Things you hate to have happen while drumming

[ege_the_drummer]

I think we all agree that playing the drums is loads of fun but.....
Sometimes, while drumming, things can go wrong. Post anything you hate to have happen while you drum.

1. Hitting your hand with a drumstick while playing. Not only does it hurt, but I usually drop the stick in the most inconvenient of places (which leads me to my next point).

2. Having the stick fly out of your hand while drumming. I can stand dropping it within reaching area, but I hate it when the stick lands several feet away.

Post any occurences that annoy you while you drum.

[ajgdrums722]

Having the bass drum begin to slide away from you as you hit it in the middle of a song.

[tentpole]

I grew up counting a four measure beat and going back to one after those four measures.So when ever I have to play over that amount I have to fight the urge to go on to five.It's not really drumming,more of just me.

My set is up against a wall and a desk is right next to it.So when I get in I have to push my hihat in and sometimes it hits a tom.

I hate it when a stick flies out of your hand and flies in front of your set and then having to get out of the set and get it.

That's all I can think of right now.

[SOGdrummer]

Don't often drop sticks anymore, bass drum does not slide if using a carpet underneath...
I do hate when I miss a cymbal (every so often...)
The worst for me is when I totally forget the rythm to a song we haven't played in while and have to switch gears already into the song.

Oh well, guess these things will happen from time to time, but at least it means you are playing!

[michaeldangelo]

My bass drum pedal broke on a gig once. Not really break, but the beater came loose and was unplayable. On a funk tune as well. I told the bass player to turn his mids up to cover up. I got it fixed though. But still, that's not something great to happen.

I remember one of my friend's cymbal stands fell down on the floor one time. Very loud crash. Not very musical.

[glynes]

I get really cross when I drop sticks. Paying more attention and not doing it so much anymore.
Missing the crash and hitting a tom instead ... just getting distracted and it sounds really stupid.
My foot slipping on the high-hat pedal ... happens on every pedal I use except my own.
But the thing I hate most is when the song ... or the set ... is over and I have to stop playing.
(My favorite moment at Woodstick: playing 'We Will Rock You' with the house band ... I think it went 15 verses ... and I was just getting warmed up!)

[BIG_c]

Hitting my fingers would be the worse thing that probably happens. I also hate it when my forearm begins to cramp when i'm playing on my ride.

[deltadrummer1]

I hate it when a stick flies out of your hand and flies in front of your set and then having to get out of the set and get it.



You should keep 2 or 3 extra pairs of sticks..this used to happen to me and wow...it stinks.

[jangus]

Bassdrum and hi-hat creeping away. This causes me to miss my hi-hat sometimes which makes me drop my stick.

Learning I hadnt tightened a stand enough, such as the cymbal stand rotating joint so my crash will come down on my toms or something.

[Drummer Karl]

Bassdrum and hi-hat creeping away. This causes me to miss my hi-hat sometimes which makes me drop my stick.

Yes, I agree, that is a thing I really hate!! Especially when I had gigs on stone floor...the baddest thing is that you can`t get it back, you have to play, show must go on, and there is probably another problem: the drums will fall down from the stage because the stage isn`t so big! I just hate this!

Karl

[bobie2000]

Hitting my fingers would be the worse thing that probably happens. I also hate it when my forearm begins to cramp when i'm playing on my ride.

i absolutly hate that, my band has a song that we extend to about ten minutes when we play live and i have to play most of it on the ride

also dropping a stick while playing, it sucks, today i dropped a stick and it landed in such a way on my right bass pedal that i couldent press it down, and i had to stop playing to be able to pull it out of the pedal

and another thing, i have a pretty crap kit, especcially the tom arms, they are all dented and stuff, just from tightening the toms onto them, and doing this has created many grooves on the mounts, so when im playing, the toms start to go completly flat and then they start going to the opposite angle. this means that i cannot play my toms unless i stop and twist them to the right angle and then tighen them again.

[MAX ZNAEVSKY]

I drop sticks too, but I always have a pair of extrasticks on my bassdrum and hihat stand.
and I play gigs mostly in gloves now, and it really works.
Once I torn the chain of the right pedal (I lead with right foot) on my double-kick, during a really long song (8:30-8:40). I've played all the song up to the end with left foot. Hell, it's really s*cks.
And the first problem are this fog-machines (God, I h8 them), and constant heat in the clubs....

[zfzgg]

The worst to happen to me would be snare'kick heads breaking.

[Paradiddle my snizzle]

When i practise with my band, i try to experiment a lot with my fills and most of the time they turn out great but sometimes they turn out wierd. The worst one was when i didnt get in properly after the fill, so i played the rythm inverted if you will - it sounded really wierd, lol...

[jamsjr44]

Snare head or bass drum head breaking during a set it's just impossible to go on until you fix it. Any other tom you can get by the rest of the night usually.

Dropping sticks stinks, but I have a second stick holder that pro-mark used to make mounted on my hi-hat and it I drop one I can grab one in a second.

[Magic Maple]

For me the most Painful experience has been occuring alot recently when ive been using my new electric kit, I get really into a groove and ill lose the grip of my stick and it will rebound and smack me in the face... =p very painful. Has never happened to me on an acoustic kit, guess im not quite used to the pads.

[metalheadeza666]

I hate gigging/playing school kits, especially in a gig where you are not given any time to get the kit how you like it, so something really inconvienient happens like; the bass drum beater isn't tightened properly so it just ricochets of the head and either disappears behing stage or smacks you in the face (ow) or the cymbal stand just collapses one way or another or what I find most annoying, the clutch on the hi-hat just drops and you're playing permanently closed hi hat till the end of the song (gig situation) which just sounds crap cuz it isn't even properly closed hi hat.
I mention these problems on school kit becasue i haven't yet got an acoustic. Click in my sig to hear my electric I have. : )

Also as a lot of people have said, missing cymbals is very annoying as is dropping sticks etc.

O well, stuff happens.

[VegDrummer]

Does going to the bathroom count, your playing and your mind is saying

"Gotta go"

[Wegadrummer]

I broke my snare stand once.. so, I had to ducktape my snare to the rest of my stand.. worst night ever.

[Drummerboy3940]

I hate when I hit my right leg with a stick when I go from snare to floor tom. It kills your leg and you cant play the bass for a moment. Fortunately it has only happened when I practice and not in a show.

[MBrhythm]

Back when I first started gigging. My band was playing this party out in someones back yard.... really just a big field in the woods. No lights just the amps, drums, us, the kag and alot of drunk people.... I couldnt see my kit so I busted open all my knuckles from hitting the rims. The next day I look at the snare head... Yummy!!

But I still got some at that party

[Dimm_Slayer]

It's not something that happened while playing, but it's something that gets me very mad. I have a friend that ALWAYS wants to play my drums and all he evey does (since he has no rhythm) is blast beats(horrible blast beats at that). Just gets annoying especially at practice when we try to get things done but thats all he wants to do.

[ege_the_drummer]

It's not something that happened while playing, but it's something that gets me very mad. I have a friend that ALWAYS wants to play my drums and all he evey does (since he has no rhythm) is blast beats(horrible blast beats at that). Just gets annoying especially at practice when we try to get things done but thats all he wants to do.

I was once in a band like that. It's very annoying and we got nowhere.

[hauk]

the usual sticks flying away, missing a cymbal (or a tom and hitting the crash instead), etc...
and drummerboy3940, i've hit my leg like that too... hurts ><
plus, this happens all the time, the washer under my top hat loosens and drops the hat... it happens after just a couple of measures playing eighth notes with 'em loose or opening and closing them with my foot

[franklinj]

If you guys have seen the pics of my room and set, then you know that I play on a platform to reduce noise. However, the platform is a little bit too small right now, so sometimes my hi hat stands 3rd leg (haha, third leg...) comes off the platform. Very annoying.

[Batera945]

oh i had the worst thing happen to me, well not rally the wrost but it really sucked. it was i think a month ago and for some dumb reason i brough one pair of drumsticks to a gig since i'm not really used to breakin sticks and the were zoro's brand stick that dontl ussually break. well taht night i founded out other bands were going to be playin there too so i went to check on the drums and by accident left my one pair of drumsticks ther and then anotehr band played before us. when i got there my sticks were gone and the band before me had left so i borrown a pari of sticks from another drummer and the sticks broke cause they were like 7 as and they were already old and they broke into the end of our second song. then i got another stick which also broke.. this one i knew it was gonna break cause of the weird feelin it had i guess the sticks this guy had were all like rotten or something... but yeah not a very good day.. although the overall peformance was pretty awsome

[Batera945]

It's not something that happened while playing, but it's something that gets me very mad. I have a friend that ALWAYS wants to play my drums and all he evey does (since he has no rhythm) is blast beats(horrible blast beats at that). Just gets annoying especially at practice when we try to get things done but thats all he wants to do.
man thats y u have drumsticks anybody come close u whack them and they wont come back lol, done taht to the bassist of my band heheh and to the singer who wanted to jump on them at practice if its at show then i wont mind i'll just beat him up backstage lol

[y0avz]

I hate it when stick get jammed together....
Also i hate those unwanted rimshots that i get from the toms.
But the thing i hate the most is when my back hurt, its so anoyinng makes me crazy!

[t-bone]

i hate breaking sticks, but i have lots of spares, so that's really not a problem....usually the worst is breaking a knuckle open....pretty messy, but people look at ya, and figure you are really getting into it....
and, hahahah....sometimes, when our pyro is a little too close to the drum riser......that gets a tad warm up there.......

[lfdy]

Hitting my fingers would be the worse thing that probably happens. I also hate it when my forearm begins to cramp when i'm playing on my ride.

Cramps in your forearm, when playing the ride...that isn't healthy, and a sign of bad technique.

[SeveringDozza]

Hitting my leg with a stick, having one fly out of my hand and (I've only done this twice) hitting my hand on the rim of the snare and basically splitting it abit and making it bleed.

[Jeff Almeyda]

I hate it when there's a big powerful HOT light aimed right at the back of my head while I'm onstage. As if I didn't sweat enough already.

