Lessons, Week 49

An unpleasant (to me) but likely neccessary diversion into Latin grooves. 3-2 and 2-3 Rumba Clave and Son Clave rhythms. Stuff they use in Cubin...Afrocuban...music. I suck at it. I'm supposed to practice them and be able to do them next week. Bleah.

Also took a bass lesson last night and realized that I don't need bass lessons. Not right now. What I need is to memorize my major and minor scales and learn the fingerboard backwards and forwards. I don't need someone pestering me to do that...I just have to sit down and do it. Until I do, lessons probably won't help me much.

I was reminded during the bass lesson last night how much I hate lessons in general. Always have. Rarely have I lasted beyond a few lessons with any instrument (except cello, which I was forced to take) before getting totally irritated and quitting. The fellow was perfectly nice and qualified last night...but I couldn't help but feel like punching him. Before I'd even left the room I knew I wouldn't be back.

This isn't interesting in and of itself, because it is typical of me. What's interesting is that I am three lessons away from taking a solid year of drum lessons. And I've never once considered quitting. Not every lesson has been a gem...but I've never felt like punching EN. In honesty, I haven't been very good about following up on the things that we do in lessons. So I could be doing so much better. But the nice thing is that progress of some sort doesn't seem totally dependent on me following up on the lessons. He hangs on to a topic for a lesson or two...and then we move on. Sometimes we come back to things. And usually the second time around, even if I've not worked on the topic, I'm better able to deal with it. There's a mix of what he calls "chop busting" work and just jamming to tunes. A mix of technique and genre. And always, always the constant assumption that I am able and free to learn other things on my own...and that I'm playing in a "working" band on an ongoing basis. It isn't the most structured lessons...but I guess that's kind of what I need. He kind of drifts about to whatever from lesson to lesson...but when I bring a problem or question to him...we drop everything and focus on that. He's pretty great. For the record, he's the third drum instructor I've had in the last four years. I don't know if the time was just right for me (this is a large part of it) or if he just clicks better with me (a pretty big part too, I'm sure)...but it is good. I hope it stays that way. Probably up to me whether or not it will.