Larry
"Uncle Larry"
So I went to a bar the other night with my wife for dinner and to catch a duo act she is friends with. Anyway, while I was there, a guy walks in who is a drummer and who is part of a house band at an open mic jam near me that I haven't been to. He uses the top of the line, (according to him, you can't spend more money on any other E kit) Roland...I forget the model line letters/numbers. Anyway, man was he singing it's praises. I'm sure I was Mr. Skeptic to him. He was saying things like...at the push of a button, I could have a nice Latin kit, then switch to a deep power tom rock kit, to a tight poppy hip hop kit and so on....
I asked him about rimshots, like if you vary where the tip hits on the head it changes the tone of the rimshot...he said his E drums do that too. Then I mentioned how much I hate the cymbal tones of E kits and he defended those too. He said how easy it was to get good sounds. Meanwhile I'm thinking....that's a big part of the skill right there...the tuning skills I developed and the time I've spent learning how to pull nice tones from the drums. With E kits that's not even a consideration, which according to him, frees you up to concentrate on playing better. He made a lot of sense and was very convincing.
But I can never see myself ever gigging an E kit, it kind of negates a lot of skills I have developed over the years. I think it would kind of peeve me off at all the time it would seem like I "wasted". I see it as lazy in a way. Just being honest, not meant to offend. I'm pretty old fashioned when it comes to work ethic. He said that the kit is loaded out in like 7 minutes, further strengthening my "it's lazy" POV. I know I'm being a bit backwards, nothing new there, but I wanted to throw it out for discussion to see where the majority stands on the issue.
I would hate to go hear them and like them, isn't that nuts? I don't want to like E drums. Totally bull headed, right? From where I'm sitting, E kits lower the bar. By a lot. I don't want to support bar lowering. I don't necessarily want to see them go away, but they really turn me off so I can't see myself ever liking them. I'm interested in YOUR thoughts on the matter.
I asked him about rimshots, like if you vary where the tip hits on the head it changes the tone of the rimshot...he said his E drums do that too. Then I mentioned how much I hate the cymbal tones of E kits and he defended those too. He said how easy it was to get good sounds. Meanwhile I'm thinking....that's a big part of the skill right there...the tuning skills I developed and the time I've spent learning how to pull nice tones from the drums. With E kits that's not even a consideration, which according to him, frees you up to concentrate on playing better. He made a lot of sense and was very convincing.
But I can never see myself ever gigging an E kit, it kind of negates a lot of skills I have developed over the years. I think it would kind of peeve me off at all the time it would seem like I "wasted". I see it as lazy in a way. Just being honest, not meant to offend. I'm pretty old fashioned when it comes to work ethic. He said that the kit is loaded out in like 7 minutes, further strengthening my "it's lazy" POV. I know I'm being a bit backwards, nothing new there, but I wanted to throw it out for discussion to see where the majority stands on the issue.
I would hate to go hear them and like them, isn't that nuts? I don't want to like E drums. Totally bull headed, right? From where I'm sitting, E kits lower the bar. By a lot. I don't want to support bar lowering. I don't necessarily want to see them go away, but they really turn me off so I can't see myself ever liking them. I'm interested in YOUR thoughts on the matter.
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