[MBrhythm]

When My singer picks like 10 songs that are all fast. No time to catch my breath. And when I ask him "Why?" He says "You should be ready for stuff like that. "

Another is not doing any warm ups before the show and having my hand cramp up in the first song.<------- My fault!!!!

[foursticks]

BREAKING MY STICKS!! ARGH HOW ITS SO IRRITATING AFTER A DAY OF BUYING THEM!

[ege_the_drummer]

BREAKING MY STICKS!! ARGH HOW ITS SO IRRITATING AFTER A DAY OF BUYING THEM!

I very much agree. I was almost hit in the eye when I broke one once... I guess that's why I slightly turn my head when I hit my floor tom.

[MarkMooch]

My bass drum pedal broke on a gig once. Not really break, but the beater came loose and was unplayable. On a funk tune as well. I told the bass player to turn his mids up to cover up. I got it fixed though. But still, that's not something great to happen.

I remember one of my friend's cymbal stands fell down on the floor one time. Very loud crash. Not very musical.

Hi Mike that sounds intresting, can you explain to me a bit more about how turning up the mids on the bass guitar covers up the lack of bass drums in the overall mix. I think I have heard of this before and can imagine the effect it will have too. The last time that happened to me I just used the floor tom and it worked almost as well, it wasnt my kit but I think I was just lucky on that one there.

I hate hitting my self with sticks, flinging them across the room, missing half a beat or changing tempo when you go to pick them up. I don't have that much bad luck when out gigging as I try to endeavour to make sure stuff like this won't happen by predicting the most common or likely of incidents and doing something about it before hand. Just when I am messing about with a new hard and fast fill that my sticks will end up flying away really.

[Class A Drummer]

i hate it when i drop my sticks. usually i dont drop em anymore, but when i do, it keeps happening over and over.

[MarkMooch]

Hitting my fingers would be the worse thing that probably happens. I also hate it when my forearm begins to cramp when i'm playing on my ride.

Better technique, more technical and rudimentary practise to gain stamina and ease of playing and also better positing of your ride cymbal. Any more help just ask. ;-).

We've got to take measures to avoid this happening people! Saying that I am as guilty as anyone as not setting up my kit as well as I should becasue I haven't made time to expirment with what works better. I suppose we just get too exicted about playing them and forget other stuff.

[Class A Drummer]

o yeah, i also hate hitting myself in the face with my stick.

[aahznightsky]

I hate when you play a rimshot too far into the drum and hit your finger on the rim! I've gotten blood on my drum heads before from that. But you learn that lesson fast!

[ClintKelly]

I was playin yesterday and in the middle of a song my hand cramped up and the stick went flying about 8 feet..that was a bad situation. i had to pull a Rick Allen.

[rendezvous_drummer]

Sticks flying out of my hand is my vote.

[justingrillz]

cracking a cymbal. that sucks alot.

[pearl_floyd]

i was playing a gig at my school and just before we finished our last song my bass drum slid of the mat i was using and started to inch further and further away from me but fortunatly the lead singer of my band realized and gave the drum a kick and we were able to finish the set.

[millerdakiller]

when I'm playing a quick lick between my snare and tom, and my stick gets caught on the rim of my tom because I didn't lift enough and I knock over the tom because I keep it on a snare stand. Yah, that always sucks, especially at a show. other then taht going full on knuckle to rim sucks a lot.

[xkevinx]

here's one...
playing a show last night, 40 minute set, no stops. we played a piece that consisted of one riff being played for the entire set while the other instruments made plenty of obnoxious reverb-soaked noise. I brought a bass drum, ride, and snare, and played a rock beat straight the entire time, no fills. It's a fast piece but i could handle it alright when we practised before. the guitarist counted it in last night, wayyyyyyyy too fast, so about 4 minutes into it my right arm was dying. I kept having to switch sticking techniques to give certain muscles a rest. pulled it off fine, but next time, i'm counting the song in. :)

[sloppyn9ne]

getting hit in the eye with a stick or the pedal comes off the bass or the bass turns and the pedal doesnt so the beaters r different distances.

[cheen]

The most annoying thing for me, which causes me to curse every single time, is catching the tip of my my stick on the undersite of the hoop of my rack tom when i'm doing a quick snare to rack tom fill. Very often the stick with flip up and fall ten feet in front of my kit or fall on floor right in the middle of all stands so I can't get to it without killing my back.

Miss hitting a crash and not getting a full sound is pretty annoying too but I don't do that as much anymore since I put my crashes more flat.

[Fur drummer]

Things I hate are sticks flying out of my hand, a cymbal stand falling over, and having a stage monitor go out or a bad mix in the monitor.

[BIG_c]

Better technique, more technical and rudimentary practise to gain stamina and ease of playing and also better positing of your ride cymbal. Any more help just ask. ;-).

We've got to take measures to avoid this happening people! Saying that I am as guilty as anyone as not setting up my kit as well as I should becasue I haven't made time to expirment with what works better. I suppose we just get too exicted about playing them and forget other stuff.

YES! could you please help. with some technique, rudiments and such and such. Even a link to a video would be great! thanks

[Crazy]

That damn bass drum if I can nail it to the floor that will help

[ege_the_drummer]

YES! could you please help. with some technique, rudiments and such and such. Even a link to a video would be great! thanks

Vic Firth's website has good sections on rudiments. Here's the link:
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/studcenterdrumset.html

The rudiment section is at the bottom.

[pingride]

plus, this happens all the time, the washer under my top hat loosens and drops the hat... it happens after just a couple of measures playing eighth notes with 'em loose or opening and closing them with my foot
mine does that too, my dad suggested locktite but I'm not sure if I'd ever get it off again after.

I sometimes hit myself with the stick right on the edge of my eye socket, that hurts a lot

[ns3476]

I hate it when i hit my knuckles on something and then they will start bleeding a little bit.

[SAINTDRUMS]

My tension rod on my high hat stand came loose. The result is you step on the high hat pedal and it goes right to the floor! You can't open or close your hats......

Saint

[beatsMcGee]

loosing a stick always sucks...

[drummer4life006]

heres a heck of a story.. my buddy was playing a pretty big gig.. but the stage wasnt as big as he would of liked it and he was pushed right to the backk.. and there was about a 5 foot gap between the stage and something behind it will all the tons and tons of wires and cords went and such. he was in the middle of a song.. and on of the feet slipped off the back of the stage and boom.. he go caught right between the 2 parts.. and was all tangled up STUCK haha the other band members were laughing there heads off.. and the audience..he felt like an idiot .. but it turned out ok..

James

[drummer_on_the_grow]

I have a real bad habit. It happens that I hit myself in the eye while playing. That hurts.

And when my ass gets all clammy on the drum throne. That's very annoying!

[Red Hawk]

I always forget to tighten the little bolts on the shaft that connects my double pedal together...

Then when you have that perfect chance to play a double time fill with some quick footwork you stomp that left pedal and the whole thing falls apart... sucks

I don't really drop sticks anymore, but when it does happen for me it's usually a pretty cartoonish event. The stick I drop tends to either hit the guitar player or end up on the dancefloor.

I put a beater through my kickdrum once... not a good feeling. Now my resonant head is all marked up cuz i had to flip the drum around to finish the show.

I hate being late to gigs... and hate it even more when someone else is late.

And my biggest pet peeve: running out of beer mid-set. ARGH!

[dasilvs]

wow, quite a list of catasrophes here. let's see, what's happened to me?

well, for starters I have played an entire set with my toms on backwards (bottom side up), and midway through the set my bottom snare drum head breaks because it was positioned only slightly off angle on the snare stand (one of the arms sat on the skin and then pierced it when I hit it hard). that was no fun, as I had to figure out how I was goin gto manage with half a snare. I ended up replacing the head during an acoustic song with the bottom head of the same sized tom (14").

i have had sticks break on stage but i have always managed to recover, and in style. i was lucky enough each time not to have lost the beat, i guess i was just so focused that it almost didnt matter that i lost the handle on a stick.

as for beverages, i have had beer and other stuff placed on a nearby amp - and even an audience member's drink as well - that have proceed to find their way to my shoes and throne. i was afraid the liquid would ruin the set or short out my mates but luckily that hasnt been the case. worst of it got on my pants and shoes, but you just keep going, having fun.

[DRUMMRI]

Yeah, I gotta agree smacking your hand or thumb in middle of a song, blows, especially when you gotta keep playin'. Crackin' a knuckle against a rim edge is bad, and although this
has happened only a few times in 34 yrs of playing, getting a hard glancing blow to the side of your face with the stick, and not being able to stop has got to be the worst.

[jollymosher]

1. Hitting your hand with a drumstick while playing. Not only does it hurt, but I usually drop the stick in the most inconvenient of places (which leads me to my next point).

2. Having the stick fly out of your hand while drumming. I can stand dropping it within reaching area, but I hate it when the stick lands several feet away.


ok dude im there. i hate it when it slides under my floor tom. i can get it with out stoping and hopping under. More times than that when i break sticks i go for my Aheads because they make great back ups. but they slip right out. normaly hitting my older brother (bands bassist) right in the fore head.

Also hiting ur Knuckle on your snares tention rods. but what REALLY gets my goat, doing a fill that goes from my snare to my first tom, but catching your sticks tip on the tom on your way up. then the stick goes flying... bringing me back to hiting my brother in the face, Again.

[ege_the_drummer]

Another thing I hate is when my sticks start to chip on the tips. It kills the stick defenition on my hi hats and my ride. Plus the sawdust-like stuff that comes off the sticks when you hit your crashes too much bugs the crap out of me. It gets everywhere on and around my drumkit.

[MAX ZNAEVSKY]

Playing the first song of a big gig, thinking of WC, this su**s

[Paul Quin]

Over the years I've had multiple things go wrong: from moving bass drums and hi-hat stands, to faulty hi-hat clasps and tension rods unscewing themselves, to broken sticks hitting me in the face and falling cymbal stands. I remember, however, playing some of my first shows in the late 1970's (remember when large flared pants were the vogue) and, playing heel up, having the bass drum beater dissapear up my trouser leg - embarrasing and difficult to fix without losing the groove. These things, however, are meant to try us and every time it happens once you are in beter position to deal with it on a second occurrence.

