Annoying Sounds

FrontierGibberish

Senior Member
I have been on the drumming journey now for about 18 months - funny how I count my experience like a baby, by months. Suppose I will use years when I hit the terrible two's - anyway....

Sometimes when I hear a Who song (with Moonie) or lately a lot of Levon Helm stuff with The Band I feel myself getting anxious and annoyed because I cannot accurately air drum to it. I used to be that way with Godsmack stuff also but I found that as my ears and playing improved I can now safely listen to them again. Do any other newer drummers ever get "annoyed" when they hear a song with drum parts that are outside of your "chop range"?

JM
 
Annoyed no, I would be walking through life always annoyed if that were the case.

I like to accept myself the way I am, I'm fine like this and don't postpone happiness because I can't do something. There's a whole universe of stuff I can't do, not just drumming. So much that it's detrimental to my mental health if I dwell on it. I'd rather do something that makes me feel good. I refuse to get annoyed with drumming. It brings me too much pleasure. I'm not wasting my time on this rock beating myself up. There's plenty of other things I don't have control of that beat me up, why add to it?

Just do what FrontierGibberish does. You can't compare yourself to anyone but yourself.
 
Gotta say Uncle Larry that's the best advice I've seen in a very long time. Thanks!
 
Funny - Doc Watso hasn't chimed in yet. Please allow me a feeble attempt to reveal the flip side of Uncle Larry's feel-good coin.

You've been drumming for 18 months?!? If you can't play as well as Neil Peart and Phil Collins by now, just forget drums. If you feel you MUST play some kind of musical instrument, look into the wash-tub bass, musical saw or jaw-harp.

Of course, you can always follow Uncle Larry's advice - it's the best I've heard in a long time. You can expect greatness when you get to the terrible twos! ;-)
 
Also not annoyed, and depending on the parts I'm hearing, I may be inspired and motivated to learn.

But, you said you're air drumming, so does it really make a difference?

Bermuda
 
No joke, I think it was close to a year before I "got it" that the count meant something, and that there's usually a snare on 2 and 4. Of course, nobody else knew that because I could play along with others just fine by sound.

Point is, you don't even know how deep the rabbit hole really is at this point. Worry about improving for yourself, and don't worry if you can't fully understand or mimic everything you hear. You don't even know what you don't know about drumming yet.

Secondly, just don't compare yourself to others. It's great to learn from them, study them, and work on things they've done, but do so in a learning mode. Getting frustrated because you can't play something that one of your drumming hero guys did is just plain silly.
 
I figured out a long time there is music I like to listen to and there is music I like to play.

Some of my favorite albums of all time are beyond my chop range.
 
Right on Uncle Larry.

The speech on "Drumming is a journey not a destination" goes here.

All musicians constantly live with the thought of the things they can't play. No matter how good a player they are.
We all have music in our head that we wish we could play but we can't play it. Sometimes we practice and learn to play it, sometimes we just don't let it bother us.
But that un-played music is always there.

.
 
I've never been annoyed when I hear a drum track that's outside what I can play, infact I welcome it. I want to hear something that I can't do and figure it out since it's a place I can improve. I listen to music all day at my desk and if I'm not typing I'm drumming along with my fingers. My advice is if you can't play it, study it and practice till you can. Make it a goal for yourself.
 
Props to Uncle Larry's suggestion and if you only play/practice what you know, you'll never get better.
 
Hey Keith Moon and Levon Helm are good drummers. It takes a lot of work to get that good.
 
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