The Drums: Checking In

Back in December 2008 I decided to dedicate myself to the drums in an attempt to finally be good at something. The dedication lasted longer than I expected it to, as I am prone to proclaim such things and then promptly abandon them. For over a year I was pretty focused. Playing and PRACTICING pretty much every day, taking lessons, and getting steadily better.

Along about six months ago my resolve began to slip though. I'm not sure why or what happened, but there definitely was a shift. And before I knew it I wasn't sitting down at the drums at all anymore except during lessons or band practices or to try and learn riffs for band practices. I wasn't really practicing anymore, I was just getting by.

The void has largely been filled with the bass, which I've been playing every day for six months now after not having picked it up for about three years. I've had a somewhat solitary focus on learning Pixies songs, which aren't hard and for which I mostly have had access to decent tab. I've been playing bass, not practicing it either. Mostly I've been memorizing bass tab.

But I don't think the bass takes up enough mental or literal energy (at least not how I'm approaching it) to have been solely responsible for the slacking on drums. I think, maybe, it was just time to slack a bit.

Taking a look at the So Dang Yang tunes has made it clear to me that there are fundamentals that I've not tackled properly, though. I need a bossa nova, and a good train shuffle, and a good regular shuffle. I need to improve my independence. Mostly, more than anything, I need to actually practice...and to play more than I am currently.

What's interesting is that I'm fully aware that my current skill set is a direction reflection of the amount of time put in. I'm confident that I can learn and do all those things I mentioned...I just have to put in the work, which I've not been doing. This is a subtle but importance difference from not being sure I'd ever be able to do such things. I'm getting to the point where I'm sure that I can get to where ever I want to be on the drums...it's just a matter of putting in the time. And the more time I put in, the faster the results. This is hard to remember in the day to day...when things seem impossible and when the couch is calling.

Some of my committments have dropped off of late, and I think it is about time that I got back on the kit for an hour a day. Finally knock out that bossa nova and that shuffle. Do some paradiddles. Work on some tough tunes from the pile of play along books I've gathered. Actually practice.