Paul

[Drummerboy3940]

I very much agree. I was almost hit in the eye when I broke one once... I guess that's why I slightly turn my head when I hit my floor tom.

Dude that happened to me to. The stick almost made me blind. I seriously couldnt see for a minute. It was scary

[drum_king44]

Well that are a few things that get my goat
1. When playing rim shots I hit my knuckle on the rim
2. throwing a stick\
3. hitting myself with a stick
4. I can only play up to 4 beats and anything further is hard as shmit

[Firegod2040]

When my careless bandmates always want to play my drums. I'm sure they are playing them when I'm not around to stop them, so the set I leave there is my Frankenset that I built. It was my first set, and is mostly comprised of duct tape. Although it's fragile and more likely to break, I'd rather they break that than screw up my nice kit.

And when I drop a stick. Or hit my hand. These ones are alreay mentioned, but they drive me nuts anyway. And when anything breaks. Then you have to take some time to figure out how you are going to make it work long enough to use it.

And there was this one time when I was adjusting my seat and it fell on my hand and I didn't realise how badly it was bleeding until it was all over my drumset while I was playing. But we were having a good groove, so I didn't want to stop.

[Backwards Marathon]

yeah same with me. it really makes me mad when one of my band members wants to play my kit. because they just dont understand. I also hate it when i drop my sticks or when i hit the rim.

[BenjiMachine]

1. God this is bad, ''Cronic-saturated-sweaty-arse-disease'' get this quite alot of the time not very nice at all...some how it all ends round my arse.
2. Whackin my self, yeah thats bad too
3. Forgeting whats going on, just in general realy...

[Bobhead]

I hate when jamming with a band, I try to add some creative dynamics and it falls on deaf ears by the guitar and bass player, resulting in one long monotonous jam in which my arms go limp and I wonder why I'm even playing. Then I start to resort to seeing what I can do to screw them up and I start having fun again.

[ANIMALBEATS]

You drop stick cos your mind isnt on the ball guys.


Tut and Tut

[JohnLittle]

Suddenly realizing that I don't know how to play drums. It kind of brings everything to a screeching halt.

[secondXheartbeat]

tension rod unscrwed right near the mic, leaving a huge rattle every time i hit the tom or bass drum

[Pacific Blue]

i hate when ill be doing rimshots and then all of a sudden ill just hit the rim, and its just so obvious that something just went wrong...grrr

[jiltednut]

Dude that happened to me to. The stick almost made me blind. I seriously couldnt see for a minute. It was scary

Its a killer, and then when u finally get yur vision back, well partially, u can't see outta that eye for like a day afterwards, similarly leaning in and clipping the back of your ear is pretty painful....actually how'd i manage that....eh...it happened anyway, painful!!

[texassoundman]

"Hey man, do you know Wipeout?"

[Beyer]

It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes when I start playing real hard I will hit myself in the glasses and break them. Oddly enough, it has happened 3 or 4 times.

[MOONCHILD]

when someone breaks my stick and i have to say i told you.
i would really like to have a baseball stick to show him some two or three things

[RalGash]

Whacking myself really hard across the back of my left hand with my right hand whilst doing a spectacular and fast fill. I use traditional grip....

[Smoky_McPot]

I hate hitting your hand whilst playing aswell. More specifically I think the worst instance is when you hit your thumb or 1st finger... It's so hard to get the power back in your snare hits!

[TonKpilS_657]

i had the cam on my pedal fall off of the pedal...strange i know..


i also hate it when you go for a huge tom fill and the stick just goes straight through the head and it throws you off because your stick is inside of the drum and the head is busted and you arent holding onto your stick anymore...

[franklinj]

"Hey man, do you know Wipeout?"

Ha! Ive gotten that one before. Or how about

"Do you know how to play the opening to Sugar Were Going Down?' Ugh.

I play the opening to Rock and Roll every time says that just to throw people off. They give me that "Hey , thats the wrong part, but its still cool!' look.

[joaocalminho]

When the woman running the gig comes up ON STAGE, IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SOLO, to ask you if she can use the mic to make an announcement.

No kidding.

[vedox1024]

the worst things that could happen while playing drums...

falling off the back of the stage.

getting major cramps in the gluteus maximus because the bass drum is too close.

playing a song a million times, then when you record and listen to it, that fill you thought was just oh so awesome... just... isn't.

when you have to play a set, and the snare is one foot off the ground, and you can't raise it.

when people tell you to play quieter!

[Tyrnox]

When I go for a rimshot but my stick slips of something and I end up rimshotting my finger, it's painful for the rest of the jam/gig.

[MOONCHILD]

looks like everyone hate 2 things generaly

1 droping the stick
2 hitting himself with stick

damn sticks

[mikejames]

Momentary brain damage...

Usually occurs when I feel that I'm doing a great job on something...

Just when I think, "Man, I've really matured", or whatever.. That's when the goofy mistake will occur... A slight time fluctuation, a missed rimshot, or whatever.

I think it's the universe's way of saying, "Keep trying, goofball".

[RalGash]

I seen one really good drummer go through something particularly embarrassing.

I think it's called 'brain fart'? His mind went completely blank and he stopped playing in the middle of a solo. He just suddenly couldn't do anything. He was able to conitinue after nearly 2 minutes, but boy that must have been scary. His expression was priceless!

Never happened to him before and he's a young fellow, in his twenties. Hasn't happened since and it was caught on camera.

[lawdawgdv]

The utmost worst thing I had happen was I was playin a gig and I was really in the groove. I did a huge fill and came back around and went to hit my crash. Well......... I brought the stick back adrenalin flowin and full of vibes and hit myself right square on top of my mellon and damn near knocked myself out. i totally lost my place in the song and as if that twernt bad enough the lead singer lost it because he just happened to be lookin at me when I did it he couldnt sing again for almost five minutes he was lahgin so hard. (little advice: your head against Vic Firth = Mas Pain and Vic Firth wins (lmaaaooooo)

The Dawg

[jorn]

Remember when counting in the first song that you forgot to go to the bahroom.
Spoils the whole set.
There must be some beer drinkers and on the board that knows what I am talking about.

Cheers!

[ege_the_drummer]

when people tell you to play quieter!

The absolute worst of all! :)

[Muckster]

My top ten things i hate to have happen while drumming, all of which actually happened!

10. Drop stick
9. Hit self in eye with stick
8. Floor tom leg nut loosens up causing floor tom to lean and rest on my bass drum
playing leg ( in the middle of "higher ground" - chili peppers version).
7. coming in late
6. coming in early
5. Music stand light coming loose and resting on sheet music.
4. Bass player hitting cymbal with neck of guitar (trying to be cool).
3. Crowd throwing stuff at band
2. Bass drum pedal / pedal beater breaking
1. Drum head break

[ege_the_drummer]

o yeah, i also hate hitting myself in the face with my stick.

This rarely happens to me but I remember the first time it happened I was playing BYOB and I hit myself in the face so hard there was a red dot on my forehead for the rest of the day. And it happened on the day of a gig, so I looked a little stupid with a red dot on my forehead that wasnt supposed to be there.

[SilverPearl]

I really hate when I gonk the drum when I don't mean to, rim+head at same time. I also hate when I have this radical fill that I improvised and it doesn't fit or go right and sounds horrible

[iamanidiot32180]

this is uncommon... when your playing and some drunk comes up in the middle of a song and starts talking to you, expecting you to keep the song going AND talk to them

[Cephalic]

I hate not being situated right... like the song gets started and it's too late for me to adjust my seat that little inch or whatever, so I'm stuck like that till the song's over.

[CheeseCake]

I would'nt consider breaking a head or a stick quite as bad because people actually think your cool for doing it. The only thing is that it costs you money.

[groovemaster_flex]

wow, too many tings... breaking/.dropping sticks in the middle of a gig, cuz im also a vocalist forgetting the words or getting a little...uncoordinated while playing and messing up, falling cymbal/snare stand, hitting ur hand while playing... hitting your STICKS while playing (iunno y that throws me off, but it does) and when u get huge blisters on ur hand for gripping ur sticks too tight (bad technique i know, but sometimes u frgt about that while playing)

[drummer625]

One time at a show right in the begining of the song my stick broke in half and i had tp play with it like that...u could barely even hear the cymbals when i hit them it sucked

[hauk]

mine does that too, my dad suggested locktite but I'm not sure if I'd ever get it off again after.

i've been thinking it over, and you know that psuedo wingnut quick-release thing vater makes? you could replace the nut under the top hat with something similar to that if somebody made one that fit the shaft, instead of the 8mm cymbal tilter shafts

[Calum Pirate]

Getting fat-off blisters due to sweaty hands making you grip sticks tighter in gigs. Worse when you finally think you've finished a set, and you can bathe those blisters in cool water, but then your singer decides to make the encore 5 songs long!

Playing with baggy trousers, and getting the bass-drum beater up your trousers. Difficult to sort out hehe. Solution - skinny jeans lol.

Having to come on to play a set, then finding that the stool just won't go anywhere near high enough!

Practising along to a CD, and really getting into it, until your bass-drum-beating starts to make the CD player skip and jog. Grrrrr. . . .

[METAL_DRUMMER]

i hate it when im jamming and all of a sudden i break my last pair of sticks and have to stop playing until i buy new ones

[Martin G.]

Hitting my hand with my stick. GOD THAT HURTS! =P

[76RogersLondoner]

I hate it when I feel as though I am going to faint.

[Beat Spector]

I hate it when I don't find my key to tune my drum immediately :-) it has no fixed place and mostly its near the basdrum on the floor, just out of my sight, just out of my reach (when i'm on the drumchear)
But yea, the number 1 is hitting your own fingers. Or worse: I hit my face twice, and one of those 2 times it was nearly in my eye......it stopped for a few minutes then...thinking i could've been blind...
And sticks flying away...well i put the spare ones straight in the "feet" of my hi hat stand so no problems there.

[Storm Drummer]

definitely the sticks flying outta my hands LOL

when i first started playing i had a death grip on my sticks and my teacher kept getting me to loosen my grip......well now its loose alright! lol i drop my sticks constantly, much to the great amusement of my husband (who plays guitar along side me) and makes him giggle constantly!

