ChaseGlomstad
Member
Hey guys. I feel like I've been at quite a standstill with my drumming for quite some time, with several factors leading up to it. Before i go into detail, I'll give you a little bit of background about me and drumming.
I've been playing since I was in 7th grade, so around 7 years now. I'm self-taught for the most part, although I didn't really start getting into drumming until the 5th year (I saw the most improvement between my 5th and 6th years). The 7th year, where i'm at now, is my first year of college. Because of the fact that I'm in college now, I am no longer involved in a music program as there are none at my school. I performed in several bands throughout high school in the metal genre, and I also took part in the jazz program at my high school where I learned jazz and Latin beats (Latin very minimally). I spent the majority of my 6th year of drumming learning metal techniques, beats, and songs. This year showed the most improvement in my techniques and abilities, as the difficulty of songs I could perform slowly got harder and harder.
So now here I am, in the 7th year of drumming. I'm still a devoted metal fanatic, looking up to drummers such as Derek Roddy, George Kollias, Kevin Talley, Dave McGraw, etc. At this current time in my drumming "career", I've hit a bit of a rut though. In January, I began to suffer wrist pains in both my left and right hands (literally starting at the same point in time) and I was forced to sit back for a month from my kit. I returned to my set a month later after giving my wrists a chance to recoup, but I've found that I still face several issues. My wrists only tend to flare up in times of great stress, which means I've had to slow down the speed of my drumming considerably. I'm assuming that my pains stem from not being relaxed enough with my technique or something of the sort. I've also found that I can no longer perform songs I did a year ago. One of my former bands used to cover a song that consisted of me consistently playing a 225bpm hammer blast on my right hand, but now I can no longer muster the energy to keep myself going before I feel exhausted and tired. My footwork is also at a standstill, and really hasn't improved at all since I purchased my double pedals about 4 years ago.
Another aspect of drumming that I feel frustrated with is that it seems like the only way to improve is to repetitively perform exercises and routines, which seem to take any fun out of drumming at all. I can't stand the thought of just sitting and playing double stroke rolls for a half hour at a time; I want to have fun on my drum kit, and things like this make it seem like a chore honestly. At this point in time, I can't figure out what to do to make myself a better drummer. To put it in the plainest terms, I'm just another generic metal drummer who finds himself not even being able to play the basic death metal song. I lack groove, rhythm, and confidence in my skills, and I'm not sure what to do anymore about my lackings as a drummer. Maybe it's just me being pessimistic, but when I look at other death metal drummers my age playing solidly at ridiculous speeds, it's a bit discouraging and makes me feel very inadequate as a drummer.
Hope this doesn't seem like me bitching haha, but it's just something thats been bugging me for quite a while. I feel like I'm going through a moderately rough phase of drumming right now where I'm just a bit lost. Part of the issue stems from (I assume) not being able to be on my kit as much anymore due to noise issues. This leaves me confined to a HQ Realfeel Practice Pad and a Gibraltar bass drum pad (which is horrible to practice on).
Anyways, if anyone has experienced anything like this, it'd be nice to know your story and whatnot. I'm lacking direction in drumming right now.
I've been playing since I was in 7th grade, so around 7 years now. I'm self-taught for the most part, although I didn't really start getting into drumming until the 5th year (I saw the most improvement between my 5th and 6th years). The 7th year, where i'm at now, is my first year of college. Because of the fact that I'm in college now, I am no longer involved in a music program as there are none at my school. I performed in several bands throughout high school in the metal genre, and I also took part in the jazz program at my high school where I learned jazz and Latin beats (Latin very minimally). I spent the majority of my 6th year of drumming learning metal techniques, beats, and songs. This year showed the most improvement in my techniques and abilities, as the difficulty of songs I could perform slowly got harder and harder.
So now here I am, in the 7th year of drumming. I'm still a devoted metal fanatic, looking up to drummers such as Derek Roddy, George Kollias, Kevin Talley, Dave McGraw, etc. At this current time in my drumming "career", I've hit a bit of a rut though. In January, I began to suffer wrist pains in both my left and right hands (literally starting at the same point in time) and I was forced to sit back for a month from my kit. I returned to my set a month later after giving my wrists a chance to recoup, but I've found that I still face several issues. My wrists only tend to flare up in times of great stress, which means I've had to slow down the speed of my drumming considerably. I'm assuming that my pains stem from not being relaxed enough with my technique or something of the sort. I've also found that I can no longer perform songs I did a year ago. One of my former bands used to cover a song that consisted of me consistently playing a 225bpm hammer blast on my right hand, but now I can no longer muster the energy to keep myself going before I feel exhausted and tired. My footwork is also at a standstill, and really hasn't improved at all since I purchased my double pedals about 4 years ago.
Another aspect of drumming that I feel frustrated with is that it seems like the only way to improve is to repetitively perform exercises and routines, which seem to take any fun out of drumming at all. I can't stand the thought of just sitting and playing double stroke rolls for a half hour at a time; I want to have fun on my drum kit, and things like this make it seem like a chore honestly. At this point in time, I can't figure out what to do to make myself a better drummer. To put it in the plainest terms, I'm just another generic metal drummer who finds himself not even being able to play the basic death metal song. I lack groove, rhythm, and confidence in my skills, and I'm not sure what to do anymore about my lackings as a drummer. Maybe it's just me being pessimistic, but when I look at other death metal drummers my age playing solidly at ridiculous speeds, it's a bit discouraging and makes me feel very inadequate as a drummer.
Hope this doesn't seem like me bitching haha, but it's just something thats been bugging me for quite a while. I feel like I'm going through a moderately rough phase of drumming right now where I'm just a bit lost. Part of the issue stems from (I assume) not being able to be on my kit as much anymore due to noise issues. This leaves me confined to a HQ Realfeel Practice Pad and a Gibraltar bass drum pad (which is horrible to practice on).
Anyways, if anyone has experienced anything like this, it'd be nice to know your story and whatnot. I'm lacking direction in drumming right now.