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The importance of muscle memory.
Learning to play the drums can be tricky to start with. The co-ordination required to play basic patterns alone can take time to master.
Muscle memory can help recall rhythmic ostinatos and patterns subconsciously. If practised correctly your hands and feet will be able to replay patterns stored in your muscle memory.
This works by practising the patterns slowly at an even tempo with lots of repetition. To start with the 8th note hi hat pattern with snare on 2+4 is a good example.
Once this has been perfected it frees up your mind to think of different bass drum patterns whilst having a rock steady hi hat and snare pattern in place.
Doing this simple exercise also improves your sense of pulse and timekeeping, making it easy to recall the length of a measure of 4/4 and playing 8th note fills.
I teach all my students this technique, progressing through rudiments and different beats and grooves. Like riding a bike, once something is stored in muscle memory it stays with you for a very long time. The most noticeable effect is that muscle memory prevents first bar syndrome when a student finds it hard to start the piece.
However, many musicians would say muscle memory takes the feeling and thought out of music. I would agree; you can't use muscle memory alone to learn to play music and playing with passion and expression doesn't come from this technique. However for drummers building an internal library of grooves and fills it provides a solid base from which to work.
Stay loose and have fun!