[Storm Drummer]

Or worse: I hit my face twice, and one of those 2 times it was nearly in my eye......it stopped for a few minutes then...thinking i could've been blind...


haha i did that once while i was showing off while drunk....got very enthusiastic with the hi hat and umm well it bounced the stick right up into my forehead!

[parser]

Last Sunday night my band played at a retro arcade with a decent stage. It was a good show, but I decided to not bring my rug. I assumed they had one. BIG mistake. The black painted plywood of the stage doesn't keep the drums in place (duh). I definitely know better than this, but it happened! Everything moved everytime I hit it. Every second of pause or break I was realing in all of my drums. I found out my floor toms move closer in! Bass drum beater hitting the floor tom, bass drum moving a good foot every song. Argghh, never again! It's my own fault though.

[CVdrummer]

i hate when i forget to bring my snare to gigs.


it happen twice!

but i learn my lesson. but while drumming i hate when they mic the toms bad adn they get on the way.

[pingride]

i've been thinking it over, and you know that psuedo wingnut quick-release thing vater makes? you could replace the nut under the top hat with something similar to that if somebody made one that fit the shaft, instead of the 8mm cymbal tilter shafts

that's a good idea, much better my loctite which I haven't dared try yet.
I've got one of the pearl plastic cymbal clamp bits and that fits the top of my hi-hat shaft, so maybe a vater one would work, as long as the shaft went all the way through the clamp which it doesn't on my pearl one.

[hauk]

that's a good idea, much better my loctite which I haven't dared try yet.
I've got one of the pearl plastic cymbal clamp bits and that fits the top of my hi-hat shaft, so maybe a vater one would work, as long as the shaft went all the way through the clamp which it doesn't on my pearl one.

thats the problem, i'm not sure if it would... maybe i could hacksaw the top off without messing it up, if it doesnt already have a hole all the way through.. i'd have to go and check one out. or just browse the local hardware store, they might have somthing

[pingride]

I tried putting my normal hi-hat clamp on upsidedown which sort of worked, until I tried to get it off. It wouldn't unscrew so I had to take the stand apart. It was kind of hard to get the top hat the right height too.

[Colin1374]

I hate hitting a tom and making the ring that I have on there fly off, ohh man that sucks. Especially during a solo....ugh. What also sucks is when your cymbol stand was accidently not 100% tightened and your cymbol hold bends over and lands on your smallest tom.

Yea, kick drum moving away (when no carpet is apparent) is very annoying, as well as high hat moving, which is why mine has velcrow (spelling?) on the bottom, then again, only useful for carpet or something to stick on.

And yes, dropping sticks suck, or breaking them THE VERY DAY you got them.


oh and hitting the high hat clamp and making it unscrew sucks too, especially during a gig.

[KLittle123]

One time in concert band while playing the snare drum some kid gave me a droopy and my boxers went with them, that kinda sucked

[samthebeat]

Sweat in the eyes. I sweat like a crooked politcian. It stings and I cant see.

[Jeff Almeyda]

I played a set last week in which the entire rug under the kit moved away from me with each kick hit. I actually got a little applause from the crowd because I managed to adjust the two bass pedals and the kick drum during a 4 bar guitar break on one song.

What a pain!! But, I played my ass off so go figure...

[rockitman]

I hate it when I have to play on a shotty platform or stage that shakes. On time my whole platform started moving, as we had 9 people onstage doing the jump up and down thing.
The computer moniter tumbled, my electronics got water spilled on them, The PRS and stand went down and broke the neck, that was it. we lost money at that point.

[hauk]

I tried putting my normal hi-hat clamp on upsidedown which sort of worked, until I tried to get it off. It wouldn't unscrew so I had to take the stand apart. It was kind of hard to get the top hat the right height too.

i just tried that, it seems to be working. hopefully i'll be able to get mine off :D
i just lowered my bottom hat a ton so i had room to work, put the top hat where i wanted it, and adjusted the bottom hat from there.

[dongrego]

I hate a lot of things that happen when drumming.

One of the msot annoying is being told to stop by winging family.

1. Dropping sticks that make you get up to get em back
2. Smacking any part of your body with a stick, the back of your hand, knees, the worst is your eyebrow thoguh, that really kills! and the crown of your nose, dont ask how I manage to hit here, not done it in ages, thank God.
3. Bass drum slowly getting away as you pound it
4. The legs of my rubbish floor tom collapsing and the tom moving to stupid positions and angles.
5. Breaking sticks, so I use carbon sticks that I havent killed yet
6. Breaking skins, usually only happens in anger after stabbing it because I injure myslef with a stick or summin daft.
7. When there is something you really want t odo jsut cannot physically do it! So frustrating
8. Neighbours threatening to break your arms if you ever play again
9. how my hi hat sometiems slowly turns untill it unscrews itself at the bottom and the pedal drops off!
10. How my seat top always becomes loose coz I shuffle about too much

Well thats 10 things I hate about drumming. Oh and that it hurts my ears, and earplugs hurt to use! :( . Most of those reason I notice are because of my actual kit, if only I could afford something very nice. Still, I love drummign all the same

[Anotheridiot]

First Post, poppin the cherry.

Things I hate ...

1. People (players even!) touching/tapping my cymbals & stuff. AARRGGHHH!!

2. Having to setup in "THAT" spot where my drumset must defy dimensional-physics to actually occupy the space. I know, not technically while drumming per se, but you all know what I mean :)

3. Hearing "Solo! Solo!".


Boom-Chick-Boom...
Anotheridiot.

[groove-dude]

i have realy long hair and when i play rock/metal i tend to throw my head about a bit, the problem is when im sweating my hair matts sometimes my stick gets caught in it
it hurts like hell and totaly throws me out for a couple of measures. also the stick dropping things a real pain or when you break a stick, not notice and end up sticking the sharp end through a skin

[Dill X]

These are the biggest things I hate to happen (worst being #1):

1.) Sticks sliding out of my hand or getting caught under a rim and then flying away.

2.) Hitting yourself in the hand with a stick. (It really hurts!)

3.) Smashing your hand against the rim of a drum and cutting ur finger or knuckle (causing blood to go everywhere).

4.) Stands or drums moving out of postion during a song.

5.) Breaking a snare head in the beginning or end of a song, which has happened a few times lately (not good!).

6.) People with greasy or sweaty hands touching your drumsticks or playing with them. (I hate that soooooooooooooooo much)

[hauk]

i hate getting my stick caught under my ride as i end a fill on my floor tom and go to crash. flies out of my hand, not pretty. heh, i was jamming with a friend the other day and that happened, but the stick landed close to me, so i was able to keep the beat going as i bent down to pick it up. i felt unreasonably and unhealthily cool :D

[radeq]

I hate when I do some fill, and our keyboardist can not count it, and doesn't understand it although it is in the tempo........
I hate when I hit the rim, instead of rimshot
And I hate, when some of the band player is playing faster then the tempo is....
Yeah and sometimes it happens to me, that no ideas are coming to me...so sometimes I'm not creative...yeah and that's horrible feeling

[Fur drummer]

Sweat in the eyes. I sweat like a crooked politcian. It stings and I cant see.
Yea I hate that also. I sometimes wear a headband to prevent that but it still happens now and then.

[Paul Quin]

i hate when i forget to bring my snare to gigs.


it happen twice!

Well that would certainly be a problem! Twice!!! Has anyone ever called you back to gig since doing this - TWICE?!

Paul

[neilpscuz]

man i hate when i get to set up my kit and then the other players move their amps so close i cant get in!!!looks really nice tryin to crawl under stands.or when i hit myself in the side of the head!any time gear breaks,always a pain.also when your playing great and a fight breaks out in front of the club and the crowd rushes out side to watch,aarrgggghhh!

[XAkitAX]

How about when your playing and your tired or not paying attention and you hit the rim of your toms well it might just be me because my practice kit is small...

[osso12]

Past gig this weekend. Played my new dw's for the 3rd time.
Have the case of the sliding hi hat. (pearl high hat not dw of course) I had to slide the thing back to me almost every song. Towards the second set the second night, I realized my feet on the high hat were set for concrete. Turned em over to spikes, did not have the problem again.
Worse thing that ever happened to me in a gig was, I standing up at the end of a song one time to do the what I call "train wreck rolls" and I went to sit back down on the drummers thrown and I had managed to move the thing away from me somehow with my leg.
I went to sit down, thrown not there, drummer straight on his ass. I really felt like playing afterwards...LOL....talk about the noise... I am a rather large guy as well....

[osso12]

i hate when i forget to bring my snare to gigs.


it happen twice!

but i learn my lesson. but while drumming i hate when they mic the toms bad adn they get on the way.

I forgot to bring floor tom legs one time. Had to go back and get em. But what did you do when you forgot the snare?
Mic your own drums. If you have an engineer or sound man, let him check your mics and see if the placement is ok with him. If he does not like the way it is set up, ask him how he prefers you to have it setup. But you be the one with the LAST descision. The engineer or sound man does not have to worry about hitting the microphones or cords. You do.

[hamsterboy]

Here's one. Knockin you bass player unconscious in the middle of a gig. He was leaning in trying to tell me something, (never found out what), near my 16" crash. I (of course) was deep in the groove, prob with my eyes closed, lookin real cool n stuff and just then I noticed that my new Sabian sounded a lot like someone beating somebody between the eyes with a 5b.............which, as it turns out, was exactly what that sound was. He kinda recovered after a few mins sitting down. The crowd all saw it and thought it was hilarious!! Bassist did find it funny after a while.

[drummerchick435]

1. dropping the sticks
2. having my hardware break during a gig
3. messing up in anyway
4. playing the wrong song
5. hitting my hand on the rim of a drum (that has happened to me before. It killed)

[fullmoon]

i hate when i go for a rim shot and hit my finger on the rim it doesnt happen often but it hurts like all get out

[Jason Strange]

I hate when I mute a cymbal crash and the cymbal splits finger open. When I first started gigging I used to have issues with my set. I would set my floor tom like in inch higher and would not know intell I got a sharp reminder from my finger.

[Tom B.]

