GC Drum off

[cducar]

Hey I was wondering how tough the early rounds of competition are for the Guitar Center drumoff. I don't know if it is worth my time to try if I only have like 5 years of playing under my belt. Have any of you ever competed?

[Fur drummer]

I have never competed in one but have seen them. A lot of drummers in the early rounds of the competitions I saw were not that good. Go ahead and enter.

[Illicom]

It's obviously going to depend on the area, enough that we can't tell you how tough your competition will be.

5 years of playing? Give it a shot! You don't have anything to lose.

[Drums558]

Of coarse it's worth a try! Thats a big part of how you learn.
Now sign up and try, but don't get hung up on winning, get hung up un learning. Plus, it's fun to meet other drummers in your area, listen to how and what they play, etc...
Take it serious and try to do your best, but make it fun.

Mike

[Class A Drummer]

I agree it is worth a try even if its just for experiance. There are plenty of people who are really really good who compete. I didnt see the preliminaries but i asked the guy who worked there, he said there were only 5 people, one of them not so good, 3 of them were really good, and one was amazing. I wished i had seen it. I want to see them this year. When i turn 18 i definitley would like to compete.

[cducar]

They lowered the age to 16 this year

[enforcerdrummer]

I've been wondering about entering a drum off. Sam Ash has their own drum off by me as well. Sometimes I time myself for three minutes and play some type of groove and throw in a long fill, here or there. What do the judges look for? I've seen some you tube videos where the drummers are out of site, they knew what to do in those three or so minutes! They throw it down, relentlessly, in your face...

[sio_13]

i went to one in nashville a couple years back and was highly disappointed that i didn't get sign up on time. i thought it was gonna be a bunch of little tony roysters runnin around, but very few people actually solo'd; they would play they same beat for the whole time. just mix it up, throw in some fills when possible, and get technical. i would definitely work out a routine and practice to a click, cause they do judge on keepin time. i'm sure we could all use the free gear too...

[maddrummr]

gahh I cant wait till i'm old enough.

[mikeybbdrummin]

Hey I was wondering how tough the early rounds of competition are for the Guitar Center drumoff. I don't know if it is worth my time to try if I only have like 5 years of playing under my belt. Have any of you ever competed?

I did it back in 1994 at 25 years old and had been playing for 7 years. The first part I took 2nd out of 7. The first 2 guys went to the next week. So in the the second part there was about 10-12 guys and I didnt even get looked at. I was competing against guys w/up to 25 years experience. A judge, drummer from Mike and The Mechanics, complemented me on my playing, said he liked it alot. That was cool. But just do it! If you dont you may regret it. After the first time it will all be easier. And you should go watch other drummers and see if you can pick up ideas.
Just go have fun!

[flicky]

I just checked the GC website, it has no details.
What's the prize? How does it work? Is there a kit set up in the middle of the store so customers can watch also? Do all GC's participate in the compitition?

Thanks

[maddrummr]

I just checked the GC website, it has no details.
What's the prize? How does it work? Is there a kit set up in the middle of the store so customers can watch also? Do all GC's participate in the compitition?

Thanks

Well i think i remember reading about this from last year.

I think each store has their competition and the top drummers go on to regionals then after regionals is a state competition then a whole shabang somewhere. You win tons of gear and yes there is a house kit used for the competition that everyone uses.

But i'm not sure...i could be totally wrong.

[Guinness]

Do you actually draw a random song to play along to or is it just just a drum solo?

[brittc89]

Do you actually draw a random song to play along to or is it just just a drum solo?

Just a drum solo, it was a three minute solo the last time I did it I believe.

[Trip McNealy]

yea, the site has no details yet even though it says "August 1".

i'm going to enter this time, i missed out last time and FWIW, you don't have anything to lose!

[PreppieNerd]

I just got an announcement in the e-mail for the GC Drum-Off. Last year I was bummed because you had to be at least 18, but this year they've dropped the minimum to 16 years of age. Time to start writing that solo.

Edit: I think I need to stop looking at the prizes online or I'll hyperventalate.

[maddrummr]

http://www.gcdrumoff.com/

der ya go

[beefythedrummer]

I plan on signing up for the drum off down here, because this is the first year we've had a guitar center. I really want to go to see other drummers, because I barely know any. I mean the worst thing that can happen is someone can be better than you if you enter lol, and you get to play on nice kits:)

[voldak]

I think it's definitely worth trying. I'm going to try to get signed up this year. The closest Guitar Center is approx 90-100 miles away, so I'm going to have to make a trip just to sign up for it since you can't online or over the phone. I would love to hopefully do good enough to at least win the store. I need some gear hahaha.

[mattsmith]

I mean the worst thing that can happen is someone can be better than you if you enter lol, and you get to play on nice kits:)

I've noticed in the store comps a lot of bizarre unexplainable judging made by unqualified guys, or teacher judges who obviously favor their students. This is why I will never do it. To me that would really be the worst thing that could happen. Now I'm sure the judging gets legit when you get to regionals. But you still have to get out of your local store.

