5 Mistakes drummers make that can cause Injuries

No one should be hurting themselves in the name of practice. Yes, you should practice hard and practice daily but not at the expense of your health. A bad habit can be very bad for your own growth as a musician. So, let us talk about few mistakes that drummers make while practicing their instrument.

1. Incorrect Playing Posture

This is the most basic and the very fundamental thing that you are taught when you start your drum lessons. However, as sessions go by, it can be seen that a lot of students don’t pay attention to their posture. Sitting straight is very important as a bent back puts a lot of pressure on your spine. This can lead to back pain – something you don’t want to experience as an amateur musician. So, get your posture right and be conscious of holding the right posture for some time until it becomes second nature to you.

2. Incorrect Drumkit Setup:

As a drummer, you should know how your drum kit setup should be. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should be able reach all the parts of your drum kit. You should not be stretching or straining to reach any part of your kit. Extending your shoulders constantly can cause muscle strain and injury to the joints. You should feel relaxed when you are practicing on your drums and this will ensure you get the most out of your time and commitment to the practice sessions.

3. Rushing or Skipping your Warm-Up Exercises:

A lot of students rush through (or even skip) doing their warm-up exercises in class and at home during practice. This is really wrong because every exercise is fundamental and important to the core skills you are building as a drummer. The techniques you are taught are very important for your growth as a musician. If you rush through the exercises or even try playing the exercises in a higher tempo without understanding the technique and proper process of executing them, you will end up training the wrong muscles or even stress and injure them. Thus, take every exercise slow and only advance further once you have a comfortable command over the techniques you are trying to learn.

4. Wrong Drum Accessories:

It is very important that you have the essential materials to play drums. Different individual will have different needs according to the style of play. If you are someone who strikes the drum softly, then you should get lighter sticks. Similarly, if you are a hard hitter, then get a thicker set of sticks. The reason is that if you are a hard hitter and you are using a thinner stick, you would have to hit it even harder to get the sound that you could achieve with a thick stick  - instead it will put extra strain on your muscle and could lead to injury.

5. Wrong Techniques:

Yes, don’t stomp your pedal. Learn the right technique to play the pedals on the drums. Unnecessary stomping will only cause injury to your knee which is really avoidable if you use the right technique. Also, to play beats faster, you have to understand that you cannot achieve that speed with the hand, you have to use your wrist because it gives you more flexibility. Using your whole hand to play fast will stiffen and could injure your arm muscles. Using the wrist will ensure that you get the speed without putting too much pressure on your arm.

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