I hate hitting myself in the knee, or on my nose (sticks coming up to high on the highhat). When the bass drum slips, or when I have had the pedal slip and go on a completely 90 degree angle to the bass drum so it is virtualy hitting nothing. (only happens on my schools drumset, a fellow drummer had to move it and hold it for the whole rest of the song, I thank him for that) I hate breaking a stick and when people tell me to stop drumming.

[Tom B.]

I hate hitting myself in the knee, or on my nose (sticks coming up to high on the highhat). When the bass drum slips, or when I have had the pedal slip and go on a completely 90 degree angle to the bass drum so it is virtualy hitting nothing. (only happens on my schools drumset, a fellow drummer had to move it and hold it for the whole rest of the song, I thank him for that) I hate breaking a stick and when people tell me to stop drumming.

[Salicete]

Bass drums may slide, heads and sticks may break, but my worst ever experience was a walking throne, with me on it, that walked right off the back of the rather narrow riser.

There was no chance for a graceful recovery, and no way to play it off as part of the act.

I just looked stupid, and it hurt too!

[Batera945]

i've hit my thumbs a couple of times when playing a fast beat on the hihat but dont ussually drop the sticks i do miss a cymbal once in a while speacilly at practice after a gig because then i'l just set up the drums really quick and not really pay attention to where everythin is suppost go perfectly lol but i think thats it another one is so,ethin that i think is wrong with my bass drum, whenever i'm doing some double bass with my singlepedal it seems to want to slide off for some reason and its not the pefal i checked... so basically i'm savin some money to get taht pacifit mxr series cherry fade to black wat do u guys think?

[Pocketman]

Thinking about that really cool fill you have been practicing all week....only to have it become a complete train wreck when you actullay play it.

[bmfabes]

any lefty (left hand lead) drummers will agree that having to re-arrange a righty set in less than 5 minutes is an olympic event. especially when its a 6pc (3 rack toms) and cymbals everywhere on a 8'x8' riser that was almost 3 feet off the ground. this happened to me at battle of the bands in high school. I was dog-tired before our first song. not to mention I naturally wasn't used to the hap-hazzard set-up and I missed many drums and cymbals, dropped sticks, and had to limit my fills. we got 3rd place out of 6 bands though!

another thing that shivers my timbers is when someone new you're playing with "shows" you how he wants you to play a beat because you're "not doing it right," when in fact you were just experimenting to see if something else sounds better. (In a kind of karma-inspired moment the person trying to show me on my lefty drum set can't do it anyway!) Or what I really hate is when they try to beat-box the way they want you to do it. I can understand if they said so beforehand that they need it a certain way for a recording, but it's insulting to our intelligence as creative drummers not wanting to do the same-ol', same-ol'. GRRRRRRRRRR!

[capnrusty]

I hate it when my car gets broken into during gigs. That's pretty much the worst.

[fijjibo]

I would hate to break a cymie........... they cost so much to replace....... i would be devastated!!! :-(

[Just Drums]

Man! You guys make drumming sound like a full-contact sport! Hitting faces, knees, thumbs, bass players, noses....etc. I can play fairly hard and I don't ever recall hitting any part of my body. If anything, just rims or a complete miss of the drum/cymbal.

I guess that's at the top of my list. Nothing worse than doing a great big powerful round-house fill only to end it with a big whiff of air.

[ccox01]

Of course i hate dropping my sticks.. and my Hi Hat has a thing u need 2 turn to make it stay. i hate when i hit that and i cant make the hi hats move apart

[hauk]

guess you'll keep extra sticks nearby from now on, eh?

[swervo]

I hate getting stabbed in the middle of the chorus.
Also falling out of the helicopter is unfortunate.
And I think we all dread the giant squid attack.

[rendezvous_drummer]

Oh I have one! When I break a stick and I reach over to pick up a new one, and they slip out of my hand as I bring it out.

[sumwatt]

Holy Schmoly,

I'm sitting here at work reading all of these stories laughing out loud. This has got to be one of the funniest threads I've read on many forums. I don't know of many other kinds of musicians that take this kind of abuse from their own actions and still love to play day in and day out. I guess I have lots more experiences to look forward too. So far my list is:

- flying sticks

- smacking the rim of my tom rather than the head

- having the nut holding the beater loosen and then drop down and nearly rip a hole in the batter head of my drum from the opposite end dragging back across the head.

[dLesage]

Having the bass drum begin to slide away from you as you hit it in the middle of a song.

oh god. i HATE that. and then once it starts going further away and you start hitting it at an outwards angle, it just goes farther, and farther, and FARTHER... ARGH!

that, and having sweat drip into your eyes. that doesn't feel so good.

i think hamsterboy's wins, though.

Here's one. Knockin you bass player unconscious in the middle of a gig. He was leaning in trying to tell me something, (never found out what), near my 16" crash. I (of course) was deep in the groove, prob with my eyes closed, lookin real cool n stuff and just then I noticed that my new Sabian sounded a lot like someone beating somebody between the eyes with a 5b.............which, as it turns out, was exactly what that sound was. He kinda recovered after a few mins sitting down. The crowd all saw it and thought it was hilarious!! Bassist did find it funny after a while.

[Lee Mangano]

Kids don't try this without a parent present ...your mother or sister specifically..... In the 80's....and i swear I only put on make up & eye liner once ...

my original band was performing a Showcase in front of some extremely notable people in the music business and from the very 1st song the sweat dripped down my face......the eye liner went into my eyes & burned like you can't imagine.....i played the whole gig with my eyes completely shut from the burning...& tears rolling down my face....

I played great anyway & no one really noticed & it was so bad I had to have my bass player help me to the dreesing room because i couldn't even open my eyes....Never again !!!! my most hated moment onstage

Lee

[emmerson]

getting into a interesting groove or practicing an interesting new beat and really focused and the stick just slips out of your hand for no reason it doesnt fly it just slips out of your hands

[DTKBigDawg]

Yep, pretty much everyone has listed my usual pet peeves, but one thing happened at a huge picnic we played that just about killed me.
The park was a monster and just over a thousand people were to be spread over the grounds, so when we did our sound check, the fella running the thing told us we weren't loud enough. Yeah, we don't hear that very much do we? Anyways, we mic'ed everything, including my entire kit. Well halfway thru the second of the five sets we were doing, I did a nice fill that I like and for some reason, smacked the snare mic and it came off. There it was, dangling in between the snare and bass, pretty much bouncing with every kick beat...and making some terrible, off-beat noise. And yes, people asked me later what that noise was.
Not something that happens a lot, but happened nonetheless.

[cardan]

Probably the biggest one is when I go to hit a cymbal on the other side of the set of where I was playing, and its a crucial moment, but I completely miss the bow of the cymbal and hit the bell or even the felt, it just totally kills the whole feeling. That one kind of makes me a little frustrated...

[mc77]

Ok, this is so Spinal Tap but when you play on a drum platform that is not constructed well for the job. You fall thru the platform wishing you could spontaneous combust & turn into a green globule like the past drummers of Spinal Tap.

[SAINTDRUMS]

This may be slightly off the beaten path, but this is what I hate to have happen while I'm playing. I hate it when the band's playing a kickin' song and some lovely young women jump up on stage and decide to dance with the bass player, effectively making him a bass player sandwich - or worse yet, decide they're gonna grind him silly on stage. All the while I'm the one laying down the beat they're dancing to. I get green with envy. I do get my "revenge" of sorts in between sets however. Women tend to like drummers better than bassists.....

Saint

[R3flex]

I think we can all agree, one of the most annoying aspects of drumming (people who are heavy on the double-bass might notice it more) is...

You guessed it, swamp ass. I always make sure to have another pair of pants ready after a long time on the drum throne. Don't act like it doesn't happen to you, you know it does.

; )

[SBhockeygod]

^^ yeah swamp ass SUCKS

my biggest annoyance is that my double bass pedal(the remote one*referred to as a slave?) slides when i play it, usually running into the leg of my hi hat, making it unplayable!(any suggestions on stopping that?)

Few others would be....
cymbal stands falling down
smashing your knuckles on rims/sticks/cymbals
cracking cymbals

[Tama Player]

I was playing in front of 4,000 people in the charlotte arena and had the following happen,
1.Drumstick flew out of my hand and into the audiance.
2.lost my balance, and fell over backwards( I was into it to much)
3. Tom Tom fell off(Not screwed on tight enough)

That day was awesome and sucked at the same time!

[matt986]

For me, just a few things.

I hit my finger on my snare hoop while doing a really hard rim shot..broke my finger..that wasn't fun.

Had someone try to walk off with my cymbal bag....(luckily my band and I chased him down the street and proceeded to teach him a thing or two about being curtious)

I had a stick break in half (one to many rim shots I guess) and the top piece went flying off of the riser and into the first couple rows....I thing I hit soem poor girl in the head.....on a related topic, I had my lucky hat stolen by a few teenie boppers (15 and 16 yr old girls for those of you not from CT) and they wouldn't give it back unless I took pictures with them and my band....yeah..but on the bright side, one of their moms was pretty hot.....(and don't laugh....I'm sure im not the only one with a lucky hat..those of you who have one would go through ANYTHING to get it back, just like me.)

[Paul_Klein]

I’ve never broken a stick, head or cymbal (and I play moderately heavy), so I can’t say I hate when those things happen, but I can imagine how much it would suck.

I hate when I’m doing some fills around the toms, and I keep clicking the tips of my sticks together. I think I may need to improve my accuracy.

I hate when my left wrist (I’m a righty) starts to hurt from playing. It’s then sore for the rest of the day if I bend it. I think I may have carpal tunnel syndrome.

I also, of course, hate it when I drop a stick. I usually don’t drop them simply because they fly out my hand, but usually because they get japed under a cymbal, hoop, whatever. But I have a Vater stick holder clamped to my right-hand side crash cymbal stand, so if I do drop one, I have more within quick grasp.

[osso12]

^^ yeah swamp ass SUCKS

my biggest annoyance is that my double bass pedal(the remote one*referred to as a slave?) slides when i play it, usually running into the leg of my hi hat, making it unplayable!(any suggestions on stopping that?)