A couple of years ago a guy who probably about 30 years old, came up to me and asked What exactly do you call single strokes? I was surprised, but did my little WFD talk, and felt bad for this guy who had trouble keeping this simplest of exercises together for 5 seconds. Well a couple of days later I go watch the local store GC comps and he's one of the judges. I also wasn't surprised when he was the first to vote for the stick twirlers, while some really cool guys who could have won the regionals never got out of the store. Turns out he was a friend of the manager. That's how that stuff works in some/not all/places.

This is also why the only comp I trust is the one where the machine spits out results. When you win that one there's no question what just happened.

[brittc89]

I've noticed in the store comps a lot of bizarre unexplainable judging made by unqualified guys, or teacher judges who obviously favor their students. This is why I will never do it. To me that would really be the worst thing that could happen. Now I'm sure the judging gets legit when you get to regionals. But you still have to get out of your local store.

A couple of years ago a guy who probably about 30 years old, came up to me and asked What exactly do you call single strokes? I was surprised, but did my little WFD talk, and felt bad for this guy who had trouble keeping this simplest of exercises together for 5 seconds. Well a couple of days later I go watch the local store GC comps and he's one of the judges. I also wasn't surprised when he was the first to vote for the stick twirlers, while some really cool guys who could have won the regionals never got out of the store. Turns out he was a friend of the manager. That's how that stuff works in some/not all/places.

This is also why the only comp I trust is the one where the machine spits out results. When you win that one there's no question what just happened.

Youre totally right. I did the drum-off two years ago and went to the district finals and one of the guys playing personally knew ALL the judges because he was from the area. It was ridiculous. He dropped a stick twice, played as trite as you can get, and just generally was not phenomenal, but he still won. Maybe he was better than i thought and was just having a bad day because he went to the national finals. I was just pissed when it happened, especially because he dropped his sticks twice, that seems like something that would definitely lose you some points, it took away any built momentum as he picked up a new one. Lame.

BUT, this is drumming. Its so subjective. You never know what people are gonna want, you just have to play your best and hopefully your musical vision lines up to some extent witht the people judging you, be it some drum-off or an important audition.

[mattsmith]

I was just pissed when it happened, especially because he dropped his sticks twice, that seems like something that would definitely lose you some points, it took away any built momentum as he picked up a new one. Lame.

BUT, this is drumming. Its so subjective. You never know what people are gonna want, you just have to play your best and hopefully your musical vision lines up to some extent witht the people judging you, be it some drum-off or an important audition.

You're right about the subjective part for sure. But GC adds to the problem with an actual showmanship score that can include any number of wanker tasks from stick twirling, facial expressions, and crowd noise that comes from the largest number of friends or relatives you drag into the store. That's pretty lame and can be manipulated in a million different ways for a judge to get the score he wants to see. So, if you are an expressionless supreme drum master with no friends, the chances are very good you will still lose. But then you still get other judges who ignore stick dropping. I've seen that too, where that judge says I really don't take all that seriously. Well dude, you have to. It's in your own set of rules.

I remember when I was at the Louie Bellsons, where you had to play 4 different styles of music, and a play along Duke Ellington track, before you even performed your solo. None of the finalists could see or hear their foes, because they put us in a soundproof room, and when there was a tiebreaker Louie himself broke the tie. That's much different than this. If you want to do a comp just to have some fun, I'm sure this is a fun thing. But if you're actually considering victory I just don't know. It just seems like there are these other factors that would get in the way.

[hauk]

It would be nice if the judges were behind a curtain so they couldn't see you, you were just "Drummer #07" to them. It would eliminate favoritism, stick twirling, and you could always keep the friends away too.

[dan duffy]

I took part in the GC drum off last year in Lincoln NE. Never took it seriously ..came in 4th place :) Not bad I suppose ...I'm terrible at drum solos lol!

[maddrummr]

It would be nice if the judges were behind a curtain so they couldn't see you, you were just "Drummer #07" to them. It would eliminate favoritism, stick twirling, and you could always keep the friends away too.

Nope i wouldnt like that.

Because if your doing a sweet paradiddle groove that may sound simple but the judge wont see that your doing paradiddles.

Emotion is part of music too. If someone sits there stone faced, its not that entertaining. If you really get into the groove, it makes things much more pleasurable.

[mattsmith]

Nope i wouldnt like that.

Because if your doing a sweet paradiddle groove that may sound simple but the judge wont see that your doing paradiddles.

Emotion is part of music too. If someone sits there stone faced, its not that entertaining. If you really get into the groove, it makes things much more pleasurable.

But I think you make my point. If the judge can't hear you performing a paradiddle by just hearing it, he has no business being a judge. Unfortunately I've seen a fair number of GC judges who are pretty close to that level.

Of course emotion is part of music. But you want it to come from the music itself and not some contrived facial expression that buys you points in a drum contest when you can't come up with something decent to play. Besides if you think about it, if you're going to dismiss drummers who don't engage in theater you're going to throw out a large number of the immortals themselves who didn't do it either, with Joe Morello coming immediately to mind.

A drum set contest should be about music and nothing else.

It's also interesting to me that so many people /in fairness not this poster/ will be all over the WFD thing, screaming how it's not music etc, etc /which it isn't/ but will give a free pass to this spectacle, with all of its sell out non musical factors that have nothing to do with music, but tries to pass itself off as such just the same.

I wonder which one is the more honest event?

[Jeff Almeyda]

"Style" and "Stage presence" are as important as "overall performance".

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