When I was a kid, I wanted to be a drummer. When it came time to assign instruments in elementary school, I started on a practice drumming pad.
The music teacher never let me graduate to a real drum because he knew what he was hearing on the rubber pad would be a disaster on a simple snare. But an aspiring drummer in Japan has mastered the pad — the iPad, that is. His fast-moving fingers earned him the title of “sickest drummer in metal right now” on Digg.
Reached through Facebook, the drummer known as Appleman told Cult of Mac he has been playing drums since age 11. He was a drummer in a band while going to school in England but since his return to his hometown of Nagasaki, he joined another band as a guitar player.
He missed drumming and, given his lack of space and close proximity to neighbors, could not bring a conventional drum kit to his apartment. So he began beating virtual skins using GarageBand on the iPad.
“It took me a while to get used to playing the bass drum with my fingers. I practiced a lot,” said Appleman, who asked that his real name not be used. “I got used to the iPad drum rhythm pattern that I created and (now) I don’t feel that much difficulty expressing the beat patterns I used play on a real drum kit.”
His three-minute YouTube video “iPad Drum Solo” has been viewed more than 1.2 million times since he published it last year.
There are number of apps that teach music on the iPhone and iPad, including Chord!, GuitarBots, Piano Dust Buster, Drum Kit Pro and Rockmate, which lets you compose, record and play songs with up to four players.
Could any of this technology help me drum like Appleman? “Sickest drummer” applied to me might not have the same cool connotation.
David Pierini is a former newspaper writer and long-time photographer. Considered a luddite by most of his friends, they did not believe him when he broke the news that he would be writing for a technology website. He is fascinated by human nature and would love to cultivate stories about the people driving the tech bus. Reach out to him at [email protected].
19 responses to “Drum roll, please! iPad drummer rocks with fast fingers”
Apple should use him in their next iPad commercial.
You beat me to it!
Get a real set and learn how to really play. I hate these wannabes. Kids growing up have to learn how to crawl before they walk and then run. Same rules apply to learning a musical instrument.
Wannabe? I think you should read the article more closely.
Yeah, his cadence is off. In order to be a drummer, you have to start with a practice pad and a pair of sticks and be able to play the rudiments correctly. this can take the average person several YEARS to do this before you get on a set of drums. If he wants to play a traditional kit, there are such a thing as an electronic drum set where you listen to yourself with headphones and you aren’t bothering anyone. But what he’s playing is not real set of drums. He’s just tapping the surface of an iPad to trigger drum sounds, but it is HARDLY playing a drumset.
“He was a drummer in a band while going to school in England”
This is the exact reason why electric guitars and electronic keyboards is HARDLY playing a real instrument (/s)
You sound so full of yourself. He’s doing something unique with a different musical tool and it sounded awesome. People use all types of tools to produce all types of sounds but you seem stuck on “IT’S THIS WAY ONLY OR IT’S CRAP”. Stop being an armchair drummer and go post your drumming on the internet and get over a million views. Otherwise your words are just a fart in the wind from a wannabe drummer who’s upset he’s not getting any attention.
You should go back and do all basic math by hand instead of using calculator…tools are designed to simplified processes.
There’s no real shortcuts to learning an instrument, only jerks that don’t want to learn the REAL way. Doing math is a lot different than playing music. He has no ability to change the dynamics since the iPad is not pressure sensitive. Dynamics is part of playing a REAL musical instrument. It’s no wonder most kids listen to processed, computerized crap music. Oh well. Maybe you’ll learn as you get older.
Music is based on human emotion, the moment you take out human emotion it becomes less musical. There is no dynamics doing what he’s doing. That’s a big part of playing an instrument vs what he’s doing. Essentially, he’s just playing with some novice software vs becoming a REAL musician. You want to go through life being a slacker, then be a slacker and admit it, otherwise, do things the more honest way of doing it. Learn the hard way, far more enjoyment and respect from other musicians.
There is no simplified way to be a musician. It’s impossible. If he wants to play with his fingers, he should buy a set of tabla, bongos or other legitimate instruments that are played by their fingers and learn how to play that instrument. It would be far more productive.
So, at what educational level do they let you use a calculator in school on a test? They don’t do that in elementary school do they? I don’t know what age they do that now, but when I went to school, they didn’t have calculators or let you use them on a test until College and only with some courses. You have to learn it by hand before you can use a tool. Musical instruments is different. Math doesn’t have emotion and math isn’t performed in concerts or recorded on a CD to be listened to. Look at what people created before they had calculators. Some of the things they created can’t be duplicated by humans that only know how to use a calculator.. Learn the art form of playing a musical instrument. It’s what music is about.
God, I love it when a poster shows himself to be a total idiot with his own words.
Just makes my day.
I have learned how to play the drums and took lessons and practiced hard enough and long enough to be good enough to play on a professional level since I was 15 and I started at age 9. It took hours of practicing, listening to other players, taking lessons for years. Have you? This video to me is just a whack off session as far as I see it.
Read much? At all?
Yeah, I read it. And? So do you know that electronic kits are available? He still has to learn from playing on a practice pad. Tapping your fingers on an iPad isn’t the same as playing a practice pad with a pair of real sticks. there is a LOT more to it.
You said…”Get a real set and learn how to really play. I hate these wannabes.” From the article… “Reached through Facebook, the drummer known as Appleman told Cult of Mac he has been playing drums since age 11. He was a drummer in a band while going to school in England but since his return to his hometown of Nagasaki, he joined another band as a guitar player.” Maybe read the entire article next time.
More from the article…”He missed drumming and, given his lack of space and close proximity to neighbors, could not bring a conventional drum kit to his apartment. So he began beating virtual skins using GarageBand on the iPad.”
cute