Yeah, you can always buy another Bass drum and make it a real Double Bass..
Then you definatly wont have that issue.
But seriously. Some say that velcro works.
The problem I have lately is getting my Pearl 202 Powershifter Eliminator Double Pedal
Master to stay attached to the thin DW bass drum hoop.
I have never had this issue till I got my DW's.
Im not sure what Im going to do.
If I push the pedal too far forward, the camber hits the head.
If I pull it too far back and tighten the pedal down, it walks off the hoop.
My Starclassics had a thicker bass drum hoop (width too) and the pedal never walked. I screwed the spurs on the side of the pedal into the carpet which helped some.
Any ideas?
Or do I need to make a new post?

[dailymast]

Broke a tension spring on my pedal one time during a gig and an audience member took a spring off his carburator (sp?) and I used that.....it didnt work very well and it ruined the spring.

[Spence]

My more common annoyances are covered above. Others include:

- Friend buying me some Zildjian Sticks, I thought, their no Vic Firths but I'll take em to my next gig. Out of the 4 sticks, 2 of them broke because the wood is rubbish and it went right along the grain. Never again!

- My friends playing my drums when I'm not home. They have dented the new skins, used some old battered sticks that are not mine and have left marks all over my new skins and cymbals.

- Playing for indie rock band. Couple of gorgeous groupie types convince me not to go back to the hotel on the band bus as I can stay at their house. YES! Only I get seen chatting to a female friend of mine, she leaves, then the 2 ladies leave as they think I'm messing them about. I had to walk miles back to the hotel as I had no money for a taxi.

- Someone asking to borrow my kit AND CYMBALS at a gig, I say yes, then he thrashes them! I have had to shout while he was playing and tell him to play softer. He didn't so then I had to threaten him. Then he did.

- Auditioning new bass player. They said "can I have a go on your kit", I say "sure, no problem. Can I play your bass?". They say "no, I don't like people playing it. It's just personal preference". Then I had to explain that my hihats are worth more than their bass and are virtually irreplaceable. I could buy another bass like this in any music store in the world. Needless to say, this bass player was not for us.

- WORST OF ALL...Playing a high profile gig. Two songs in, my right arm hurts so bad I can barely use it. Started leading with the left then this one hurts. Soldiered on and got tendonitis IN BOTH ARMS. This was 6 months ago and I'm still not better.

[Drum-Head]

Sometimes when I bring the stick up during/after a fast fill I would get it cought on a cymbal or something. I really hate that!

[Muckster]

Played a hard rock gig where we were an opening act so i was using the other drummer's kit and during the second bar of the opening song the felt beater comes flying off the beater rod!!! I'm left playing the bass drum with a metal rod!!! Now i have no bass drum sound and if i keep playing the pedal i'll poke a hole through the head.

I finished the song playing the bass drum part on the floor tom with my right hand. Luckily, My pedals were in a bag next to me (always prepared), and as the lead singer went into stand-up comic mode i quickly changed out pedal beaters.

[LinearDrummer]

Well I played at our football banquet last weekend and didn't bring my carpet....
And of course the stage was freshly waxed and my BD was sliding all over place...

Thats what I get for not comming prepared....

[Barefoot]

I hate when the bass drum beater gets caught in my pant leg and I'm playing heel up. I lose my balance because my foot doesn't make it all the way down and I end up falling forward and my sticks hit things they arent suppossed to, and out of time, and the band loses the beat cause they are wondering what the heck just happenned to their drummer. Doh.

[funk49]

I hate it when I'm looking at the set list and somehow skip the next song. It makes for a lot of strange looks when you count off the the next slow song at 250 b.p.m.

[Crazy]

Probably someone screaming at a show "what a cheap drummer"

[kaseli]

You know those tiny wood chips that come off your sticks when you hit the hihat and cymbals, and that eventually land on your snare. Well, I've had it happen a number of times that some of them got stuck on my sweaty fingers and as I go to wipe off my sweaty forehead, some of those little chips get stuck under my contacts!!

Not fun!. Not only does is not feel all that good, but reading music suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.

[xdrmusclex]

missing your snare on a really hard hit and smacking you kneecap

getting too drunk while practicing and my leg gets really lazy and wont play faster beats, also leads to getting really distracted

forgetting to put in ear plugs on a loud song and have to continue playing even though it is painful!

breaking ALL your sticks during one song

[hawk9290]

Missing a drum/cymbal at a key point
Hitting myself hard with a stick
Dropping the stick
Having a tom fall off
Forgetting to fully tighten the snare stand down, so it is suddenly at a 45 degree angle and 7 inches below where it was before
Hitting a cymbal so hard (on one of my cheap stands) that it loosens the screw and its suddenly tilted at a 90 degree angle
Having the throw off switch on my cheap snare get stuck down\
A cymbal stand falls over
The hihat pedal falls apart
Breaking 5 pairs of sticks within minutes of each other
Falling off my throne
Yelling "@#$%!!!!!!!" after any of the above has occured


Over my 8 years of drumming, each of the above has happened at least once

[Joel Woody]

one of my friends didnt feel very good when he was playing and he vomited all over his set.........we laughed HARD......but we also felt bad bc it was his baby.....poor guy

[Deathmetalconga]

one of my friends didnt feel very good when he was playing and he vomited all over his set.........we laughed HARD......but we also felt bad bc it was his baby.....poor guy

Holy cow! That about takes the cake.

[bonzolead]

My bass drum pedal broke on a gig once. Not really break, but the beater came loose and was unplayable. On a funk tune as well. I told the bass player to turn his mids up to cover up. I got it fixed though. But still, that's not something great to happen.

I remember one of my friend's cymbal stands fell down on the floor one time. Very loud crash. Not very musical.

I went through a bass drum head at a gig and ended up using my floor tom as a bass drum.

Bonzolead

[bonzolead]

any lefty (left hand lead) drummers will agree that having to re-arrange a righty set in less than 5 minutes is an olympic event. especially when its a 6pc (3 rack toms) and cymbals everywhere on a 8'x8' riser that was almost 3 feet off the ground. this happened to me at battle of the bands in high school. I was dog-tired before our first song. not to mention I naturally wasn't used to the hap-hazzard set-up and I missed many drums and cymbals, dropped sticks, and had to limit my fills. we got 3rd place out of 6 bands though!

another thing that shivers my timbers is when someone new you're playing with "shows" you how he wants you to play a beat because you're "not doing it right," when in fact you were just experimenting to see if something else sounds better. (In a kind of karma-inspired moment the person trying to show me on my lefty drum set can't do it anyway!) Or what I really hate is when they try to beat-box the way they want you to do it. I can understand if they said so beforehand that they need it a certain way for a recording, but it's insulting to our intelligence as creative drummers not wanting to do the same-ol', same-ol'. GRRRRRRRRRR!next time you play on a right-handed kit close the hi-hat play with your arms parallel to one another and use your bass drum foot on the bass drum instead of the hi-hat.that's why the hi-hat is closed.i'm right-handed and my dad is left-handed and that is what I use to do when I played his kit.just some insight

Keep Swatting,
Bonzolead

[bonzolead]

I would hate to break a cymie........... they cost so much to replace....... i would be devastated!!! :-(
I haven't. broke a cymbal since I learned to sweep and not go through the cymbal and also make sure there is no metal to metal contact between your cymbal stand and cymbal that will break them everytime.

Keep swatting,
Bonzolead

[bonzolead]

i hate when i forget to bring my snare to gigs.


it happen twice!

but i learn my lesson. but while drumming i hate when they mic the toms bad adn they get on the way.yes once I forgot my cymbal safe with all my cymbals it's only happen once but man you really realize how much you need cymbals when they ain't. there LOL

Bonzolead

[bonzolead]

I don't. like to break sticks unless i'm meaning to do it LOL and once I hit the snare rim with my index finger knuckle OUCH.but one of my pet-peaves is when a song doesn't. go exactly right and the guitar player or anyone else just stops the tune.usually people don't. notice mess-ups but when you stop everybody notices.Oh yeah I broke a cymbal stand once during a solo it had a cool visual effect but it sucked when I had to weld it back together the cymbal didn't. break through.just a couple of things.

Bonzolead

[ZildjianMan1023]

i hate when im doing fills and my sticks consitently hit the hoops not fun

[Lee Mangano]

i hate when im doing fills and my sticks consitently hit the hoops not fun

I have to assume your a beginner with a problem like this...at least I hope you are, couldn't see how old you were on your profile... even a 40 yr old can pick up the drums & be a beginner...so I don't mean to insult you..

But either way...you desperatley need to fix that...it's simple..play a basic beat and for a whole week utilize 1 drum at a time...but before you do...set your toms & floor tom so your not reaching. & they are comfortable to hit.

All Toms place level across & set the rims 1" apart...enough so they don't hit each other

Week #1 - play a 1 count 1/16th note drum fill on Tom # 1 every other 4th count
Week #2 - play a 2 count 1.16th note drum fill on Tom # 1-2 every other 3rd & 4th count
Week #3 - play a 2 count 1.16th note drum fill on Tom # 1-2-3 every other 2nd-3rd -4th ct

[fourstringdrums]

I hate it when I play badly, or can't think of anything new.

[kung_f00]

I hate dropping sticks, because while some people can retrieve or grab a new one gracefully, I usually fumble.

[King Of Drums]

It's not something that happened while playing, but it's something that gets me very mad. I have a friend that ALWAYS wants to play my drums and all he evey does (since he has no rhythm) is blast beats(horrible blast beats at that). Just gets annoying especially at practice when we try to get things done but thats all he wants to do.
Oh my gosh man I hear you! I know this kid that is just like that. He has absolutely 0 rhythm and somehow he thinks he's good! He randomly smacks the whole kit with no rhythm or technique extremely HARD. I cringe just hearing him play, thinking how many different ways he could destroy parts of my kit! He's got like a serious case of adhd!

On to the question...Hmm I love drumming so I don't really hate anything that happens, you've gotta make mistakes to learn. But I really don't like playing other peoples kits because they are usually terrible. Especially at gigs.

[Lee Mangano]

I hate it when I play badly, or can't think of anything new.


