Have you ever had to start from scratch?

C

cwignall

Senior Member
Good Evening All

Well its has been some time since i have accessed this drummers haven and im glad to see it going strong as ever.

Its been about 3 years since i last played with my band and not really done much since. However i played a 10 cover song gig for a mates wedding and it felt good and have met some very cool musical types since who have started to rekindle the fond memories i had behind my kit.

The practice session for the gig really showed up how rusty i was. Dropping sticks, fluffing up basic rock beats...stuff i could have done in my sleep 3 years ago.
But feels good going back to basics now...with a stick pad and a bass drum pad...plus i now have a spare room in my house for a silenced drum kit!!! (at the sacrifice of moving back in with the 'rents though...urgh!) =)

Anyway i wondered if anyone here has ever had to start again due to unforseeable circumstances or any other reason for that matter, and how you did it? What gave you your motivation and passion back?

For me it was seeing other people passionate about their music and instrument (i know a lot of guitarists) and thinking that should be me again!!! Also simlply listening too and feeling the drum beats in my favorite songs thinking i would love to play that...practice and i can i tell myself!!
 
cwignall said:
Good Evening All

Well its has been some time since i have accessed this drummers haven and im glad to see it going strong as ever.

Its been about 3 years since i last played with my band and not really done much since. However i played a 10 cover song gig for a mates wedding and it felt good and have met some very cool musical types since who have started to rekindle the fond memories i had behind my kit.

The practice session for the gig really showed up how rusty i was. Dropping sticks, fluffing up basic rock beats...stuff i could have done in my sleep 3 years ago.
But feels good going back to basics now...with a stick pad and a bass drum pad...plus i now have a spare room in my house for a silenced drum kit!!! (at the sacrifice of moving back in with the 'rents though...urgh!) =)

Anyway i wondered if anyone here has ever had to start again due to unforseeable circumstances or any other reason for that matter, and how you did it? What gave you your motivation and passion back?

For me it was seeing other people passionate about their music and instrument (i know a lot of guitarists) and thinking that should be me again!!! Also simlply listening too and feeling the drum beats in my favorite songs thinking i would love to play that...practice and i can i tell myself!!
Click to expand...

I stopped playing for four or five years. Getting back into it has been really hard but really enjoyable. I have learned more since I started again from scratch than I did when I began playing in the first place. I think I have a different mindset now. I went and did a philosophy degree and it changed the way I see things. Some time out was good for me I think, and has made me a better musician.

I got back into it because a friend needed a drummer and he asked me, knowing that I used to play and I still had my kit. I said yes and a couple of years later I have done several tours, recorded a couple of ep's, and this year I played at Glastonbury festival which was something I never imagined would happen.

The books that have helped me most over the past couple of years are G. L. Stone's 'Stick Control', and 'Time Functioning Patterns' by Gary Chaffee. I have also been practicing from the Buddy Rich book, which has some amazing exercises in.

Good luck and enjoy it.
 
i got back into it a few year ago after a hiatus of about 20 years. i had been very much involved with drumming when i was a teenager but gradually drifted away from it in college and later when i moved into apartments where noise was an issue. what motivated me was my girlfriend at the time. i went with her to shop for a keyboard and while i was at the music store i got a chance to play one of their electronic drum kits. i had been completely out of touch and wasn't even aware that such things existed. i was so enamored with the e-kit i bought it and that's what got me back into drumming. since then i've bought two acoustic kits and i've been in several bands. i've met tons of new friends along the way. it's totally changed my life!
 
Ditto. I started drumming in public school bands when I was 11 years old and went all the way through high school my senior year in public school band plus several failed garage bands. I started college and put the sticks away to concentrate on school and trying to get a career started. I graduated, found a job, moved into a tiny apartment, went through several long relationships with girls, found one gal and married her then had 2 kids. Drumming was always in the back of my mind though. Then got divorced, moved into an aprartment, then a duplex with the other side empty. My oldest daughter brought me back a pair of drum sticks from the London Hard Rock cafe and I started drumming again, first as an afterthought while watching TV and drumming on my 30 year old practice pad. Soon my passion for drumming was as strong as it ever was and I got my old drum set out of storage at my parent's house, refurbished it and started playing again. That was 3 years ago and I've since played in several bands, gigged a bunch, and even met the lady I will marry in January at one of our gigs.

So drumming has been in my blood since I was 11. I'm now 49 and just as much in love with it as ever - probably more so now.

I was just like you, I saw an electronic drum kit and though "HUH!!"
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one! haha! I got started again and saw all the new toys and thought "what in the heck is THAT thing???" Haha!!
 
my story is similar to many others here. Played from the time I was 7 or 8, continued pretty strong all through college. But after that - career, relationships, family etc called me in another direction and I didn't play for about 16 years with the exception of a sporadic chance to sit in with a band at a party or something like that.

Finally about 7 years ago - I realized that it was time for me to once again start practicing and playing for real. For the first year - about all I did was work the practice pad (hands only, didn't have a kit at home). Basically worked through Stick Control and playing along to records. After that year, I was invited to play at a party - so I dug my old kit out of the basement of my parents house, cleaned it up, tuned it up - played that party and decided that it was time to get rid of the old, cheap kit and get something better.

Even after all that time - I still wouldn't characterize it as starting from scratch. I'm currently learning to play guitar and I know from that what it means to start from scratch. Drumming was/is part of me in a way that cannot be erased. Lots of refinement is needed and there is a seemingly infinite amount of more stuff I'd love to learn and be able to do - but I know that I've got a head start because of all the time I spent playing/practicing in my youth.
 
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