boom cha boom boom cha .
Perfectly .. and i must add . 8 bars of phrasing and making only 1 change each time . One .. best . Less or extra . On one drum only .
All the other stuff is for fun .. but doing THAT and making it sound just right is as hsrd as snything else .

[MarineBlueFade]

Had the piano player on my worship team tell me that I caught a bad case of the "Russian Dragon" when I asked him what that was, he said sometimes you rush the tempo and sometimes you drag it. Thank God the click fixed all of that.

[jonathanriddle]

Thanks for the video. I really enjoyed it. I am a dreamer myself in Church. Would like to my personal contact with you if that’s available please

[waynn]

Whats the name of the song being played in the examples?

[AMx]

Currently going through this and man it’s kind of disheartening. I have never played with in ears or a click and had my first band rehearsal at my church and man it was horrendous. My cymbal volume was obnoxious due to them being larger than what I’ve ever played and having a lower tone. I had an inaccurate in ear mix which I believe caused my dynamics to be trash on the outer audio. I had my mix high on the in ears as well as snare and therefore made me play at lower volume which did on the drums and also had me bashing the cymbals so I could hear them in my ears. Man… it was a mess. Not quitting but man does it hurt to actually hear yourself recorded and sound like a jacked up monkey on drums lol

[kristophstjames]

I play drums in church, I must say I'd rather they stick to the old hymns, most of these new contemporary "christian" songs are garbage because the churches they come out of are false churches, like Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation worship. ugh, garbage!

[theoriginalemim]

While these are still applicable to the church drummer, they definitely don't seem all that tailored to them either.

[mrchiefbs]

I've learned so much playing drums at church with a piano doctorate! I always watch his hands... I'm an atheist but the music is so complex and fun.