When ever you can't think of anything new to play ...teach yourself a new song you love the drumming in, try and tackle something a level above your ability, this way you will challenge yourself & don't quit till you get it...you'll accomplish a few things

1- You'll be forced to play perfectly in time with the song
2- It'll keep your interest up because it's a new project
3- You'll increase your ear training skills trying to break down the drum parts
4- And you just the bar a little higher for yourself & set a new goal

You have a "Great" day......Lee

[fijjibo]

When ever you can't think of anything new to play ...teach yourself a new song you love the drumming in, try and tackle something a level above your ability, this way you will challenge yourself & don't quit till you get it...you'll accomplish a few things

1- You'll be forced to play perfectly in time with the song
2- It'll keep your interest up because it's a new project
3- You'll increase your ear training skills trying to break down the drum parts
4- And you just the bar a little higher for yourself & set a new goal

You have a "Great" day......Lee

Dont forget to steal ideas off Gadd....

[drum.lad]

i never drop sticks because i use vater nude 5a but thos things break easy enough which always seems to happen in the middle of a song and i forgot to fill up my stick holder at the start of a gig and i end up playing the rest of the song with one stick and during that same song my snare stand unscrewed and went down to my feet at around same time the stick broke i just laugh at it now but it was the worst experince of my drumming life

[That Guy]

Every once n awhile I will crack the right corner of my eye with the stick on the down stroke. Man that hurts.

[ghuyuiq]

I hate it when I just found some cool licks or fills and I practise them so I don't forget them, or when I'm just very creative, and then my mom comes in to tell me to stop.

And also, playing a hard rimshot with your nail on the rim, so your nail is split in two, hurts...
I had that yesterday lol.

[ZildjianMan1023]

I have to assume your a beginner with a problem like this...at least I hope you are, couldn't see how old you were on your profile... even a 40 yr old can pick up the drums & be a beginner...so I don't mean to insult you..

But either way...you desperatley need to fix that...it's simple..play a basic beat and for a whole week utilize 1 drum at a time...but before you do...set your toms & floor tom so your not reaching. & they are comfortable to hit.

All Toms place level across & set the rims 1" apart...enough so they don't hit each other

Week #1 - play a 1 count 1/16th note drum fill on Tom # 1 every other 4th count
Week #2 - play a 2 count 1.16th note drum fill on Tom # 1-2 every other 3rd & 4th count
Week #3 - play a 2 count 1.16th note drum fill on Tom # 1-2-3 every other 2nd-3rd -4th ct


nah man nah.. im deff not a noob to drums.. most of the time i dont think so my sticks click on the hoops or on the sticks.. but for the most part everything else is good timewise posture wise beatwise

[ZildjianMan1023]

or how about your excited about a gig and you count off and jab the stick in your eyeball(happened to me las summer)

[Lee Mangano]

Dont forget to steal ideas off Gadd....


First I havn't listned to Steve Gadd since 1973 when he played with Jim Groce etc...He's great but Im not into most of his kind music as "great" a drummer he is..

So I truly don't know what ideas your talking about...clue me in...then once you point them out.... can you please tell me who Steve Gadd stoled those ideas off so I know the exact history of the original source...and I will be sure to credit that person...

Thank You..Lee

[Salicete]

I really hate when this happens:


1-e-and-a-2-e-and-a-4-e-and...........NO - 3!!!!

And then the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch blows up in your face.

[de Nick]

beat your cold fingers with your sticks while you really enjoy playing.

[drumr0]

Having my drum throne break in the middle of a blazing rendention of "Rocky Top."

[ULTIMATEDRUMMER]

Having the frikkin' drum pedal fall off the bass drum at a jazz compitition.

[drovja]

One time when I scratched my face during a break, I started to come in and had somehow managed to put the drumstick between my head and my in-ear cable. So coming down to the snare with my hand gave me a ringing ear, confused look on the face, and no monitor. This was during praise time at church, where everyone is in a 10-30 ft radius of where I'm sitting, and as I'm the lead singer and the drums are right below the screen, they look at me a lot. I looked extra smart that day.

[Joe P]

When your stick breaks and the tip flies back into your face, and hits you in the eye :(

[fijjibo]

First I havn't listned to Steve Gadd since 1973 when he played with Jim Groce etc...He's great but Im not into most of his kind music as "great" a drummer he is..

So I truly don't know what ideas your talking about...clue me in...then once you point them out.... can you please tell me who Steve Gadd stoled those ideas off so I know the exact history of the original source...and I will be sure to credit that person...

Thank You..Lee

Ouch....

Let me just point out that what Im about to say will be backed up by almost every other member here.

Steve Gadd is an innovator. Have you ever heard the groove from 50 ways in a song recorded previously?
Has anyone pre-gadd played some of the unique crazy army licks?
I could go on.

To be precise, Steve Gadd didnt steal his ideas from anyone - he took them and modified them to suit the song.

Now, call me ignorant, but Im not sure there was ever a Gadd before Gadd....

Next youll be telling me that Buddy Rich stole his ideas from Joey Jordison....
lol, I joke.

[spartacus1989]

Now, call me ignorant, but Im not sure there was ever a Gadd before Gadd....

Your Ignorant :D

--20--

[fijjibo]

Your Ignorant :D

--20--

Funny.....


Post like these dont help anyone, and just waste server space.

(as do posts like the one im writing now....)

[aegir77]

Playin outdoors somewhere extremely cold and not being able to move your hands and fingers as you normally do. It has happened to me and i warmed up like 30 min before the show.

[aruration]

Blisters

20 in each hand

[Phil Brodermann]

The worst musical experience I've ever had was a 'live audition'; In other words it was an audition at a gig.

So; already I'm playing someone else's gear/set-up, which we all know is very uncomfortable and a lot of hard work.

It was a function band playing at a wedding, I'd been given the click tracks before hand, learnt them and was perfectly confident in my ability to pull it off.

As I'm on my way to the gig I get a call from the band leader "Oh, do you have headphones with you?"

No, I said, thinking I could have done with a little more notice.

"Not a problem" he said, so I forgot about it.

So I got to the venue and he hands me these in ears that absolutely would not fit, let alone stay in my ears.

So, I couldn't hear the click and the backing track was completely out of sync: a true train wreck.

I felt so useless as I know I would have played fine with my phones.

I know it's the whole 'bad workman blames tools' thing but...

I can't paint a picture without any F*cking paint...

If you see what I mean.

[cobamnator]

Ancient threads that get Resurrected...while drumming

[N.I.B.]

1. Dropping sticks. I have my stick bag tied to the lugs on my floor tom, so it's not as bad of a problem as it used to be.

2. Playing particularly fast rolls and hitting my face with the stick on the rebound. Hit myself in the eye once and it hurt like hell!

3. Sliding equipment - this happens a lot with my pedal-operated tambourine. Putting weights behind the pedal help though.

4. Having a fellow bandmate glare at you if you miss a cue while playing live. If there were ever a time for your stick to fly out of your hand (and hit said bandmate), that's the best time for it to happen!

[Mikecore]

Missing bits of the kit, broken snare head with no backup, falling cymbals, bleeding finger from trying to stop the falling cymbals and demands for an encore...all in a 40-minute set.

[nickg]

having to desperately go to the bathroom in the middle of the set....and i don't me to pee!!!

[Pocket-full-of-gold]

having to desperately go to the bathroom in the middle of the set....and i don't me to pee!!!

I'm pretty damn positive that, that was the sole reason the Marshall stack was invented. ;-)

[sXeDanimalsXe]

Things I hate to have happen when I am playing.

Dropping a stick isn't a big deal because I have a stick holder to my left, stick bag to my right.

Slamming my finger between a diecast hoop and the stick, that sucks.

Gashing my hand open on said hoop, or a cymbal.

Having my rack fall apart while playing, causing the drums to fall on to the kick... that sucks.

Having everyone in the room walk out when we start playing... yup... that sucks.

Having a fight brake out, causing me to leap from my drums and pin them up against the wall... that was funny... but still sucks.

Smashing my self in the face/nose with a stick... that sucks.

Forgeting how the song goes... mid song... that sucks.

Not being able to hear the guitars...that sucks.

Busting heads.. that sucks...

that's all I got right now.

[diegobxr]

Haha, I love it when 4 year old threads come back to life! :D

For me the worst is hands getting sweaty. That's horrible, you know that any moment soon your sticks are gonna fly, so you have two options:
1) keep playing normally and eventually you'll drop one, or
2) stiffen your grip making a fist, play like shit and get some nice blisters on your hands, (but no flying sticks).

That alone makes me want to take hand powder to the gigs.

Cheers.

[The Gedge]

Mainly just the usual, boring stick-dropping. Another small thing is failing at a cymbal choke.

[BuddhaTrixie]

When my guitarist uses a loop station for a rythym track but it's not loud enough that it's obvious when drumming along.

And when I hit the snare so quickly the drumhead catches fire.

[Pollyanna]

When I was playing rock bass drum and hi hat creep used to bug me. Also, having the lights put too close to my back so I was being roasted. But the worst was weak or unbalanced foldback.

[larryace]

I hate it when I get busted while on break lol.

That and getting my van stolen while playing, yea I hate that too.

I'll take bass drum creep, dropped sticks and the like any day over that.

[caddywumpus]

I hate it when girls throw their undergarments onstage at me. Seriously...sometimes they pile up so high, I can't see the rest of the band! Ugh!

[Zickos]

You drop a stick and when you reach over to pick it up, you knock over a cymbal severing the hand of the trumpet player next to you. Blood is going everywhere. I an attempt to control it you knock over your drum set, rendering the sax player in front of you unconscious. When the singer attempts to help, she trips over the microphone cord and knock over two other players and bends the trombone players' slide. I hate it when that happens.

[Sjogras]

Today a drumstick broke when I hit the 10" tom right in front of me, causing the top piece to fly right towards me and hit me right in the forehead... Can't really say I enjoyed it, it still hurts!

[Stalwart_Pandora-Chris]

When your cymbal stand comes loose and flies around. Worst of all... It's your ride, your on the stage and playing a prog song...

And also really high thrones :/ and snare's breaking mid song live too... So you're tuning it as high as possible to get a tone!

[Hercules]

You drop a stick and when you reach over to pick it up, you knock over a cymbal severing the hand of the trumpet player next to you. Blood is going everywhere. I an attempt to control it you knock over your drum set, rendering the sax player in front of you unconscious. When the singer attempts to help, she trips over the microphone cord and knock over two other players and bends the trombone players' slide. I hate it when that happens.

.... thought you were on a winner when you took out the sax player ;-)

[Davo-London]

Funny.....


Post like these dont help anyone, and just waste server space.

(as do posts like the one im writing now....)

Actually, if we are talking about ignorance then it should be:

"You're ignorant" not "your ignorant"

Just thought I would waste some more server space. : )

Davo

[Mark_S]

Today a drumstick broke when I hit the 10" tom right in front of me, causing the top piece to fly right towards me and hit me right in the forehead... Can't really say I enjoyed it, it still hurts!

Now that's rebound!
......

[HipshotPercussion]

Hitting a crash cymbal when I'm going for a rack tom. (Only happened when I used Ringo Starr sticks. You know, sticks "too long to box with God.")

Smacking my left hand with my right stick while grooving with a great hi-hat pattern.

Dropping a stick in the middle of my one big drum solo of the night. It's especially embarrassing at my age because I can just "hear" the audience thinking, "Oh...he's old...."

Playing with a group that uses a recorded/backing track that I can't hear. Kinda hard to stay on tempo, y'know?

Having my left calf cramp up toward the end of the gig. (Because then it's me thinking, "Oh...I really am old....")

[Bertram]

Haha, I love it when 4 year old threads come back to life! :D

For me the worst is hands getting sweaty. That's horrible, you know that any moment soon your sticks are gonna fly, so you have two options:
1) keep playing normally and eventually you'll drop one, or
2) stiffen your grip making a fist, play like shit and get some nice blisters on your hands, (but no flying sticks).

That alone makes me want to take hand powder to the gigs.

Cheers.

+1 on the sweaty hands. +200 on blisters....

[ddrum_daz]

my stick flew out of my hand and knocked my cup of coke over :(

[HipshotPercussion]

my stick flew out of my hand and knocked my cup of coke over :(
A knocked-over bottle of coke I could survive. But if it was tequila....

[inneedofgrace]

In the middle of a set, having the guitar player tell you that you are humming into your head-set microphone in between when you are singing background vocals. I thought he was crazy until I listened to the recording of the gig, and then I heard someone humming (more like moaning or grunting). Apparently I was humming along to the guitar parts. Maybe I picked the wrong instrument to play? LOL

Sometimes I wish I could use a boom mic!

[get_rad]

1. Dropping sticks. I have my stick bag tied to the lugs on my floor tom, so it's not as bad of a problem as it used to be.

2. Playing particularly fast rolls and hitting my face with the stick on the rebound. Hit myself in the eye once and it hurt like hell!

3. Sliding equipment - this happens a lot with my pedal-operated tambourine. Putting weights behind the pedal help though.

4. Having a fellow bandmate glare at you if you miss a cue while playing live. If there were ever a time for your stick to fly out of your hand (and hit said bandmate), that's the best time for it to happen!

i once threw a stick at a guitarist cause he wouldnt stop playing, it ended up hitting him in the eye haha

[nitrokid]

when you are using grip tape on your sticks and the coulor rubs of on to your hands and you put your hand on your face. You come off looking like a clown!

[Homeularis]

No matter what, when I set up my kit, it has pieces that are not in the perfect position.

Memory locks, no memory locks, sharpie marks, booms, straight stands, boom arms, virgin kick, bass mounted toms, floor tom angles...Holy crap!...its impossible!!!.

Why don't I just play Bass?. I already know how to set up a great Bass Rig with enough fixens to sound like thunder on steroids, and I don't even know how to play Bass!!!.
I'd even bet that I could tune a Bass Guitar, set up and get the right tone on a Bass Rig faster than I could set up my own drum kit!.

I'm not saying that Bass would be easy to learn, not at all. I'm just saying that in order to play the funnest instrument in the band (DRUMS!) requires an ass load of work.

Is it worht it?.
I submit that it is!!!..ha ha.

Aaaaah...the drums...love is. :)

[larryace]

Apparently I was humming along to the guitar parts. Maybe I picked the wrong instrument to play? LOL


I used to hum too. I believe it to be a bad habit. When you hum, you are not listening with 100%. I used to hum to compensate...if the music sounded thin, I would hum to make it sound more full in my own head. Which obviously doesn't affect how others heard things, it just further isolated me from what was really happening.

I had to force myself to NOT hum. As a result, I hear things closer to as they really are, which really helped with my awareness. I get many compliments on how well I follow soloists. I have no agenda other than giving them an appropriate beat to work around. The rest is listening to where they are going and playing to the nuances in that particular solo. That's what I get the compliments on as it's apparent that I am looking intently at the soloist, trying to be as one with them, and really listening to what they are trying to accomplish, and match my drumming seamlessly to their solo.

I am in a house band that hosts an open mic and I get to see a lot of drummers and one thing that separates the crap drummers from the better ones is their level of awareness. It's definitely mental. Most guys don't listen to the soloist and try and compliment them, they have their own agenda trying to fit their stupid fills in.

Back on topic though, humming compromises your listening IMO.

[JClutchD]

When people yell "DRUM SOLO!!!" between every song.

Drives. Me. Nuts.

[HipshotPercussion]

Gee. I. Kinda. Liked. It.

Thought it meant they cared about me.

>sigh<

[MikeM]

Drunk bass players who have issues with time even when sober... yikes. Glad I don't play with him anymore.

[Pollyanna]

When people yell "DRUM SOLO!!!" between every song.

Drives. Me. Nuts.

Dunno about calls for solos but when you're in a lounge-y band and someone yells PLAY SOME RAWK AND ROLLLL! ... that's when you know you're at the wrong gig (never mind Steve Moore).

It's. Very. Disheartening.

[Drummer Calvin]

I haven't read all of the replies here yet, but the common things I read so far are: (any orders)

1- dropping a stick: It's normal, IMO
2- Hitting your knuckles/face: you're getting too "hot" Relax a bit helps more practice helps too
3- Breaking drum head/sticks" Band stage's volumne is too high and you have to compete against that. I almost never break stick again
4- Bass drum/hi hat sliding: I bring my own carpet (bought from Home Depot for cheap)
5- Stand collapsing: Preventable, make sure you spend time walking aroung the set and really tighten all the wing nuts, or screws
6- Cymbal flying off the stand: Read # 5
7- Beater coming loose: Read # 5
8- No more drum sticks avail. Preventable, It's really your fault.
9- Forgetting drum key at home: Preventable
10- Cramping your forearm muscles: You need more practice and better technic as said here

Most of us probably can grap another stick within 1 second. And I have extra sticks everywhere. They are in my cymbal bag, hardware bag... so are the drum keys.

[tbdd]

You drop a stick and when you reach over to pick it up, you knock over a cymbal severing the hand of the trumpet player next to you. Blood is going everywhere. I an attempt to control it you knock over your drum set, rendering the sax player in front of you unconscious. When the singer attempts to help, she trips over the microphone cord and knock over two other players and bends the trombone players' slide. I hate it when that happens.


Thats impressive man!

pedals coming un attatched when playing double ( i re check everytime and it still happens...)
drum stool lowering it self regardless of memory locks (happened just last show, stupid mapex balls,****,****,*****, a horse eating **** **** narrrgh..... )
kit sliding every different direction

[The Scorpio]

I usually sing back up vocals when I gig. So I used to play with this band, and when the singer would forget the lyrics (often) he would then shout at me to finish the verse where he left off!! I sing BACK UP VOCALS, not lead vocals. I don't mind picking up a line or two if the singer has a brain-fart. It happens. But not on every other song!

[Lickety Britches]

ive popped a blister on my finger before in the middle of a song, grossest feeling ever. not to mention it hurts the rest of the set.

[Pollyanna]

Some lighting complaints:

1. The light cans are too set up close and you feel like your back is being grilled

2. Spotlights in your eyes

3. Too dark to read the set list.

4. I once saw a drummer's kick drum catch alight mid-song because the cans were too close and the wrap must have been old and a bit dried out

[HipshotPercussion]

Some lighting complaints:

...4. I once saw a drummer's kick drum catch alight mid-song because the cans were too close and the wrap must have been old and a bit dried out

I would've paid to see that. Which, I suppose, says way too much about me.

[tbdd]

Some lighting complaints:


4. I once saw a drummer's kick drum catch alight mid-song because the cans were too close and the wrap must have been old and a bit dried out

That's knarley, did you get any footage or photos!?!?

[Lotter]

Maybe this is just me, bt if you share my annoyment then you'll understand. This doesn't really effect my playing as much as it does the image of my set. But my sticks will chip due to hitting the cymbals, and it creates a sawdust type of dust that is like attracted to my polished black shells and I hate that! And it gets between the heads and the rims. Grr

[Alexp1401]

Losing a stick, when moving it in a way that it gets caught either below a cymbal or caught on the side of a drum and just goes flying somewhere.

[MrPockets]

When you are mid song and you feel like you butt is a volcano while you hopelessly try to hold it in.

The Horror.

[Kg_lee]

I play my kick drum entirely to hard and I wear my leg out. I get to the point where I struggle to play consistently.

[Dr_Watso]

Having the frikkin' drum pedal fall off the bass drum at a jazz compitition.

I've had that happen to me a few times. I should remember to tighten it to the pedal more often, I rarely break it down to move it, and it likely comes loose traveling to shows, etc.

One night I sat down after some other guy had gone ape on my kit (he also gave me a speech about how "a double pedal would take my playing to the 'next level'", but I digress)... Anyway, after he "played", something was way off on my kick drum, and I couldn't figure out why stuff wasn't working right. At first I thought maybe he just stretched out the batter head or something. I finally figured out that he had literally bent the metal of my kick beater backwards... I was not impressed with the "feat".

[patrice]

ive popped a blister on my finger before in the middle of a song, grossest feeling ever. not to mention it hurts the rest of the set.

Used to happen to me too.

I would then just start holding the stick between the index and the middle finger.
It works. :-)

Patrice

[Midnite Zephyr]

I hate it when I accidentally spill my beer.